Typhoons and Earthquakes

When we first decided to move to Japan the language was the only thing we really worried about. We knew it would be a huge cultural change and there were going to be difficulties with communication but we never once considered the number of natural events that happen here compared to the UK and how…

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That’s My Type of Travel

Over a year ago I wrote a post titled ‘A Time to Travel’ (Read here) which was basically a manifesto of what I wanted to achieve when travelling South East Asia later that year. I compared our travelling experiences so far to a type of window shopping where we would stick to easy to reach…

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Langkawi

Langkawi was the first stop on our trip and we picked to stay at the Tanjung Rhu Resort for three main reasons. Location Complimentary round trip airport transfers The price When researching Langkawi, we have always found it to be one of the more expensive destinations in Asia with the number of luxury resorts in…

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3 Nights in Kuala Lumpur

OUR 3 NIGHT STAY AT KL JOURNAL HOTEL After our trip to Langkawi we decided to have a 3 night stop over in Kuala Lumpur. I chose to stay in the reasonably priced boutique hotel The KL Journal Hotel which is centrally based in the Bukit Bintang area. The rooms are all spacious and decorated…

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Sengakuji Temple

Sengakuji Temple is rarely on the top 10 places to visit in Tokyo but it is not somewhere that should be so quickly overlooked. If you like your Japanese history, then you will be very interested to know that it is the burial home of the 47 Ronin. The story goes, in summary, that there…

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Fiji

On our way back to Tokyo from New Zealand, we had a 3 day layover in Fiji. We decided with such a short layover that we would base ourselves on the main island of Vitu Levu staying at the Hilton Fiji Beach Resort on Denarau island a mere 25 minutes from Nadi airport. It cost…

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Whale Watching in Kaikoura

We booked our whale watching cruise before we started our holiday, it was one of only two things we had pre-booked. We chose to book with whalewatch.co.nz direct who I would highly recommend even if our cruise ended in disaster. They have such a good sighting success rate that they offer an 80% refund if…

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10 days in New Zealand

For a long time now New Zealand has been on our bucket list but has always been one of those ‘out of reach’ places. Especially from the UK but one of the most amazing things about living in Japan is that we have been opened up to the world and as each year goes by…

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