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Travel Goals for 2019

During our last trip to Japan, my daughter said "I want to see the world." I loved hearing that from her. When I was young (though not as young as her), that was also what I always wanted to do. That was why I loved my job so much.. because it allowed me to visit a lot of places - Singapore, Indonesia, China, US and UK. I have not been doing a lot of traveling since I had a baby and when I was traveling for business before that I realized I did not really maximize all the places I could have seen because I was not that brave to travel too far alone. Well, it is never too late. I have three travel goals in 2019: 1. first time in continental Europe 2. take my mom to Japan for autumn 3. see more of the Philippines So before I go, I need to become more fit, learn to pack light and create our itinerary. For Japan, I will actually be re-using much of our last trip in Japan but in autumn. The real challenge will be the European trip as that will be my first time. I spent mont...
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Japan Travel Tips (Kansai Hiroshima)

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I visited Japan for the third time last April. The first time we went, we went to Tokyo for 5 days. The second time we went to Osaka and Kyoto for 9 days. In the first two trips, a travel agency was used to make most of the arrangements.  I felt comfortable enough on our third trip for me to make the itinerary and arrangements myself and I wanted to share what we did because I spent a lot of time researching and I felt it turned out to be a pretty well planned trip. We covered Kansai-Hiroshima in our trip last April. We loved Osaka so much during our second trip and felt that we had not seen everything to see. Also my daughter wanted to go back to USJ to see the Minion Park and I wanted to see the Harry Potter area which I missed last year. We also wanted to see hanami which was late last year that is why we missed it. I added Hiroshima and Miyajima on this trip to add something different - a dose of history and the Japanese countryside. Here was our schedule: Duration: April...
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Play at Okada

My daughter Emma graduated from prep last March 23 and next school year won't start until August for her. That is around 5 months that we need to look for activities for a very active five year old.  There are several indoor playground options available - Activefun, Kidzoona, Kidzania, Kidzcity, Dreamplay just to name the ones we've tried. My daughter loved all these places but they can get boring if you keep going to the same place so I am always on the lookout for a new place. My sister told me about a new indoor playground at Okada and we tried it last March 24. Emma loved it. We tried Dreamplay a while back and while I think it has better production value, grown-up areas and food, Play @ Okada is just better suited for young ones like my daughter. There are 7 different neighborhoods (officially there are 8 but I am not counting My Party Place as that is for private events) that gives a good variety of play options. According to my daughter, it does not have "boob...
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After seven years

This is my second blog. I created the first one back in 2007. I just came from a trip to Los Angeles where we (in a red Impala) almost had a collision with a huge truck. There is nothing like being reminded that you are mortal and can be gone anytime to remind you of the things you've always wanted to do and the things and persons that make you happy. I was a lazy blogger in my first attempt. I got pre-occupied with life and forgot to write about things that happened and places I have been. In the seven years that have passed since I wrote my last entry, I've been to China and UK several times. I had my daughter. We went on our first family vacation when she was three to Japan and we'll be on our third trip to Japan in the next few weeks. My daughter graduated from prep a couple of days ago and will start first grade in five months. This time, it is not a near death experience that reminded me to start writing again but the reminder that time flies by so fast and our abili...
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