The Feminine Outliers

To Travel Is To Live!

• Zelda Wasao

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Life is about the adventures you take and the memories you make. Join us while we talk about Zelda's recent trip to Japan. Hope this inspires you to travel!

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Welcome everyone to the Family Outliers Podcast, your dose of fun, life advice, and experiences from two African professional women living and working in the western world. We are your host Zelda Sal,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

And Trollway man.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

and we are excited to have you here with us today. welcome back to, episode two of this season. Yeah,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Episode two. Here we are.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

this is gonna be another, well, this is gonna be a fun one because. As you guys can tell from the title of the episode, we are talking about travel,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I love to travel, so this is going to be a super fun, episode, which I'm excited for us to delve into travel and all that. But first things first, just a quick reminder, guys. I figured I'd do it a little bit at the beginning of the episode. Remember we're in all podcast platforms, all the major ones, you know, including YouTube, Spotify, apple Podcasts, anywhere major, any major. Podcast platforms, feel free to listen to us, watch us

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

any of these and feel free to engage with us. We are looking forward to having more of your emails, your, just interactions, your feedback. It's gonna be fun,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

yay.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

What did you wanna talk about today?

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

what was on my mind was actually, um, I have so many questions for you'cause you recently traveled to Japan, we talked about it on our last, episode that you were going and so, and you are back I don't know if you're glad to be back, but I have questions. I have lots of questions.'cause this was your first time, right?

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Yeah, it was my first time in Japan, it was amazing. Am I happy to be back? No, I'm sad. I was really sad to leave. But it's

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

You have to work so that you can get the money to get out

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So I was like, you know what? It's fine. I'll be back. That's what I saw myself. I'm gonna be

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

so.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

No, I get it. I get it. Okay. So for me, the first thing that comes to my mind is I. What was the first thing that just hit you? Like, you're not in the us if there was something that was like, huh, this is different.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I would probably say when landing. Um, so I have global entry. So it's really quick and easy to go through passport control like it's a breeze. But in another country, I can't use global entry

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

line up and do the long lines, and I was like, oh, mg, I'm not in the US anymore. I can't just zoom past

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I landed in Osaka. the line was, took about an hour and then it was

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

in there. was so, I think I remember telling you it was

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh yeah. Yeah. He texted me.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

the first world country. I'm like, why is it hot in the, in the immigration

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Because I remember telling you in Kenya we have the same problem. So why are we having the same problem in Jap,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

In Japan, like some of the girls who were on the group with me, two of them were on the same flight we were texting and they were like, yeah, I feel like I wanna pass out. It was that hot and it wasn't even that hot outside, but it was, I don't know if, I don't know if they just don't use their conditioning. They're trying to save money. I don't understand because my experiences in the

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you don't feel, like you're dying of heat in the

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Now granted, I haven't been stuck in the long lines, so maybe I'm not be the best person to talk. But then we've been, but we're in the same immigration hall,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

the other side, but I just haven't felt that kind of heat. But that was the first thing I was like, oh my goodness, guys, like why? Why and of course, the line was really long and. it took, a lot of time to go through immigration and obviously now with the language, because

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

obviously speaking to you in Japanese and trying to direct you, redirect you, and it's like I. don't understand

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

it, yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you just kind of uh, other tourists are doing, which most, a good number of us over there were tourists. So

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

was a lot. I was just like, why? Because you know, you're tired.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

a 12 hour something minute

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Uhhuh.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

And I'm like, I just wanna rest. And then you come off the plane and the plane is actually cooler then.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Wow. Yeah. Wow. I'm actually thinking like. You know, this is the first time I'm realizing that okay, I did travel to Belgium, but I the thought of going to a country where English is not the main language and not, I'm not, I'm just thinking.'cause that was, I've grown, grown up speaking English, but it's just interesting how there's a sort of a shift.'cause now you have to rely on body language or signs or symbols and Yeah. That's very, that's, that's an interesting experience. I need to do that. Myself to see how I would interact with people that don't speak the, the language, the English, or it's not the first language, rather. Um, okay, but what about the food? Because I'm sure the food was fooding, if that's even a word.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

He jumps directly to the food.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Because I'm like, uh, I know I'm going to eat. even when you get off a plane at least for me, I need a snack. I need to drink something. I need water or something. So of course I'm gonna figure out like, Zelle, what was the food like?

