Kyoto’s Japanese tea is world famous, and matcha is a great take-home souvenir. Likewise, teahouses are a great option for a midday break after a long morning of touring Kyoto, Japan. In this post, we cover the best tea shops, plus our favorite tea ceremony, in case you’re interested in a more traditional, cultural experience. […]
The French Riviera, or Côte d’Azur, is one of Europe’s most popular travel destinations thanks to its sunny weather and resort atmosphere. In this planning guide, we’ll offer vacation tips & tricks, things to do, when to visit, and which cities in Southern France are worth day trips. The French Riviera stretches along the coast from […]
Our Hiroshima itinerary offers a step-by-step touring plan for visiting the peace memorials & museum, seeing the city’s castle, and eating the best okonomiyaki in Japan. We’ll detail the must-see points of interest, and map an efficient route for your day in Hiroshima, Japan. The good news about this Hiroshima itinerary is that it’s entirely […]
Our 1-day Paris itinerary is an efficient step-by-step plan of attack for visiting the best of the city’s museums and France’s most iconic sites. It’s a jam-packed day that walks you through some of the most famous parts of Paris, saving as much time as possible while also allowing you to savor some of what […]
As of 2019, Toyosu Market has replaced Tsukiji as Japan’s largest wholesale fish market, which is one of the top things to do in Tokyo. In this post, we’ll offer info about the changes, and whether you should plan a visit to Tsukiji, Toyosu, or both. Tsukiji Market has been serving Tokyo since 1935, and […]
Kyoto, Japan has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, all of which we’ve visited. In this post, we share the full list, ranking these temples & shrines from worst to best, and discussing which you should see and which you should skip. As a bit of background, UNESCO World Heritage Sites are landmarks selected by the […]
Our 1-day Nagoya, Japan itinerary is an efficient step-by-step touring plan for visiting the city’s best museums, eating, and visiting the castle. Best of all, it’s a jam-packed experience that can be accomplished as a day trip while traveling between Tokyo and Kyoto or Osaka on the Shinkansen. Along the way, you can visit a […]
When traveling to Japan’s Kansai region, Kyoto is a great home base. It’s easy to get to several other major cities by standard rail or Shinkansen in under an hour or two, and a few lower profile mountain escapes are also easy to access. We’ve done numerous day trips from Kyoto, and in this post, […]
Focus stacking is a way of achieving greater depth of field by combining multiple photos in Photoshop, each shot having different areas of the frame in focus. This is a photography technique I’ve used sparingly, (most recently in the Death Valley and Big Sur photos in this post) because it’s a bit of a hassle. […]
This year, I opted to visit Yosemite National Park during “Firefall Season” over Presidents’ Day Weekend. In this post, I’ll share my Horsetail Falls photos, plus commentary and tips for those planning on shooting the Firefall this year or in the future. Note that while this offers advice, it’s not comprehensive. For that, refer to […]