Jacqkie | Travel and Lifestyle

I am motivated to continue my Japan posts - that finallll streeettch - Universal Studios Osaka Japan! Remember my (more) love than hate relationship with Disneyland Tokyo Japan story? I talked about how it was the most magical place in the world IT ISSS but how billions of people almost crushed me to death (because I'm half of their height)? And also, the fact that none of the instructions at least the ones I saw (safety ones, no less) and guides were in English ..... they were all in Japanese... Anyway, this time I'm sharing with you my experience in Universal Studios Osaka! I WAS SO EXCITED TO HEAD TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, SOOO EXCITED YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Theme parks make me feel like a guiltless kid, like I can do anything and get away with anything. And wait till you hear the Jurassic Park theme song welcoming you at the entrance T___________T All the feels. And then you start looking for areas to explore and you see more novelties that you know too well.. Like th...

The first thing I did when I reached Osaka, was to .. smell it. Yes, smell it.  It was an exciting blend of freshly stirred street food and possibly the carbon monoxide emitted by road mobiles, and humans, maybe. Variety of odors wrapped into one welcome. Ah, so exciting! True enough, within seconds of walking towards our hostel we stumbled upon a lively okamayaki marketplace with loud yells, clinks and laughs. And then it hit me, "I'm, in, Osaka". Which according to most of my friends:  THE LAND OF AMAZING FOOD.  My first impression of Osaka, was that -- this city seemed like the more human of a city between the four! Don't get me wrong,  Tokyo ,  Kyoto  and  Hiroshima  were exceptionally lovely, to the point they almost seemed flawless? but Osaka, seemed intoxicating, exciting, colorful, flamboyant just like the multifaceted human. Or maybe it was that district I stayed in.  To know about the airbnb place I stayed in Osaka,...

When I started airbnb a few years ago, I'd never thought I'd be completely smitten by it. During my last trip to Sri Lanka, I fell in love with the idea of staying in the suburbs with a local Sri Lankan. Despite having to brave through the suburbs, finding solace in the homes of the locals' is eventually the ultimate prize.  Also, in such a short period of time to know the city, the idea really kills a few birds with one stone.  We did the same in Japan. I'll share with you here on the places that we stayed using Airbnb. In average, each of us spend about MYR 85 - 100 in one night and that's in a twin setting. I Googled to see some of the average rates for accommodation / hostels in Tokyo, and it would cost from MYR 150 onwards per person. After thinking sometime about it, we figured it's best we use some of our money to stay in a real Japanese house with a local Japanese as the host. Tokyo Our first stay in Japan was in Tokyo with the lovely young f...

I just came back from a trip to Japan (Tokyo - Kyoto - Hiroshima - Osaka). From my car, to my household items, Japanese influence is massive if not the biggest in my life, but I had never intended of visiting Japan ever until my trustee travelling partner, Daren invited me to. I did all the research I could and next thing you know - I'm in love. AGAIN. Like most of the countries I visited, and the amount of annual leaves I have, I am only able to explore a few cities within a few days. That means, a lot of walking or travelling! We stayed in Tokyo for a few nights, took the train to the beautiful Kyoto (if not my favourite) and then stopped by Hiroshima for a day and then took the train to Osaka where we eventually flew out back to Malaysia. Safe to say, we made complete full use of the Japan Rail Pass.  Japanspecial.co.uk The number one essential for us was the Japan Rail Pass , which to us was godsend. Especially if you plan to visit different prefectures (or sta...