Traveling in Asia

​I’ve been home for about a week now, I’m back on the right sleep schedule, and my cat is back into her routine. I spent several days with my parents sharing stories and photos, as they are such good listeners and excited to hear when it is fresh on my mind. As such, I decided I wanted to do one more blog post about traveling to the countries that I was fortunate enough to travel to.

If you were considering travel to the eastern most parts of Asia and are wondering if you should do it, my number one piece of advice is that you absolutely should. I know that the long flight is a concern and of course, the expense, but in my book, money spent on travel is always money that is well spent. It opens your eyes to new parts of the world, helping you to understand new places and new cultures while also helping you to appreciate unknown and new, not to mention creating all of the memories that will forever hold a special place in your heart. Traveling is always worth it.

Trust me, I know that traveling to a place that does not speak our language nor share our alphabet is especially intimidating. Sure, my brain probably was a bit more stretched every evening, but a lot of that is just soaking it all in. All important signs were also in English. Many people at least spoke enough English to help us get by, and for everything else, there was Google Translate. Don’t let other languages keep you from experiencing magical new places.

The more I travel, the better I do get at packing. Am I perfect at it? Far from it. But I have learned to pack lighter, and it truly does make me happier. Febreze works wonders, and you really can re-wear things. I was thoroughly impressed with many of the hotels that we stayed in Japan that had coin laundry with pre-loaded detergent in the hotels. This was a great added bonus! I do pack light, but my fault is that I still seem to travel with a fairly full backpack. I need to learn to pack, not only lighter, but perhaps take a little bit larger suitcase. I do always love coming home with treasures!

To help you pack lightly, you could leave almost all of your toiletries at home if you’re traveling to this part of the world. All of our hotels came with not only shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, but the hotels in Japan offered everything from hair ties to toothbrushes to razors. You could really just come with your face wash and medications and be good! They were thoughtful touches that were very impressive!

Japan does everything really well. Especially, public transportation. Trains, subways, and buses were all incredibly easy to use. Before you go, download and add to your Wallet an app called Suica. It’s very easy to add money into and when you get on public transportation, you simply tap your phone to the box. You don’t have to open the app or even double click to make sure the wallet opens; it’s simple. This app can also purchase things for you at the 7-Eleven or at multiple vending machines. Public transportation is so easy to use and part because Google maps and Apple maps tell you exactly which train to get on and exactly what time and exactly which platform it will be on. It’s amazing and makes navigating a new place incredibly simple. (If you’re gone for an extended period and don’t want the added cost of big phone bills, Airalo is a reasonably priced option for e-sims. Your phone is technically turned off, but you can use everything internet connected like iMessage, WhatsApp, GPS, etc.)

On Jeju, we rented a car, and driving around there was really fairly simple (especially because Jessica drove!). In Taiwan, we did rent a car for a couple of days, and while Jess did beautifully, it is certainly a little bit more intimidating. The hard part is getting to the mountainous areas which is not necessarily easy by public transportation. In Taipei, we used the subway and it was very smooth and very easy. We just used our credit card to get on and off.

As for the food… I packed a whole lot of Tums. I rarely needed them. The food was all delicious and tasted so much fresher than our foods. Even after nights of indulging, it still didn’t hit the same way that eating a heavy meal here at home does. Try all the food. Honestly, all of them (well, you can skip the dried fish if you want). Using Google Maps to find restaurants and read reviews was also very helpful. It meant that we could look at photographs of the outside of the place before we went, knowing a little bit more of what we were looking for.

I will say, our weather was not the best. We went during the rainy season. Of course, we knew this, but as teachers, that’s really the only season we can travel at the sort of pace that we like to. In June, in Japan, we did encounter a lot of rain. Most of it was not heavy, nor was it all day, but it was sort of gray and drizzling a lot of the time. This also meant, however, that it was a little bit cooler than the hot summer temperatures they get later on in the summer. We felt a minor earthquake while we were there and barely dodged two typhoons that collided over Tokyo. On Jeju, we also encountered a fair amount of rain, and in Taiwan, we had to stay inside our hotel for 36 hours because of a typhoon that thankfully didn’t hit head on as it had first been predicted to. Knowing all of this, would I still do it again? Without a doubt.

Traveling outside your comfort zone is always hard, but that means the benefits are even greater. Push yourself. Go explore! The world has so much to offer!