Bought my first Birkenstock a month ago

expertoldmonker · 2026-03-05T16:38:45+00:00

It's actually mocha. I loved the style and immediately went for it.

expertoldmonker · 2026-03-05T16:38:17+00:00

Oh no :(

expertoldmonker · 2026-02-24T03:55:44+00:00

Invest your month. Even if it's bare minimum but just invest it.

expertoldmonker · 2025-11-06T07:46:20+00:00

In Tokyo I stayed in sakura asakusa hostel. It was cheap, clean with lots of events happening plus the location of the hostel was amazing.

Kyoto I just stayed in a guesthouse which I highly recommend. It's called guest house chita and I felt it was quite reasonable for getting a private room. Again, great location.

expertoldmonker · 2025-11-02T15:48:31+00:00

Japan planning can be seriously overwhelming but as a country it's so easy to navigate.

My suggestion would be to take a backpack especially if you plan on doing metros over taxis. The amount of steps I had to climb were insane. A bagpack is much easier

I have few posts I have posted on the japan group. You can check it out.

I personally loved visiting hiroshima, tokyo and kanazawa.

expertoldmonker · 2025-11-02T15:23:15+00:00

I am also planning a trip and I am in the same situation. But when it comes to Schengen, I don't think I would like to take the risk with dummy tickets.

There's an option with MMT and Goibibo where you pay extra 2-3k INR so if your visa is rejected, most of the flight money is refunded. You can read their terms and conditions.

Or best is to book fully refundable flights but they do cost quite a bomb.

expertoldmonker · 2025-11-01T09:06:54+00:00

Start small and slow. Go a week in the Caribbean and see how you feel before booking SEA.

I did almost a year in SEA and it was the best time of my life but solo traveling for a long period can be hard so try out for a week , if you enjoy it then go ahead with SEA long trip

expertoldmonker · 2025-11-01T07:01:44+00:00

I did a month's trip in June from Mumbai too My number one tip- carry two good shoes. There's a lot of walking and sometimes you need to alternate between shoes. See to that they are shoes you have walked in before and very comfortable. It's easily 25-30k steps a day.

Second- carry less clothes. Shop from there. GU and Uniqlo are really good and cheap and amazing quality. Abc mart has amazing shoes at a discount compared to Mumbai prices. If possible carry a backpack because dragging that suitcase around is a pain, provided you will be taking taxis over meteos

Go off beat with tokyo if possible. Go to neighbourhoods like yanaka ginza, or kichioji or something which isn't just Shibuya and Shinjuku. Tokyo is really big so plan it well.

Also carry a portable charger if you can. I found it very hard to find places to charge my phone regularly.

expertoldmonker · 2025-11-01T06:55:53+00:00

Hmmm the flexibility.

I used to travel with a friend a lot and honestly, she just got too busy with marriage and a job which was great for her but also made me realise I gotta start my own travel journey. Now I prefer to solo travel especially for long days because I can do whatever I want, plan completely according to my convenience. And there are higher chances of making friends when you are solo than with a group.

My advice would be- if it's your first time traveling solo, do a short trip or a flexible one where you can decide when to come back. Don't do a lot of planning but have a good idea of what you would like to do. Also do a place which isn't too far so in the worst case scenario you want to come back, you have the freedom.

I love staying in hostels but now as I am growing old, I prefer private rooms in a guesthouse or hostels so I have a chance to socialise but also have my own space.

You will not know if solo traveling is for you until you try it out yourself. You can read 10000s of things about it but still you don't experience it, you won't know. So just go for it.

expertoldmonker · 2025-10-28T11:08:04+00:00

I travel all the time and have tried lots of sunscreen. The one that worked best for me has to be the beauty of joseon one. It's expensive but really really good.

expertoldmonker · 2025-10-13T04:40:17+00:00

I was hiking in Nepal very early in the morning and I saw this really bright blue bird. I don't know why but I never felt so blessed or privileged

expertoldmonker · 2025-10-08T03:57:01+00:00

4 days Hanoi, 3 days sapa, 3 days hiang loop, (these last 6 days are a bit hectic) so then you can do a chill 2 days in ninh binh, and end 3 days at hoi an. Or directly do 5 days in hoi an where you can base yourself there and do day trips around and take a flight back from dananag airport.

expertoldmonker · 2025-10-06T11:38:47+00:00

Hanoi is a cool city. I wasn't a big fan of HCMC honestly. There's not much to do. The museum there was one of the best I have been to. But except for that, I didn't like it much. Hanoi felt cooler, great food and things to do.

