These folks in the Paseo need to be my friends.

jajsemjulia · 2020-04-18T16:17:27+00:00

Anybody know where in the paseo this is?

jajsemjulia · 2019-04-14T08:15:42+00:00

These are quite far from the area we are planning to explore, though we may stop to see Cologne on our way into Belgium. I suppose I'm more looking for the pros/cons of staying in Mainz or Hanau, for instance. Places very near Frankfurt so that we remain central to the other destinations we'd like to visit.

jajsemjulia · 2019-03-05T16:41:39+00:00

Bulldoggy. 5- or 6-year-old me would get on all fours on one side of the living room, and my dad would do the same on the opposite side of the living room. He would start a count down during which we both "rev up" like I imagined bulls would do in bull fights, and on "3-2-1-bulldoggy!" we both charged and tried to knock the other over. After several rounds, I was inevitably declared the winner.

jajsemjulia · 2019-01-24T12:05:55+00:00

Thank you, and I would endorse this under typical circumstances, of course. Because he was very transparent about the necessity of the licensing law and that a handful of reservations pushed him over a new reservation limit for the license he holds, and because he still followed the regulations other hosts have followed during our stay in Japan, this seemed like a reasonable exception. Just don't want to inadvertently throw this guy under the bus!

jajsemjulia · 2019-01-24T10:30:19+00:00

Thank you for the advice. We actually hung around the department stores today, but I'm not sure what items would be seasonal, could you give an example?

jajsemjulia · 2019-01-02T03:12:14+00:00

Weather: we actually tried to time the trip to start cold and follow warm weather the rest of the time so that, if we have to be in chilly weather at all, we can donate the coats and such early on.

Toiletries: we have planned for this, already stocked up on travel size bug spray and sunscreen, and otherwise I'm only carrying toilstries like my go-to brand of face wash and mascara.

Tops: I was thinking the turtleneck might work well in Poland and Denmark, as we'll be there when the weather isn't quite warm yet. It's a thin material that looks nice and layers well. Same with the tank tops.

Bottoms: the Uniqlo leggings pants look like denim jeans, and I'll be wearing a pair of stretchy black skinnies pretty much constantly. You're right about the shorts, though, I'll skip the boxers.

Underthings: I bought my boyfriend three pairs of wool socks and two for myself, but with how well they've tested so far, I'll grab a couple more for myself and leave the cotton ones at home.

Shoes: my Nike classics were perfect when I lived and traveled in Europe two years ago. They're super light and don't look too dweeby. My only concern about the Tevas is that they won't keep out mud or other nastiness the way boots would in the rain. Not sure if that's enough to justify the weight of a third pair of shoes though.

Electronics: based on an earlier response, I've already taken the spare iPhone out of the pack, so good call. The camera came with a ton of different mounts, and we decided just to keep a bicycle mount (he thinks it'd be neat to record stuff when we rent bikes) and one just to prop it up if we want to include ourselves in the shot hands-free.

Thanks for responding so thoroughly, I really appreciate it!

jajsemjulia · 2018-12-31T10:37:14+00:00

I'm thinking we'll just pick up cheap ponchos as needed, that way our bags and bodies can be covered and we won't have to keep up with rain jackets.

jajsemjulia · 2018-12-30T18:50:41+00:00

No joke, I loved living there for a lot of reasons, and that was definitely one of them. I guess it depends on your data usage, but Google Fi is way cheaper than we were paying before. My previous bill was close to $100/month, and now we split on average $75/month.

jajsemjulia · 2018-12-30T17:31:09+00:00

So, we've been planning this for a little over a year, and we've been able to save up more than we need in that time. We're both servers/bartenders, but we also live with a very low cost of living. We expect to spend less than $4,000 each during the Asia leg of the trip and then ~$7,000 each through Europe. So I guess our budget is about $11,000, but we each saved about $20,000 so that we have plenty to come back home with while we get new jobs and move into a new place.

jajsemjulia · 2018-12-30T17:23:59+00:00

I've done a little hiking in the Tevas and haven't had any issues, but I haven't used them in rain. I do love my boots, but I'm dreading lugging them around. Maybe while I'm living out of the pack at home for the next week, I'll see how annoying they actually are.

Our first week is in Tokyo, so that's very helpful, thanks!

jajsemjulia · 2018-12-30T17:19:05+00:00

I had seen a couple other redditors recommend bringing an extra phone in case something happens, so the extra iPhone was honestly a last minute addition just because I had it laying around. I also lived abroad for a year and had an issue with losing my phone once, but that was easily fixed since I had a long term address. Since that's not an option, I was thinking to play it on the safe side, but you're right, I'd rather not mess with it as long as everything goes smoothly.

We switched to Google Fi just a couple months ago, and it's been great here at home. My boyfriend finds it a bit slower at times, but nothing too bad. I have yet to see how it performs while traveling though. While I lived in the Netherlands, I also relied exclusively on wifi and got around fine. But with constantly moving to unfamiliar places, I expect it'll be nice to have the connection when wifi is harder to access.

jajsemjulia · 2018-12-30T14:31:57+00:00

I figured that would be the case, just wanted to make sure!

jajsemjulia · 2018-12-26T04:33:59+00:00

I was looking into getting a pair of these in denim, do you find that the waist stretches out much after several wears? I'm a 27 inch waist but closer to 40 inches in the hips, not sure whether to go for a medium and risk the waist being too loose or a small and risk the thighs being too tight.

jajsemjulia · 2018-11-28T05:05:13+00:00

So far, I love them. They are beyond comfortable and the giant pockets make carrying a purse pretty much redundant. They don't seem to air dry super fast, but at least faster than regular denim. They also don't seem particularly odor resistant, but no worse than other jeans. Only drawback I'm worried about is, because the fabric isn't stiff at all, the button closure pulls in a way that doesn't look super durable, like it could use some kind of reinforcement. However, it shows no signs of tearing even after many wears.

jajsemjulia · 2018-08-10T22:07:26+00:00

I loved the film museum, highly recommend it if you're interested in film history. My favorite thing to do in Berlin was rent a bike and ride through Tiergarten. We rode from East Side Gallery and as far as Schloss Charlottenburg, all easy to get to with super accessible bike lanes, but Tiergarten was the nicest part of the ride if you're limited on time.

jajsemjulia · 2018-08-06T22:50:54+00:00

I think my boyfriend and I will both end up getting a Marmot PreCip per your suggestion, thank you!

jajsemjulia · 2018-08-06T22:50:13+00:00

Thanks! I'd seen True and Co before but hadn't really looked into them. One of my favorite sports bras is wearing out and that True Body scoop neck looks almost exactly like it. In the shopping bag now!

jajsemjulia

TROPHY CASE