I spent three days in the Pantanal, staying in Porto Jofre, close to the main rivers where we went to spot wildlife. Each day, we took a boat trip in the morning, came back for lunch, and headed out again around 2 p.m. Each trip lasted about three hours.

I used a Nikon camera with a zoom lens. We were able to get pretty close to the jaguars, about four or five meters away, and they didn’t seem bothered by the boats. It was like we were a bunch of iron hippos hanging out near them. Maybe they see the boats as big, noisy creatures that don’t really affect them.

There were a lot of boats. Whenever someone spotted a jaguar, the boats would let each other know and gather nearby so people could watch and take photos. Online, I mostly see people criticizing these activities and saying they’re harmful to the animals. I’m not a biologist, so I can’t really say. But I found it interesting because it seems to bring a lot of attention to the wildlife.

The animals seemed well cared for and protected, and the surrounding vegetation looked very well preserved too. Some animals had been rescued from a major wildfire in the Pantanal and were wearing tracking collars to monitor their health and movements. So there seems to be a lot of work going on in that region.

You see lots of birds and caimans, with caimans right next to the boats all the time. It’s pretty scary, but in a healthy, respect-for-nature kind of way. The guides were fantastic. There were also tons of mosquitoes, so bring repellent if you go.

It’s a safari in Brazil, and much cheaper than an African safari. I really enjoyed the trip and got to take plenty of photos. The local people were great: polite, welcoming, and friendly. I had zero issues with crime or violence and felt very safe the whole time. It’s a beautiful place, far away from the cities, and I’d definitely recommend the trip.

I’ve attached some photos I took. Hope you like it. Thanks.

August 23 - September 2, 2026

2 things stood out to me during my visit to Malaysian Borneo - the beautiful wild nature and the even more beautiful Malaysian people.

From day one, everyone was genuinely kind, helpful, and welcoming. Children waved at us with warm smiles anywhere we went, and adults greeted us with “hello” and smiled back at our Malay greetings attempts. We even got invited to a local wedding where we were hosted like royalty and made for a bit of a local attraction too (there weren’t (m)any other groups of 5 white Europeans).

Sure, in Semporna, where there were more (mostly Chinese) tourists, we were also met with children begging for money and people not being always selfless, but the positive encounters outweighed that by a ton.

And yes, despite hosting many incredible wild animals, large portions of natural jungles were cut down to make room for oil palm tree plantations - we saw that basically everywhere we went, which was bittersweet.

Photos:
1 Bohey Dulang Island
2 Sibuan Island
3 Mabul Island
4 Kota Kinabalu
5 Turtle on island hopping trip from Semporna
6, 7, 10 Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary
8 Orangutans on the Kinabatangan River
9 Sun Bear at Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
11 Oil palms near the road from Sandakan
12 Cruise on the Kinabatangan River
13, 16, 18 Semporna
14-15 Sim Sim Water Village in Sandakan
17 Sandakan
19 Gantong Caves

Did a day trip with Jadrolinija ferry to Kalamota island from Dubrovnik. Lovely and peaceful, and surprisingly affordable. I walked to Donje Čelo as well as Gornje Čelo (the two villages on the island), both beautiful in their own way.

Picture locations:

1. to 4. Donje Čelo bay
2. Church of st. Nicholas, Donje Čelo
3. A little stone beach near Donje Čelo
4. and 8. Gornje Čelo bay
5. Cathy beach
6. View on the way towards the lighthouse Bezdan
7. to 14. Lighthouse Bezdan and the surroundings
8. Walkway through the forest near the lighthouse
9. Detail in Gornje Čelo
10. "Stairway to Heaven" cliffs
11. to 20. Sunset shots from Donje Čelo bay and harbour

It was a late September Tuesday and the sun was shining between some scattered coulds in Alicante, so I got out of the hostel, grabbed a kind of breakfast at the nearby Mercadona and got to explore the city early on before the scorching hot sun melted me away later at lunch time.

The trek beggan at Barrio de Santa Cruz, one of the oldest settlements in Alicante and a quintessential part of the history of the town, with its winding little streets and colourfulk houses adorned with vases and plants. The Mirador de la Santa Cruz and Calle San Rafael are two of its highlights, offereing good photo opportunities as well as nice views over the city.