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

the food situation was great. The first thing I did when I got to my hotel, um, was a good hour away from the

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

The airport in Osaka, is not close to the city, which is good. It's actually fact. It's actually in a little island and they're saying that the island is sinking

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Uh oh.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

so slowly Anyways, the round them act. Um, when we got to the airport or the hotel, obviously we we're tired. Now anyone who knows anything about Japan that they're convenience. So basically their con convenience stores are really good.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Ah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Like you can eat breakfast, lunch, dinner from

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

the convenience stores'cause they put in fresh food.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So when we arrived and checked in the hotel, we were so exhausted we didn't feel like. Doing, like you just really wanna sleep. So we went to Lawsons and we got like, I got ri which is like a rice ball, a triangular rice ball with like, you can have different feelings inside. You can have seaweed inside, you can have fish, tuna, different types of things inside. It's very common thing. So I was so excited. I think I sent you a picture,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yes,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

uh,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yes.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I went and got that for dinner. I got water and then also you can withdraw money. That was the first things I did. So my first experience with food there was my RI and I loved it

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Uh

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

this is one of the things for the of us who are kind of cheesy anime lovers. You always see these ris like, you're like, oh. that was my first thing and it was great. It was honestly great.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Ah. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

that set up the stage for. Further food escapades because we had food tours. We had a food tour in Osaka. It was great.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

We had multiple, um. Like market visits, different market visits. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm very against, uh, street food in sudden places because of hashtag diarrhea, traveler sickness and all that stuff.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you just don't know how hygienic these things

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

in Japan. No issues. Japan, I could totally, like, I was a hundred percent comfortable with street food

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Wow.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

street food was on point, like the tempura, prawn squid, the octopus. yeah, everything there

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Wow.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

even the desserts, like the Taco Yaki, which is like little fish. It's not fish itself, but the batter is in, in the shape of a fish and you can have red bean paste feeling inside, custard, feeling

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

fit potato, feeling inside. All that stuff was so good like food. I think Japan the whole entire two weeks I was there. I rarely experienced hunger. Like I'm used to timing myself, like when I

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

but they've fed us well in Japan. so much to eat, don't worry about it. food is cheap and good quality. And even the expensive stuff.'cause we did have something called like an Omakase dinner which the chef makes different types of sushi in your face, like right there. He like cuts the fish right in front of you,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay. Uhhuh.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

sees sausage right in front of you,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

everything in front of you, and then he gives you the fish to eat and he takes out the next different type of fish he does the same thing, his sushi and stuff like that. Like we had sea urchin in Oma. It was so good. sea urchin Can really go bad if it's bad. It was so good. Oma caste, that was one of the more expensive things. Having a Taki dinner in which like had like Wagyu beef. Wagyu beef is premium quality

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

he made it and he was making that in front of us

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

That was great. of course we had a couple of stays in more traditional style Japanese hotels,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So we had like Japanese style breakfast, Japanese style

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Now this one was a hit or miss. Japanese style breakfast is a full meal on its own. Like it's like. They bring you a whole tray and it's like small, it's like plates of small

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

small.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

be like two pieces of root, could be one piece

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Piece of sushi, rice miso soup is always provided.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Nice.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

basic, small servings of different things. But that's your breakfast.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Wow.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

and you'd think it's, you look at this and it looks, such small, like, literally such small size

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

but it's a lot. So you get really full and granted the end of the visit. It's funny'cause some in my group were like, I'm tired. They're like, I just want cereal or oatmeal or something.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

That's funny.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

the, yeah, true. The breakfast has like, it's always sushi.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

And this is like when I'm saying sushi, I'm speci sashimi,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

there's always raw fish in our, in the breakfast, traditional breakfast, like rice. it's a lot of things you don't know. like tofu

