Recently, on my way back from Taiwan to Japan, I stopped for a week in Singapore to see friends and co-workers, and no quarantine was required! I used the Air Travel Pass, a travel green lane to enter Singapore that is open to the following countries as long as you have been there for the last 14 days (subject to update, check https://safetravel.ica.gov.sg/atp/requirements-and-process for the latest requirements):
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Trip Report/Suggestions: Ventana Big Sur and surrounding areas
Detailed review of Ventana Big Sur, pro tips for your stay, and suggestions for what to do around the area and along the beautiful Pacific coastline. Click the title to read more.
Trip Suggestions: Oahu, Hawaii
Last updated: 2/26/2023
There are only a handful of places in the world that I love so much that I’d want to visit at least once a year. Hawaii is one of them. I lived in Honolulu for 4 months in 2010 and fell in love with it to the point where it has become one of my favorite destinations in the world, and I’m lucky it’s only a 5 hour flight away.
Oahu has a lot of haters, but I think those people either don’t appreciate amazing food or haven’t been to the right places. I can’t deny that part of Oahu has a lot of tourists and traffic, but I love that Oahu has the best of both worlds (city + nature). Just head over to Kailua, Yokohama, or North Shore and it feels like one of the less-populated islands with the beautiful unspoiled nature and wondrous hikes (did you know Oahu has more hikes than any other island?). Then come back to Honolulu and its amazing food and fun things to do! For those of you who thought you hated Oahu, I hope you will give it another chance after checking out this post.
Two weeks in Korean government quarantine
I moved to Japan in March, and had spend the last 7 months in Japan. While it was absolutely wonderful, especially taking advantage of the Japanese government’s travel subsidies, when the government announced that mid to long term residence could leave and re-enter the country starting October 1, I started plotting for a trip to another country to see friends that I hadn’t see in a while. On top of that priority list was Korea for various reason.
Quick updates to Japan’s Go To program
Several updates to Japan’s Go To campaign, which offers up to 50% off travel.
First, Sapporo and Osaka have been removed as eligible destinations. Supposedly for 3 weeks from 11/24/202, no new reservations will be accepted, and existing Go To reservations will be cancelled and refunded.
Next, only up to 7 nights of a stay will be discounted. This is to prevent usage for long-term stays that aren’t travel such as business stays.
Trip Report: Miraval Arizona during COVID-19
e* here. I just returned from a brief stay at Miraval Arizona, where I went with my husband, a close friend, and fellow miles & points blogger Miles For Two. It’s been on my bucket list for a while as many in our miles & points community have been there in recent years. Thanks to the BOGO + credit card rebate promotion, we were able to book a trip to the recently reopened resort and get away from the polluted air that we’ve been dealing with in California for the past month or two. Since we haven’t been able to safely travel internationally for a long time, this was a great way to ease back into safely traveling with the new normal.
Tips and Tricks for Japan’s Go To Campaigns
UPDATE 10/13: Funding for Go To has been restored back to 14000 yen/night per person in discounts, and the region coupon remain at the same limit of 6000 yen/night per person.
UPDATE 10/11: It seems like Go To is running out of money, the maximum you can get off the hotel rate is 35% up to 3500 yen/night per person, but you can still get 15% up to 6000 yen/night per person in regional coupons.
Due to coronavirus severely impacting Japan’s tourism industry, the Japanese government kicked off various campaigns titled Go To stimulate domestic travel while tourists from outside Japan were not allowed in the country.
Moving to Japan during a Pandemic Part 2: Finding a (Software) Job
Previously, I wrote about my motivations for moving to Japan. Here, we will talk about how I found a job that would let me stay in Japan.
There are various ways to obtain a visa to stay in Japan. The subreddit r/movingtojapan is a great resource especially their visa wiki. If you are lucky and have Japanese citizenship or are married to a Japanese national, well, you’re lucky and can ignore all of this and move onto the practical aspects when you are on the ground. Another path that might be good, especially if you aren’t confident in your language skills, is to go into a full-time Japanese language school for at least 6 months (minimum 6 months to get a student visa), then apply for jobs on the ground while in school.
Q&A with RapidTravelChai about moving to Japan!
As a followup to my post about moving to Japan part 1, I went live with RapidTravelChai talking about the motivations and the whole process.
You can watch the recording on YouTube. I promise a followup writing about the job search and move process soon, I have just been really busy traveling all over Japan! You can follow my adventures on Instagram.
Weee! Asian Grocery Delivery Pro Tips
Updated 2/6/2021
A couple months ago, I wrote a post about Asian grocery/food delivery services. Since then, I’ve been using Weee! the most, though Yamibuy actually has a wider selection and greater coverage. Weee seems to promote their products more frequently with various discounts and has also been greatly expanding their daily bundles. You order multiple days’ worth of bundles in advance.