Going down to the city proper, passed through Carrer Mutxamel and Ermita de San Roque, Torre de la pólvora and Plaza Quijano. By the time I got downtown, the heat was already pilling up, so I got a refreshing stop at the free MACA - Museu d'Art Contemporani d'Alacant before exploring the nearby Basílica de Santa Maria de Alicante, one of the jewels of the city. Right prior to lunchtime, I decided to take a peak at the MUBAG - Museu de Belles Arts d'Alacant and then headed straight to the Platja del Postiguet that greeted me with a big sand beach, warm waters and a nice view over the castle.

After a sip on the Mediterranean, it was time to go up again, to the Castillo de Santa Bárbara, overlooking the entire city from high above. getting back down, I explored next the beautiful Paseo de las Palmeras - home to the iconic Casa Carbonell -, Parc Portal d’Elx and Iglesia de la Mare de Déu de Gràcia. Going back to the Carrer Sant Francesc with its iconic mushroom sculkptures I arrived at the giang fig tree in Plaza de Gabriel Miró and ended the tour in the area of the Ajuntament d'Alacant after a visit to the Cocatedral de Sant Nicolau and entering Plaça de l'Ajuntament from Plaça de la Santissima Faç.

Though not as surprising as Murcia was for me, Alicante felt like a very comfortable place to be, with good restaurants and caffès, the urban beach was quite spacious and weel served with amenities and the old town had a very mediterraean feel.

I travelled from Edinburgh to Glasgow by train on Friday evening, after three days in the capital for a wedding. I then had Saturday and most of Sunday in Glasgow before flying from Glasgow Airport to London Gatwick.

Rather than attempting to cover the whole city, I divided my time between Pollok Country Park and the centre on Saturday, followed by the Botanic Gardens, Kelvingrove and the Clyde on Sunday.

The photographs are presented in chronological order. Taken with a Nikon Zf.

Day one: arrival in Glasgow

After checking into Hotel Indigo, I took a short walk around Glasgow Central and the surrounding streets. The clock tower and immense Victorian frontage of the Grand Central Hotel made an appropriate introduction to a city whose architecture often feels larger and more imposing than expected.

With dinner booked at Ox and Finch for 20:30, I kept the first evening simple and left the main exploration for the following morning.

Day two: Pollok Country Park, the Burrell Collection and the city centre

I began Saturday in Pollok Country Park. Although it lies within Glasgow, the wooded paths, open fields and White Cart Water quickly made the city feel much further away.

The Highland cattle were one of the main reasons I wanted to visit (I love cows!). My route beside the river first brought Pollok House into view through the trees before I reached the cattle fields. One of the cows came right up to the fence, providing a considerably closer encounter than I had expected.

The Burrell Collection is situated within the same park, making the two an easy combination. Its long, low glass exterior feels surprisingly sympathetic to the surrounding landscape and provides a complete contrast with Pollok House.

I returned to central Glasgow during the afternoon and walked east along Gordon Street towards Buchanan Street. From this point, the photographs became more about architecture, details and street life than conventional sightseeing.

The Duke of Wellington outside the Gallery of Modern Art was wearing several traffic cones rather than the customary one. It is probably Glasgow’s most familiar piece of public humour, but it remained worth seeing in person.

After dinner at Ichiban on Queen Street, I continued through the surrounding streets. The courtyard at Sloans was covered in Saltire bunting and lights, while the passage from Argyle Street contained the colourful Are Ye Dancin’? mural.

As evening arrived, a street DJ outside Tiso on Buchanan Street and the red neon of Mezcal on Hope Street showed another side of the centre. My final photograph of the day was Kenny Hunter’s Citizen Firefighter sculpture near Glasgow Central, looking particularly effective against the wet pavement.

Day three: the Botanic Gardens, Kelvingrove and the Clyde

I began Sunday at Glasgow Botanic Gardens and the Kibble Palace. The glasshouse was one of the highlights of the weekend. Its ironwork, domed roof, classical sculpture and enormous tree ferns made it feel as much an architectural attraction as a botanical one.

From there I followed the River Kelvin through the West End towards Kelvingrove Park. The view across the river towards Snow Bridge and the University of Glasgow tower was one of my favourites from the city.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum was the main indoor stop of the day. The building is impressive before reaching any individual collection, while the suspended Spitfire LA198 in the West Court gives the enormous space an extraordinary focal point.

I then continued west towards the Clyde and the Riverside Museum. The sharp folds of Zaha Hadid’s building produced some of the most abstract photographs of the trip, while the Tall Ship Glenlee moored alongside it provided an obvious connection to Glasgow’s maritime and industrial history.

From there I returned to Glasgow Central. My final photograph looks towards the station’s glass fronted bridge over Argyle Street, commonly known as the Hielanman’s Umbrella. I then collected my luggage and continued to Glasgow Airport for my flight back to London Gatwick.

Glasgow felt markedly different from Edinburgh. Its attractions are more dispersed, and its grand buildings sit alongside parkland, murals, industrial history and lively street scenes. The weekend was enough for this route, but not enough to leave me feeling that I had finished with the city.

Photograph locations

Photo 1: The Grand Central Hotel and its clock tower beside Glasgow Central, viewed from Gordon Street.

Photo 2: White Cart Water and the surrounding pasture in Pollok Country Park.

Photo 3: Pollok House viewed from the opposite bank of White Cart Water.

Photo 4: A Highland cow beside one of the fields in Pollok Country Park.

Photo 5: The glass exterior of the Burrell Collection in Pollok Country Park.

Photo 6: Gordon Street at the junction with Mitchell Street, looking towards Buchanan Street.

Photo 7: The Duke of Wellington statue outside the Gallery of Modern Art in Royal Exchange Square.

Photo 8: The courtyard at Sloans in Morrisons Court, reached from Argyle Street.

Photo 9: The Are Ye Dancin’? mural in the passage leading to Sloans.

Photo 10: A street DJ outside Tiso on Buchanan Street.

Photo 11: The red neon frontage of Mezcal on Hope Street.

Photo 12: Kenny Hunter’s Citizen Firefighter sculpture at the corner of Gordon Street and Hope Street.

Photo 13: The domed roof of the Kibble Palace at Glasgow Botanic Gardens.

Photo 14: Eve, by Scipione Tadolini, inside the Kibble Palace.

Photo 15: Fern fronds inside the Kibble Palace.

Photo 16: Snow Bridge, the River Kelvin and the University of Glasgow tower, viewed from Kelvingrove Park.

Photo 17: Spitfire LA198 in the West Court of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

Photo 18: An architectural detail of Zaha Hadid’s Riverside Museum at Pointhouse Quay.

Photo 19: The Tall Ship Glenlee berthed beside the Riverside Museum.

Photo 20: Glasgow Central’s bridge over Argyle Street, commonly known as the Hielanman’s Umbrella.

should I really have my passport and credit card in a RFID protective wallet? or is that just marketing?

Myself and two friends (all 24M) will be visiting Italy during the first two weeks of May 2027. We know we want to go to Florence and Rome, each for 4 or 5 nights. We’d fly into Rome then take the train to Florence that arrival day. And then we’d end the trip with Rome (we could flip the order depending on the third destination). So that means we have 3 or 4 nights to spend somewhere else in the middle of the trip.

We want to be able to get to this third destination by train, probably no more than 4 hours away from Rome. Through my own research, the seemingly obvious choice is Venice. But a fair number of people on Reddit seem to hate the city and don’t give much reason as to why, which makes me a little wary.

Some other options are Bologna which seems like a more lowkey city, and then Naples but I’ve read that it’s a bit more grimy than the others, which I’m not sure is the right vibe for the trip.

And then there’s Amalfi but that seems too busy to be enjoyable.

So if you were making the decision, where would you choose to go? Any other options outside of these three? Thanks!

I never thought I’d want to do this, but it turned out to be one of my favorite vacations.

Drove from the east coast to Seattle and then down the west coast. Didn’t really have a plan.

Things I loved
- Badlands National Park
- Mount Rushmore National Park
- The Mammoth Site (never heard of this place before. Truly amazing)
- Himalayan food in Rapid City (who would have thought)
- Yellowstone National Park
- Grand Tetons National Park
- Glacier National Park
- Olympic National Park
- Mount Rainier National Park
- Crater Lake Nation Park
- Redwood National Park

Didn’t see anymore National Parks in California, because I was enjoying the coast. Definitely need to plan a future trip for those.

I

I’d love ideas on worldly collections! Is it rocks, stamps, shot glasses, keychains, mini statues, artwork, hats etc?

Hey!

