June 08, 2008

This is...my favourite travel memory

There is of course a story about this particular trip overseas. It started with going out for dinner for our 10th Anniversary. We hadn't been out for a fine dining experience since our son had been born and were pretty excited. Over dinner we talked about our dreams and aspirations and one of them was to travel together to Japan (and apparently we are not alone knowing how many bloggers are crazy for Japan!) It seemed abit of a whim, we certainly at the time didn't have the money saved! but as lady luck would have it 11 months later we were on the plane with our 21 month son to Japan.

This is a photo of Orion at K L airport whilst we were waiting to board the flight to Tokyo...

We took some beautiful photo's on film, believe it or not we didn't own a digital camera in 2005 and with the only digital resource we had which was my new camera mobile phone we took quite a few photos. Our film photos are to say the least beautiful... it's hard not to take a great photo whilst traveling in Japan it truly is a captivating country to visit. However as I don't have a scanner, I have to rely on my camera phone photo's.

The Golden Pavilion, Kyoto.


Shoe box compartments in restaurant in Kyoto


A day trip to Nara and we stumbled across these, as you do.

This was my second trip to Japan, the first for my partner MD and of course our son Orion. Both MD and I have traveled overseas several times but never together and for this reason after 10 years together we finally made it overseas. Choosing the photo's from my camera phone collection was hard as there are the amusing the witty (to us!) and of course some that look straight from a postcard so keeping in mind these fare from a camera phone that is probably 1.3 mega pixels they aren't too bad.

Sakura (Cherry blossom) celebrations in the park in Fukuoka


MD tucking into a bowl of the sea scollop's marinated in sake at a pub, Takayama Japan.


My favourite 'Custo Barcelona' top in an appropriate setting... Takayama Japan


Walking back to the Ryokan from the pub.'Who would have thunk it?'... a namesake hotel, Takayama Japan.


Our room in a Ryokan in Saitama (an hour from Tokyo) Japan.
In the corner our futons and blankets for the evening.

Thank you to Hila for her wonderful theme for this week's "This is..." meme by Angela.

Post note: Just wanted to note that traveling with such a young child didn't pose any problems and we ensured we were thoroughly organised and had all our accommodation booked prior to leaving for Japan. Thus we always had somewhere to bed for the night.

14 comments:

Michelle said...

Oh, those photos, captivating...what a gorgeous country. I can only imagine how wonderful the film ones are! What a fabulous experience!

Lark said...

What a great story! And the photos are marvellous. I would love to go to Japan. Sadly now, with two children, travel is an almost impossibility!

Allison x

Jacinta said...

Great post. And the photos (even if they are from the mobile) are great - the cherry blossom is gorgeous!

I have lots of photos from 'pre-digital' and now if I want to post them, I take a quick shot with my digital camera. If you use good natural light with no shadows and turn off the flash, the results are usually pretty goo. Seems a shame not to share them!
Cheers.

Lilli boo said...

That's great advice Jacinta..Thanks so much, I have been wondering how I can translate the film photo's ensure they don't look like a photographed photo, as I had tried it before and the photo lost something. . I have just sorted out our album from that trip too..I think a back up post may be necessary...

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

I love hearing of people that have loved their trips to Japan! It's such an amazing country and it looks like you managed to travel around a bit while you were here. Don't you just love Takayama? I'll be going up there for a trip in a few weeks ;)

Hila said...

Oh, this makes me want to go to Japan so badly! Simply beautiful photos and wonderful descriptions. I'm very pleased you enjoyed this week's theme and thanks for your very thoughtful comment on my travel pics :)

Jenny said...

Lovely photos-looks like you had such a fun and happy holiday-I would love to go to Japan one day-thanks for sharing

danica said...

What a wonderful post! I absolutely adored your photographs too :)

Michelle said...

How fantastic! We are off to Japan in October, so your photos have given me lots of inspiration!

Bec said...

Well, I'm another of those bloggers who would love go travel to Japan. **sigh** One day...
Your trip sounds so lovely - an oh, those cherry blossom trees. I would love to go to Japan just to see those in person. Very inspiring :)

Lisa [strickerin] said...

From a little conversation at a special celebration..

Sweet photos. They really capture the essence. Love the shoe boxes.

Also I think travelling with little ones is very rewarding. In the end we have found that the thought of it is more exhausting than actually doing it.

flossy-p said...

I spent Sunday afternoon chatting with a friend who has just returned from a 3 week trip to Japan with her husband and 16 month old daughter. They had a fantastic time, and like you said they had NO trouble traveling with their baby.

Your camera phone did a great job, but I'm like you, all my travel photo's are on film... I do love film.

Looks like you had a great holiday to Japan. What a way to celebrate your 10th Anniversary!

(...we tried to have a fancy tropical beach holiday in far north QLD for ours, but on the 2nd day Cyclone Larry hit, needless to say the rest of our stay was awful)

flossy-p said...

I spent Sunday afternoon chatting with a friend who has just returned from a 3 week trip to Japan with her husband and 16 month old daughter. They had a fantastic time, and like you said they had NO trouble traveling with their baby.

Your camera phone did a great job, but I'm like you, all my travel photo's are on film... I do love film.

Looks like you had a great holiday to Japan. What a way to celebrate your 10th Anniversary!

(...we tried to have a fancy tropical beach holiday in far north QLD for ours, but on the 2nd day Cyclone Larry hit, needless to say the rest of our stay was awful)

Maureen Reynolds said...

You summed it up in your footnote about traveling with the short ones. You also have to go by their clock and be quite flexible but that's what a vacation is for. I think it changes a trip quite a bit and makes it into something quite precious.

Love the one of Orion at the airport.