8 Things You’ll Absolutely Miss About After Leaving Japan

Hey friends! My latest Savvy Tokyo article is numero uno on their popular page!!! Have YOU checked it out yet? Access HERE.

Our Japanese Guests’ Day Three

Another classic NZ dish: the humble meat pie (which I wrote a 3000 word University essay on one day), Castle Hill (famous from Narnia) and last: a nostalgic New Year’s Eve countdown in Hagley Park featuring back-to-back country music which took me straight back to Nashville and to my sweetheart’s arms.




And you? How did you spend New Year’s Eve/Day?

It Is Only With the Heart That One Can See Rightly; What Is Essential Is Invisible To The Eye.

I want to do everything on earth with you.

Happy family of three (haha).

Do you see what I see? Hint: body ink.

Guys, this night at the symphony was definitely the best night of my life. Really. It may seem melodramatic but it truly was the happiest I’ve ever been. Everything was perfect. Just like the movies. Ah, I am so lucky. My heart is bursting.

Pumpkin pie smoothie bowl from Daily Juice.
And for me: mango, banana, spinach, maca, avocado and coconut milk.


The best backward skater you ever saw! And the cutest ;)

Peace! (I’m still Japanese).


After my first fall LOL.

Spinning in A Whirlwind of Emotions

Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it. (Cesare Pavese)

The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home — and the slow nuanced experience of a single country is always better than the hurried, superficial experience of forty countries. (Rolf Potts)

We can’t jump off bridges anymore because our iPhones will get ruined. We can’t take skinny dips in the ocean because there’s no service on the beach and adventures aren’t real unless they’re on Instagram. Technology has doomed the spontaneity of adventure and we’re helping destroy it every time we Google, check-in, and hashtag. (Jeremy Glass)

It’s funny. When you leave your home and wander really far, you always think, ‘I want to go home.’ But then you come home, and of course it’s not the same. You can’t live with it, you can’t live away from it. And it seems like from then on there’s always this yearning for some place that doesn’t exist. I felt that. Still do. I’m never completely at home anywhere. (Danzy Senna)

For the past few days, I have been spinning in a whirlwind of emotions. I have felt flabbergasted by new experiences, homesick from doing it by myself, frustrated by the foreign and completely amazed at this wonderfully big little world we live in. At times, I have been able to capture some of it through a camera lens and at others, not at all, not even a little bit. I like the quotes above for they’ve made me think long and hard about my travels and my consequent thoughts and actions. I wish that I could tell you that my over-thinking has cultivated an epiphany or some profound wisdom but frankly it hasn’t. Not yet. Right now, I am more muddled than ever. This restlessness I pin down to excess information. I keep telling my parents, it’s not easy to live in this day and age either! Do I settle down or travel awhile longer? Continue participating in social media for self-promotion or stay quiet writing in private? And as I do either, do I work or study further? Again, I hear my ears ringing “first world problem.” Though I really think it is, a problem that is, of our generation. Information overload and unlimited choice can prove impossible to navigate.

So. For now, all I want is balance. Balance between travel and home, reality, and the internet, blogging and writing a bigger project and between career and education.

Graffiti street in Ghent.

Vegan burger from Greenway.

The most amazing vegan lunch at Moon Food in Brussels.

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The Brussels Waffle

I’ve eaten a lot of things this Europe trip. Like, a lot. My jeans can attest to that. But even with the tighter jeans, I am glad and grateful to have been able to consume so much deliciousness. Especially when there are literally billions going without food every day.

I ate in Spain, France, Switzerland, and Belgium (Italy and Greece will have to wait for me and my future husband).

Food is just incredible in this continent. This is because, the majority of our favorites derived here: fries, waffles, pizza, crepes, etc.

Though I can write pages upon pages listing the delicacies I gobbled up here, only three of these have actually blown me away. As in, whoosh and into dreamland where my only wish of my sparkling fairy godmother was that my real mother could also taste this or that.

1. Ham, cheese, and lettuce French baguette.

2. Brussels waffle topped with strawberry and Nutella.

3. Handmade pistachio macaroon from a local market.

Forget Spanish churros, Belgian fries or Swiss chocolate. Forget cheese, olives, paella. Godiva? Lindt? Who needs them! My three, those are the ones I vouch to never forget. If I could marry one, well, let’s just say I’d have to first change gender, second religion and third, get used to pampering three women.

Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating only in Hard Rock Cafes and McDonalds? Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria’s mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head? I know what I want. I want it all. I want to try everything once. (Anthony Bourdain)

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Lakeside Strolls and Gothic Grandeur

How great is Europe? How cool is this? To travel from one country to another in less than an hour, from France to Switzerland, Lausanne desu. PS “desu” is a Japanese word often used at the end of factual sentences and for me, the most memberable part of the public transport announcements. Osaka desu. Tokyo desu. Lausanne desu.

As for Switzerland, it is clean, luxurious and crazy expensive.

First on our Lonely Planet list was to visit the Olympic Mueseum. Unfortunately, the entry fee turned out to be a lottle expensive. 18 Swiss Franc, that’s about 25 New Zealand dollars for only three floors – and I’m not even interested in Olympics! So, I took a few pics of the building itself but because the sun had not come out yet, I don’t think they’re that great.Sorry. Next up, the local Wednesday (and Saturday) market:

Teeny tiny little widdle pumpkins. 