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

radishes. Then other things you have no clue what you're eating

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

that was a very typical experience for me

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yeah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

in Japan. I had no clue what I was eating.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I just made it and if I liked it, I asked our guide what this was. If I didn't like it, I was like, eh. But if I liked it, I was like, what is this I'm eating so like I know what I'm eating.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah. I don't know if publicly Japanese food is considered healthy. I don't know what the, the, the rhetoric is about the food, but I do know that, um, it's in Japan where they have the blue zones where people live. For a very long time, and people research the people that live in those blue zones because of the food they eat. it sounds healthy.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I think it's generally healthy'cause even, the sweets and stuff

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

sweet,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

You can eat. I think that's why I really liked Asian baked stuff because they don't put as much sugar as, in America. if you eat sweet stuff over there, it's good. they also control the portion

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

it's very helpful. you could eat a lot there. Now granted, some people say they lose weight, they go to Japan. I don't, I didn't lose weight. I think I just maintained my

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

You are walking a lot,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

then you're

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

It's

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

eating

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you might be eating small portions, but you eat a lot

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

but it's like,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

portions.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So because you're just trying out everything but the food is healthy in general. Like I think the only thing that is was interesting is that a lot of people were concerned that. In, Japan, a lot of tourists get constipated because you're not used to eating the, they don't, I guess their style of vegetables and stuff is very different from what we're used

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So it takes adjusting, getting used to their style of

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

was like a concern but you just have to go prepared with whatever you need to help you go to the bathroom. sometimes, it takes a little adjustment in regards to that. But the food was great. And I think one really good principle that they have in Japan about food is when you eat, you eat until you are 80%

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Full. Yeah. Ah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

have to, don't get to the percent.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

That's a good principle. it kind of reminds me of, the principle of Ikigai. I think it's about purpose, my association with Japan is they live by these principles that, are life sustaining and nourishing. that's the vibe I get. From Japanese culture. Um, so yeah. Uh, so I want to, I want to explore that. I just haven't gotten a chance to, but I feel like they live in a very principled way, quote unquote, but Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Two principled,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah. Uh, right. It used to be like, okay, it is be a little bit of more fun. Okay. Um, so, but when you, when you said about the convenience stores, I was thinking about my experience. when I was looking for, I was looking for a banana to put in my oatmeal in the US and I went to a gas station and I didn't find there was no fruit. The guy was like, no, we don't sell any bananas. I was like, oh my goodness. And I, I couldn't go to a grocery store, the gas station was nearest. Imagine eating from the gas station. No offense Shout out. But it's good for gas. okay. No, that's really cool. how long have you been planning the trip? How long? Because I know you have been thinking about it, but how long has it been since you thought about going to Japan and actually going to Japan?

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Oh, I think I thought about going to Japan a few years ago, but

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Hmm,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

to wait for the right time. I'm really glad I went with this group. I went with flashback. it was a really, I. So basically all I needed to do was pay and they do the planning for you. The only other planning I do is we have free time, so, but we're not a lot, but we, they try to put in a lot, they try to put in free time for

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

that was when I just have to figure out what I wanted to do and I already knew what I wanted to do based off my interests and based on what I see.'cause I watch, YouTube vlogs of some, Africans like, Harriet Harper, Ila, Sunday Love, so, well, she's African American. Who else do I watch? Ko, she's, black British who live in Japan. So I always see some of the things they suggest and things I think I'd enjoy.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

thing to figure out what I wanted to do. I kind of knew what I wanted to

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

The only trick is actually getting, is actually get, getting the stuff and doing stuff because this is where it becomes tricky because Japan is obviously, they speak Japanese and. The handwriting might be kanji. so you can't understand it.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

is not foreign or friendly in regards to their main

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

There's a lot of other websites they have, particularly for

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

To make things easier, but a lot of these are third party,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

where you can book

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

But if you want to go to a certain attraction, you need to buy stuff months in advance.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

if you're going during busy season, you have to, if you go directly to the website, you have to be ready to navigate the website in full Japanese.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Ah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

And that's where it gets tricky.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

tricky.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

my train card on my, um, my phone, my sweeter card, and I knew I could get it on my phone because I watched a blog of someone going to Japan and they

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

But I didn't realize the whole thing was in Japanese. no English at all.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Wow.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

just blindly clicking

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

because I followed someone, they were like, yeah, just click this, click that. And they just show you like. You don't understand what the hell you're

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you just click it. until you get to the point where it says add money,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Ah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you figure out the signs, the zero, then the

