TANKS Travel Tales - a travelogue.......

Getting Ready for My Trip......  Exactly three weeks from now, I will be at the airport to board the flight for my vacation to Japan. Settled my pet's boarding arrangement and now planning how to ensure my plants stay hydrated while I'm away for almost two whole weeks. Trip accommodations have also been booked and paid, except for one which will be automatically paid before I commence the trip. No necessity to change currency because I still have lots of Japanese Yen left over from the previous trips and I will mostly be using credit cards to pay for my trip expenses. But if the currency exchange rate is in my favour, I will probably change some Japanese Yen to average down from the previous exchange rates of Yen vs SGD (Singapore Dollar) from two years ago.  Work-wise, I have completed most of my more urgent work tasks, well within the scheduled timelines. No hiccups there so everything seems in order, at least for now. My trip itinerary is rather flexible, as is my travel st...

It is generally agreed that most places look different in the day and at night. Experiencing cities at different times as the day wore on is like visiting two different places without actually traveling. In the city of Nara, the streets looked distinctly different between day and night. At dusk, when the streets light up and the shops, walkways and trees are illuminated by man-made neon lights, both the ambience and spirit of the place is totally transformed. It is almost like walking through a time portal and emerging into a different place through the fabric of time and space. Dusk paints a different picture, Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan (2018) Thus my personal take when traveling is I do not packed too much into my itinerary. I would rather take the time to explore a particular city at my own pace and see it in different lights; both literally and figuratively. When travelling, less is most often than not, more.

One Trip, Multiple Destinations....... Those who know me know that I usually do not packed too many destinations into a single trip whenever I travel. I typically planned my itineraries such that I do not travel to more than 2 cities within a single trip. Usually, my trips were planned around a single city. This is because I definitely prefer to have sufficient time to explore the destination, to sit and people-watch, enjoy a cuppa at local cafe, to visit the local markets and eateries and to observe how the locals live, rest and play. The serene and tranquil neighbourhoods of Omihachiman with its traditional houses dating back to the Edo Period of Japan's history was an amazing personal discovery when I was in Shiga, Omihachiman, Shiga Prefecture, Japan (2018) However, in my most recent trip to Japan in early April, I did what previously to me was the unthinkable. I actually broke all my personal rules and traveled to multiple destinations within the 12 days of ...