Arashiyama sits on the western edge of Kyoto and is one of the city’s most popular districts for visitors. People come for the famous bamboo forest, historically preserved streets, Zen temples, the monkey park, and the iconic Togetsukyo Bridge that crosses the Katsura River. Although there is more than enough to fill two full days, most travellers visit on a single‑day trip since Arashiyama is a little removed from central Kyoto. That makes a focused one‑day itinerary a smart

If you’ve ever tried to book a campground in Banff or Jasper, you already know that release day is a whole thing . The demand is huge, the system moves fast, and every year it feels a little harder to secure the site you want because demand far outweighs supply . Unfortunately, this seems to be the new normal. Having extensively travelled across Canada and having lived in Calgary near the Canadian Rockies for almost 15 years, we’ve been through this reservation process more t

If you enjoy a mix of ancient temples, futuristic technology, and world-class food, Tokyo is one of the most kid-friendly cities in the world and an exciting place to explore as a family. So, is 5 days enough time in Tokyo? It's one of the world's largest cities, and while there's more than enough to fill a few weeks, or even months, you can still cover a lot in five days and come away feeling like you've really experienced it. We spent five days exploring Tokyo as part of

Sitting down to eat Sushi at our Japanese Cooking Class Finding a Japanese cooking class in Tokyo that actually works for families can be infuriatingly difficult. Trust us - we’ve been there. We spent hours trawling the internet , scrolling through Reddit threads, comparing reviews, and bookmarking options that looked promising… only to come up disappointed time and time again. So many classes looked great on the surface, especially when we were specifically hunting for a ki

If you’re heading to Tokyo and wondering whether Shibuya Sky is worth adding to your itinerary , and if Shibuya Crossing lives up to the hype, we’ve been there ourselves – and for us, the answer is a resounding yes . We visited Shibuya during our 100-day sabbatical , and the experience ended up being one of our favourite Tokyo memories. Taking in the city from above, watching Shibuya Crossing unfold beneath us , and then heading down to experience the chaos firsthand, felt li

Placing incense sticks by the graves of the 47 Ronin Sengaku-ji is a lesser‑known temple in Tokyo that often gets overlooked by first‑time visitors, who tend to focus on the more central and popular temples like Sensō‑ji , Meiji Jingū or Zojo‑ji . In fact, we only ended up visiting because it was an easy walk from the Prince Sakura Tower Tokyo Hotel where we were staying, and on our first full day in Tokyo we wanted to stay fairly close to our base. What we expected to be

Discover the charm of Prince Sakura Tower Tokyo with our in-depth review. Experience first-class service and serene Japanese gardens at Prince Sakura Tower Tokyo.

7 January 2026 Fun at the ASB Classic in Auckland Today was the final day of our trip , and we had to be at the airport around 6pm for our flight home to Canada. Rather than spend the day exploring Auckland, we decided to do something something a little different, and bought tickets to the ASB Classic Auckland tennis tournament. As many of you know, me and Susie play tennis, are huge tennis fans , and Jess used to play a lot, so it seemed like the perfect way to end our trip

Have you seen those beautiful calligraphy stamps on Instagram and wondered where people get them? Or maybe you’ve heard about goshuin but aren’t quite sure what makes them so special, or even whether tourists can collect them. We’d heard of them too, but it wasn’t until the Japan leg of our 100‑day family sabbatical that we truly understood how meaningful (and fun!) they can be. What started as a small curiosity quickly became one of the girls’ favourite traditions as we coll

6 January 2026 Steps: 9,004 Today we headed back to Auckland, but not until 6 pm, so we had a relaxed morning exploring Oneroa, the largest town on the island, before heading to Mudbrick vineyard, for some wine tasting. There are some really lovely shops in Oneroa , although it is definitely busier than anywhere else we’ve visited on the island, and it has a distinctly upmarket and expensive feel. Oneroa Beach We wandered down to Oneroa Beach and spent some time relaxing b