Departures: Travel & Lifestyle - ✈️ Japan Begins Welcoming Tourists.
✈️ Japan Begins Welcoming Tourists.A quick look back at my last trip to the Land of the Rising Sun and I lay out the best way to save time at border control when reentering the US from abroad.👨✈️ The Briefing Room:Notes and open topics from the editor’s desk. Welcome Departures. The place to be for where to go and what to see. As Asian countries continue their slow but steady post Covid recovery, Japan seems to be the next major destination setting themselves up to reopening its borders to tourists. So on this edition’s Bucket List highlight I share a few of my favorite memories from my last trip to the country. Stick all the way to the end where I share an update on the best hack to skip the queue at US Border Control. So now without further ado, let’s take it away! Alvin 📰 This Week in Travel:A TLDR approach to some of the week’s most important headlines.
📸 Destination Deep Dive:Comprehensive multipart series on a single destination. France Part 12 Last week on Destination Deep Dive: France Part 11 we visited the Champagne Bar on top of the Eiffel Tower. The most touristic roof top bar in the entire city. This week we continue our Parisian rooftop binge to one of the most luxurious. L'Oiseau Blanc & Le Rooftop Located steps away from Arc de Triomphe, at the top of the beautiful Peninsula Hotel in Paris, L'Oiseau Blanc (restaurant) and Le Rooftop (bar) offer panoramic views of the city and Eiffel Tower in a chic atmosphere. The 2 Michelin Star restaurant serves traditional French lunch and dinner options curated by resident Chef David Bizet in a comfortable climate controlled room and impeccable service that ensure you have a first class dining experience every time. The bar located on the same level as the restaurants offers al fresco seating and is one of the best places to enjoy a sunset on a clear day. For reservations: The Peninsula Hotel About Destination Deep Dives Destination Deep Dives offer a more immersive look at one particular destination in a recurring format over a several editions of the newsletter. It is where I give myself room to explore a broader set of points of interests, for all travel styles and budgets. Think of them as small parts of a larger travel guide. Even though I will be publishing them all together as one guide at the end of the series, you may access them all as individual articles inside their corresponding Departures edition here: 🗺 Bucket List:Short highlight of a dream destination. Japan: The Land of the Rising Sun Some time late 2015 as Mercedes-Benz was pulling out of its Fashion Week sponsorships around the world, I got an email invitation to what would be the new Tokyo Fashion Week sponsored by Amazon. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity with both feet. In contrast to all my previous trips to Japan though, this one would be documented completely on film. I had been toying again with photographic film for a few years then and had even pulled some of my old cameras from storage to produce a couple of film first projects. But this trip would be the first one I would go completely old school and leave all my digital cameras behind. So this week, instead of going to granular on the country, I’m taking a trip down memory lane and leaving you with a few film scans from that trip. Hope you enjoy! 🧳 Carry-on Only:Travel experience, tech and accessory reviews. Every once in a while I come across a piece of travel tech that just leaves me puzzled how no one ever thought of it before? The collapsible German made Pull-Up suitcase is designed to compartmentalize all your items into its own packing cubes and onto individual shelves. As someone who lives in and out of hotels and AirBnb’s, I can not tell you how much time and hassle this level of organization saves. The Pull-Up Suitcase is one of those items that once you use it for the first time, you’ll wonder how you’ll ever travel again without it. via Pull-Up Suitcase 🛠 Hack of the Week:Tips and tricks for better travel quality of life. For several years the US government has offered a trusted traveller program called Global Entry that after paying a $100 application fee and going through a special screening process, unlocks special lanes at major ports and drastically speed the entry process when coming from abroad. Well in what seems like a bit of administrative redundancy, the US Customs and Border Protection offer lesser known alternative called Mobile Passport. This one come in the shape of a free mobile app you download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Although both products definitely have some crossover, for the purpose of this hack I will summarize it by saying Mobile Passport features what in my opinion is the best feature of Global Entry: the special fast lane at the port. All without the application fee, in person interview, screening process and months long approval wait time. Here is a short video from CBP that explains how it works: But as if the closely similar programs were not enough source of confusion, the initial Mobile Passport app, run by a company called Airside, has been recently superseded by the new Mobile Passport Control app listed above. Though they both offer almost identical functionality, you will need to make sure you have downloaded the correct app as the old one (still listed for download on all platforms) will no longer work effective February 2022. 🛫 About Us:Departures is a free newsletter about photography, travel & lifestyle. To find out more about what this is, who I am and why should you be here, visit our dedicated about page here: Thank you for subscribing to Departures. This newsletter is made possible by the generosity of other like minded industry partners and humans just like you. If you wish to support the mission and enjoy additional premium benefits, special offers, exclusive content and 1 on 1 access to me and my team consider upgrading to a Million Miler subscription. |
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✈️ Top 10 Travel Hacks 2022.
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
With the summer travel season quickly approaching, we look back at the Top 10 Travel Hacks for 2022.
✈️ Venice Introduces Tourist Tax.
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
In an effort to curb overtourism, the floating city is introducing for the first time an admission fee for tourists.
✈️ Greece Opens Up.
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
In this edition we visit a budget friendly Parisian rooftop, take a short tour of my favorite island in the Aegean and look at some handy makeup solution for those last minute touchups.
✈️ Castles and Fairytales.
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Czech Republic lifts all Covid entry restrictions, we go for dinner to the highest restaurant in Paris and we explore a simple solution for the packing blues.
✈️ Beach Bound.
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
👨✈️ With spring in full swing, we continue our journey through the best rooftops in Paris and we start exploring some holiday options closer to the water.
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