We’ve stayed in a lot of hotels over the years and Hyatt has become our rotating home base while traveling the world. Most stays follow a familiar rhythm: sleep, breakfast, back out to explore. Reliable. Predictable. Which is why this hotel caught us completely by surprise.For this trip, I wanted to find an experience that […]
Hyatt Fuji Speedway Hotel: A Destination Hotel Read More »
Onsens, pirate ships, and a cowboy-hat YouTuber. Just a normal day in Japan.
2 Days in Hakone, Japan Read More »
I was holding my breath as I watched Dax and Evelyn enter their first “job” for the day at KidZania in Tokyo. It’s a very stimulating mini-city, and not the type of place Dax typically easily walks away from me. But my hesitant little guy who usually needs extra encouragement was suddenly waving from the
5 Tokyo Experiences That Blew Our Kids’ Minds Read More »
If you’ve seen anything about visiting Tokyo, you probably heard about the animal cafes — spots where you pay for a time slot, grab a drink, and spend an hour petting something adorable. Think cat cafés, owl cafés, and in our case… a mini pig café and a chinchilla-and-gerbil café. It’s peak Tokyo: quirky, cute, and slightly surreal.
Tokyo’s Cutest Afternoon: Visiting Animal Cafés Read More »
Paris, 2023. Picture this: I’m sitting in a gorgeous, sun-drenched Parisian cafe with Elisa and our two kids – ages 1 and 5 – surrounded by delicate pink and white decor, tiny marble tables, and enough glass fixtures to make any parent nervous. Maybe not the best location choice… but more on that later. The
How to Handle Jetlag with Kids Read More »
From Seattle to NYC to Tokyo: How Coffee Culture Became Our Family’s Secret Weapon for Surviving a Year-Long Adventure Standing outside Glitch Coffee Roasters in Tokyo, watching Evelyn introduce herself to a young Japanese kid (thank you Translation app!), I felt the all-too familiar weight of a thousand questions pressing down on my chest. “Did we
When Tokyo’s Coffee Culture Became Our Unexpected Compass Read More »
Japan was the first stop of our family’s year around the world. Here’s the big picture of what we did, what we learned, and why Japan was the perfect place to begin. Japan was our first stop on this crazy year-long adventure. And… it is an incredible country that we absolutely fell in love
🇯🇵 Japan: 17 Days, 6 Stops, and 1 Epic Speedway! Read More »
Why saying hi, asking questions, and hitting pause is our survival guide. We’re finishing up our time at a homestay in a small town outside Kyoto, and the experience has already been incredible. A slower pace, new neighbors, conversations in broken English and hand gestures… it is giving us a taste of non-city Japan that
4 Foundations for a Year of Family Travel Read More »
What a week in Japan is teaching me about kids, trust, and letting go. A Week in Tokyo We’ve officially landed. After a week in Tokyo, we’re still catching our breath, adjusting to the time difference, and trying to remember which pocket our train cards are in. In the next newsletter, we’ll share a full
Lessons in Independence from Tokyo Read More »
“Any true journey is a journey into the unknown.” — Zen quote A Week in Seattle Before takeoff, we spent the past week in Seattle seeing family and soaking in a calm before next crazy year. But of course it wasn’t without hiccups… Elisa got sick and spent two days in bed, but she bounced back
The Adventure Begins Read More »