Big dreams becoming real tonight

I'm not going to lie... the title of this post was a line in a song from the 2014 movie, Annie.  I only watched it 10 times flying back and forth during my Asian journey.  :p  (What can I say? I didn't like my other movie choices!)

I've been back in the states for about a week so I decided to write my summary/recap post about my journeys. 

JAPAN:

I used Viator and found a couple of guides to show us around Tokyo and Kyoto. I used Viator once before (my quick day trip to Paris) and it proved itself so I decided to use it for private guides. While I can't say it was the greatest option out there, it  DID serve its purpose and proved itself yet again. 

I was nervous about Asia from the get-go since mostly everything is written in characters and there is no way I was going to learn or try to translate all those 你好 characters! We had limited time in Japan and, sure, we could have probably struggled along and stopped every 5 minutes to ask for someone who could speak english to get us to our destinations, but going with the guide was so much easier. They knew the city, they could give us background, and they could translate for us. It was worth it-especially since the rates were good.

Japan was decent, but I would probably not go back. I'm glad I got to see everything that I did, but there wasn't anything that I was truly over the moon for. 

CHINA: 

I booked through China Highlights and I HIGHLY recommend them!! I was in contact with my representative, Delia, and she gave me a sample itinerary based on what I had expressed interest in. We then tweaked it and customized and that was it! (Aside from getting the visa which Travisa helped tremendously!) 

We had our own private tour throughout China and a guide met us every step of the way and took us everywhere we wanted to go. I'm even still in touch with a few of the guides! They were great! (Shout out to Louise in Beijing, Cody in Chengdu, and Leo in Shanghai!)

I think I mentioned this earlier, but I was SUPER nervous about China - from eating over there, to the language barrier, to being so crowded, to everything I know being blocked over there, etc. BUT IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN I THOUGHT!!! I was extremely impressed with China and my dad was too! 

Funny thing about China is how many people wanted to take a picture with me because of my blonde hair. Definitely felt like a celebrity! 

AFRICA:

Yes, AFRICA. I did not go to Africa, but that's my plan for next year. I am currently working on an itinerary and will be going sometime between May and September of next year. I would LOVE for some company! If you (or anyone you know) would like to come, please message me!!  While I would love to go to Egypt and Morocco, I kind of doubt I'll be going since it's probably not safe-especially for me solo.  I will probably go to South Africa - maybe Botswana and Zimbabwe.  Any advice from fellow travelers would be greatly appreciated!! 

My dream is to travel the world. One of the greatest things about traveling (aside from seeing all these AMAZING places) is meeting so many AMAZING people. My heart is happy. I am happy to have explored a new continent, experienced a new culture, learned more than sitting in a classroom could ever teach me, and become friends with some of the sweetest people. Thank you for following me, reading my blog, liking and commenting on my photos. I hope that one day my travels can help someone else plan their perfect trip. <3 

River Cruise Recap and Shanghai!

Recap: The river cruise was alright. It was not a highlight, but it was okay. It was a Yangtze River cruise and we saw the three gorges, the dam, and boat locks.

We are currently in Shanghai. The city is beautiful at night :) 

Today we explored the city and also went to the Venice of China, zhujiajiao:

The city of Shanghai is so lovely:

We went to the Shanghai museum and went to the top of this bad boy:

(Shanghai world financial center)

The only thing that would have made it more perfect is if they would have a bungy jump off this thing!! 

Heading home tomorrow!! We have a few hours in the morning to see some more sites and then we'll be off on our 19 hour journey home! Yuck! 

I'll write more once I get home...It has been hard to blog this all from my phone!! 

River Cruise update

Not a bad view, eh?

But it's so windy !

Tomorrow we will end our cruise and head to Shanghai (our final city!)

Another note: overall, China has been crowded/not crowded. It has never been overwhelmingly crowded as I originally thought, but every now and then there are spurts of crowds. And in those particular crowds it's always push push and shove shove...which I abhor and yet secretly love. 

I'm good at darting and getting through crowds. If someone cuts me off over here I jump right back in front of them. It's an extreme annoyance towards people who do it and yet fun at the same time because I can get away with it over here. You just gotta fight for yourself sometimes. #dontmess

Yangtze River Cruise: pagoda excursion

Today was a lazy, but good day. We're on the Yangtze River cruise right now and did a shore excursion to a pagoda. 

This was a fun bouncy bridge we crossed:

Then we climbed the pagoda! 

A view from higher up:

(You can see our boat on the left hand side)

That one update..

This trip has been fine/good up until yesterday. I think every trip, at some point, has a breaking point. Yesterday was it for me. 

A bunch of things went wrong.... None of which were a huge deal, but everything added up quickly and I'm over it. I'm really missing me some blue skies, Panera, toilets to sit on, and English. (Not in that order)

Last night I had a really good grilled cheese sandwich which made my day a little better... And we got to sit with some Aussies at breakfast today which made me happy. It's the little things I miss most! (Not to mention I'm getting tired of being stared at all the time!)

In other news... 

This is one of my favorite guides ever:

I wish we could have had him for our whole time in China! 

We're currently on a "river cruise" on the Yangtze River ...  Before we boarded, we went to the 
Three Gorges Museum.  It's built to protect, research, and exhibit he history and culture in Chongqing and Three Gorges area. This wasn't interesting to me, but I'm not familiar with the area so that is probably a big factor. 

Chengdu Panda Stop!

First of all... I can't handle so much cuteness!  I must have a couple hundred pictures of these guys! 

