Japan is fast becoming one of the top travel destinations in the world. If you are planning to visit Japan soon, here are some of the astounding places to visit in the country:

Osaka

Osaka is Japan’s second-largest metropolitan area after Tokyo. It mostly famous for its great food and nightlife. While the city is unfortunately skipped by first-time travellers, but most repeat travellers love to visit Osaka again and again. Aside from having the famous Osaka Castle which is perfectly located in a peaceful urban park, Osaka’s Namba district is a food travellers’ paradise. Osaka is also the perfect location for an urban bicycle tour, great and famous hotels, shopping, and a tour to Osaka Aquarium.

Kyoto

Kyoto is considered a culturally rich city. The streets are deeply influenced by traditional Japanese culture and most travellers spend weeks travelling the backstreets, old-craft shops, restaurants, ancient temples and gardens and enjoying the tour. The city offers day-trips that include Nara, Osaka, Uji, and more.

Kanazawa

Travellers love to go to Kanazawa because of its Kenrokuen Garden, which is known to be one of the country’s Three Great Gardens. Close to Kenrokuen is Kanazawa Castle. You will also find the city’s historic teahouse and geisha district, Higashi Chaya-Gai.

The city is also the home of D.T Suzuki Museum of Buddhist philosophy, Omicho Market, the Nagamachi Bukeyashiki samurai district, Myuryu-ji (the Ninja Temple) and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art.

Naoshima

This city is perfect for art lovers. Naoshima is the home to a large collection of contemporary art galleries, museums and exhibits. Visit Benesse House to see their impressive collection of arts coming from Gerhard Richter, Hiroshi Sugimoto, SHinro Ohtake, David Hockney, Richard Long, and more.

Why do a lot of people travel around the world and seek adventure? The reason why people travel may varied, but they have one thing in common and that is they love life.

Here are some reasons why people travel and this may be yours too:

To Learn

When you travel the world, you experience something new and unfamiliar and let you learn a new skill along the way. When you see the world, you will be able to learn more than what you learn in school as you will be able to cover subjects like sociology, geography and history that you just mostly read and memorize in school books.

Every destination you visit is unique and you will be able to immerse yourself with the different experiences you will learn and enjoy as you do it.

Helps your mind

Meeting people from other countries will let you see that there are different ways to live life. You may not even imagine how different life is in a country until you visit the place yourself. Everything from family beliefs to work may not be as what you expect and the different setting will help you discover and consider fresh ideas you had not thought about before. Meeting different people from around the world will expand your perspective as you will be able to be exposed to new people, places and cultures.

Appreciate Life

When you stay most of your time in one place, you easily lose sight of what you have and you sometimes lose your appreciation of your home. When you explore new places, you will be able to appreciate life even more and once you are back home, you will feel fortunate about the things you have and the people you are with, which will make a happier person who wants to live life to the fullest.

With all the preparation you made, you expect to have a smooth and convenient travel. But what happens when things didn’t work as you expected? Because at some point, you will have to deal with travel problems. When it happens, it can ruin your happy vacation and maybe even consider cutting the vacation short.

Here are some of the common travel problems and tips to get over them.

Unpleasant Accommodation. You expect to have good accommodation as advertised online. However, you arrived and see the room you booked looks different from the images online. Carpet looks dingy and stained, grime-covered times and grout and some pest crawling on the floor.

Don’t let a sub-par accommodation ruin your entire trip. Knowing your rights as a consumer before you go can make a big difference. If a tour operator arranged your trip, they’re responsible to fix the problem and you have to inform them right away. In case you booked a place from an Airbnb and not satisfied with the place, they can help you find a new place or get a refund.

What if you have to deal with an unreasonable hotel or lodging? As a paying customer, you have the right to complain about a bad service and be heard. If they do not seem to act accordingly, inform them that you will give them a poor social media review to warn people about their bad service.

Feeling lonely and homesick. At times you may feel lost and confused while on travel, especially if your travelling solo. Feeling lonely and homesick can be overwhelming and may prompt you to rethink all your plans for the trip.

The best way to deal with this travel problem is to help yourself connect with people to feel less alone. Although it might seem hard and scary at first, learning their basic language is a good start and introduce yourself to some people that you meet in your accommodation or at a bar. This will need effort on your part and most of the time people will be open for a little chat.

Language Barriers. Having difficulty understanding the local language can be really frustrating. You may feel out of place or a little alienated.

The solution to a language barrier is to make an effort to learn some useful and important expressions in their language. You may also download a language app and practice anywhere. An old-school guidebook or pocket dictionary can be really useful.

It is important to pack smart when you travel to avoid exceeding the luggage weight limit that will cost you a lot. Try these smart packing tips in your next holiday trip.

Old sunglasses case. If you have an old sunglasses case, you can use it to store loose cables and chargers.

Make extra space when packing socks. You can make more room for your socks. Simply roll the socks together, wrap the end around the roll. Then pack them in shoes. You can put three rolls of socks in a shoe.

Space-saving packing of clothes. Roll, don’t fold to save space when packing clothes in your luggage. However, if you must fold, use newspaper sheet inside clothes to avoid wrinkling.

Print important documents. Important documents like passport, ID and your itinerary should be scanned or emailed to yourself for safekeeping. Having extra copies of these important document can be very useful during your travel.

