31. Three Cities We Call Home: Our Local Travel Picks

Join us as we take you on a local-first travel guide across three countries! We share the places, experiences, food, and practical tips we’d recommend to friends visiting our three cities. From Wellington, Florida’s equestrian scene, family-friendly Orlando attractions, and Caribbean-influenced food to Munich’s Oktoberfest, beer gardens, castles, alpine day trips, and hidden modern gems, we list out our recommendations. We then head to Chigasaki, Japan for surf culture, seaside escapes, nearby favorites like Kamakura and Hakone.

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Big shoutout to Allison Gray for generously granting us permission to feature her song, "Off My Mind" (from Ep 05).

Transcript

Opening Lyrics

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I gotta get you out of my system. I gotta get you off of my mind. But how do I move on when no one compends? They only keep me occupied. Gotta break these chains and find me. I try to shake them up so dead really. Would you pull them tighter? String me up.

Travel Ideas From Three Cities

SPEAKER_04 0:27

Hi guys. For today's episode, we thought we could give you suggestions on places to visit if you came to each of our cities where we live. Since we're living in three different countries, three different locations. I thought that we can sort of introduce the cities or the surrounding of our city. Let's start with Tomome in Florida.

Florida Horses Theme Parks And Swamps

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Yeah. I live in Wellington, Florida. Wellington is a little west of uh West Palm Beach, Southwest. We're known for equestrian, actually. How far is it? West Palm is probably 20 minutes car ride. Okay. Out west. And we're known for equestrian. We are the equestrian center of the world or whatever. What would I recommend? Like polo sports. Yeah. I would totally recommend, first of all, if they want to know about my city, yeah, to do anything equestrian. It's really cool. They have from January to I want to say April is polo season. They do all kinds of equestrian events around here. You can go watch the polo match too. They have Saturday night lights, is what they call it. On Saturdays, they have like at the equestrian center, like all kinds of events. They have different vendors there, they have horse jumping. It's really cool. That's what my city is known for. Yeah. And then, I mean, if people came to visit, so that's one thing I would do if they wanted to stay kind of local. And then if they want to branch out to other places in Florida, Orlando is a great place for all sorts of entertainment like SeaWorld. My image of SeaWorld when I was younger was, you know, just dolphins and um whales, like jumping shows. That was I thought that was it basically.

SPEAKER_04 2:19

But I think you really been to it as a family in Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

We did, yeah, we did, we did. But I'm saying when I when we went as a kid, my image of that was my my what I remember was the shows only, but they have a really good amusement park. Their rides are so cool if you like roller coasters. So I actually really love the rides there at SeaWorld. Oh, the amusement park part. We also have Disney World, of course. Uh, we have Universal Studios, tons of cool dinner shows in Orlando, too. Magic shows, really cool to watch, like live at dinner shows. And then they have Pirate Show. That was so much fun. It's a massive place, indoor place. And you watch these pirates jump into water and everything, and they put on a show.

SPEAKER_04 3:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Um, what else? We have Miami. If boat tours are super popular down here, other parts of Florida, like the airboat um alligator experience, is uh really known to be Florida thing.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

We've seen that, it was pretty cool. There were like 200. What did you guys? I think it wasn't Everglade we went to. Um we were told there were like 200 alligators under this like pond. I mean, you could see the end of it, and it wasn't that big, and I thought that is scary. And then we did do the airboat too.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Yeah, it's an experience, it's interesting. When we did an airboat, we didn't see any alligators, that was disappointing. But the ride was kind of fun, yeah. Um, in our very close to where we live, there is a a park, it's called Lion Country Safari Park. Oh, yeah, yeah. Where the wild animals, yeah, you've been there, yeah, um, where there are wild animals just roaming around. And then once you go through that in a car, once you go through that safari park, then you reach the small amusement park area. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

So Florida obviously it's warm all year round.