I’ve been travelling the world, and I can’t explain how much I’ve had to depend on Google Translate. I’ve been able to talk to anyone and everyone, about anything and everything because of this technology.

It’s made me wonder…how did people travel to non-English speaking countries before such technology existed? Did you carry dictionaries??

Thanks!

EDIT: Thank you all for the replies. Very interesting to hear these experiences. I’m writing this edit while I travel from city to city on a bus in the middle of nowhere. Shows you how far technology has come. I wonder what kind of experiences our generation will have, that will baffle the coming generation 🤔

As someone who lives in Europe and never visited US but want to make a road trip in the US where would you recommend me to go? I really want to experience what we see in movies where you drive and stop by the classic american diners with burger and black coffee and stuff.

I had a flight booking that included 23 kg of checked baggage.

When I got to the airport and tried to check in my bag, the staff told me that my booking showed no baggage allowance, even though my ticket clearly included 23 kg.

Because of this, I was forced to pay 960 AED (about $261 USD) at the airport just to check my bag.

The staff told me to contact the airline through their feedback/complaints department and said I should be able to get the baggage fee refunded.

I’ve already submitted a case, but I’m wondering if anyone has gone through something similar. Since this was an error on the airline’s side and I had to unexpectedly pay a pretty significant amount at the airport, is it reasonable to ask for additional compensation on top of the refund?

Has anyone successfully received compensation, miles, travel credit, or anything else in a situation like this?

This was my first solo trip abroad and I really enjoyed it! I spent 9 days across Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia (3 days in each country). As a history and Christianity nerd, it was perfect for me.

Safety: As a young woman travelling alone, I never once felt unsafe or witnessed anything uncomfortable.

Transport: In total I travelled across/stayed in 8 different cities and towns, and it was very easy thanks to the new train route which directly connects all 3 countries. Trains were fast, cheap, and reliable. Train tickets on this route do sell out quickly, though, so make sure you know when they'll be released. Also note that this route is infrequent (I think they only have one train in the morning and one in the afternoon), so make sure your timings are correct. For example, I went to Šiauliai to see the Hill of Crosses and intended to take the train to Riga from there, but hadn't realised that there were no more trains to Riga that day. But it was fine as I just ended up taking a bus there (which was only 20 minutes longer than the train lol).

Buses within the cities I stayed in (Kaunas, Vilnius, Riga, Tartu, Tallinn) were all punctual and I had no issues. You pay either on the city app or just by contactless payment.

Accommodation: I stayed in various hostels (with either private rooms or in shared dorms), which I thought were all good value for money! And most of the time I was only staying for 1 night anyway so I didn't care that much lol. There's plenty of more upscale hotels too if that's your thing.

Walkability: The capital cities are very compact and walkable, which was good for me as I had a packed itinerary. It was easy for me to see everything I wanted to within my time frames and I didn't leave any place thinking that I missed out on anything. Maybe surprisingly, I would say that Kaunas' walkability is actually overstated a bit - its main attractions are more spread out than I thought they would be for such a small city.

Price / Budget: Lithuania and Latvia are very cheap, Estonia not so much (but still manageable). My trip grew more expensive as it progressed lol. In total, including flights and accommodation, I spent about £500 / €581 for 9 days.

Highlights: Vilnius is one of my favourite cities in the world (I only spent 1 day here this time as I'd already visited a couple of years ago, loved it then and love it now!); Hill of Crosses (very beautiful place); Tartu (quiet student city, very green and beautiful); and Tallinn (really liked it here, being able to walk by the sea is wonderful and the city just has a very pleasant vibe to it).

Pics:

1: Church of St Catherine, Vilnius

2-3: Hill of Crosses, Šiauliai

4: Cold beetroot soup, Kaunas

5: View of Riga from St Peter's Church

6: KGB Corner House, Riga

7-8: House of the Black Heads, Riga

9: Motormuseum, Riga

10: Cēsis Castle

11: Orthodox Church by Cēsis Castle

12: Ruins of Tartu Cathedral

13: View of the Emajõgi, Tartu

14: St John's Church, Tartu

15: Kissing statue and town hall, Tartu

16: Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Tallinn

17: Toompea Castle, Tallinn

18: View of Tallinn from St Nicholas Church

19: Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn

20: View of the Baltic Sea from harbour, Tallinn

I am a 35 year old Male, who lives in the UK.

My dream is to travel to Japan by myself, and soak in all of the culture and travel the country.

