Many years ago I had a blog on one those shared hosting websites. It didn’t get any traffic or comments but I enjoyed writing and putting down my thoughts (my biggest blogging mistake was not getting my own website until 2013). Recently, out of curiosity, I went back to that blog. I found this old post, written in 2008, that made me reflect on where we were at that time, where we are now (9 years later), and how life sometimes throws you curveballs. You have ideas about the future, about how you want to live and travel. Sometimes things don’t work out how you expected or even wanted.
Why you should visit Klis Fortress. And the easy way to get there from Split
March 25, 2017 by · 26 Comments
Klis fortress has become known the last few years as an obligatory ‘Game of Thrones Tour’ stop. But it is much more than that.
The first time we came to this part of Croatia (that’s a few years ago now), I remember having looked up at the huge impenetrable wall of mountains lining the coast. I had been amazed, I had never seen that kind of geography. The mountain range has always been a natural defense between the Mediterranean belt and, beyond those mountains, the rest of the Balkans. Approaching Split you see one gap in that wall of defense, a pass between the mountains into the interior. And right there, right in that gap, is a high mass of rock with a huge stone fortress sitting on top of it. That’s Klis fortress. [Read more…]
March 14, 2017 Newsletter – Split (Croatia), apartments, condos, and on being temporarily grounded
March 14, 2017 by · Leave a Comment
We’ve had a very interesting and busy last 3 months, doing almost everything but travelling. We haven’t had a Newsletter in a little while: this one covers what’s been going on in our lives, how we’ve found ourselves a new base for the next year, as well as our travel plans over the next little while.
CLICK HERE TO READ OUR NEWSLETTER
Signs in Japan: The funny, strange or just unusual
March 7, 2017 by · 23 Comments
We spent 7 weeks in Japan and one of the things that never bored us were Japanese signs. Japanese signs are unique in their design, often using cartoon figures and sometimes incorporating elements of anime (the animation used in Japanese comic books). They’re cute, colourful and often pretty funny. They’re also a reflection of modern Japanese society and culture. [Read more…]
Why Nara was my favorite place in Japan
February 26, 2017 by · 24 Comments
We spent 7 weeks in Japan and my favorite memories were of our 1 day in the town of Nara. Why? There are a few reasons: the most impressive temple we’ve seen in Japan (the Todaiji Temple), one of the most famous Shinto shrines (the Kasuga Taisha shrine) and lastly – tons and tons of deer wandering around everywhere. If you’ve never had a chance to get close to deer then you have to come to Nara. That alone makes Nara a very different kind of place. [Read more…]
Our 60 Favorite Photos from 2016
February 12, 2017 by · 26 Comments
A couple of weeks ago I did a wrap-up of our favorite (and not-so-favorite) places visited in 2016. We took so many photos in 2016 that we decided to go through them and choose our favorites from the year.
“Favorite” photos doesn’t necessarily mean “best” photos. “Favorite” can mean a place that holds a special memory (like that dog lying at Lissette’s feet) or a place that was just overall a special place (Cape Town was for me “that special place”). [Read more…]
Belgrade – Visiting Serbia, the Bad Boys of the Balkans
February 5, 2017 by · 122 Comments
Our trip to Serbia started ominously. “You have a one-way ticket to Belgrade?” questioned the agent at the Turkish Airlines check in counter in Tokyo. “They might refuse you entry”. They held us for 10 minutes, the agent talking to the supervisor. I actually thought they might not let us get on the flight. We ended up having to sign a waiver stating that we didn’t hold the airline responsible should we be kicked out upon arrival. Hmm, not a good start. [Read more…]
Need an apartment for a month in Kyoto? Here’s the place to stay
January 30, 2017 by · 18 Comments
Anyone familiar with us knows that we are big fans of Airbnb. In fact we spent 315 night in Airbnb apartments in 2016. The one major exception was Kyoto. When researching where to stay in Kyoto I found the Airbnb options in Kyoto depressing (funny enough, the 2 Airbnb apartments we stayed at in Tokyo were disappointing as well). So I started looking at different options – and that’s how I came across CMM Ekimae. They cater to people booking apartments by the month. [Read more…]
A hike to the Mila Gojsalić statue, Omiš, Croatia
January 25, 2017 by · 24 Comments
I’ve previously written about Omis and why it is my favorite Croatian town. But there is another attraction outside town that I had previously heard of and had always wanted to see – the Mila Gojsalić statue. [Read more…]
Our Kyoto meltdowns. Are we all just photo-clicking monkeys? What’s travel about?
January 17, 2017 by · 35 Comments
On my last post I had a photo essay of our highlights in Kyoto. Kyoto has a lot to see as far as temples and gardens and we appreciated the architecture and natural beauty that we saw during our month there. I’ll be honest though – we both had meltdowns. They fell on different days, in different places, but they were both meltdowns. [Read more…]