When To Visit And What To Eat

SPEAKER_04 4:36

I know it rains sometimes, and I know the temperature drops a little bit, but when is the prime time to go?

SPEAKER_02 4:43

I would say winter, obviously, you know, because everyone wants to thaw down here. It's a good time to thaw. Wint summer, where I live, yeah, is considered South Florida and it's very humid in the summertime, very humid. The humidity is unreal. So I don't recommend people visiting in the summertime, even though I did convince Simi and my parents to come this summer when they're coming.

SPEAKER_04 5:12

But it's it's still kind of yeah, it's like the beginning of summer, right? It's not like in the midst.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

It's gonna be hot, it's gonna be miserable, but it's fine.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Yeah, we're used to humidity in Japan anyway. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Yes, it's very similar to the humidity in Japan in the summertime. Yeah, it I think it lasts a little longer here though.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

But what about food? Do you have any that you can think of?

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Well, we have a lot of mix of people, right? Like a lot of Haitians live here, Jamaicans live here, all kinds of Asian people, too, actually. But islanders, because it's just right there. Jamaica's only an hour and a half by flight. Oh wow. And so there's a lot of Jamaican people. I love Jamaican food. It's jerk chicken and it's spicy. Kore go. I don't think maybe some people they do. Um, I think some people do consider it spicy. I don't necessarily think it's spicy, spicy, but they're just so good. We I mean, we have a lot of mango trees, uh, you know, in people's backyards. So mango desserts, mango everything. Mangoes are so good.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

You

Disney Budget Tips And Local Discounts

SPEAKER_04 6:22

know what? Going back to the Disney World, I read someplace that it is more affordable to buy a flight ticket to fly, I don't know from where, I'm assuming from the US, to Japan, stay in a hotel and go to Tokyo, Disneyland, than actually going to Florida, Disney World. Like I heard that it's so expensive these days with the entrance fees, with the food and all that comes with it.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Well, I don't ever eat their food, to be honest. I always pack. Yeah, I don't know if they still allow that, but because it's disappointing to get the food there, it's not even good food, like not healthy at all. And I don't want to pay for something that's so expensive for food that I don't want to eat anyway. So I used to always pack.

SPEAKER_04 7:13

Yeah, I think that's the tip you gave us, too.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

And you save a lot when you pack too.

SPEAKER_04 7:18

Yeah. I read someplace the fees like going higher and higher every year or something, and yeah, that it's cheaper to fly and stay in Tokyo and go to the Tokyo Disneyland. They could depend on where. Crazy. I was wondering from where? Because it could be from Europe, it could be from the states, it could be from I don't know, some neighboring Asian.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

I don't think that sounds right. I mean, they must be like people that stay on, you know, like the resort by or on a Disney World or something. Then maybe that'll add up and then yeah, maybe they mean like to fly to Florida and do all that instead of that going to flying to Japan because fight tickets to Japan are expensive alone, and it really depends where you're flying from. Yeah, for Floridians, it's probably cheaper to just you know go to the one here than to fly to Japan.

SPEAKER_04 8:13

And you know what I thought was cool was that if you have Florida driver's license, then you can get discounts at some of these local entertainment locations, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Like if you're a resident, Florida discount. Yeah, I don't know where else. Oh, I think Universal Studios, probably SeaWorld too. I don't know. They also get SeaWorld gives like teacher discounts where teach I think teachers get in for free, and then maybe with a purchase of someone's ticket, I don't know. I don't I don't really know the detail, but teachers get some sort of discount.

SPEAKER_04 8:48

Is that a common thing for like, for example, like school kids to go there?