My questions:

What is the best website to use to book a pakage deal?

Not necessarily JUST Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto. I want to travel all over.

Is there 1 particular website that is the cheapest to buy a package? Or would you recommend just buying cheap flights separately and booking accommodation separately?

I plan on doing a 2 week trip. I dont mind staying over at places for just 2 nights. I want to see as much of Japan as I can really.

Thank you in advance for anybody who is patient enough to reply :)

Good day x

Dear all,

Im in Vienna this week. As a passionate souvenir collector who didnt have time to buy the local souvenirs during my rushed one-day trip to Graz last year, Id like to know if there is some shop in Vienna which sells souvenirs of the whole Austria, where I could buy Graz souvenirs too? Thanks in advance.

We had the most magical 2 days in Lake Como this beginning of September and I felt I needed to share it with you. The trip exceeded all my expectations.

The Orrido di Bellano was the most surreal of all the places we visited.

Each village had its own special vibe. Some are more vibrant, glamorous (more crowded but still very enjoyable especially in the early mornings) and others are more peaceful and serene. (I let you guess which is which).

The boat rides (public ones) were our moment to take everything in and enjoy the scenery.

For my first time, I am going to China using the 10-day transit visa. I will be landing in Beijing on the morning of November 15th. I plan on on catching a flight from Beijing to Zhangjiajie. Then I will take the train from Zhangjiajie to Chongqing. Is all of this doable? [Thanks for the answers].

-Beijing, Great Wall & Forbidden Palace (Nov 15th - Nov 18th)

-Zhangjiajie, "Avatar Mountains" & Tianmen Mountain (Nov 18th - Nov 21st)

-Chongqinq, Explore the city and eat food (Nov 21st - Nov 24th)

-Fly out of China from Chongqing on Nov 24th

Hey everyone!

My wife, our 4-year-old son, and I are planning a 3-month rooftop tent road trip through the Balkans from May to July 2027.

We are considering bringing our bikes mostly for practical reasons: to leave our car set up at campsites and use bikes for small grocery runs or exploring nearby towns. However, bringing them adds extra hassle (weight, setup/pack-down time, risk of damage or theft), so we want to check if it’s actually worth it.

Our setup:

• Me: Road bike with a FollowMe tandem coupling attached to my son's bike.
• Wife: Standard city bike (no low gears for steep hills).

We’d love to get some local insights on a few questions:

1. Safety & Infrastructure: How bicycle-friendly are drivers in your country? Are bike lanes common in smaller towns or suburban areas, or are we mostly sharing narrow roads with traffic?
2. Terrain: How flat or hilly are typical towns and coastal areas? Will my wife struggle on a standard city bike without mountain/climbing gears?
3. Daily Practicality: Are local grocery stores, markets, and town centers generally easy to access and park a bike at safely?
4. Repairs & Parts: If something breaks, are bike shops (servis za bicikle) easy to find outside of major cities, or should we carry a lot of spare parts?
5. Theft & Lock Safety: Is bike theft a high concern at campsites, beach parking, or outside supermarkets, or is standard locking sufficient?
6. Public Transport & Ferries: If we want to take a ferry (e.g., in Croatia or Greece) or regional train/bus, is it easy to bring bikes along?

Would love to hear your experiences and honest opinions—is bringing bikes a great convenience, or more of a headache than it's worth?

My partner and I are looking for a 2 week escape in March next year. We've narrowed down our shortlist to Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka and would love some insight from people who have visited all three. I've done Thailand before but it's the cheapest flight options so we're keeping it on the table, and as a gay couple, feels the most welcoming. We'd like a mix of culture, history, nature, hiking and some beach time.

Vietnam is very compelling although I'm not sure two weeks is sufficient time, particularly to cover the north and south of it if we want to do some hiking and have down time on the beach?

I'm taken with Sri Lanka as a compact island for a 2 week trip which covers everything but my partner has reservations over their current economic state and LGBT views.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Hi all!

Quick question on the SARS traveller declaration for entering South Africa

I'm bringing small gifts for friends/colleagues (including chocolates, spices, chili sauce (the friends specifically liked) all in small commercial packaging).

Does this count as "goods to declare"? The SARS Arrival in SA page lists "Animals, plants and their products" under Restricted Goods, but I have have some doubt if it applies to small personal gifts like these.

