Hi everyone! It’s been a while. The last time I wrote was a little over a year ago, with a weekend away in Chicago. Truth is, I have not travelled much in the past year, focusing on my studies and work. All in all, my priorities were finishing school and finding stepping stones for the future.

But as I was finishing my law degree and looking towards the next steps, I couldn’t help but feel that need to leave again, to set my eyes on different horizons and see places I had only read about in books. The wanderlust was slowly creeping its way back into my bones. And so, I decided to push the start of Bar school and work a little longer in my student job to be able to fund my travels.

If we go back in time, to the beginning of this blog made to capture my travels during my gap year, I had had to envision a year full of adventures. And as time went on those dreams turned into blog posts and photos as I backpacked across Latin America and Europe. Back then and now, I had always wanted to discover South East Asia (SEA), the ultimate backpacking destination for so many young travellers. Covid restrictions had limited my possibilities to go then, but with travel back in full swing, the chance to discover this diverse area was at my finger tips. Grinning from ear-to-ear, I packed my trusty backpack again and set off with my camera in hand.

Tokyo and Seoul

Leaving from North America, a layover is a must before reaching SEA. After browsing the options online, a week spent between Tokyo and Seoul seemed like a great introduction to Asia, and more specifically NEA.

Tokyo

Tokyo is a sprawling megapole of unfathomable proportions. With 14 million people in the city proper, and 37 million in the Greater Tokyo Area, the city itself continues for what seems like forever. When looking at the horizon, it is buildings upon buildings upon shrines. And yet, as has been said before, everything is organized in synchronous beauty with almost feverish respect for rules. The metro is always on time, the people respectful and the food, delicious. All this coming from a fusing of modernity and tradition, of technology and know-how, highlighted by deeply rooted religious and cultural beliefs.

And from this comes the vending ordering machines in front of restaurants, from which you order your traditional Japanese breakfast before heading in. Or even the sushi conveyor belts where you take what you wish to eat, eating sushi made by decades-forged skilled hands.

But a visit to Japan wouldn’t be complete without seeing its emblematic mountain, a mountain maybe even more famous than sushi, Mount Fuji. With an average of 80 days per year where Fuji can be seen, luck was definitely on our side when we visited Hakone for a day. The summum of our Japanese experience was probably being in an onsen. A simpler but also better (dare I say?) spa-ish experience, the nudity wasn’t off-putting but just was.

Seoul

After a few days in Tokyo, the next stop was Seoul. The city is chaotic too, but so differently from organized Tokyo. The city is lively, with people talking and smoking in the streets, in a vibrant and looser expression of life.

We thoroughly enjoyed walking in Seoul’s streets visiting its numerous palaces, k-beauy stores and towering skyscrapers. Seoul also feels closer to nature, spreading from the bay and its islands to the mountains crowning its palaces. To have such variety too makes for a dramatic landscape!

One thing which definitely makes me fonder of Korea is its love of hiking. It can practically be considered a national sport! With majestic mountains as the backdrop of the city, I can understand why. Bukhansan national park was absolutely gorgeous draped in fall colours, filled with oranges and bright reds. We were also greatly touched by the generosity of Koreans; with two different people gifting us food on our hike up the trail.

This brief overview of Japan and Korea made us say: “We’ll be back”. The two cities were a great introduction to asian culture and the vast differences and similarities that can be found within it. Amidst all this discovery, there was also a more personal one for me.

While this blog has always been about my personal travels, these next two months will be new for me as I’ll be traveling with my boyfriend full time. While we’ve travelled together before, this is our first longer trip together and I am beyond excited to have him along. Even if I appreciate the simplicity of decision-making of solo travel and the freedom that comes with, I like even more being able to share memories with him.

So be ready for more updates soon as I discover SEA with a sidekick in tow!