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

sign, and then you can add money and then you can get it. That was so like, I literally would just blindly buying it.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Wow.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

thing.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

it's things like

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I think in things like that, it requires.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

this is something you have to do in any country

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

when you're visiting. It's just thinking about some of the small things that you might not necessarily know like, or that be really

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

And I think it's still easy to do it nowadays, in all honesty, because of social

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

because you can literally just type in tips on. How to navigate

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

probably would've done

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Exactly.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

how I actually went about doing that that was a little preparation I did for my trip. there's certain things in my free time I knew they're not of the tour. So I wanted to go

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I did. example, my, my Tokyo card, um, street carding. I, I knew from what I saw in people on YouTube that you needed an international driver's license

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Ah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

to be able to do it. So I had to go to get international driver's license'cause I planned in advance.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I think it's important to think if there's certain activities you want to

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you're traveling to and see what are the chances of you buying tickets there versus. tickets when you are still in your home country and what do you need

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

so you don't go there and you're blindsided and you just miss out on opportunities.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

No, that's a very good, that was, that's a very good point. The other thing that came to mind was, the charging ports or power supply. was it similar to the us?

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I think they have two prongs. But the charging, The voltage is a bit

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh, okay. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

or something. For me that doesn't bother me because I have an international adopter

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

okay. Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

changes based on which country. So depending on which country I go to, I just put, put it in and

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh yes, I saw that one. I saw. Did you get that on Amazon? This is Bezos. Shout out. Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So I have

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

that helps So I don't need to think about

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

the voltage thing and stuff because I just plug in my stuff to that adapter thing.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh, no, that's really cool. No, that, that's a, that's a good, that's a good point you can take care of things while you're in the home, in your home country before you travel. Uh, what is, what is flashback? Like how, like what, what's their concept?

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Oh. It's a travel, it's a tour travel company, and it's mostly for like solo travelers who would like to go in a

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

like, and it does it by age.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Uhhuh.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I like that because I didn't want to be stuck with a bunch of 18 years,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah. Yeah. Shout out.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So that's what I like that does it by age. And then also it has a kind of a concept of more luxury

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So when you go, when it comes to like booking tours, you can get tours, with companies that are. Different

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

if you want basic, you can get basic. If you want middle, you can get middle. It just depends on what you

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So I liked flashbacks'cause they would have like take us to four five star hotels. And it's more like comfortable and

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

that. Um, you just know you'll have like, you get a lot more, it's more comfortable. Like it's people who want to travel and travel

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

And also it's catered to. Like, as I said, they have the different ages and like people in their thirties and they have different ages thirties, forties,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

like that. So I liked that because it was people I could like relate with people

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

And then the people who were women who were like slightly older than me, I learned so much, learn so much from them.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

such, I really loved my

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

and I was scared because this was, I was going and did not know anyone.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

everyone in that group went and did not know anyone,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

but we became such great buddies in the

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

it was a really good group. Of course, there's one or two people you don't like.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

just like, eh.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

'cause personalities clash and stuff like that. But it was a really great group and I'm glad I did it. I was really nervous because I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna get along with people.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I didn't plan in advance, so I ended up having a

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

'cause when I asked them when it's time for me to not have a roommate, it was too late.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So. I mean, that's one of the other things, if you go on a tour plan, if you wanna have a remission or have a roommate. when I think about it, part of the reason why I, I initially hesitated about the roommate I mean, getting, not having a roommate is because, well, it's more expensive, but I. Regardless of the expense. I was like, oh, that means I'll be slightly lonely. know.'cause

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I'll just back to my room. I dunno if I'll have people to hang out with. And it was farther from the truth. Like we would communicate on the group. Like people would be like, Hey, I'm going to so and so you guys, anyone wants to join? Oh, hey, this is my plan for so and so. Does anyone want to

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

that way we would still hang out with each other and get stuff to do because you'd find someone in the group would want to do similar

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

You like to do?

