Day at Taejongdae

This picture took us about 10 tries until we finally got one with no people behind us.

We spent our last day in Busan at Taejongdae Park. It was a bit out of place and took over an hour to get to by subway and bus, but the sea views, rocky cliffs, and lush forests were a welcomed respite from the busy streets.

Busan Tower

View at sunset.

Yesterday set out to visit the top of Busan Tower, only to find it closed for renovations. However, we came across some nice unexpected gems in the city.

Beach Days

Last night we ventured over to see the Gwangandaegyo bridge, and to have dinner at a place called Sharky's. What we didn't expect was the pretty awesome view at Gwangalli Beach and the big expat/nightlife scene. 

To Market We Go

This afternoon we took a stroll through the street market that is right outside our hotel.

Gamcheon Cultural Village

This morning we trekked to the Gamcheon Cultural Village, known as the "Machu Picchu of Busan" or the "Santorini of Korea".

Greetings from South Korea!

Boarding the plane for S. Korea!

Yesterday we took a short hour and twenty minute flight from Osaka to Busan, S. Korea.

Osaka

At our Hostel called, The Dorm

Greetings from Osaka, our final stop on our Japan tour!

Fushimi Inari

After realizing our Airbnb was just a 5 minute walk from the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, we decided to visit on our last full day here and wake up at 5:30am to avoid the tourists. What a great call!

Stay Golden

On Sunday we visited Kinkaku (The Golden Pavilion), a Zen Buddhist temple. The gold leafing covering the pavilion is meant to purify any negative thoughts and feelings towards death.

My Deer Friends

This morning we traveled a little over an hour to visit some deer friends of ours at Nara Park.

Sushi-Go-Round

Last night we went to Tokyo Station for surprisingly, the first sushi of the trip! Kiel the foodie, found Sushi no Musashi  on Yelp and insisted we try it since it received a 4.5 star review.

Kyoto

At the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

Yesterday we left Tokyo and arrived in Kyoto by way of the Shinkansen. The Shinkansen is like Amtrak back home, only it can max up to a speed of 200mph. A little over two hours later and a scramble through a clutter of tourists, we found our Airbnb for the next five nights.

A Bibliophile's Dreams

I am going to keep this post short as it's 10pm on Thursday for us and I am exhausted due to today's travel (stay tuned) and the lack of sleep last night!

Go (Tokyo) Giants!

I've really started to embrace the ✌ sign

Last night we had a great time at the Yomiuri Giants baseball game even though they didn't play their best, losing 0-7 to the Yakult Swallows. 

What a Hoot!

Akiba Fukurou, the Owl Cafe in Akihabara was quite a hoot! 

A day in the life of

The morning commute

We planned to wake up at 2 am this morning to head to the Tsukiji Fish Market for the Tuna auction at 5 am (you have to get there super early in order to snag a spot), but unfortunately Kiel caught food poisoning or some sort of bug and was down for the count.

Instead we went to the market around 9am and could already smell the fresh fish as soon as we walked off the subway at Tsukiji Station.  I loved catching a little glimpse of the hustle and bustle of everyday life, but wish I could've seen the Inner market and wholesale area as well. There may be time to try before we leave, but I won't be too bummed out if we don't.

Eggcellent food and views

Yesterday morning (our Monday) we walked to our neighboring district Roppongi, for breakfast at Eggcellent  and it was just that!

I ordered the Early Bird special called "Start of a Nice Day" and for the equivalent of just under $8 USD I had pancakes, an Eggs Benedict, salad, a mini soup and coffee. Kiel ordered the "Half & Half Benedict" which included one regular Benedict and an Avocado Marguro Quinoa Benedict. Yum!

The Culture Shock

Tokyo is exhausting, enthralling, amusing, and addicting. It's extraordinary. But today I fully experienced stage two of "culture shock".  It was the frustration of not being able to read Japanese after we waited in the wrong line for 20 minutes; the struggle to understand given instructions, "What, no English translation?!", I annoyingly mumbled; scouting out locations without the use of wifi; judging the fashion sense. Although it hasn't even been a full week yet, I know this is all part of the process and understanding cultural differences is what travel is all about!

Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto

Friday night we took a nice stroll to dinner (although I couldn't tell you where..) and then stopped by the Tokyo Tower.

Kiel was wide awake at 5 am and I am checking in here at 1:00 am (so technically it's Sunday here) while he is passed out. Needless to say, we are still adjusting to everything.

On Saturday it rained pretty much all day and I was feeling a bit under the weather 😏  so I ended up sleeping most of the day. Wondering if it was something I ate at dinner...

Anyways, this morning we walked around the corner and got some awesome donuts from Nico and then headed over to Starbucks. Lesson learned: always point at the item you want. I told the barista I'd like a Chamomile tea and I ended up with a "caramel milk", which was basically frothy milk with a caramel drizzle. It was tasty, however it didn't help with my already upset stomach.

Japan: Day One

We arrived in Japan on Thursday, May 11 after a 3 hour drive from Albany to Manhattan; a 1 hour Lyft ride from Manhattan to JFK; a 3 hour layover in JFK followed by a 15 hour plane ride to Taipei, Taiwan (a bit counter intuitive it seems); another 3 hour layover (noting Taiwan has a lot of themed waiting areas such as music, reading, flowers) and then a 3 hour plane ride up/over to Narita; and a 1 hour subway commute to our Airbnb in Azabujuban, a district of Minato, Tokyo, totaling almost 30 hours and just under 10,000 miles.

The 518

After a 9 hour drive from Detroit, passing through Canada (we may have nervously laughed too much at the customs agents) and Buffalo (stopped for lunch at Duff's), we finally arrived in Albany, NY.

Life on the Road

By the numbers...

Miles driven: 4,266

Days on the road: 17

Rough amount of time spent in car: 62 hours

States traveled through: 10 

National Parks visited: 4
 
Baseball games attended: 4 

Times a day Alyssa rolled her eyes at Kiel: at least 10

The Motor City

Yesterday's drive from Chicago to Detroit was a little over 4 hours and we officially crossed into the final time zone of the road trip. We arrived at Red Roof Inn (don't always judge a book by its cover!) in Dearborn, in time to settle in and head into downtown Detroit.

We enjoyed some tasty small plates from Wright & Company and then walked over to Comerica Park for the Tigers game. We had great, cheap seats behind home plate with was a nice view from inside the stadium. However, it seemed quieter and somewhat less energetic than the other games we've attended.

After just a quick stop in Detroit, we've got a 9 hour drive to New York ahead of us. We are looking forward to staying in one place for a few days and with Alyssa's family. Albany, here we come!

Greetings from the Windy City

We spent two nights/one full day in Chicago which definitely was not enough time to see or try everything we wanted to!