Time and again visitors to Japan are lured into booking their hotel through familiar sources, whether those be the website of a Western hotel with branches in Japan, or through online travel sites which do the searching for you (and whose search results are frequently Western hotels with branches in Japan). Let’s not deny it:…
The variety of trains and train companies in Japan can seem complex to visitors, and I’m not going to lie to you: it is. What it isn’t is impossible, and fortunately I am a huge train nerd, so buckle in and I’ll walk you through it. Train Companies The main operator is Japan Rail, or…
Getting around Kyoto is easy: an excellent bus network, two subway lines, and plenty of taxis all meld together into one of the best public transport systems in the world. Let’s take a look. Kyoto City Bus First, get a copy of the Kyoto Bus Map. Hardcopies are available from major train and subway stations…
Not everyone travels the same way. I loathe tour groups, fly economy, and travel light. If you would like to make holiday planning a stress-free experience, this list will show you how. 1: Find out what’s there. Nothing brings a downer to an excellent holiday like finding out afterwards that there was somewhere really awesome…
Do you need a handful of simple words and phrases to get you through South Korea for a few days? Perfect! Keep reading! I’ll start with a pronunciation guide, which will need a little explanation of how Korean itself is written. Don’t panic; it’s very simple. Korean is written in syllables. Each block you see…
Unlike Japanese, French pronunciation is anything but easy to explain in a couple of paragraphs with a mere handful of examples. Luckily there are two kinds of French people when it comes to us wacky foreigners trying out their language: The wonderful, friendly, rural French who will do their damnedest to understand you no matter…
This is intended as a very simple primer for those without the time to gain a fuller vocabulary. I won’t be scaring you with the intricacies of Japanese writing: that’s beyond the scope of this article. Similarly the purpose is not to teach you beginner’s Japanese in any way; purely to give you a handful…
Troo Adventure 