Use Google Maps offline. Simply type “ok maps” and the current map will save for later. This can be useful in case you need a map in areas where wifi connection is not available.

Store emergency cash. You should always have some emergency cash stored no matter where you are travelling in the world. You can use an empty lip balm tube to hide emergency cash.

In addition, book flights 8 weeks in advance. There’s a better chance of getting cheaper airline tickets when you book well advance from your target date. Use the best flight search engines and compare and get the best fare. Flight search engines like Skyscanner, Airfare Watchdog and Kiwi.com are great sources of finding cheaper flights.

Can you actually save with your accommodation when you are on your vacation? Yes! With proper planning and finding the right places, it is really achievable.

Here are some ways you can save on your travel accommodation:

Travel during the shoulder season. If you really want to find cheap accommodations, try travelling during the shoulder season. The shoulder season is the period between the peak and off-peak. Expect that during that time, you will be able to find lower hotels and apartments and even avoid large crowds allowing you to appreciate the place even more. This is also the best way to save on flights and car rentals so you will be able to enjoy your vacation.

Stay on apartments or suites. If you are going to bring the whole family or if you are going to travel with a small group, better find an apartment to cut costs. They are usually cheaper and more practical than a hotel which the whole family can use. If you are travelling with another couple, you can still rent one and just share the cost.

Most of these apartments have two or three rooms with a full kitchen so you can create your own meals instead of dining at the hotel restaurant.

Stay on Hostel. If you are going to travel to the United Kingdom, France and Thailand, they offer great hostels at affordable prices. Hostels are not just dorm rooms for backpackers since many of these hostels these days offer private and family rooms which are cheaper than hotels.

Thee hostels are also located close to public transport and tourists sites like the ones around Australia. They mostly offer laundry, luggage storage, fully-equipped kitchen, and wi-fi just like common hotels except for the price tag.

Are you planning for an adventure travel with your family? It can be a great experience for all the members of the family. No matter where your destination is, it could mean introducing your kids to new locations, customs, food and activities in a country very different from what they know. You want to make your journey a successful experience for your kids. Here are some important ways to get your kids ready for an adventure trip.

Get your kids involved in the planning process

This will help you determine the places they want to see and the activities they want to experience. Since kids do not always enjoy the same activities adults find appealing, asking what appeals to them can save you planning time, money and stress ultimately.

Adress proper travel etiquette

Talk to the kids about the culture and how the country you intend to visit is similar or different from yours. Talk about attitudes and expectations that might be different from what they know at home. Emphasize on what is considered respectful and what could be regarded as rude.

If you are touring with a group, stress the need to be on time, being attentive when a guide is talking, and follow instructions. Also, it would be helpful to do some research on the destination’s food and help them understand the food customs and options available there. On a group trip, a communal meal might be prepared by the support crew.

Get the family fit for fun activities

Get the family ready for physically demanding fun activities. Making longer walks and bike rides part of your routine at home is a good way to prepare.

It is helpful to look for information about common diseases in the location you intend to visit. Before you travel, make sure that every member of the family has received important vaccinations for health protection. Don’t forget to bring sun and bug protection and other handly health supplies into your travel health kit.

Help kids on what they need to pack and why

Help them decide what to bring. Small headlamp, binoculars, notebook, coloured pencils and a book to read are some of the ideal things to bring. These items will not take a lot of space in your travel bags and will allow you to have more space for more important items. Keep the things organized to maximize the space in their small durable bag.

Taking adventure trips can be an amazing way to create a memorable family bonding. It is always important to plan in advance to make sure that everything goes right.

Whether you’re a solo skier or wanting to take a family holiday, Japan is one of the world’s best skiing destinations. Novices and experts alike will find slopes and runs to challenge them, while having the time of their lives. Here are 5 of the best ski spots Japan has to offer, which you can drive to.

Tomamu
Tomamu Resort is in Hokkaido, and is favourite spot for families thanks to its convenient location next to the slopes. It also has a 50-metre wave pool indoors, and an ice village. We all know kids can get bored quickly, so parents love having some variety to keep them entertained.

Furano

Not as famous around the world as it is within Japan, Furano is another family favourite skiing destination. It gets the driest and lightest snow in Hokkaido, which is also why it’s one of the most famous ski resorts in Japan. There’s terrain for every level of skier and snowboarder, so the whole family can have a blast.

Niseko

This is a great skiing spot, but it’s also surrounding by many onsen (hot spring resorts), which are perfect for those who want to relax after a long day of skiing. If you don’t want to ski or snowboard the entire trip, there are also white-water rapids, and quite a few golf courses that have stunning views of snow-capped mountain peaks.

Yuzawa
Yuzawa has plenty of areas for skiing, and many hot springs as well, which is what the resort town is known for. You can take the Yuzawa Kogen Ropeway to the ski trails, and also to the Alp no Sato botanical garden. There is also a sake museum at the Echigo-Yuzawa train station, called Ponshukan, where you’re invited to taste the sake.

Nozawa

The Nozawa Onsen hot springs and ski resort has trails for the whole family, from the beginners to the hardcore skiers. The ski resort holds lessons, and it’s the perfect place to start learning to ski. There’s also a kids park and a daycare/nursery, for those parents whose children are too young to ski.