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, or Sea World. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:58

As like a school trip.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Oh, as a school trip? No, not really. Okay. No, that's not very common. I mean, uh, my kids have gone to Universal Studios through school. Yeah, okay. Like it was their end-of-year thing. It's like a middle school end-of-year trip for Universal. Emicole went for her fifth grade end of year to Animal Kingdom at Disney with her friends. Yeah, I mean, I think Orlando is if people are visiting to entertain your kids, yeah. Orlando is a very good place to go for family-oriented, fun things. They have a lot of hotels that have massive indoor water parks or you know, in Orlando too. Yeah. But if you want more of the beachy thing, obviously I recommend I didn't mention, but beach is you got a beach in Florida. Beaches. Yeah, but kayaking is fun. Paddle boating is fun. Yeah, beachy activities are fun.

Traveling Florida With A Baby

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Have you guys planned what you would do when Sumi's there? No. Ideas? No. Oh, I guess it's different when you have a baby.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Yeah, you have to accommodate for the little. And it's not like babies can understand a lot, so yeah. Simple thing. I think that he needs to swim a little bit in the pool and just say, Oh my gosh, he floated in Florida in the pool. We will have to be. He might go home learning how to swim. I mean, by then my kids were, I think, swimming. Yeah, they were definitely swimming.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

He doesn't like the water.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Still?

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

We should just dunk him. That's what I did with MEY. I know, but I can't.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

He's not gonna remember it. I feel like it's gonna traumatize him and he'll never go into the water again.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Okay, so we won't do that. We can have him float in a baby floaty. Yeah, that would be fun for him with the shade and everything.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

Yeah, hopefully. Yeah, that'll be nice because you guys live in a community. They have a community pool.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Well, we have one in our backyard too. So they're gonna be a good one. Oh, yeah, that's true. I forgot. You can just float there. So there's no distraction, you know? Yeah. That's what he likes. Or yeah, you can do the clubhouse pool. Yeah. Okay. What about you in your cities?

SPEAKER_04 11:26

Okay.

Munich Oktoberfest Basics And Reality

SPEAKER_04 11:27

One of you. Well, I live in Munich in Germany. I think when everyone thinks of Munich, I think a lot of people think Oktoberfest, and that is very true. The city is known for Oktoberfest worldwide, and that's the original Oktoberfest. I know that different cities have many Oktoberfests in different countries. For example, I think Simi and closest to you, I think in Yokohama they have this Oktoberfest, like a beer fest, right? I think you told me. Yeah. Even within Germany, they do have in different cities like a Oktoberfest type of festivities, but the original is from Munich. And what's impressive about the Oktoberfest is usually all year round it's a blank field. So there's nothing there. And three months prior to the actual Oktoberfest, which is in September, at the end of September, it goes until uh I think a few weeks into October, they start building. So they build these beer tents. I mean, when you actually think of tents, you think of like March.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Yeah, like a pop-up.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

Yeah. But they're legitimate buildings. Yeah. And you just call them beer tents. Yeah. Yeah. And so they're like, of course, they have small tents, they have large tents, it depends on the sizes, but they're about 40, I think. And it's pretty cool to see from nothing to everything, right? Going up. And not only the tents, but they also have rides. Kind of like uh fair.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

So when it's not being built, um, that area, what is it used for normally?

SPEAKER_04 13:08

Uh sometimes they have like events here and there for summer or yeah, um, and a lot of people use it to buy ground or yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Well, you live in in Munich, so they take this beer fest seriously, I'm sure. Yeah, very, very seriously.

SPEAKER_04 13:25

Yeah. But so that's what Munich is known for. And uh Bavarian restaurants typically also have like special menu during that time. We have tons of people coming from everywhere. Um, so a lot of my friends even have come for this fest, Christoph's as well. I can imagine that it could get expensive if you're not a local person.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Yeah. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_04 13:49

They they cost more for well, just getting a hotel, getting uh flight tickets, yeah, and even getting in, you can get in for free. But if you want to go into the tent, first of all, you don't have to have reserved tickets, but it's better. And when you reserve tickets, you get your guaranteed a seat. Yeah, guaranteed a seat table, and with that comes two shines of beer that's like a liter each, and half a chicken or something. That's like a typical what's included in the ticket. But during the week, usually you can get in, like without having any kind of reservations, but that's when there's a lot of people, a lot of tourists, and yeah, so that's what it's known for.

