We got to Tokyo Station early to sort out the JR tickets and then wandered through the downstairs food court area to look for some lunch options. Picked up a half bottle of cava, two pastries and a cheese sandwich for Eric, and a sushi bento box for me. Food in hand, we made our way to the platform and enjoyed a glass of cava while waiting for our bullet train. When the train arrived it was entertaining to see the workers come through quickly to clean the cars, replace all the ... continue reading...
Japan: Tokyo, Day 3 – Senso-ji, Ueno Park, Ramen Street
Today we started north, starting with a subway ride to Senso-ji temple. From the station, the walk to the temple is lined with shops and restaurants, and can get very busy. The temple grounds were also quite busy with lots of school kids (we were stopped for a short interview!), tourists, and Japanese visiting the temple itself. We also tried two different melon pan (sweet roll) places. Delicious! We still had an hour plus before we were scheduled to meet my friend so ... continue reading...
Japan: omakase dinner at Sushi Harumi
While planning for this trip, I was looking up affordable places to try an omakase dinner experience. Omakase is translated as "I leave it up to you" and features a chef preparing multiple courses right in front of the diner, usually limited to a few people at a time. Eric sent me some great travel articles and I settled on Sushi Harumi for it's good reviews and reasonable price (12,100¥ or ~$115). After several failed reservation attempts through Pocket Concierge, I was finally able to add my ... continue reading...
Japan: Tokyo, Day 2 – Harajuku, Meiji Shrine, Robot Restaurant
Eric had scoped out a pancake place in Harajuku for breakfast, but unfortunately Rainbow Pancake was closed (first Wednesday of the month - seriously?) so we ended up at Deus ex Machina for pizza toast with (spicy) ginger ale for Eric and banana peanut butter toast with a flat white for me. Not bad for $20, but it wasn't fluffy pancakes. We wandered up Takeshita Street to admire the storefronts and look for some gift items but prices were a bit high and this area is pretty touristy. ... continue reading...
Japan: Tokyo, Day 1 – Shinjuku Gyoen, Golden Gai, Shibuya
After a good night's rest in a bed that wasn't on a plane, we woke up with the sun, procured travel cards and headed over to the Shinjuku Gyoen (Imperial Garden) to eat our purchased breakfast pastries and drinks (from Family Mart). We were able to buy our tickets from the machines to the right of the entrance (cash only) and they had maps in several languages as well. The greenhouse and grounds were lovely but we also managed to get several bug bites that plagued us for days. It ... continue reading...
Japan: getting around – buses, subways, and trains, oh my!
During our trip planning I did a ton of research on the JR Pass as lots of travel sites recommend it. The 7-day pass would have been the best option for us but at 29,650¥ (~$273 USD) it's not cheap. And once I mapped out our itinerary, it became clear the pass would not end up being a good value for us. Below is the total amount of money we spent on travel in Japan: JR Lines (covered by the JR pass): Tokyo > Hamamatsu: 16,880¥ Hamamatsu >< Aino: 1,680¥ Hamamatsu > Kyoto: ... continue reading...
Japan: long layover in NYC
Our flight up to New York on Jet Blue was smooth and left on time. After landing, we were slightly delayed getting off the plane due to jet bridge issues but thankfully we were in no hurry. Uber and Lyft were a bit high, so we used the taxi line to catch a cab into the city (fixed rate plus tip and tolls about $67) to our hotel for the evening, Courtyard Marriot Manhattan/Chelsea. Our room wasn’t ready at noon, so we dropped off our bags, grabbed bagel sandwiches from Liberty Bagels, and ... continue reading...
Japan: Overview
Way back in 2011 we had flights booked for a spring trip to Japan. Of course, that was the year they had the infamous earthquake & tsunami, so our flights were eventually canceled, and somehow we never got around to rebooking ourselves to Japan. When we discovered that the 2019 Rugby World cup was to be hosted in Japan we figured it was a good excuse to finally go, so in 2018 we transferred points for an October 2019 trip. Our flights were booked with Korean Air via JFK and Seoul, which ... continue reading...
