Tokyo is a bustling metropolis that makes New York City look like a small town. It seamlessly blends traditional culture with ultra-modern technology. Henry is all about the vending machines. It is the capital of Japan, covering an area of approximately 2,194 square kilometers, and it is home to over 37,000,000 people. Despite its size, Tokyo is surprisingly clean. We…
Category: Asia
Worldschool Pop-Up in Osaka
We have been worldschooling for almost five years now. The biggest lesson we learned is that community is everything. We also learned that from the centenarians in Okinawa. Many of the most memorable times on our travels have been with other worldschooling families. Our friends, the Carlsons created Worldschool Pop-Up to help traveling families find that community. https://www.worldschoolpopuphub.com/ The Carlsons…
Osaka, Japan
We arrived in Osaka on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon. Okinawa was a bit cool. Osaka in March is downright cold. Cold weather was not in our Asia plan, so we do not have warm-weather clothes. The high the day we arrived was in the 40s (that’s single digits for all my non-American friends). It took us about two…
Okinawa, Japan
Okinawa has been on Michael’s bucket list since Karate Kid II came out in 1986 (even though the film was shot in Hawaii). We decided to spend a week in Okinawa on our way to Osaka and Tokyo. It is a short flight from Taipei, but there is an hour’s time change. We spent two days in Naha. We had…
Taipei
Our family’s recent trip to Taipei was nothing short of amazing. Taipei is a clean city that is easy to navigate. The metro and bus system make it easy to get around. The garbage trucks play Für Elise to let residents know it is time to bring out their trash. In many other countries we visited, the garbage sits on…
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Arriving in Taiwan after spending a month on the small island of Panglao was a bit of a shock. We arrived in Tapei late at night. It was raining and much cooler than the Philippines. We spent one night in a hotel near an MRT station and then took the train the next day to Kaohsiung. We took the slow…
Scuba Diving in Panglao
Lucas and Henry dove into scuba diving in Panglao. Diving is why we chose to spend a month on the island. They completed two try dives in Cham Islands, Vietnam, in September. That introduction was all they needed to get hooked on diving. After that, they completed their scuba certification in Koh Tao, Thailand, in November. Michael did too. In…
Panglao, Philippines
The Philippines consists of more than 7,000 islands. In our research, we came across dozens of amazing islands that are “must-visit” places. We ended up choosing Panglao Island to spend a month. It is touted as Bohol’s best beach destination. The main deciding factor in choosing Panglao was Sierra Madre Dive Center. The dive center was open to creating a…
The Watkins Family’s Global Pickleball Adventure
We travel the world with carry-on luggage and backpacks, but we have room for pickleball paddles. Our travels have taken us to five continents, and on that journey, we have had a whirlwind pickleball adventure. Our pickleball odyssey began in Costa Rica back in 2020. The owner of our hotel in Tamarindo invited Michael to play pickleball. Soon enough, we…
The Gibbon Experience, Laos
We planned our ten-day stay in Chiang Rai because we booked an experience in Laos called The Gibbon Experience, and Chiang Rai is only two hours from the Laos border. The Gibbon Experience project began in 1996 to help stop illegal logging, commercial cropping, excessive slash-and-burn practices, and overall pressure on the forest in Laos. The Gibbon Experience works with…