Easy Trips From Munich

SPEAKER_04 14:35

And outside of that, I think location-wise, it's great because Munich is in south of Germany, so you can like drive further south, hit Italy. I think in about four hours, maybe a little bit less. You can go east and hit Austria. Like last weekend we went to a showroom for awnings because we're looking at one for our balcony, and they're like electric ones, but they have a showroom that was the closest one from our area, and it's only like an hour and a half to Salzburg. So we were in Austria. It was like a quick day trip. We looked at the different types of awning. We talked to the representative there. If you drive west, you're in France. I would say probably within four hours, you can go to France. Driving wise, everywhere from where we live, it's fairly close. You can also go to there are many, many lakes. If you want to go hiking in the mountains or skiing, you can hit a place within like an hour.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Yeah. It felt really nice there too, weather-wise. When did we go?

SPEAKER_04 15:45

I've gone what you guys have come in winter. Uh-huh. That's when everyone came, including Sumi and the rest of our family. And then you, Tomo, with your family. Yeah, I think it was early summer or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

It was so nice. It wasn't hot at all. Well, probably it wasn't humid or anything.

SPEAKER_04 16:07

Yeah, in comparison to uh Florida.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

It felt so nice. Yeah, because when it's so humid, sometimes you feel like you can't breathe well, you know? And I didn't feel that at all. It felt like so fresh and fairly dry compared to Florida, even in the summertime. It was so nice.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

And obviously, there are different historical sites here near Munich, like the famous one, the castle, Neuschweinstein Castle, that you guys both been to. That's very well known. Apparently, Disney Castle was modeled after that.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

You guys have Christmas market.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

Yep, we have Christmas market.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

That's a big deal, you see that.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

Yeah, and throughout Europe, yes, for sure. If you go to different cities, but yeah, Nuremberg, that's an hour away, that's known for Christmas market. Even within Munich, there are I think 50, 60 uh different ones around that time.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

I really want to check out Oktoberfest season because that's something I really should do. But it's the timing, it's when kids start school.

SPEAKER_04 17:11

But even if you're not here during Oktoberfest, the beer garden opens up when it's nice outside. Like right now, I think it's gonna start opening, which is basically if you go to Bavarian places, they have beer benches and you can order, you know, food that you can order at Oktoberfest. So even if you're not at Oktoberfest, if you want that kind of feel, then you can go to beer gardens.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

We have beer gardens too. We did beer, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:37

Yeah, yeah. So of course the beer is known here. Food-wise, soft pretzel is from here. Um they were good. The pretzel pizza I had there was so good. You know what? I have never seen pretzel pizza until you guys came, and we went to a touristy spot.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Beer gardens, I think. Yeah, we were eating outside, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

It was um at the Chinese tower, and yeah, I have never had that, but that was actually pretty good. I was surprised. That was so good, yeah. So they have butter pretzels, they have pepper pretzels where they crush the black pepper on top. Oh, I would like that. They also have cream cheese with chives, and so they have different types of pretzels, sausages, sausages, but that's everywhere in Germany.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Um, yeah, I know, but you gotta mention that. You gotta eat that in Germany, right? Different kinds of sausages for sure. And then I thought it was interesting that you said grilled fish is a common thing in Germany, or maybe in your area. I don't know where it's a spear garden, yeah. I think that's so cool. I would have never guessed that, honestly. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

They put a whole fish, like mackerel or something, on a stick, and they just call it. Yeah.