Thanks!

Hello,

I am currently in the process of organizing a trip to South America for 8 weeks. This is not my first rodeo with travel, and I class myself as a 'fast' traveler who doesn't need to spend lots of time in a single location, however, I am looking for advice on anything that could be cut / added, or if anyone has advice about heading to certain locations during the winter months. I also realize that it is going to be a 'highlights' trip, rather than a deep dive into any of the countries.

The reason for aiming to get 5 countries in 8 weeks, is because I am unlikely to return to South America, and I will see the countries I had to miss in my last backpacking trip. I have also left Patagonia out of my planning due to going in the winter months, however, if anyone has experience with Patagonia in winter that would be very helpful.

The rough plan at the moment is Brazil, (2 weeks) Paraguay (1 week) Uruguay (1 week) Argentina (2 weeks) Chile (2 weeks). I am looking to start in Rio and finish in Santiago, but flights are not booked yet.

I am a teacher, so the dates need to be in South American winter.

Main interests are: hiking, nature, wildlife and nightlife, I would also be interested in skiing, however, this is not a necessity.

I am happy to fly between locations, however, prefer overland travel.

I always look to budget travel, although my budget isn't a major concern for this trip.

Brazil

• Rio de Janeiro
• Ilha Grande
• Paraty
• São Paulo
• Curitiba
• Foz do Iguaça

Paraguay

• Ciudad del Este
• Encarnación
• Asunción

Uruguay

·       Montevideo

• Cabo Polonio
• Colonia

Argentina

• Buenos Aires
• Rosario
• Córdoba
• Mendoza
• San Martín de los Andes
• Bariloche

Chile

·       Puerto Varas

• Pucón
• Santiago
• Valparaís
• Santiago

We just finished a 30-day trip around Japan and thought I'd share our experience. We were there from mid-May to mid-June. The weather wasn't exactly ideal, we had some beautiful sunny days, but mostly rain and quite a lot of fog. We also managed to experience a heat wave, a typhoon and a tsunami warning within those 30 days 😅. Unfortunately, this was the only timing that worked for us because of our jobs, so we made the best of it.

Car rental:
We rented a Nissan Caravan from Japan Campers for 29 days and paid 335,000 yen.The people at Japan Campers were super friendly and reliable. Communication was always easy and their English was excellent. The van was in top-notch condition and everything worked perfectly for the entire trip.

Fuel was around 165 yen/litre on average and we spent approximately 83,000 yen.

Toll:
We rarely used toll roads. In Google Maps we selected "avoid tolls", but not "avoid highways", because quite a few highway sections are free. At the end of the trip we owed the rental company exactly 10,000 yen for ETC charges.

Sleeping in the van:
We slept in the car every single night and only stayed at roadside stations / michi no eki 道の駅. This saved us a huge amount of money on accommodation. We never had any problems sleeping there. In fact, locals do the same, and we never felt like we were doing something unusual or unwelcome. Almost every michi no eki we used had a toilet that was open 24/7, which made things very easy. We didn't use campgrounds because for our purposes the michi no eki were more than enough.

Parking in cities:
We obviously couldn't just park overnight anywhere in cities, but paid parking was surprisingly manageable. With a little searching, we often found parking for around 500–1,000 yen per day even in relatively large cities. Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto were a different story, of course. One important thing: read the parking rules carefully. Most parking companies charge by the hour but have a daily maximum, so the actual price can be much lower than you might initially expect.

Driving:
Before the trip we were a little worried about the narrow roads, especially in the mountains, but in the end, it was never really an issue. Japanese drivers are incredibly good. They were patient, polite and predictable everywhere we went. In 4,200 km of driving, we never experienced road rage and, strangely enough, I don't think we saw a single person aggressively overtaking another car. Not once. Some mountain roads were extremely narrow, but we just took our time and everything worked out.

Ferries:
We used ferries three times during the trip, all three were perfectly on time, we didn't need to book in advance and the language barrier wasn't an issue at all. They required the vehicle registration documents and passports.

Money: We exchanged a large amount of euros into yen at Narita Airport at the GPA Currency Exchange Shop. Surprisingly, this turned out to be better than exchanging through my bank in Austria. The spread was around 1.5% from the official exchange rate and there was no commission.

Onsens and tattoos and shower:
Both my wife and I have large tattoos, so we assumed onsens would basically be off the table for the whole trip.

