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Whether it’s investments or stuff, I’m a buy-and-hold kind of person. I’d had my handheld GPS (a Garmin, function-key-driven GPSMAP 6OCSx) 8 years when I lost it on a trip in January 2015. I was not ready to replace it because it still performed well relative to current units. But now I had no GPS. I… Continue reading Travel Gear: Buying the Wrong GPS

Hakata (Fukuoka), Monday through Saturday: 08:53 People start to assemble outside the steel roller shutter door. 08:55 Voices behind the shutter make a declaration in unison. 08:59 An electric motor whirs as the shutter slowly rises. The scene slowly reveals itself: an office with about 30 workers in business attire. Three are standing at the… Continue reading Behind the Steel Door

I can add Hita train station, northern Kyushu, Japan, to my “delighted” list. By any standards, it’s a small station. A single train track enters town, and a single track leaves town. At Hita station, the track fans out into multiple tracks, more than enough to handle the three platforms and the boarding of an… Continue reading Hita Station

Painting of Buddhist hell, Daihonzan Naritasan Temple, Kurume, Japan.  The things you learn when you travel. I had no idea there was a Buddhist hell. I first caught a whiff of it this week in Unzenonsen, Kyushu, Japan. Hydrogen sulphide, boiling water bubbling out the ground, steam. It was Buddhist monks, back in 701 AD, who… Continue reading Animatronic Hell

As the floor plan shows, the lower levels of big Japanese resort hotels have something for everyone. Last week, in Kirishima, Kyushu, Japan, I walked through the hotel’s amusement area dressed in a yukata, clutching a towel, heading for the stairs to the outdoors hot springs.   People were laughing and joking and drinking. Their… Continue reading Channeling Eva Gabor in Kirishima

Mount Ebinodake and Onami Pond. From where I’m sitting in my hotel room, I see steam vents, and can smell their sulfurous fumes. Further in the distance, over 20 miles further in the haze, is the unmistakable cone of Sakurajima, the massive, active volcano across the bay from Kagoshima, southern Japan. At night, I see the… Continue reading Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park

Yesterday I was in such an intense conversation with Iris, thirtyish, from Switzerland, we almost missed the only bus from the trailhead that day. I get to meet fine people when hiking. These are people who put some effort into their travels. They discover and research trails, they put one foot in front of another… Continue reading It Takes a Village

After  being in Airport World for five days, it was good to spend today, Saturday, hiking in Kagoshima and the surrounding hills. When you hike on a Saturday you get to see the locals enjoying their place.  Early in the hike I was the audience for a group of taiko drummers, practicing their art. I could feel… Continue reading Saturday Hike in Kagoshima