Food Cars Surfing And Olympic Park

SPEAKER_04 18:54

There's also BMW is from Munich. Of course, there are other car companies, but that's what Munich is also known for. There's a showroom you can go to. Uh, there are tons of locals that work there in the office. And intern opportunities for students, right? Absolutely, intern opportunities. I think a lot of people look into that. And even our son's uh school friends' parents work at BMW. Yeah. And what's cool, maybe not a lot of people think about it, but I think it's the only one right now in Germany. There's a wave pool that was built. I think it's been three years, maybe. It's a wave pool that's used for surfing. So, like if you want to learn how to surf, the waves are engineered so they're always the same, it comes at the same rate, and so you can learn how to surf there. Yeah. And it's close to the airport. Is it pretty massive? It's massive, yeah. It's kind of expensive. Yeah, I think something that's cool to do. Yeah. Um, and obviously, I said like before, there are places to hike, to ski, that's not very far. Within an hour, you can find those places. Yeah, you know what?

SPEAKER_02 20:09

I really enjoyed watching was river surfing. These people, your local people in your area, when they were river surfing. I was so excited seeing that. I was like, oh my gosh, this is so fun.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

It's an accidental waves that are created naturally, and people actually surf there. You're not supposed to really surf, but everybody does it. Yeah, it was so fun. It was a beautiful weather, too. So there are also these when the weather's nice in multiple locations, a little bit outside of the city. There are forest rope courses. Well, when you came, we did it the first day when you got here.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

We went when I threw up on the plane. After I threw up, I wasn't ready for that. I was like, I'm jet-lagged, I threw up, I don't feel well, but I guess I'm gonna be upside down doing this ropes course. I mean, you never get upside down, but well, I mean, not upside down, but like zip lining, yeah. No, like I remember at one point I had my legs over the rope, the one of the advanced ones.

SPEAKER_04 21:09

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Like I was parallel to the ground trying to cross. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 21:14

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

But I remember thinking at that moment, I'm like, what am I doing? Like, I just got off the plane from a long you know flight, and I'm not feeling well. Like, what I did not think this is what I was gonna be doing day one. But I mean, I was fine after.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

The Olympic happened back in 1972, and that whole area that was used for the Olympics is still open to public. Yeah, a lot of activities there that happen. Lucas used to go to a swimming pool there to swim where these Olympian swim for swimming classes. That's another location that I think a lot of people maybe have seen. It's right next to actually BMW. So if you're going to BMW showroom or museum, you can. Walk over to the Olympia Park and check that out. It's pretty cool. Right now they have Jurassic Park exhibit. Yeah. So there are a lot of activities that happen there or in events.

Chigasaki Beaches And Surf Culture

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Okay. What about Japan, soon? Where do you live? What should we do in your area? Actually, I know what we should do, but I live in Kanagawa, which is next to Tokyo.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

And I live in a city called Chigasaki. Chigasaki, I would say, has a laid-back coastal vibe in the summer. Not in the winter when you guys came, but yeah. And we have several beaches. People will come during the summer to swim in these beaches, or surfers will come from all over Japan. So it's known to be like a surfing city.

SPEAKER_04 22:45

Can you take surfing classes there?

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Lessons? I'm sure. I'm sure.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

Yes, you can. And I want Hiro to attend. Yeah. Christophe was like, oh, if we're there in the summer, maybe we can take courses. I was like, yeah, maybe. I'm sure they have something, but they have classes you can take. They do have classes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Like lessons. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

I've always wanted to do surfing lessons. You will see people from young to old um in wetsuits carrying a surfboard all year round.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

I saw that. Even in winter. And they apparently like businessmen too. They go early in the morning and then they go to work after, right? Yes. Yes. My neighbor actually does that, which is like wow, wow. Every day. That's like basically working out before. And it's something you love. Yeah. Yeah. That's nice. It was cool because they were all like riding bikes with their, like she said, massive surfboards, just going to the beach. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

So Sumi lives closer to the beach than you told me, right? You can't just walk to the beach. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

No, I mean you can, but it'll be hours and hours.

SPEAKER_04 23:52

Yeah. Walking. From where Sumi lives, it's like it's a coastal city, right? So it doesn't take very long. Maybe how long do you think? 20 minutes or less.