The Panda Research base in Chengdu is fantastic. For over 30 years the base has been a non-profitt breeding and research institute for giant pandas, red pandas, and other rare animals. I believe there are about 120 giant pandas and 76 red pandas here.  They also work to educate about conservation! 

Xi'an

Driving in China is CRAZY!! This is the land of no rules/no tickets.

Well, I take that back... Here are the rules that I've picked up on:

Red means stop

Green means go

Drive on the right hand side

Pull over for ambulance 

There is no such thing as yielding 

You can cut across 5 lanes of traffic without warning 

You can drive in the middle of the road whenever you feel like it's a good idea 

If there's not a spot, make one

You can make U turns whenever you feel like it

You can stop on the side whenever you feel like it 

I'm amazed at how there are no dents or scratches on any of the cars. (That I've seen)

I tried to take a video of the driving here, but it simply doesn't do it justice. 

Back to the itinerary! 

We spent the day in Xi'an ...

There is an actual wall that surrounds the city!! Big enough to ride bikes on :) 

We also went and saw the Terracotta Warriors which is one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all times! We even met the farmers who discovered them!

We're in Chengdu now and will be visiting the pandas tomorrow!!

That moment!!

One of my friends was just talking about this... He was talking about the "I'm finally here!!" moments. 

It's when you've seen landmarks on TV or in textbooks and then to actually be standing there in person... it's a complete joy-filled moment!! 

I walked along the Great Wall of China today!!! I just wanted to keep staring at it because it was so magnificent and stretched out as far as eye could see. 

'

I have so many photos of it because it made me sooooo happy!

They even have a toboggan coming down from the Great Wall!! 

We then did the Hutong tour in  Dongcheng district... It reminded me of Nashville. A lot of music and bars :) 

We traveled around in this thing:

I have videos, but for some reason I can't upload them to the blog from my phone. Check other social media sources for the vids! 

Complete 180! Starting in Beijing !

Wow!!

Yesterday when we arrived in Beijing, I was beyond impressed. Complete 180 from our time in Japan. 

Okay... So since we're out of Japan, I feel like I can speak more freely about the experience there. 

I used viator to find tour guides of the cities. (I used viator before to book a one day tour to Paris and it was fine) 

The guides we got in Japan were okay, but not great. I feel like every 5 minutes it was another ___yen to get on the train or go to this attraction or this or that... Seemed to really add up! They got us around, they told us stuff, they did their job... But they weren't good at having conversations. It was awkward and uncomfortable a lot of times because of the language barrier. 

A lot of the sites were temples and shrines... Which were nice, but once I saw 3 or 4, I was good. 

I think the overall flow of our time there was exhausting and very difficult -even with the guides. It might just be my experience or because of the guides, but I was always worried about offending people. (Which I don't think is necessarily bad because we do need to be aware of our surroundings and cultural differences)  There was just an overwhelming sense of uncomfortableness and awkwardness.

So on one hand, the guides did get us from place to place, they did show us things we probably wouldn't have seen ourselves, they did their job, but there was something so greatly missing from the experience there. 

China, on the other hand, is blowing me away. 

I booked through China Highlights and the guide who came and got us was as sweet as could be and very chatty. Right away I felt much more at ease and welcome here in China. Definitely not what I was expecting! I had preconceived ideas and worries about China and it has been the exact opposite!! I was expecting to feel better and more comfortable in Japan, but I'm actually feeling more happy and comfortable in China.

Enough blab... Here are some pics from today!!

Tiananmen Square 

Forbidden city 

Theatre at the summer palace 

Olympic stadium 

Kyoto 2

Golden gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha

(Finally something I recognized!)

Favorite moment so far:

We were taking the bullet train back to Tokyo and all of a sudden this beauty appears. Mount Fuji is so big and majestic and perfect. I wish we would have done a day trip there instead of some other things... Also awesomely enough, "Overwhelemed" was playing as Fuji came into view. :) #perfection

In other news ... We're leaving tomorrow for China. 

Japan has been slightly ...(insert missing word that I can't come up with at the moment), but there have been a few things that I've really enjoyed: seeing Mount Fuji for 2 minutes out the bullet train window, the golden gates as pictured above, and the bamboo forest from yesterday. Me gusta mucho! 

Glad we could spend a few days here 

Kyoto

We took the bullet train to Kyoto today and then walked our legs off touring the city. 

We went to the bamboo forest:

Saw another temple:

... I honestly don't know what all we did today. It seems like it's one temple/shrine after another. 

It's pretty, but Japan is definitely...not what I expected. 

Tokyo

Okay... so first of all, flight over here was KILLER. And I think for the first time ever I got air sick.

CRAZY STORY: I also dropped my phone through the narrow crack right before you board the plane so it fell straight to the pavement. The little guys in ear muffs had to go get it and somehow my phone was perfectly fine!! 

I also couldn't get a full nights sleep once we arrived which is weird for me... Jet lag normally doesn't affect me. 

So aside from the rough travel day... 

We spent our day today exploring Tokyo. 

 imperial palace grounds:

Shibuya diagonal crossing:

Rikugien garden:

Senso-ji -Buddhist temple 

And I thought this was pretty: 

The Night Before (Asia edition)

The night before I embarked on my European adventure I posted a song that I had on repeat.... I will do the same thing tonight. The song I've been playing this time around is called "Not For a Moment" by Meredith Andrews.

I am so grateful that each time I leave for my next adventure, there is a song that lands right into my lap and it becomes the anthem of my trip.

This song talks about how God is constant, good, and in control. No matter what.

Cincinnati --> Chicago --> Tokyo 

Here we go!