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I wish I had my own room. I didn't have, I had a roommate and she was

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

but then I think our days were so packed

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

end of the day, you're so exhausted, you kind of just wanna go back to your own room,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

but then you go back to your room with someone else.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah. You're like, oh, okay. Yes. Yeah. Oh.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

that was, the only thing, like next time I'll definitely do more group

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

likely I'll do a lot more with flashback because I really enjoyed their vibe

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

everything,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

That's good.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

but I just feel like I definitely would have my own room. it was a group. It gives a great, it was such a great concept and I think people who want to do group

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

consider it.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay. How does it differ from a solo trip? Because, like do you think you would have done, I. I don't know whether it's explored more or had more freedom if you just had gone to Japan for yourself and just explored it.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Uh, so, you know, I think this, this depends. It depends on what you want. To what you want. In

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

You might have had more freedom you're doing a solo

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

some of the ways to navigate that is some of a lot, some of these tour groups give you

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

if you have other things you want to do that are not part of the tour, you have time to do within. free time,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

they don't bombard you day to day.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I mean, well, I would probably say 70% of your time you spend with a

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

but maybe you have 30%, to 30% free

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

so you can do that stuff in there.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

But a lot of us would come either a day earlier or leave a couple of days.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So you still have time to get to do your solo adventures of certain things that you might not be part of the

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you wanna

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So I think that's like an important thing to

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Um,'cause so you don't necessarily have to, but it's, so I think the thing about going on a group tour, depending on which country you are in. Is if you're going to a country that is English speaking or, I mean, sorry, let me just correct myself. I don't know which country you guys are listening for, but I assume you, know English if you listening to this podcast and watching us, but

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

speaks your home. Like language or you speak the same language, it might be easier for you to, it might not be as hard for you to go there solo and do things on your own, but sometimes it's helpful. But when you go to a country that doesn't speak the language, I personally feel like having someone there to help navigate certain

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

can be much

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right?

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

because also the Japanese system, and as much as it's easy, it's also not the easiest. It's easy, but not easy,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

bureaucratic. There's certain things, still require paper and stuff like that, or there's certain things that just don't make sense.'cause for example, I can't top up my, um, can top up my sweeter card on the wallets my phone. On the phone. But then if we have the physical

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you have to go to the actual train station and top up with cash.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Ooh. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

card. You, I'm. If you are coming from here, you might think that you can just, um. Do, like, just do a

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

some of those things that you wouldn't know, you know, some nuances. So having a guide definitely helped us out because also I, you know how I said like they, I saying how they really strict and follow rules in

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

certain things you would never know. They're, they're not intuitive because they're not part of our culture. So the guide is one who can help be like, Hey, stand on the left. Leave, make sure the right is available for people who want to walk up the escalator and down the escalator, blah,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Then it switches. Sometimes it's on the right, depending if you're on in Osaka or Tokyo, things like that that you wouldn't know. Or like if you're going to an onsen, how to show that you're actually in the onsen. Like if it's a private

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you wouldn't know some of these things. So the guide definitely made our lives so much

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

having booking the tour.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Like you didn't have to be stressed out thinking about that. I think that's one of the aspects about group two is that I love, because personally speaking, I don't wanna be stressed out on vacation and or like extra stressed

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So having the two already planned. Like you already, they already planned transportation and stuff like that. I mean, we use the trains, we use public transport and stuff like that

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

but they already have their cards ready for you. They already know like, this is a plan. This is how we're gonna get there. This is what we're gonna do. Sometimes we have private transportation. It just makes your life so much

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

and I think the best way to navigate that is look at the, the tour company you are using and does it hit the major areas you want to go

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

If it doesn't, maybe choose because there's so many companies out there, so look for some other

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

That fits your

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

because if it hits the major areas you're going to, you'll still be able to see what you wanna see, especially if they have free time. And then also the whole thing about spending extra time, as I said, you could easily just stray extra time afterwards. And it's funny because I stayed there a whole four or five days the tour ended on Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday. I left on Sunday,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I still had extra five days, and by that time I was so much more comfortable because I knew how to use a train system.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

knew how to

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you know, ZY, is like, hello. I mean, it was just like, thank you very much.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Good morning, Ohio Zy and things like that. So I knew how to do basic stuff,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

much more comfortable being on my

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I felt like I could tackle it more, so that's why I stayed extra days.'cause there certain things that I wanted to get done that I couldn't get done when I was on,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

With the tour? Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

some other people, other things come up and like, you wanna join other people? Do

