akihabara

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This is going to be a 3 part series that will be going on my blog for the next 3 days. Why 3 days? Because I shot so many images this year and I love them all but I can’t choose one absolute favorite. I think I ended up with at least 30 absolute favorites. It’s like how do you choose your favorite pizza delivery place? Who knows! They’re all so great, delicious and you like them all for different reasons. That’s the same thing with this!

Part 1: Travel

So here are my 10 favorite images from travel in 2016. I am SO lucky that I was able to travel to Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean this past year. Like is this really my life?

In order of when I visited these amazing places, here are my favorite travel images of 2016. Woop Woop!
Click the image to find the original blog post and the story behind it.

electronic megastore, japan, akihabara, escalators, electronics, camera, electric town, shopping district, manga, computer goods,

The electronic Super Store in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan. You could spend hours in this one place and I think I did. Obviously, most of my time was spent on the photography floor. Yes, that’s right. A whole floor devoted to photography!

shinjuku, gyoen, national garden, asia, tokyo, japan, garden, park, shibuya, green, water, pond, monochrom, popular parks, walk

One of my favorite places in the city of Tokyo, Shinjuku Gyoen. I love all the variations of green in this image.

Fushimi Inari Shrine, kyoto, vermilion torii gates, shinto, japan, kimono, girls, walking, light, Senbon Torii, gate, shrine, girls

This image definietly took a lot of patience. It was that decisive moment that Henri Cartier-Bresson talks about.

motorcycle, bike, hello kitty, bicycle, japan, asia, black, street, pink, garage,

The contrast of these two bikes in Tokyo cracks me up. I can imagine these two riding down the road together having the best time.

st john, cinnamon bay, trunk bay, beach, palm tree, rocks, white sand, clear water, virgin islands, usvi, caribbean, travel, beach bum

OMG Can we please go back? St John was like heaven on earth.

st thomas, virgin islands, margaritaville, jimmy buffet, sunrise, morning, beach, umbrella, chairs, ocean, caribbean, usvi

This was taken at the resort we were staying at, Margaritaville. I didn’t have any margaritas but I had plenty of vodka. They should change the name to Vodkaville 🙂

st john, virgin islands, usvi, caribbean, territory, travel, beach, clear water, blue water, island, clouds, boat, visit, visit, cinnamon bay

YES to all the above

ft lauderdale, south florida, beach, seaweed, ocean, atlantic, america, florida, fl, seagulls, sunrise, walk, shore, peace, calm, water, sand

In August, Andrew and I spent a long weekend in Ft Lauderdale. It was a great end of summer get away.

london, england, parliment, sunset, thames river, united kingdom, palace of westminster, house of lords, house of commons, meeting place, sunset, central london, british polictics, royal palace, night, car trails,

Oh Snap! Don’t you love it when big buses pass you by while taking a long exposure. They always create the coolest lines with their lights.

la sagrada familia, Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, gaudi, roman catholic church, barcelona, spain, interior, architecture, holy family, Antoni Gaudí,

La Sagrada Familia: The most awe-inspiring interior I’ve ever seen. My girlfriends and I made a pact to come back to Barcelona in 10 years when to see this place when  it’s all complete.

 

So there it is. My top 10 travel images for 2016. What did you guys think? Come back to the blog for the next two days for more of my favorites.

tokyo, japan, three dakihabaraays, travel, visit, tourist, tour, must see, food, night, shibuya, shinjuku, gyoen, national garden, ramen, night tours, lights, shopping, harajuku, skytree, akihabara, rooftop

I was fortunate enough to have spent 7 full days in Tokyo. To some it may seem like a lot, but each day was a new adventure to me. There’s so much to do in this city. It can be a little overwhelming to figure out what’s what, so I thought it’d be helpful to create a guide for those who have never been and highlight some of my favorite things to do in this huge city.

So here’s a guide to maximize your 3 days in Tokyo.

Day 1: Shinjuku

You could spend a whole day in just this ward. Tons of shopping, eating and sight seeing all in one place. This is the best place to just wonder without a map and enjoy the sights and sounds of this great neighborhood. Here are my favorites…

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
The best time to visit this garden is definietly cherry blossom season but it’s super hard to plan for. But even if it’s not spring, this garden is BEAUTIFUL all on it’s on. Everything is so well manicured and clean. It’s a great to grab a picnic basket, your best friend and spend a lovely afternoon in the garden.

cherry blossoms, shinjuku, japan, gyoen, national garden, japan, travel, park, shibuya, park, sakura, flowers, girlfriends, rest, bench

just a couple of girlfriends chit chatting

Food
Especially if you’re jet lagged, this Ichiran is the perfect ramen spot because its open 24 hours. You even sit in these little divided tables (think DMV type testing seats). Once you’ve been served, they’ll close the curtain in front of you so you have total privacy and can enjoy the full flavor of your noodle soup.

