Traveling has always been a dream. of mine. It’s something that seems impossible with my line of work, but God is a God of surprises! Last December I was blessed to get to travel again!
I can’t thank God enough for making things work and making one of my dreams come true – going to JAPAN!!! Before going to Japan, we made a quick stop in Taiwan.
I was with Paulo’s (my boyfriend) family, my childhood friend Josh, and my sister.
Everyone was so excited to quickly tour my sister around Taipei. We rode the UBus from Taoyuan Intl. Airport going to Taiwan High Speed Rail Station.
Listening to TROMS’ Radio Program while waiting. 
We arrived in Taiwan around 7PM so our agenda for the night was to roam around Ximending. 
Of course, Paulo couldn’t go home without eating Ay-Chung’s Flour Rice Noodle & stinky tofu. (Blogged about Taipei’s Must-Try Food here) 
We went around Ximending, tried a lot of food, searched for Hokkaido Ice Cream, then called it a night!
The next day…We took off to Japan!
Hello from the Japan crew. Haha! That’s Alex, tito Allen, Dan, Harry, Josh, tita Amy, Paulo and ate Janice.
Josh, ready for Japan!
I’m not an expert when it comes to commuting in Taipei but here’s what we usually do. 
Go to Kuo-Kuang Transport to ride a bus going to Taoyuan International Airport. 
Here’s a photo of the bus fares:
You can check which bus terminal you’re assigned. It depends on your Airline. 
Before entering the bus, your luggage will have a specific Bag tag. Keep it because you need that to claim your luggage. 
Twinning with Paulo. 
All smiles while waiting for our rice burgers!
I’m beyond grateful to finally travel with my sister. One of the highlights of this trip! (PS: It has always been our dream to go to Japan and go to Disneyland and we’re glad it finally happened!!! More about that on my next blog) 
Off to Tokyo! Yeee I got kilig seeing that it was 10 degrees. It was my first time experiencing this temperature! #TropicalBaby
I must say, Mos Burger’s Rice Burger is so tasty! *thumbsup! 
Paulo and I watched Tarzan and I read this book that I got from Share Movement’s Let’s Share Gathering for Booklovers. 
We arrived in Japan around 1:30 PM.
I realized that ate Janice and I matched our outfits with our luggage. Haha!
At the airport, you can have your money exchanged. TIP: You have to get 1 form per currency. Here’s a sample of the form. 
THIS IS IT! We rode the Narita Express going to Shinjuku. 
It was the best!!! The view was awesome and the comfort room is SUPERB.
Upon entering, there’s an area where you can put your luggage, so we didn’t have to carry out luggage all the way to our seats.
Don’t worry, Japanese people are thoughtful enough to put locks on it (Although we noticed that most of the bags weren’t locked. But who worries about getting their stuff stolen in the most honest country in the world?)
Dan and Alex
Harry
Hello to our parents for the week. hehe Beyond thankful for them! Thank you po for treating us part of the family. <3
First Japanese snack. I remember when we first bought our snacks, I thought the cashier gave us wrong change because they were all coins! Later on, we realized that they actually had a 500YEN coin (Around 220 pesos). So please be careful with your coins. Haha! 
Hey, Josh!
My favorite travel buddy. 
Thanks to Alain’s generous parents, we stayed at Shinjuku Prince Hotel. This hotel is an absolute best location! 
As usual, Japanese rooms are small but very functional. 
After checking in, we all went down to hunt for Dan’s (Paulo’s brother) camera.
We walked around Shinjuku and my oh my, they had a lot of things going on there! I don’t even know where to begin! 
After roaming around, we had our first official Japanese dinner! Of course, I ate katsu. 
After dinner, my ate and I decided to roam around for a while and just enjoy the fact that we’re really in Japan!!! 
Our hotel is just across McDonalds. If you know me, you know how much I love MCDO. Haha! So, MCDO for midnight snack it was! 
Then we went back to our room to rest. 
I love my view. It was a great first day and I can’t wait to share our 2nd day in Japan. In the meantime, check out our video diary! Watch it here:
