I was standing in a konbini at 11 p.m. in Kanazawa, eating a triangle onigiri over the trash can, rain streaking the window, no other tourists in sight — and I thought: this is the Japan I’ve been chasing. Not the deer of Nara (lovely, yes) or the bamboo grove of Arashiyama (crowded, always crowded), … Read more
The week my company went fully remote, I opened a map and asked a question I’d never seriously asked before: if I can work from anywhere, why am I still sitting in this apartment? Japan had been living on my vision board for years — specifically that image everyone has saved, the one with pink-clouded … Read more
I still remember standing in a Tokyo convenience store at 11 p.m., eating a 220-yen onigiri over a trash can and thinking: this is genuinely one of the best meals I’ve had all week. Not because I was starving — though I had done a lot of walking — but because Japan has this magical … Read more
I was standing at the ticket gate of Kyoto Station, slightly jet-lagged and clutching a paper map I’d printed at home like it was 2003, when a stranger in a perfectly pressed linen shirt walked up and asked me the question I now get asked at least twice a week: “Tokyo vs Kyoto — which … Read more
I still remember the exact moment I realized my “research” had failed me. I was standing in the middle of Narita Airport, jet-lagged beyond reason, staring at a ticket machine entirely in Japanese, with a line of patient commuters forming behind me. I had spent three weeks watching YouTube videos about cherry blossoms and ramen … Read more
Why Perth Deserves a Spot on Your Travel List When I turned 35, I made a deal with myself: no more saving the good stuff for someday. The trip I’d been pinning photos of for four years finally had a departure date — and that destination was Perth, Western Australia. I’d scrolled past its white-sand … Read more
My boss handed me a bonus check and said “invest it wisely.” I invested it in a round-trip ticket and two weeks somewhere I’d been dreaming about since a geography class in eighth grade — Australia’s Red Centre, where the earth turns a shade of burnt orange that no photograph ever quite captures. Standing beneath … Read more
My passport sat blank in a drawer for two years after I got it — I kept saying “soon” until a friend called me out at dinner, and we booked flights to Australia that night; I barely slept. Nothing quite prepared me for the moment the plane touched down and I stepped into the raw, … Read more
