Cherry Blossom Adventures

In an effort to improve on my writing I have decided to sign up for Encyclopedia of me which started over at Bella Dia (and which I found out about by reading Laura`s blog here...)… I have noticed though that participating in this has not improved my writing at all and I am way behind really because I should be trying to do at least one a week- oh well, hopefully I will try to get it done by the end of the year!!!

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T is for travel…

I am lucky enough to have travelled quite a bit. Not as much as some but a little bit all the same.

I love to travel- exploring new places, tasting new foods, experiencing new things and meeting new people. I love it all.

My first passport photo was my mum holding me up because I was less than 10 months old. In fact I learnt to walk in an airport in New Zealand on my first overseas trip. Several trips to New Zealand have followed over the years to visit my grandparents and relatives in Auckland.

My next international trip took me to Bali in 1998- this was a real eye opener and while I had a great time I must admit at 13, walking through and airport and seeing the security guards with guns and signs with “Drug traffickers will face the firing squad” and “Drug traffickers will be executed” was a little daunting and led me to worry about the ventalin I was carrying in my bag.

My next trip overseas took me to Japan for a year which I have already talked about so much on this blog that I think we all know I can skip over it. While in Japan that first time I met up with my mum in Thailand which was fantastic and then last year I headed to China for another trip with my mum. I loved China- and would love to go back someday as I don`t feel I saw nearly enough.

My biggest travel escapades after Japan would have to be Europe. And really I probably should of titled this T is for Travel in Europe but anyway. When I finished up uni in Australia I knew that if I didn`t go to Europe before I returned to Japan that I would never get there. I worked full-time while finishing up uni (and I had a part time job on the weekends) to get enough money together to travel through Europe and still have enough to go back to Japan and start up life there.

I did a couple of days in London where my kiwi cousin showed me around and then I embarked on a Contiki tour through 8 countries (Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France - oh and Vatican City!) and while I was never in one place for more than a couple of days I still had the best time and it has definitely made me want to go back. After that I headed to Scotland to see my bestfriend Cat…10 days in Scotland, mainly in Edinburgh but also in Crieff & The Isle of Skye.

It isn`t just international travel I love. Our trips around Japan to places like Okinawa, Fuji, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, Kamakura, Niigata, Hiroshima, Nikko, Osaka & Nagano have always been a lot of fun. In fact I look forward to doing a lot more trips when I return to Japan next year.

Sadly, I haven`t seen much of my own country, Australia. Have never been very far North (Yepoon would be the furtherest) and while I have visited Sydney & Melbourne I pretty much only saw the cities. Although if Shun & I head back to Melbourne sometime over the next year I hope to be able to do a winery tour while we are down there.

There are so many other places I want to go. Shun & I have never done any international travel together either (except coming back to Australia)  and he has only ever been to Australia & Thailand. I hope that we get a chance to do some other travel together sometime. I really really want to go to Vietnam, Egypt, Korea, America & somewhere in South America, probably Peru or Chile. I would love to go back to Europe one day too- there is so much more to see.

I think it is so true what they say- once you have the travel bug you can`t stop! I just wish I could express in words how much I adore traveling and how grateful I am to my parents for opening my eyes up the wonders of traveling at such a young age!

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