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you're like, yeah, I still have time to do X, Y, or Z. So I think that's, in cases like that, it helps reduce planning.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Last thing I would say is for me, because I live, you know, by myself, I'm used to being quote unquote alone.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

It kind of is like when I travel, I don't necessarily want to travel by myself

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

'cause I'm like, I'm really used to having that feeling of being by

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

it's like when I go, I would rather have people and enjoy the experience

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yeah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

because I don't need to like, it's not as if I'm escaping from people and trying to

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yeah. Like try and be on your own and isolated.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

adventure. Exactly. It's like I have that peace. Quietness here at home. So

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I need, so I think for me personally, travel is much enjoyable with other

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

and I realized that, and I, this was a really great tour for me to realize,'cause I, I guess I, as I told you, I was concerned. I'm not sure how it's gonna get along with people and all that

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

And it's fine'cause you won't get along with everyone, but you'll get along with some people and it still makes it worth

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right. Yeah, no, exactly.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Ah, man. No, that's really good. That's really good. I like the part about yeah, going for the tour so that it gets you comfortable, especially when they're not speaking the language that you are used to or you speak in your home wherever you stay. because that is a, that is a very good point because I, I think even now that I think about it for the places I. The places that I, um, I haven't considered going yet. It's because they don't speak. Uh, English or they, they don't speak English, which I'm, that's, you know, I speak English. And then the other thing is just the culture maybe just feels culturally different. And also I feel like there are some countries that are heavily advertised, like France, Italy, Germany. So even if. I don't speak German. I'm just like, somehow I feel like I know, like I'll be okay. Like I'll just be like, I don't know. I'll, I'll speak something. Because it's like, like it's just, they're just so heavily advertised and now you're making me realize like I. Oh wait, I can still go to these other countries where I feel I will be lost because I don't know how to tell someone I wanna go to the bathroom or something. Um, so, but if I can do it in sort of this approach of with a tour guide, uh, then it will be more helpful and also. One thing of making me realize when you said the flashback has different packages, like basic, whatever, luxury, Supreme, I don't know what else other packages they have, but then I, I realized that if you're carrying a mentality of like. Let's say you're a person who maybe can't, you don't have the, a high budget, or maybe you're a student.'cause that's the mentality that I think I'm having with initially was like, oh, you know, I need to go there on a budget and wait. I'm like, no, I'm not a student anymore, so why am I trying to struggle for just the sake of struggling? Um, so now I'm, it's more like. If you decide to travel, think of it as an educational experience and like you want to get something out of it. Not like you just wanna touch the ground in Japan and then just be there for three days because it's tough and then you just like head out. Um, at least personally I'm starting to realize the type of travel I want is quality versus just touching places, if that makes sense. Yeah. So you just, you had me thinking like, ah. That is, that is good. I dunno. I like it.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Yeah, flashback is good with quality. I mean, I don't know if they have different basic levels, but, um, I think what I meant to say is other companies, there's so many different companies for different

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Ah, okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

and there and there are some companies that do have different levels.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I think like you can find what you want in all honesty. And yeah, it's true like quality, quantity, it just depends on what you want to

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Exactly.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

um, because there's certain, there's certain places you go to you're just literally going to. Chill by the beach. Like if you're going you wanna go to a resort and just chill by the beach, that's a valid vacation.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

true.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

And that's, you also, it's a different type of vacation, but you need that sometimes. So like, just depends on what you want. But it's, I, it's so good.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I think it's just, I realize that me, like the tour. I think I'll be going a lot down the route with tour groups a lot

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

because I just, I just find it more enjoyable when I'm, hanging out with people.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

And I think the part of the thing was that I also couldn't wait for friends. looking at you, Troy, you know, one of them who it takes, I think it takes a lot to convince you to travel sometimes. Uh.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

like you find your friends or I don't know, having a kid or this is happening or that is happening. I cant leave the country'Cause of this or that. I realized if you don't wanna wait for friends, just go going,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Just start.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

go

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

you could do a tour

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

know, just, you just do it.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Yeah, I, I, I didn't regret it at all. It, it was, uh, was an amazing experience Japan. Oh. Like the kind of peace I had there. Also, like, I have peace here, but like when I was at the hot spring, the onset town, I was so peaceful. it was annoying'cause it was raining and it was foggy and I never got to see Mount Fuji. But it was so peaceful,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

in like the Your private sen soaking in that hot water, enjoying, and I was so at peace. I was just like, and then I went to Tokyo afterwards, and then Tokyo was like slam, like no peace