Surprisingly, we still managed to visit three:

• Abu Roadside Station
• Beppu
• Goshonoyu Onsen

We were very happy about this because we honestly didn't expect to get to experience an onsen at all. For everyday showers, we joined Anytime Fitness at the Narita branch for one month. This allowed us to keep training and, more importantly, have regular showers all over Japan.

I also wore gloves and long-sleeve shirts at the gym because of my tattoos.

We also got a Kaikatsu Club manga café membership. The registration process was extremely complicated as foreigners, but the staff somehow managed to get us registered 😂. That gave us another option for showering despite the tattoos.

Rubbish:
At the beginning, we struggled a bit with the rubbish situation, but after a week we figured out how it works.

Bottles and cans: this one is easy - vending machines or konbini stores (7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Lawson, etc.).

“Burnable” trash: this includes a lot of things that can be incinerated. Japan relies heavily on waste incineration, although the exact sorting rules vary depending on the municipality. Paper cups, leftover food trays, and other packaging materials can often go into this category, and in some places certain types of plastic do too.

We always asked the staff at the konbinis if we could throw away our trash. We noticed that large rubbish bags weren't particularly welcome, so we started collecting the trash in smaller bags — basically the bags you get when you buy something — and then brought it back in smaller batches.

We saw locals doing something similar in the morning, so I assumed this was acceptable. That said, I should mention that the way we did it probably wasn't 100% okay, because we didn't always return the trash to the same store where we bought the stuff. We at least tried to take it back to the same chain whenever possible.

I once saw a video of a guy interviewing Japanese people about whether it's okay to bring your trash to a different store, and they were shocked and basically said, “No, that's not okay.” 😂

So yeah, TL;DR: small batches, separate burnable trash from cans and glass, and you're good to go.

Also, some michi-no-eki have rubbish bins with the same categories.

Laundry
There are coin laundries everywhere. We deliberately didn't bring much clothing and just washed everything regularly. It worked perfectly and saved us from carrying around a huge amount of stuff.

Food and michi no eki
One of the things we really enjoyed was stopping at michi no eki and trying all the local food and products.

We found locally produced food, regional specialties and all kinds of weird and wonderful snacks. We also tried things like walnut-miso dango, local ice cream flavors and plenty of food we had never seen before.

Drone
I also registered my drone with the Japanese authorities beforehand. I believe the registration cost around 900 yen.

During the trip I always checked the official Japanese drone map before flying and only used it when there were no restrictions in the area.

I had absolutely no problems with it during the entire trip.

Overall
Traveling around Japan this way was absolutely fantastic for us.

The biggest advantage was the freedom. We could change our plans constantly, follow the weather, take random mountain roads, stop at a michi no eki whenever we wanted and stay somewhere completely unexpected.

Looking back, though, the pace was probably a little too fast. We only realized this after getting home. Japan has so incredibly much to offer that it sometimes felt like we were constantly moving on before we had really had the chance to "deep dive" into an area.

My personal favorite part of the trip was Kyushu, especially the Mount Aso area, and Ozu in Kochi.

And yes, we were never scammed by anyone. Not once.

If anyone is considering doing Japan by campervan, feel free to ask anything. I'm happy to share what we learned!

Photo 1 - The route

Photo 2 - Katsuyama Castle Museum

Photo 3 - Kyushu rice fields

Photo 4 - Tottori sand dunes

Photo 5 - Bishago sister rock

Photo 6 - Beppu hells

EDIT: Since many of you asked it, PM me for all the pictures covered in the first picture “The route”

I need to book a vacation soon, and have settled on either Portugal or Poland. If I go to Poland, it will be early-mid December. Portugal would be in early November. I will be flying from Houston, Texas, flight prices are basically the same, but this affects my layover. My interests are food and drink (especially drink), architecture, walkability, visible history, and STEM/Technical museums (though art is cool too). Below is a quick breakdown of each from my preliminary research, but I am looking for tips and any experiences about the below.
*Poland*
- cheaper
- cold
- start of Christmas season
- Soviet and medieval architecture
- Want to go to Auschwitz
- beer and hearty Eastern European food
- would have to fly through Munich or Frankfurt
*Portugal*
- warmer
- more expensive
- Lisbon and Porto
- wine and seafood
- good architecture
- good nightlife
- would fly though Newark (Munich back)