My best street photography picture ever.



Both Sonia and I agreed these were THE best vegetarian burgers we have ever had ever. From Holy Cow

Ferry back to France. 50 mere minutes on beautiful Lake Geneva.

Back in France, cherry sorbet.
For my Bahai followers (and those interested). This is the hotel (now residential apartment) Abdu’l-Bahá stayed at during his travels of Switzerland and the very port her travelled from.

My Heart Wants Roots. My Mind Wants Wings. I Cannot bear Their Bickerings.

Everyday I thirst to see more, to do more and to experience more. And everyday, I miss my family, I miss familiarity and I miss home.

Italy, shmitaly.

Sometimes when uploading or sending via messenger, Facebook flips photos. Turns out it ain’t a bad look!

This is Château De Coudrée a 12th-century castle now a 4 star hotel.

These last pictures are from Yvoire; officially one of ‘The Most Beautiful Villages of France’, a former fishing village, fortified in the early 14th century, it’s a riot of turrets, towers and old stone houses.


I feel really silly writing this with all of the terrible terrible adversary happening in the world and how incredibly lucky I am compared to it all but one of the “troubles” of travelling is being unable to buy the big beautiful things to take home.


Can someone romance me already?!

An all-wooden toy-store. “Very German,” according to Auntie.

Everything in Spain is at the Table

This is Betanzos, one of the best preserved old quarters in Galicia.Meson Pote is known as one of the best places in the whole of SPAIN to have Spanish potato tortilla, a sort of Spanish omelette with thin potato slices. What makes Meson Pote’s tortilla stand out, is its juiciness. We also ate fried squid, a green peppers side dish and a tomato salad. For dessert, Jose’s friend, a renowned Spanish chef (whose restaurant I will be visiting) and her son, shared a cheesecake. I was given a teaspoonful to try and it was DELICIOUS.

Food is always served with bread here. Good bread. In this restaurant, its plate cleaning abilities are utilised best.
Are you salivating, yet?

Typical Spain: tapas.

Jose pointed out these boats to me. They’re interesting because they have a large dinner table in the middle of them. “Look, most of the ship is a table,” he says laughing. Then, “everything in spain is at the table.”

This little cutie is Jose’s friend’s daughter and, my new favorite! That face!

Here she is singing some international song with the word “konnichiwa”in it (Japan is with me). Too cute!

On Honeymoon Alone

I can’t believe I’m living here. I want to cancel all of my future travel plans and stay here forever. Seriously, how can such a place exist? It’s so romantic it hurts.

The black dish is used to make a giant paella.
Forever alone.


In Japan, it was vending machines, bicycles and noren. In Spain, it’s doors, cats and benches.

Jose and Bea insisted I photograph this bench. They love how it has been levelled to fit the slope of the street.

Just like the Before Sunset series.

This is Noah, Hector and Sara’s cousin. Their mother and Noah’s mother are sisters. In the short time that I have been here, I’ve noticed that they do everything together. I hope to be the same with my sister in the future. Babies, picnics, outings, all of it, together.


Jose says that is a whale’s head.

These rods were used to hang nets – redes in Spanish and the name of the town today.

Wild berries everywhere!



Veal hamburger with garden veggies and fresh bread for dinner at…10pm! Yes, so I have to tell you this: Jose says the times in Spain are different to that of the rest of Europe. The days are much longer here. These guys typically eat lunch at 3 and dinner at 10! I can’t believe it! But I am starting to enjoy and appreciate how much adventuring one can pack into a single day – though of course, I am a little tired. Maybe it’s jet-lag, still. Also, I cannot tell you enough how great it is to be living with a family again. My mood and overall health is so much better. There’s only so much solitude and mountain life a girl can take. Humans are meant to connect. Also, I am loving the endless hugs and kisses – again, and sorry to compare or not sorry to compare, a huge difference to Japan.

A Day In Central Madrid (Part Two)

Before I show you more pictures that’ll make you want to quit your day job and move to Madrid, I will just say that there are a lot of pigeons and homeless people here. Pigeons, I can deal with but the mass number of homeless people breaks my heart. Of course it also makes me further appreciate my freedom. Why do I get to travel and enjoy the world whilst others are so so unfortunate? It’s not fair. I must actively work for a change. Which is why I love my religion.

As Jose told me today and I myself first-handedly experienced, a lot of these homeless people are airport dwellers. This is because the airport is comfortably cool (in the summer) or warm (in the winter) and safe. Also, they can beg from travellers and/or eat from unfinished plates. When I was passing time in the food court, waiting for my flight to Santiago de Compostela, I was approached by three different beggars. What are you supposed to do in such a situation? Do you help? It’s so tricky. Anyways, I am telling you this because I think you should know the real Spain (or the real Japan) especially when such things are seldom talked about amongst travel bloggers. So as always, I will try my best to give you the whole picture.


Fresh carrot, apple and ginger.
A secret garden.
A secret door.
Is this real life?

How random! I bumped into an Iranian store filled with Persian goods ranging from Rumi books to handmade jewellery chests. The Iranian owner gave me gaz (persian nougat) and her website details. She hopes I will return.