I lay on the soft, luxurious sun lounger, the blazing sun warming my pasty skin. In my hand was a glass of fizzing, dry champagne. I decided to walk the twelve steps to where the Indian Ocean met my private, white sand beach. I spotted an eagle ray darting through the shimmering turquoise water. As…
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When I look at my timehop app on my phone, I see a recurring theme. Although I had a lovely boyfriend in Japan, lived in a 2 bedroom house (Anyone who has lived in Japan knows how rare it is to find and afford one!), lived an hour from Tokyo and spent free weekends travelling…
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In 2016 I felt like I barely travelled anywhere. I can only add one new country to my ‘list’ and that is Russia, my new home. However looking back 2017 was probably one of the most important years of my life. I fell in love, decided that Japan wasn’t the country for me and decided…
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I grabbed my camera close to my chest as another surge of people passed me. A purple pram clipped my heels but I somehow managed to stay on my feet. The shoving stopped, I relaxed and looked up. A gold Mikoshi was lifted high in the air by Japanese wearing bright green robes. Despite the…
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It’s weird to move to a country you’ve never visited isn’t it? Let alone one on the other side of the world with a unique culture and one of the worlds most difficult languages. The differences just made the move seem all the more exotic and exciting. Like any great love story mine starts with…
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Yesterday I went for a walk in Moscow. I walked across a covered bridge and was greeted by a familiar sound. “Irasshaimase”, the voice boomed. I looked to my left and spotted a Japanese vending machine. I peered closer and saw that all of the drinks inside were Japanese too. This simple sight brought back…
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I rolled out of bed onto the slippy, bright blue tiled floor and quickly started getting ready. My back was aching due to multiple springs from the mattress assaulting it through the night and my eyes squinted in the morning sun peeking through the grey, dusty curtains. I was staying in a dirty motel in a…
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The morning light caught my face as I lay in the comfortable bed of my guesthouse. I woke up and walked to my bathroom/oasis and freshened up. Compared to the hostel from hell this place was absolute luxury and I relished privacy and the lack of horny Italian men. Way back when, Thailand was just…
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Utsunomiya is the main city of Tochigi prefecture, a place that`s consistently voted one of the most boring prefectures of Japan. Many people are underwhelmed with this city and see it as just a gateway to Nikko, one of the most culturally rich places in Japan. Don`t wipe Utsunomiya from your itinerary though. This city…
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I’ve always talked about how safe living in Japan is. Since I’ve lived here I’ve not felt scared once. That’s a big contrast to the number of times I’ve felt scared in England and in other countries when travelling. It’s just safe, isn’t it? One weekend I was in Tokyo. I spent the day exploring…
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