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

I was like, Hmm. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

it just made, there's so much more to explore. Like that's why I wanna go back to Tokyo, I mean to Japan in general.'cause there's so much more I would like to explore,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

To experience.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

It is, a lot more. Um, but yeah,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

groups. Consider them. Two companies consider them. I mean, obviously do your research, make sure it's a good company, um, logistic company. But like

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

mm

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I would definitely consider it. I'm really thinking next year, Vietnam, Cambodia.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Okay. You're really hitting those places. That's, that is. That is great. in my head, I'm just the one person who's like, yeah, I still wanna eat Italian food in Italy right now. And, um, but no, I, no, it's, it's, it's, it's really, that's really good. Um, I had question, I had a question for you. What, how did you buy your ticket? Because you said it, it took, you've been planning this trip, but did you have any hacks on buying a ticket or like, did you buy it at the market price, average market price, or did you,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I used my miles, I used my points to get the

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

oh, okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Um,'cause I had points with, Amex Platinum, so I used my points to buy it, which I'm, I'm in the game for credit card hacking. learning how to do it and how to maximize my credit cards to make the most number of points. And then how to. transfer my points to travel partners and use it for buying, um,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

tickets.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

That way when people think, oh, you're spending all your money doing tickets, I, no, I'm not necessarily buying it just my own money. I, I mean, I'm using my points to

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

some of these flights. So yeah, that's what I did. I used, my points to buy my. Ticket for Japan.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Um, and then you could also use like, because you can use travel portals on some of these major credit card companies, or I think the better option also is just directly transferring your point to an actual airline.'cause you'll get more bang for your back if you do that way.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

so that's like, uh, I think one of the other ways of. Doing it so it makes it easy. if you use your credit card smartly,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

people.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

they'll, they'll work

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Right. Yeah, it does feel good when you use your,'cause I also did the same when I came to visit you. It does feel good when you use your points, because it's not like you're spending your, okay, obviously you got the credit card, but it's not like you're spending your own Harding money'cause you're been accumulating points. So,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Mm-hmm.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yes, I agree with you on that one. So, no, this has been. That's good Zel. That, that's, that is really, really good. Um, and when you told me about the go cutting thing, I was like, it made me think of Tokyo Drift. Uh, fast, furious. I don't know. That's, that's the only, that's the other thing. Oh, the other thing is Tokyo drift fast and furious and Uniqlo. So those are things that I.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Yeah, shop uni, clothes shopping. Man, I enjoyed the shopping, you know,'cause the yen unfortunately is down, so the dollar goes much. Was much

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So I went and I, I enjoyed shopping. it's a good place to get expensive stuff

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

because you get it for cheaper

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

and then if you go with your passport, you get tax free.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Ah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Five yen, he gets tax free, which is like about 30 something US

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Wow. Okay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So if you're something that you know will have a lot of tax on it.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Get it over there.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Nice.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I enjoyed shopping a tad bit too much, but I also was also trying to get cute stuff like my anime march,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh yes.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

studio Julee March merchandise. Um, I wanna go back'cause I need to go to like, do more like I wanna go to Tokyo, Disneyland. See, I mean, Disney. Disney Sea and then, um, I wanna go to the studio, Ghibli Park and things like that. There's certain things I still want to do.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

so much to

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I definitely enjoyed the shopping aspects and also trying to get things that are very, you know, I always get magnets. That's my thing. One thing I realize

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

other

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

is I always get magnets because I am past the point of getting souvenirs that are useless. So. buy stuff, I have to know how and where I'm going

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

If I, if I can't, then I'm not getting it. magnets are a really good thing because I can just put'em on my