SPEAKER_03 24:03

When you walk?

SPEAKER_04 24:04

Yeah, probably 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

Yeah, 15 to 20 minutes. Yeah. We didn't want to get too close because of Tonomi, just in case. Right. But yeah. Nice. There are several uh huge parks nearby in Tiyosaki. There is this place where you can golf in flip-flops, which is apparently rare in Japan. I don't know if it's worldwide. Flip-flops? In flip-flops, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

That's funny. That's that's what it's known for.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Well, I won't say it's known for, but um, we've never been there though. People, okay. First of all, people in Japan, do they wear a lot of flip-flops? They do, but I'm just saying, well, I don't really golf, so I don't know the rules, but you're only allowed to wear shoes.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

Like closed, so but this is not like a golf course, right? Oh, it is a golf course. Oh, it's a golf course. Yeah, oh, it's a golf course that allows it's not like an indoor golf place. No, no, no, no, it's not miniature golf, actual golf course. Oh, yeah. That's funny. That's not very unheard of, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

So people would just go surfing and then in their flip flops they would just go golf course. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

Can you imagine how much that's gonna cost? I mean, golfing in Japan is expensive. It is there's not much golfing anywhere is pretty pricey, no? Golf is uh not in Ohio, that's why we had clubs and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

We did, mm-hmm. We had junior clubs. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember. But like if you were a member, like it's it's a lot, right? I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

I've never looked into it because I can't golf, but yeah, I think I remember our parents saying how cheap it was, and that's why they individually also had their clubs and they used to go.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

So surfing, surfing, yeah.

Enoshima Kamakura Yokohama Musts

SPEAKER_03 25:57

And then if we go outside of Chigasaki, there is Enoshima, which is a small island. Oh, I love that island! Yeah, yeah, you've been there. I love that island so much. It's a small island, it has a lot of food stalls and gift shops, and there's also a beach. There's apparently a cave within the island. I've never been, but and yeah, you can get fresh seafood. Oh, and I should mention Enoshima is known for its chirasu, which in English is baby sardines. I've heard that it's the only area where you can eat raw babies sardines if you are up to that challenge.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to try it. Yeah, we had them, I think.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

Oh, did you?

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Yeah, I had to try it because I was like, I don't remember if I've ever had it before, I don't remember it, and I want to try it. Didn't have much taste. I think I liked it cooked better, but because I think they have more so small, they're so small, and they're like clear, it's so pretty looking.

SPEAKER_04 27:03

The length of it is like your pinky nail length, don't you think? It's like that small.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Yeah, I really love that island so much. Yeah, like I want to stay on that island one night. Oh, yeah, there's a hotel with yeah, they do, and it's so cool. Yeah, and you can take the ferry after you park if you wanted to get to the island. Yeah, I didn't know that until we went up there.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Yeah, and it's dog friendly, super cool. And Oshima is like a I would say a 10-15 minute drive from our place. There's also Kamakura, which is right next to our city. Kamakura, I would say, is maybe a miniature version of Kyoto. It has um lots of temples and shrines and Buddha. Yeah, Buddha. There's also famous street called Komachidori, which has oh yeah, huge number of food stalls and gift shops.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

Isn't it like very back in the day feel, right? Yeah, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

Yeah, Kaudi, you've been there, right?

SPEAKER_04 28:03

Yeah, I bought tons of pottery from there. Oh, yeah, like plates and bowls and and it was really well priced. And they were handmade. And um, I bought them like tons of them. Two grocery bags were that I thought, oh crap, is this gonna fit in our luggage? But we managed, so I think we took extra suitcase. So that was good. Yeah, I'm going back there again when I go back to get what I don't know, but I'm sure.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

Yeah, it's a really popular tourist spot. There's also Yokohama, which I will say is about 40-minute drive from our place.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

Um, Yokohama, it has um lots of expats, lots of international folks probably living there. I know they have international schools too.