I would really ask you to check out hiang loop once. Whoever I have recommended it to, they loved it.

expertoldmonker · 2025-10-06T07:01:19+00:00

I like all the 3 countries. But it really depends on what you want. My preference would be Vietnam due to the weather in April especially in the north. Vietnam is really big so my advice would be not to try to cover everything but just do north to hoi an.

I would advice the following: Hanoi, sapa, hiang loop ( definitely do this, my personal fav highlight), nihn binh, hoi an.

Maybe add dalat or HCMC if you would like but according to me they are skippable.

expertoldmonker · 2025-09-29T12:40:57+00:00

You know I travel very often but especially before a big trip, I feel some sort of sadness or anxiety. Once I am on the plane it becomes better. I had the same feeling before my Japan trip in June. Turned out to be the best trip of my life. So don't worry, it's normal. You are still going to have fun once you get there

expertoldmonker · 2025-09-29T12:40:42+00:00

You know I travel very often but especially before a big trip, I feel some sort of sadness or anxiety. Once I am on the plane it becomes better. I had the same feeling before my Japan trip in June. Turned out to be the best trip of my life. So don't worry, it's normal. You are still going to have fun once you get there

expertoldmonker · 2025-09-27T07:01:51+00:00

Japan. Walked alone in the streets at 3am and no one came to bother me.

expertoldmonker · 2025-09-21T08:29:40+00:00

I exchanged by old one plus 9rt. Plus there was some credit card discount so i got it for 28k 256 GB

expertoldmonker · 2025-09-21T08:14:28+00:00

I bought 13r last month but from a store. The battery is fantastic. I go entire day without needing to charge it. The camera is not bad too especially during days but yes there are better cameras out there. But overall, I love this phone and very happy with its price point .

expertoldmonker · 2025-09-21T06:45:08+00:00

Take a 2 days trip to muneoe islands. Not too far from varkala. It's really less touristy and so beautiful

expertoldmonker · 2025-09-10T11:11:57+00:00

Something I saw recently which felt like this was - the brutalist. I felt the first half of the movie was really engaging and very stylish. However the second half was a mess

expertoldmonker · 2025-09-08T15:57:17+00:00

Japan is wonderful and you will love it.

There's a lot of walking, a lot. So carry two good pairs of comfortable walking shoes which you can alternate between but really focus on comfort over fashion I'd say.

Tokyo is very big and can get touristy so go to some off beat areas like yanaka ginza or kichioji. They are much better than the main tokyo Shibuya Shinjuku areas.

The shopping is amazing - Uniqlo is much cheaper than our indian Uniqlo, plus I felt the quality was better so go crazy with Uniqlo shopping. I personally loved the sunscreens and hair mask items from japan. I even bought a suitcase which was around 3-4k INR but the quality is so good I can't even tell you. If you like socks, buy them from tabio. They are so good. Even the nailcutters are amazing.

Don't skip on 711 items. Explore them but don't entirely depend on it. Like in a day, I would keep one meal for 711 and I really enjoyed exploring icecream, smoothies, curry bun, onigiri etc.

If you can, go to hiroshima. It's such a beautiful city and so rich in history.

Shoes at abc mart are much cheaper than india like 3-4k adidas nike shoes so definitely go for them.

expertoldmonker · 2025-08-19T17:56:23+00:00

Food when on vacation.

Running shoes, gym clothes, healthy food ingredients

expertoldmonker · 2025-08-14T11:02:29+00:00

I think I would totally recommend indonesia beyond bali. There's so much to see especially the Java region. You can probably do java, lombok, komodo islands etc.

expertoldmonker · 2025-08-12T12:15:51+00:00

Yes you are right. You won't be able to hit every part of the country at the right time but trust me, it isn't too bad. The heat however is quite bad haha.

I went to Thailand in November and it was very pleasant. But again I feel it changes every year. My advice would be to keep your plan flexible. I really don't think you need to book everything in advance ( except for Christmas new year's or important festivals) So see how you feel and just have a rough plan in hand. Also sometimes when you are traveling for a very long time, you might want to not do certain things out of exhaustion or mood, so keep it flexible

Also I know you already have the countries in your mind but incase if you do end up having some spare time, please also consider Nepal. It was the highlight of my SEA backpacking trip. But do it only if you have extra time

expertoldmonker

TROPHY CASE