Din Tai Feng for some serious yums. A taiwanese restaurant transplanted in Tokyo known for their soup dumplings. Theres usually a wait, but its totally worth it. Located on one of the top floors of Takashimaya Times Square, which is cool all on it’s own. Each floor is dedicated to a certain department (women, men, homeware, kimonos, etc.) so work your way though times square and then have Din Tai Feng as a reward.

din tai fung, shinjuku, Takashimaya Times Square, soup dumplings, taiwan, buns, green tea, food, eat, restaurant

For dinner or some evening entertainment, you gotta check out the Robot Restaurant.  It’s kind of hard to describe. Imagine a super trippy drug experience summarized in song, dance, color and lights.

robot restaurant, shinjuku, tokyo, drummers, girls, blue, show, crazy, wild, lights, color,

 

Day 2: Tokyo Skytree, Akihabara, Night Photography Tour

Located in Sumida, it’s a bit of a hike to make it to Tokyo Skytree but it brings an interesting perspective to Tokyo that makes it worth it. I’d try to go early as possible to avoid lines or evening time to see the city light up.

tokyo skytree, observation deck, broadcasting, restaurant, sumida, tallest tower, kanto, japan, asia, travel, to do, visit, television, shadow, tower, buildings, birds-eye view, city, up top, tall

Taken in the middle of the day, Tokyo skytree created a cool shadow over the city.

On your way back to the hotel, stop by the Akihabara ward. Known for all things electronic, anime and manga, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. The heart of the city has tall buildings all covered by anime and manga posters. Pretty cool to see in a city. My favorite part was the electronic store, Yodabashi. For example, the first floor was everything cell phone related, the second floor was all computers, etc, etc, etc. If you’re like me, you’ll want to head to the fifth floor for the camera equipment. It’s like photo heaven.

electronic megastore, japan, akihabara, escalators, electronics, camera, electric town, shopping district, manga, computer goods,

This is just the escalators to get in between the floors. Yea, it’s pretty awesome.

Our absolute favorite dessert in Tokyo were these mini cheese tarts from Pablo. They’re sooooo good and the ones from Akihabara were baked fresh on the premises so they’re warm when we ate them. They came in three different flavors and in order of my favorite to least is cheese, green tea, chocolate.  I can’t emphasize enough how good they were. I wish I had one now.

Pablo, mini cheese tart, dessert, food, japan, tokyo, pablo,

And if you’re not too tired, check out EYExplore Tokyo photo tours. I highly, highly recommend the veritgo tour but they also offer some cool night time tours in Shinjuku and Shibuya. This is a totally unique experience and its super fun to bring home images you’d be proud of at the end of your whole Tokyo experience.

tokyo, shimbashi, ginza, japan, vertigo, rooftop, on top, buildings, night, glow, color, crowded, travel, photo tour, eyexplore,

One of the cool views you could see on the Vertigo Tour Photo Tour from EYExplore Tokyo

Day 3: Harajuku and Shibuya

Before leaving on the trip, I knew I wanted to go to Harajuku. I heard so much about the girls, fashion and street style that it seemed like a super hip place. It definietly did not disappoint. A great place to go to pick up some unique gifts for friends and family but also people watch.

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It can get pretty crowded, so be prepared for that.

harajuku, alley, street, crowd, girls, fashion, tokyo, japan,

Last but not least, Shibuya is a place that should not be missed. Home to the busiest crosswalk ever, it’s a sight to see! You’ll be amazed. This short video clip was taken at 11p at night. Can you imagine what it’s like during rush hour? My head still can’t wrap around how many people there are in this tiny space.


Video taken from the the walkway between the Keio Station (Inokashira Line).

But Shibuya has plenty of restaurants and stores to walk around and see. Our favorite place to eat was Joto Curry. It was so good we ate there twice. My favorite part was watching the food being prepared. My mouth is watering just thinking about it again.

curry, joto curry, shibuya, japan, tokyo, good eats, dinner, lunch, rice, pork, fried, sauce, yum

 

So there it is! 3 days in Tokyo! My favorite things to do and eat. Hope you enjoyed. If you feel like I missed something, please let me know in the comments. Or if you’ve been to any of these places, let me know too so we can reminisce on how fun everything is 🙂

Safe travels!!

* All food images taken with my iphone 6.

All photos available for print and licensing >

Before leaving to Japan I googled “largest camera store in Tokyo”. Which lead me to here, Yodobashi. This isn’t just a camera equipment store, this megastore is amazing, overwhelming and awesome all at the same time. I mean you can tell just by looking at the escalators.

So each floor is dedicated to a particular electronic. The first floor was all cellphones, the second was computers, etc. Finally the 5th floor (but not the last floor of the department store) was the camera gear. I don’t know why, but I was kind of nervous. Maybe just excited nervous. But I really wanted to see if Japan had anything different than what I could purchase in America. The only real differences I saw was in the accessories, not really the camera gear itself. They had rows and rows full of tripods, rows and rows full of photo apparel, so many photo albums and framing ideas. It was a little nuts but extremely happy I got to see it in real life.