SPEAKER_03 28:53

Oh, yeah, yeah. And they have historical buildings, they have the largest Chinatown apparently in the world in Yokohama.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Really?

SPEAKER_03 29:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:03

Oh, yeah. I I went there with you, Sumi. Yeah, yeah. Or was that Yokohama? Yeah, that was. Okay, but we went from Tokyo though, from the old house.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We did. Yeah. Yeah, but it's closer from here than from Tokyo. And that's where the cup noodle museum was. There's a cup noodle museum, there's a little small theme park.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

Tokyo Lab, I don't recommend.

SPEAKER_04 29:28

What?

SPEAKER_02 29:29

I don't recommend it.

SPEAKER_04 29:30

Yeah, I loved it. I went with Sumia, yeah, and Lucas. Oh, I thought it was super cool.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

What did you not like about it? I think the hype was bigger than what it was. And so my expectations were higher. It takes amazing Instagram photos, if that's what you're into. But first of all, the crowd was too much to get good pictures without people in the background. It was much smaller than I thought it would be. And I mean, there's multiple Tokyo labs, right? The one I went to, I felt was kind of small, and they were dividing it into different sections where I think it was Earth Element, maybe was it?

SPEAKER_04 30:11

You have to explain first what that is. Because I don't know if many people know what it is you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

The place?

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

The Tokyo Lab.

SPEAKER_04 30:19

It's an interactive digital art. Digital? I don't know what was so digital about it. What do you mean? Everything was.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

I think it was digital. What? No, maybe it wasn't projection.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

But sometimes they use real flowers and trees and yeah, it was I only saw flowers and mirrors and lights. Yeah, I think you went to the one that we didn't go to. Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Okay. The area, the only area that the kids loved was the water area, but then we got in trouble because they were running around. And then once we went through the whole thing, they wanted to go again just to get to that water area. So they like sped through the second time.

SPEAKER_04 30:56

Okay. So it's a museum.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

It's a museum and it had um it's not digital. It wasn't digital at all. So I think they, if I remember correctly, they were dividing it into different areas by earth elements. I think there was like fire, which that fire area was nothing. There was not even fire, it was just open space outside. And we were, and then there was like a tower in the center, and then we walked around the tower confused. And we're like, is this it? Like that was it outside. And I'm like, oh. And then so then the kids were bummed because that was the last thing, right? Last area.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

And then they were like, Oh, that's it. Can we just go again? I'm like, Yeah. So we went through, but they only wanted to go to the water area. We sped through. It was okay. I don't recommend it.

unknown 31:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

The one I went to anyway. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

If you want to take pictures that's Instagram worthy, then maybe. Yeah, then you can.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

And uh, I mean, when I look back at pictures I took, they are really cool. Cool pictures. But the experience, it wasn't like wow, or anything. But I'm more into outdoor stuff, I think. So, you know, the surfing thing is cool.

Hakone Hot Springs And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_03 32:08

The island was so cool. One other place that I want to mention is Hakone, which is about a 40-minute drive from our place. Own Sen Place. Yeah, Hakone is famous for their hot springs and Japanese style hotels. Yep. Inns. Inns, yeah. Where you get like served traditional food. You get to where you got the I want to check that out. You've never been to Hakone?

SPEAKER_04 32:34

No.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

Oh. Never been. If you're interested in hot springs or Japanese style inns, then you should definitely go there. And yeah, that's pretty much it. Awesome.

Subscribe Review And Goodbye

SPEAKER_02 32:46

Thanks for joining us today. Don't forget to review Sister Vibes and make sure to subscribe on the app of your choice so you don't miss our upcoming episodes. Until next time, Janet!

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Live with yourself in all of these games you play. I should have seen through it right from the start, but I chose to give it all away.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Now I upset and get how they want to come and give me a prey.