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

and go from there. But like, so all the stuff at so years I get, I have to be very specific about this is how I'm gonna use So.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah. No fun. Zel. No fun. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for sharing, uh, your experience. So, uh, Japan, Czech. So, uh, hope our listeners, feel inspired to go to Japan.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Oh my goodness. I really do hope you feel inspired. Really try and go there. You know, last, the quick story that I'll say for 30 seconds that I told you about this anyways, Choi, that I kind of confirmed that, hmm, I should come back to Japan. So Choi knows I'm usually, my back is usually almost always overweight.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I try,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

this time I had a duffle bag. But the duffle bag was really small and it was, I was checking in two bags, the duffle bag was packed and I couldn't, I didn't have any more space to put stuff in the duffle bag, so my big suitcase was overweight. I told you in Japan they follow rules to the tea, so, but the guy was so nice, he was like, you know what, you can go and buy a suitcase and you can put, your duffel bag in there, so it'll be cheaper than you paying for overweight.'cause overweight was$200.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

So he is telling me that. But you know, I was just so tired. Like at that time I was there airport. I was like, I'm tired. I don't feel like doing this. And he told the guy, you know what, I'm just gonna pay for it'cause I can't. And he was like, are you sure? Are you sure you could buy the big suitcase, put the duffle bag in, then distribute the weight and you'll be perfectly fine. And I was like, I'm done. I'm just gonna pay for it. So he is got his colleague over and the colleague was like, yeah, it's 30,000. Yeah. And she's about 200 US dollars. He's like, are you sure you don't want to just go and get a suitcase? And I'm like. I'm sure I'll just pay for it. Like I was ready to pay for it.'cause I, I was just exhausted by that time. Like I had no energy to do it. And then there's also a long line for like baggage drops. So I was just like, no, I'm not gonna go through this again. And I had to, I wanted to go to the airport'cause it sat in nice, beautiful places to tour in the

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

then the guy just looks at me and he's like, you know what? For you. I'll just, I'll let, I'll let this, I'll let this slide. He's like, how little secrets don't, don't tell anyone

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have you pay for it. And I was so surprised.'cause as I told you, they, they're stickless for

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

in Japan and this guy was like, no. How little secret you can go. He is like, I wouldn't charge you because ultimately if you count the weight in my big suitcase and my backpack and my duffle

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

they were both, uh, it was the. Weight, total weight.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yeah,

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

he's like just, just, he's like, just go. He's like, don't worry

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

like, ah,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Uh.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

that's my sign. I should come back to this country. Because

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Uh

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

so they were like even nice at the airport. It made me so happy.'cause I literally was ready to pay that money.'cause I was so tired. Like I just was like, no, I don't have to, I don't wanna deal with this nonsense. So, yeah.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh, what a great end to your trip. That was like Japan. I'll be back. Yay.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I'll be. Oh my

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Uh,

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

man, this was good.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

anyway, guys

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Oh.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I think I was just rambling on a lot about this episode, but I hope this inspires you guys to travel more, explore the world more. There's a lot out there and I honestly feel like it's such a big, wide world

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

of beautiful places Of course, there's always challenges that pop up with traveling. I guess I mention any of the future challenges I had, but that could be a

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

That could be different. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

didn't have many.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Which is good. Which is good, right? We don't wanna scare or listen us, and then we're like, no, just.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

I didn't have many. I think it also depends on the country you go to as well, because there's certain countries, depending on who you are and stuff like that might be

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Japan generally, they're just a very respectful society, so it's much easier as a foreigner

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

because they just calm, cool and

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

but just travel, go out there, explore the

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Mm-hmm.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

so, there are more good people and bad people

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

and it's amazing, uh, amazing experiences that you'll.

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Um, but other than that, you guys can reach out to us on what The Feminine outliers@gmail.com. you can also, comment on our videos on, YouTube, which we will enable the comment section.'cause I think we might have not enabled

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

really?

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

comment

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

We need to look at that. Yeah.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

we need to look at that, but we'll enable it. Um, feel free to like, you know, rate us on Spotify. Give us five stars please we can go up in the algorithm. let your friends and family know, or basically anyone who's going to benefit from this podcast. Anything else you wanna say, Charlie?

choolwe--she-_1_04-18-2025_173800:

No, just, uh, stay tuned until the next episode.

its-alll-about-travel_1_04-18-2025_123743:

Yay. So, until next time, guys, have fun, live large, and don't be afraid to be an outlier.