We had briefly considered skipping Osaka as an overnight stop and only visiting as a day trip from Kyoto but we were really glad we ended up spending 2 nights there. It had a very different vibe from the other cities we stayed in and offered different experiences. We had fewer plans for Osaka than any of our other stops, which was sort of a refreshing change of pace. We only had 3 things that we really wanted to do and a day and a half to do them in so we had plenty of flexibility. My oldest really wanted …

Hakone was only one day in our itinerary but I spent an inordinate amount of time planning it. It was a place I was really excited to visit and it felt oddly complicated and important to get the plans right. The first decision point was whether we should spend the night or visit as a day trip from Tokyo. There were pros and cons to both options. Staying overnight would give us more time there and allow us to see it when it was less crowded after all the day trippers left, but the logistics (travel, where to stay, luggage, …

We had 4 full days in Tokyo and although we knew there was more than enough to keep us busy in the city, we did want to explore outside of the city as well. We decided to take a day trip and after some research decided on Kamakura. About an hour away by train, we liked the idea of a coastal break from our city explorations. As I worked on our itinerary, it seemed like it would be relatively easy to add in neighboring Enoshima, a small island about 25 minutes west of Kamakura by train. As I did with …

With 4 full days in Tokyo, we knew we could only scratch the surface of what the city had to offer. We came up with a large list of sights, experiences, attractions, stores, and neighborhoods that were most interesting to us, grouped them by location and prioritized them. We knew we could never do everything on our list but we figured it was great to have as a starting point and then whittle it down each day based on what we were in the mood for, logistics, weather, etc. Tokyo is surprisingly easy to navigate, but it is still best …

We started our international travel as a family when my oldest turned 10 and we let him pick our spring break destination that year. (He chose Belize.) Things came full circle this year as he graduated high school and he picked our latest (but hopefully not last!) international family trip before he heads off to college. This one was an easy choice for him – he has wanted to go to Japan for years. I’ll admit that I struggled to get going on the travel planning for this trip. I had never been anywhere in Asia before and it is …

Well, this will be a short post! The goal of this spring break trip was easy. And it doesn’t get much easier than an all-inclusive resort. The main question was what area to stay in – Cancun (inside the hotel zone or not), Playa del Carmen, Tulum. There were a lot of great options outside of Cancun but because we were trying to keep it easy and because it was a relatively short trip (Monday through Friday), we ultimately decided to stay in the Cancun hotel zone. It is super close to the airport and there are so many resort …