Planet Hoppers | February 2019

February 2019

I've had the good fortune of literally hopping around the world this past month. Did you know there's Uber Helicopter in Dubai and Uber Tuk Tuk in Sri Lanka? Did you know Friday and Saturday are weekends in the Maldives? I love learning interesting and unique facts from my travels. What fun trivia will you discover on your next trip?

Featured Trip Of The Month

TORI AND PAUL'S HONEYMOON IN JAPAN

Itinerary

Full Interview Transcript

Additional Photos

Tori and Paul recently returned from their two-week honeymoon in Japan. They were actually married in June, but heard the humidity in Japan could be quite intense, so they waited a few months and went in September.

"In my youth, my mom would plan the trips. I find when you plan it yourself, you also have the stress of hoping the other person enjoys it. When Amy does it, I just get to sit back and not worry. All I had to do was look at the itinerary every day and whatever it said, we did - no stress."

"My advice to people traveling to Japan would be to eat everything!

Our favorite was the tofu ice cream. It is so rich and flavorful, I wish now I was able to eat more. We had a black sesame flavor that was our favorite. It looks like soft-serve and is served in a cone, but it's so dense you could turn it upside down and it wouldn’t fall out.

Japan’s sushi is done in a very traditional way, but I think they are starting to implement foreign versions of sushi. Living in California, we’re used to seeing sushi restaurants all over and it seems we’re either using newer technics or creating different flavor combinations for the mix of cultures. In Japan, there were a bunch of rules associated with sushi like when to use soy sauce, when to add wasabi, etc. They want to make sure you can really taste the fish and the rice. They have a lot more variety of fish, the kind we don’t normally get here. It was different and good. Also, in the US, a lot of people use chopsticks to eat sushi, over there they use their fingers.

One of the reasons I would want to go back to Japan is because Japanese cuisine is very seasonal. We went at the beginning of fall so I know the foods and flavors will be very different in spring and summer. If I had all the money in the world, I’d go back every season and try everything that’s different."

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"We very much enjoyed Hokone. A lot of the hotels there are traditional ryokans. They serve meals in your room - breakfast and dinner. The meals are multi-course using the best seasonal ingredients. Everything was delicious. I overdid it the first night with the food. I didn’t know how many courses there were and I didn’t want to be rude to the people by not eating something so I ate everything. I learned that you don’t have to do that."

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"The most touristy thing we did was The Tokyo Robot Show! We both loved it so much! I heard it was wild and crazy so I added it to my list - animatronics, lights, blaring music, color everywhere. There’s no real concrete story, it’s more of a non-stop spectacle of dancing. It’s a theatrical performance with a mixture of animatronic robots, martial arts, a mixture of Japanese traditional dances and styles mixed with the crazy side of anime. I would 100% go again."

Where In The World Is This Planet Hopper?

Read about this fantastic trip in next month's issue.

Planet Hopping In Progress

Karen and friends’ New Years in Dubai
Jason and friends sailing the Maldive Islands
Gilliland’s anniversary in the Middle East
Verma family’s Northern Lights in Finland
Loredana and Badr’s Honeymoon in Asia
Megan and Reese discovering art and culture in Asia
Gabriel and Amy exploring Sri Lanka

Women's Day Magazine lists the most romantic restaurants in the world. How many have you been to? Click on the photo to find out.

Valentine's Day is celebrated all around the world. Whether you are single or with someone, here are a few ideas from other countries you can use to celebrate Valentine's Day.