On Saturday, April 13th, Sam drove me to LAX to begin my first trip to Florida. My flight was delayed, so I had to wait a few extra hours to see what drives Florida Man so crazy. When I got to Miami Beach I met my friends, B and C, who were generous enough to […]
Sacred Valley of the Incas
We drove out of Ollantaytambo and up through the mountains beneath the snowcapped peaks of the Andes. First, we stopped at the Moray Hills, an ancient incan site (although, it’s important to point out that only the Kings were known as “inca” and everyone else was Quechuan, but we’ll keep using that as shorthand for […]
Machu Picchu
Our flight to Cusco was uneventful. We had heard that it was the “most dangerous flight in the world,” but after arriving we still don’t see why. Our pre-arranged driver to Ollantaytambo showed up almost an hour late, even though we had agreed to pay $20 extra to have him meet us at the airport, […]
Lima
On Saturday morning we took an Uber to LAX to board a LATAM flight to Lima. No, mom, not Lima, Ohio. Lima, Peru. We landed shortly after midnight, Sunday. A driver was waiting. Why did we have a driver, you ask; are we special? Sam is; the Peru trip came out of nowhere a few […]
Sapporo
After checking in at our Sapporo hotel (Gracery, across the street from the station) we visited the huge food market adjacent to (or in?) the train station before hopping a few subway trains across town to find the famous Genghis Kahn BBQ restaurant for Jingisukan. After dinner we went to the JR Tower observatory next to […]
Noboribetsu
Another few trains and a bus ride later we arrived in Noboribetsu, also known as “Demon City,” which welcomes you with a big angry club-wielding demon at the train station. On the bus ride to the hotel we went past a giant blue demon, like Paul Bunyan’s evil brother at a Duke game. I wasn’t […]
Hakodate
On Tuesday morning the family assembled for a long three train journey to Hokkaido. At our first destination, Hakodate, we visited the cape just as the sun started to set behind Mt. Hakodate. We had dinner at a fancy local restaurant with lots of great food (but few customers) then took a cab (because the […]
Tokyo
On Sunday we took a Shinkansen from Odawara to Tokyo to meet up with Sam’s family. Both her sisters and their husbands joined us as well as her mother and her brother-in-law’s mother for the rest of the trip. Her sister booked us all rooms in the Shinjuku Prince hotel, a high-rise not far from […]
Kyoto
On Tuesday morning we started our JR passes and took the express to Kyoto. On the express, the ride is only about twenty minutes, surprisingly quick. After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we walked to Nishiki Market for lunch. We were a little bit frustrated because we were refused seats at a few […]
Hakone
Saturday we took a Shinkansen to Odawara. I can’t stress enough how wonderful the Shinkansen experience is. It’s insane that we do not have this option for travel in America. I travel to Oakland for work often and I’d much prefer to take a high-speed train than take a southwest flight. Remove the time of checking […]