Beautiful Kyoto is the city most people familiar with Japan will recommend to the first time visitor. Having been the former capital of Japan for a span of over 1000 years and being spared the devastation of bombing raids in WWII, Kyoto is one of the cities in Japan where a wealth of historical architecture …
travel tips
Five Things to Do in Nara
Let’s go back to 8th century Japan. The imperial infrastructure of the country had been growing for quite some time, causing the empress to choose a permanent location for the capital. She picked a spot on the Yamato plain and the construction of Nara began. At the time, Buddhism was becoming more and more deeply …
Rambling the Nakasendo
“If one walks, a road is made.” So reads the cover of the walking map for the Nakasendo I brought back with me from Japan–a sentiment which perfectly encapsulates the origins and spirit of the Nakasendo. An ancient postal road connecting Kyoto (Kyo) and Tokyo (Edo), the Nakasendo was built over 400 years ago in the Edo period. …
Getting the New Turkish e-Visa
One of the first things I do when I scope out a new country to visit is to check out the visa requirements. I head on over to the handy Visa HQ, select my country of choice from the list, and ‘voila!’ — I have an idea of the visa requirements and cost. Recently, I’ve been …
Registering in Mongolia
If you’re an American citizen, you can stay in Mongolia up to 90 days without a visa. Awesome, right? Absolutely. There is, however, a little sneaky addendum to that. If you’re staying longer than 30 days, you have to register with the Mongolian Immigration office. It’s free for U.S. citizens, but it’s still a pain …
Adding Pages to Your U.S. Passport Overseas
If you do a lot of traveling, inevitably you will run out of visa pages. This happened to me here in Mongolia. Luckily, it’s not a trip-ender and it doesn’t mean you are forever stranded in whatever remote corner of the globe you find yourself in. For Americans, adding pages to their passport is a …
A Day Around Kota Kinabalu
Kota Kinabalu isn’t a huge city, which makes it relatively easy to navigate around. That said, it’s still the largest urban area in Borneo, so it isn’t exactly small either. After being here a few days and doing pretty much nothing except walk around, I figured I’d put together a map with a few handy …
Helpful Tips for Living Abroad: Preparations
So you want to live in another country. Awesome! You’re in for a life changing experience, it’s just a matter of making it happen. Here are some helpful hints on things to do before you leave. Research the country you are moving to Try and learn a little bit about the history of the country …