Hello, my name is Sean and welcome to my blog! I created this blog as a way for me to more creatively document my travels and experiences I have accumulated over the years. I love travelling, but up until now my trips have been primarily documented through photos and shared through Facebook albums, relegated to the depths of content that is the internet. With the pandemic that is currently raging across the world, I thought this would be a great opportunity to reflect on some of my old trips and plan for the future. This blog serves as both a personal diary of my travels that I can leave behind for future generations, as well as a bucket list of places I would like to explore.
My Story
Who is this random stranger you ask? I got my start in travelling back in the early 2000’s, back when my parents took me on my first island-hopping cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. Ever since then, travelling has always been part of my life, and my first big trip on my own was to Japan in 2007.
I had the honor of travelling to Japan for the Nippon Jamboree for two weeks, with the first week being the actual event, while we spent the second week in the homes of two different Japanese hosts, one in Nagoya and the other in Hiroshima. I don’t remember too much from those days, but my most vivid memory was when I brought back two giant boxes of plastic models, and we had to figure out how we were going to everything back!
Fast forward to 2014, and I have been on several cruises from the Caribbean to Europe, but I felt something was lacking. Cruises are a great way to explore a place you’ve never been to before, but often times the cruise would be designed in such a way to suck you into various tourist traps and spend money doing activities that you could’ve done anywhere else. It felt like you were paying for a very tailored experience of what the country could be, without truly being immersed into the actual culture of the country.
My Travel Philosophy
As a result of my travels, I have rethought how I travelled. I resolved myself to dig deeper into the countries I visit, and vowed to visit the hidden aspects of the countries I was travelling to. These could be “hidden gems”, but they could also just be rural towns that happen to be in the middle of nowhere. For me, travelling means exploring both the culture of a country, as well as its natural beauty. For a country like Japan, that could mean taking a one-car train to a remote town, where the trains only come once an hour, instead of every 5-10 minutes. Or it could be hiking a mile out from the bus stop, because that’s where the hotel is. It’s not quite luxury travelling, but it’s also not backpacking either.
Conclusion
If you’ve made this far, thank you! It is my hope that this blog can serve as inspiration for people to find their own path, and venture outside their own comfort zone that is the traditional vacation itinerary. Although Japan is my focus, I plan to document all my travels through this blog. If any of this sounds interesting to you, maybe consider following my blog, or find me on instagram.
Pathfinders 