Trip Reports

a cake with bananas on top
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Eating Maui – Road to Hana, Hawaiian BBQ, and Shave Ice

ByTerence Chan

We arrived in Maui with an ambitious to-do list, but were barely able to put a dent in it. The problem? Our stay at the Montage was so relaxing that we literally spent a couple days just lounging by the pool. That’s something that we NEVER do, and was probably a testament to just how amazing the hotel was. However, we did get out a few times to explore the surrounding areas, mainly in search for food. The food options in Kapalua are somewhat limited, especially if you don’t want to eat at the hotel. And even though we had a full kitchen at our disposal, we didn’t feel like cooking, but did stop by the neighboring supermarkets to pick up tuna poke and other snacks.

a lighthouse on a cloudy day
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Hotel Review: Brewery Gulch Inn (Mendocino, CA)

ByTerence Chan

My wife and I aren’t really the types to plan our weekends well in advance, and actually prefer to make spontaneous, last-minute plans. So halfway through the week prior to the 3-day MLK weekend in January, we decided that it’d be fun to drive up to Mendocino for a couple nights. Despite having both lived in Northern California for essentially our entire lives, neither of us had been to Mendocino before, but we’d heard that the drive along the California coast was something that everyone needed to do at least once. Given that it was January, the weather wouldn’t be ideal, but we were fine with the gloom as long as there wasn’t constant rain.

a white airplane on a runway
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Flight Review: Alaska Airlines First Class San Jose To Maui

ByTerence Chan

In recent years I’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to the Maldives and the Seychelles. But while the Maldives and Seychelles provide ultra-exclusive island getaways, they also have the price tag to match, and are a 24+ hour journey each way from the USA. As beautiful and amazing as those destinations were, as I reflect on those trips, what I really walk away with is a renewed appreciation for just how lucky I am to have Hawaii in my backyard. From the West Coast it’s less than a 5 hour direct flight to the Hawaiian islands, and they are chock full of mainstream chain hotels to use points at. Also, since you’re still in the USA, it’s easy to drive around and there’s worrying about cell phone service.

an airplane on the tarmac
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Flight Review: ANA Boeing 787 Business Class Tokyo to San Jose

ByTerence Chan

I still find it interesting that you can fly from Japan into San Jose, the oft-neglected and less glamorous sibling of San Francisco International (SFO), located just 45 minutes south along the 101. I had taken SFO-NRT route before in First Class, and if I’m being honest would have definitely done so again if available, but the only premium cabin availability happened to be on the 2-cabin flight into San Jose. For those in a similar predicament, keep in mind that the San Jose route has very light loads in Business Class and almost always has availability last-minute. As an added bonus, the flight was operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which I’d get to fly for the first time.

a piece of meat on a towel
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Fat And Furious: Cherry Blossoms and THE BEST STEAK EVER In Tokyo

ByTerence Chan

On the initial stop in Tokyo we were hoping to take advantage of our jet-lagged body clocks to wake up in time for the daily fish auction at Tsukiji Fish Market. Based on our research, we had read that you really need to be there by 4AM at the latest to secure a spot. But we ended up going 0 for 2 on our attempts, although I fully admit that I only gave it a half-hearted effort. After all, while on vacation there’s no way that you should be forced to wake up earlier than you do for work.

a plate of food with a bear made of food
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Fat And Furious: Maids, Robots, and Cosplay In Tokyo

ByTerence Chan

At Kyoto Station we hopped on the shinkansen for a very pleasant 2-hour journey to Tokyo. Even by the lofty standards of train systems in Asia, the shinkansen is truly amazing. We had received some mixed signals from the hotel concierge on whether to book our tickets in advance. Perhaps the they assumed that we were using the Japan Rail Pass, in which case you will want to make reservations ahead of time. Since we weren’t, we simply purchased tickets at Kyoto Station for the next Nozomi train which left every 15 minutes.

a sculpture of a curved object
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Hotel Review: The Peninsula Tokyo

ByTerence Chan

Even though I’m a total creature of habit, there was no way that I’d forgo the opportunity to stay at a different hotel when we returned to Tokyo. Similar to my restaurant dilemma, Tokyo has so many amazing luxury hotels to choose from that it was hard to pick one. Ultimately, I settled on The Peninsula Tokyo, mainly because I’d been wanting to stay at a Peninsula property for quite some time. Our shinkansen arrived at Tokyo Station in the late afternoon, and even though we had our luggage with us, we ended up walking to the hotel. It wasn’t bad at all, and arrived about 15 minutes later.

a tray of food on a red surface
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Fat And Furious: Kaiseki Dinner at 3-Michelin Star Kikunoi Honten

ByTerence Chan

As a food-lover (I’m not a fan of the term “foodie”, but let’s save that discussion for another time), vacations are as much about seeing new places as they are about trying new foods. And as much as I love stuffing my face with street food, for me no trip is complete without also splurging on a fine dining experience. In past trips, a front-runner for that fine dining meal has naturally emerged as we conducted our research, including restaurants such as El Celler De Can Roca near Barcelona, Steirereck in Vienna, and Astrid y Gaston in Lima. But here’s the problem with Japan – there are simply too many world-class restaurants to choose from, evidenced by the fact that they have the most Michelin-starred restaurants of any country in the world.

Kinkaku-ji next to a body of water
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Fat And Furious: The Search for Matcha and Geisha In Kyoto

ByTerence Chan

As first-timers to Kyoto we realized that there was a LOT to see and do, and we were going to attempt to cram as much as humanly possible into the next 4 days. By the time we had settled into the hotel it was early evening, and we headed out to Gion with a couple goals in mind. Firstly, we wanted to find some good food, but we soon realized this was one of the few places where our “tourist trap” radar went off and ultimately decided to eat elsewhere. Secondly, we wanted to go Geisha-spotting, and had heard that around 5-6pm in Gion was one of the best times to do this.