Last April, I had the pleasure of visiting Japan twice for two different weekends. Originally, I just planned to see Kyoto and Tokyo with my mom, but after getting some serious inspiration from Neko Box, I booked a cheap flight back to Tokyo in order to visit the sleepy lake town of Hakone.
Read MoreMy dad is an eclipse chaser. Just 5 months before I was born, my parents were in Cabo San Lucas to see the total solar eclipse there the summer of 1991. I grew up with a massive poster of the event hanging on our staircase, passing it every trip up or down the stairs. So when a total solar eclipse was going to happen somewhere so easy to reach, and the path of totality coincided with the homes of relatives and best friends, how could expect him not to drop everything and go?
Read MoreEarlier this year I bought myself a Pentax K1000 and started to experiment with film after almost a decade of digital (read: iphone) photography. This May, while I was in Osaka, I decided to bring my camera along and see what I could capture in the city. I only shot two rolls due to bad weather, but here are my favorite results!
Read MoreMy first trip to the east coast was when I was 4 months old. Since then, my mom and I would go back and forth from California to New Jersey as often as we could, usually twice a year if we could manage it.
I grew up feeling like I was meant to be in New York City. We would always make a point to take the train in for the day or spend the night in the city going to all the museums, restaurants, and parks we could reasonably fit into a short trip. I remember the first time I was allowed to go shopping in Soho by myself so vividly it's as if it was yesterday.
Read MoreJust in case my hair isn't a dead giveaway, you should know that I am very, very Irish. Some of my ancestors made the move to America early on, sometime in the 1700s, but my great grandpa held out until the 20th century, staying in his little farm by the sea through his youth until boarding the boat to Massachusetts.
My dad recently got his Irish citizenship (which I am very bitter about, but more on that later) so my family decided it was high time we finally visited the motherland, dear Ireland.
Read MoreLast August I felt my feet itching to explore somewhere outside of Seoul again. I had heard about an international fireworks festival on the east coast of Korea and decided that that is where I would head to next!
One cloudy Saturday morning, my boyfriend and I hopped on the KTX at Seoul Station and cut across the peninsula until we reached the sleepy beach city of Pohang.
Read MoreThis past winter I received an email from a service called Usnaper, asking if I was interested in promoting their service. Usually I take some time to mull over the idea, but when I looked at Usnaper's site I knew this was a collaboration I needed to make happen!
Usnaper markets themselves as the AirBnb for photographers. You can browse their many artists (with skills in digital and film focused in portraiture, fantasy, weddings and more) and book them for a photoshoot while in Korea! They hope to be an international service soon.
Read MoreJust outside of COEX Mall in Seoul, lies an enormous temple called Bongeunsa. Technically, the temple used to be a brothel, but that's a story for another time...
I decided to check it out after work this week because after visiting it countless times during the day, I realized I never saw it at night. With Buddha's birthday celebration filling the temple with lanterns, what better time to visit?!
Read MoreOver lunar new year last year, I headed down south to the island of Geoje, said to be even more beautiful than Korea's famous Jeju Island. I only had one full day there so I made the most of it.
My AirBnb was in Geoje City, which looks just like Seoul with its Starbucks and fried chicken restaurants everywhere, but I had to venture to the opposite side of the island to see all the sites on my list.
Read MoreI travel on a tight budget wherever I go, and as my most recent trips have taken me to Japan, I know a few things about capsule hotels. My first and favorite capsule was in a small guesthouse at the top of a mountain in Koyasan and I was excited to see if Darakhyu, Korea's first capsule hotel, could top that experience.
Read MoreGolden Week, doesn't that just sound great?
The term is used in Japan for the long weekend that comes from a combination of a few public holidays, such as Children's Day. We have those days off in Korea too, so my boyfriend and I found the cheapest flight we could and headed to Osaka. It would be his first time and my seemingly hundredth time in Japan.
Read MoreSummer has finally arrived here in Korea and has greeted us with a week full of rain, thunder, and lightning. A few Saturdays ago I decided that since it would be raining all day, all over the peninsula, I might as well visit a new city!
Read MoreDown a small alley and through the abandoned corridor of an old market place somewhere in Seoul lies my absolute favorite cafe, orang orang.
Read MoreIt was a chilly October afternoon when I landed at Kansai International Airport on the outskirts of Osaka. I had a tight schedule, since the last bus to my hostel left the bus station, which was three hours away, at 7pm. I didn’t have time to make a mistake – I needed to be as quick as possible.
Read MoreEvery year during Lunar New Year, I try to take a trip. Last year was to Tokyo, but this time I headed somewhere a little closer to home.
I took my first solo trip in Korea all the way down to Tongyeong and Geoje Island in the Gyeongsangnam province. These islands are huge shipping and ship building hubs for Korea, but I was going there for the apparently stunning coastlines.
Read MoreA newly opened cafe near Apgujeong named Midnight in Seoul is whipping up some seriously delicious concoctions, with the help of a little cereal and a lot of sugar.
While you are encouraged to create your own mixture of toppings, milks, and cereals, I got overwhelmed and went with a set item that had all the goodies picked out for me.
Read MoreMy latest trip to Japan was meant to be my chance to see every out-of-the-way temple and point of interest using my beloved Kansai Thru Pass that I possibly could.
Read MoreI have never subscribed to a monthly subscription box before. Every month in high school I would watch my friend get her little box of nail polishes and beauty samples, but I couldn't bring myself to pay for things I probably would never use.
Read MoreIs it really a trip to Tokyo if you don't visit Harajuku and Shibuya?
It has been almost a year since my first Tokyo trip, and it feels like yesterday. I worked tirelessly to plan my visit so that I didn't miss a thing, but of course I now have a mile-long list of places I need to stop by on my next time around.
Read MoreI had three consecutive days to use my Kansai Thru Pass, and I was going to milk it for every penny it was worth. Rather than heading straight to Kyoto from Koyasan as planned, I took a small detour to the outskirts of Osaka, to a town called Koriyama.
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