Jeremy

Jeremy founded Living the Dream in 2008 to chronicle his long-term trip around Asia. Since then he has been on two long-term trips, visited 69 countries, and is just getting started. He is now on a Lifestyle Design quest to build businesses to pursue a life of travel.

How to Pick Where to Stay in Zanzibar – Location Matters a Lot

Normally when we visit islands, particularly islands known for their beaches, figuring out where to stay is rather easy. We often find a property we like and can afford on the best beach and go from there.

But Zanzibar is a little bit different. On the beach side, there is no standout winner of “best beach” to us if only because every beach we visited was stunning. Likewise, you’ll be enjoying the island for far more than the beaches with options like exploring the spice farms and historical Stone Town to name a few. As this island is small enough to be explored in day trips but large enough that those trips will take the bulk of an entire day, figuring out a prime location takes on a few more layers than you would otherwise think.

In another post, we discussed how many days in Zanzibar are really needed (and whether to visit the island before or after a safari). So in this one, we wanted to take a different look and discuss the top locations for visitors outright.

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Culinary Backstreets Tokyo Review – Monzen-Nakacho in Koto

Whenever we visit a major city, we’ve been getting in the habit of booking a Culinary Backstreets tour to get off the beaten track and explore areas we otherwise wouldn’t have visited (and with a particular emphasis on eating, of course).

In Tokyo, we jumped on their tour focusing on the Monzen-Nakacho region of Koto City on the eastern side of Tokyo, and absolutely fell in love with the area- so much so that we’ve even returned to explore more on future visits to the city!

But, as with all of the Culinary Backstreets tours we’ve been on, we have one recommendation we suggest you heed- go hungry. This tour will leave you stuffed for quite some time.

Note: As with most guided tours, your mileage may vary on where you visit on any given day. Please reconfirm all tour details prior to booking as stops may change. But for this one, you aren’t covering a big area, so if your particular tour doesn’t hit every spot we visited, you can always go back to the ones mentioned in this article after the tour is over!

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F.A.Q. About The Trek to Everest Base Camp You Need to Know

During our research for the trek to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, we had a hard time finding answers to questions we thought were of absolute importance. 

Questions like “how do you buy used gear and sell it later?” and “what are the rooms like?” were met with very few responses that did not help us in the slightest.

So rather than putting together comprehensive guides for the trek like our friends at The Planet D did, as we highly recommend them, we’re looking to the more obscure.

This F.A.Q. article has been designed to answer the questions that you may not find good answers for elsewhere (because we did not in many of our searches before the trek). 

Some of the questions included are a bit more common, too, but are important enough or asked enough that we felt we had to share our input as well.

It is also worth noting that our trek was done in the end of November when the temperatures were dropping but not incredibly cold (the coldest night was -20C, but always warm-to-hot during the day). 

Likewise, some of these questions may be seasonal, and we can only offer our input keeping this in mind.

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Post-Japan Depression is Real – What to Expect

Whenever we get home from a vacation, we often find ourselves in a bit of a mental funk. This is, naturally, to be expected- going back to your daily routine after a vacation is always somewhat painful.

But once the laundry is put away, you hit a favorite bar or restaurant for some comfort food, and hang out with friends, you start to slip back into your usual routine just fine.

Unless you’re coming home from Japan.

Every time we come home from Japan, we find that the post-travel blues last much, much longer. The laundry feels like a bigger chore. The restaurant doesn’t hit quite the same. And we need many, many hangouts with friends along the way. Days turn to weeks, and the severity of the depression is on a scale that has never quite come as close anywhere else we have been.

Why is that? Well, let’s count the ways Japan depresses us about having to return home!

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