Race Day!

On Sunday, I ran a race.  A 10k.  Which to many people is not a very far distance to run, but given that before the past six months of my life, I’d never run four miles straight, I’d say is pretty awesome.  I could focus on the fact that I wish I had been a [...]

Read Full Post »

Adventures in Aomori

…can be experienced here.

Read Full Post »

Golden Week//China: Part II

The Great Wall   Contrary to our nature, Ellie and I decided to heed the advice of several concerned parents and friends and elected to use a tour service for our Great Wall trip.  We were told that the Wall was dangerous and that camping along it was illegal.  So, for a relatively reasonable fee, [...]

Read Full Post »

Golden Week//China: Part I

Beijing Three hours, one in-flight meal, and three-quarters of a movie after departing Tokyo, Ellie and I arrived in Beijing’s international airport on a balmy Friday afternoon.  It took awhile for it to set in, but it became pretty apparent that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. Beijing seems to be a city in transition.  Unlike [...]

Read Full Post »

Oh, the places you’ll go!

Even in the darkest hours of December, I thought to myself, There are way worse people with whom I could be stuck in the middle of nowhere Japan. And while I’ve made friends, missed friends, spent many an hour writing emails and talking on skype, in the end, it’s been me in this house on [...]

Read Full Post »

Travel Go Girl Post: Dress for the Job You Want

“And if the job you want is as a professional skier in the Japan boom-time 80s, then you’ve come to the right place….” Check out the full article here!

Read Full Post »

Ho Ho Hokkaido

Check out my Niseko post over at Go Girl Magazine!

Read Full Post »

Sapporo Yuki Matsuri

On Sunday on travelgogirl.com, you’ll hear about the second part of my sojourn north to Hokkaido (a little ski resort called Niseko), but the impetus for the trek was the Sapporo Snow Festival, famous throughout Japan and also…the world! While I can see Hokkaido from my little town, I had never yet set foot there.  [...]

Read Full Post »

Thailand

My two weeks in Thailand were sunny, warm, fun, delicious, challenging, eye-opening, and all together, just what I needed.  While it’s always a little hard to be away from family and friends during the holidays, exploring a new – and awesome – country helped in abating my lonesomeness for home.  The trip also came at [...]

Read Full Post »

Straight trippin solo

In a couple weeks, I will embark on my first solo international adventure – aside from actually living independently abroad.  I’ve booked tickets and planned two weeks of gallivanting around Thailand, a country I’ve long wanted to explore.  I am going alone because the pals with whom I would have liked to travel can’t go [...]

Read Full Post »