Chichen Itza was a Mayan city. What most tourists think of as Chichen Itza is the Temple of Kukulcán (El Castillo), as it’s the landmark used in tour guides. There’s more to Chichen Itza than El Castillo, however. The longer you’re able to stay at Chichen Itza, the better chance you’ll have to see everything. We were only able to see about 2/3...
For our 2025 trip to Cozumel/Yucatán Peninsula, we stayed at the Iberostar Waves resort on the southwestern side of Cozumel. We chose this resort for a couple reasons: mainly, the location is great for snorkeling and diving. It’s very close to the Palancar Reef and Columbia Reef. If staying on the northern part of the island, you’d have to either drive to...
During our trip to Cozumel, we took a ferry to Play del Carmen to meet a tour group heading to Chichén Itzá. If you’re staying on Cozumel, it might be worth booking your Chichén Itzá tour at your resort. That way, they’ll arrange a tour that leaves Playa del Carmen a bit later. Nearly all the tours we could find on Viator left at either 7:00am or 7:30am...
Our final day and a half were spent heading first to Nagoya, where we spent the night, then on to Ghibli Park, which is a Studio Ghibli theme park just outside of Nagoya. If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli movies, this is a must-see. No photos were allowed inside most of the buildings, but there were still plenty of photo ops. You’ll want a full day at...
During Japan’s rainy season, from early/mid June through July, thousands of hydrangea bloom along the narrow track of the Hakone Tozan Railway. The “hydrangea train” is a nice day trip from Tokyo into the mountains. This was day 4 of our Japan trip. It was very peaceful and relaxing. We started the day by taking the bullet train (Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen) from...
Our third day in Japan was spent at Tokyo DisneySea. There are two Disney resorts in Tokyo: Disneyland and DisneySea. Since this is the only DisneySea in the world, we chose it over Disneyland. It’s called DisneySea instead of DisneyLand partly because of an overall nautical theme weaved throughout the park, but also because of tie-ins to the secret Society of...
Our first day and a half in Japan were spent exploring Tokyo. We were supposed to have another full day in Tokyo, but our flight from SFO was delayed for a full day due to mechanical issues. We stayed in the Azumabashi/Sumida City area of Tokyo, very close to the Sumida River. We were across the street from the Asahi Brewery/Super Dry Hall, with its iconic golden...
Given my GenX childhood, I was very interested in music related sites around London, and the West End has no shortage of spots. Most of these are not interesting aside from “hey, cool stuff happened here”, but others are worth a visit if 1960’s through early 1980’s music history is your thing. Regent Sounds Studio We’ll start at 4...
We pre-booked afternoon tea at the Sanderson Hotel. It was a Mad Hatter/Alice In Wonderland themed tea, and it was amazing. The tea was the best either of us had ever had (5 different types), the Champagne was fantastic, and the food was divine. A word of warning, though: although they will leave behind the teapot after pouring each variety, DO NOT go for seconds (or...
Day 2 was all in the West End of Central London, and the dogs were barking! 23,000 steps, but worth it. I’m breaking day 2 up into a few posts. One will be all about music, one about afternoon tea, and this one about everything else from day 2. The day started with a stroll through Richmond, included a performance of the longest running play in the world...