Memory Monday: Japan and South Korea manhole covers
One of my favorite things about travel is discovering art in unexpected places. I photographed these artistic manhole covers in Tokyo, Hamamatsu, Osaka, Minoh, and Seoul. It's worth slowing down and looking around (up or down) - you never know what you'll find! ... continue reading...
September 2019 (in a few seconds per day)
Continuing my video trend from last month - here are some snapshots of our life in September... E+L September 2019 from Leandra Ganko on Vimeo. ... continue reading...
Dinner at Yamazushi Japanese Restaurant
Yamazushi has been on my want-to-go list for years but I knew Eric would not be into all the fish. When their website was redesigned recently, I noticed a price increase starting in 2020 so I talked my friend Amy into accompanying me. I emailed the owner in late August and added our names to the waiting list hoping a table would open up this fall. Luckily, we got our chance just days before I was leaving to go to Japan! Kaiseki is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner that features a ... continue reading...
August 2019 (in a few seconds per day)
I had decided recently that I wanted to take more photos of my daily life. We always take a ton to document our travels but days go by without a single picture when we are relaxing / working at home. So! This video represents most days in August (some videos were taken on the same day and some days were missed altogether) but it's a great snapshot of our experiences over the course of a relatively normal month. I really enjoyed putting this together and hope to keep this trend going for a few ... continue reading...
Namibia: Qatar business class
As mentioned in the intro post, we booked our trip with miles into business class. We had flown Qatar once before on our way to Oman, so we were quite excited to fly them again, and this time try out their Q Suites. ORD > DOH > WDH Getting to Windhoek took ~36 hours and two overnight flights, first from Chicago to Doha, a layover in Doha, then Doha to Windhoek. From Chicago we had the Q Suites, which has a door that closes after takeoff (providing privacy from the aisle), plus the ... continue reading...
Namibia: Windhoek
After our last breakfast buffet of the trip we packed up the car and headed south to Windhoek, stopping briefly at a small waterhole just north of the Anderson Gate. ...450km later(!) we arrived in Windhoek. We checked in to the Protea Hotel by Marriott Windhoek Furstenhof – a bit old but comfortable, and a great use of Marriott points. After a few days of very low water pressure we were happy to have a shower with proper pressure again. More importantly, we were back on wifi networks, ... continue reading...
Namibia: Etosha National Park
Note: this post contains a small number of the photos from our three days in Etosha - to see more check those tagged with "Etosha National Park" on Flickr. Wednesday morning we hit the road by 8:45a and were at the Van Anderson gate by 10:30am. There was no line and we were asked to fill out some paperwork — which apparently I was doing too slowly because the woman impatiently sighed and printed out a sheet with my basic details on it before I was even a quarter of the way done with the form ... continue reading...
Namibia: Otjiwarongo
The drive from Omaruru to the Hadassa Guest House in Otjiwarongo was straightforward and full of warthog sightings! He was not in a hurry or his tail would be straight up! Upon arrival, we were offered a triple room in the newer, quieter part of the lodge rather then the double we had booked. The beds were a bit firm but the room was spacious and we appreciated the separate toilet area with a door and ceiling (not sure why they are so open in Namibia?). Oddly, the shower area has no ... continue reading...
Namibia: Roidina Safari Lodge
As requested in their pre-arrival email, we called the lodge from the winery to give them a heads up on our arrival time, and they said they were expecting us. From the gate it's a about a 15 minute drive to the resort on a well-maintained dirt road. A lady was waiting for us with a cool welcome drink and directed us to the covered parking area. At that point we discovered we were the only visitors to the lodge that evening - we had the whole place to ourselves! Our cabin was ... continue reading...
Namibia: Erongo Mountain Winery
On the way to our next lodging spot outside of Omaruru we stopped to taste a few wines at one of the few wineries in Namibia, Erongo Mountain Winery. The winery itself is located at the end of a dirt road (naturally) alongside the currently-dry Omaruru River. Upon arrival we were enthusiastically greeted by the four winery dogs who proceeded to entertain us for the entire visit. It was a lovely day with a nice breeze so we sat outside with view of the vines and enjoyed the canine ... continue reading...
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