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Interview with Pierre Salviac: Former rugby commentator and travel enthusiast
Pierre Salviac began his career as a journalist as a great reporter and covered historical events (Vietnam War, Appolo 13, Bloody Sunday, …). He is also known to have been the voice of French rugby for 20 years.Passionate about traveling, he continues to travel the world for pleasure.Pierre Salviac was kind enough to grant us an express interview.You’ve been traveling for 50 years, what are the big differences compared to today?The main revolution in travel lies in the comparative flight price engines. And in platforms such as booking.You now travel for pleasure, are you the type to plan everything or to improvise once you get there?It is the flight offer…
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Mount Yoshino (Japan): 30,000 cherry trees in bloom
Today, we are motivated to go to Nara Prefecture, more precisely to Mount Yoshino, where we can see 30,000 cherry trees in bloom. The full-bloom period was a week ago, so we don’t expect to see 30,000 cherry trees in bloom, but a few thousand in bloom anyway 😀 Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary How to get there? We take the subway and then a local train to get there. There is a limited express which goes there, faster (of 15mn) but we did not manage well to buy the tickets. So we go there by local train by paying with our ICOCA…
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Travel Notes Osaka (Japan) #4: Sakura at the Expo ’70 Commemorative Park, Japan Folk Crafts Museum
Last Tuesday, I went to see the cherry blossoms at Expo ’70 Commemorative Park, in full-bloom for 3 days. It is one of the best places in all of Japan for hanami (traditional Japanese custom to appreciate the beauty of flowers, mainly cherry blossoms). As JB had to work, I went there by myself Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary I need 2 changes and a long hour to get to Expo’70 Comemorative Park. Luckily I’m sitting down most of the time. As soon as I get off the train/subway/RER (I don’t know anymore), I see a huge wheel on my right, and a…
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Miyako Odori: Advice and Practical Tips – Travel Report Kyoto (Japan) #3
As I explained to you last time, we went to Gion Corner in Kyoto to get information about their geiko show, before coming across a flyer of an even more beautiful show that only takes place in April every year: Miyako Odori As we are still in Osaka for a while, we were able to make the round trip during the day to Kyoto to attend What it is: Miyako Odori is an annual show/festival where geikos (geishas) and maiko (apprentice geishas) present their cherry tree dances. It is a very well known festival, organized since 1872 (there are years when it has been organized twice) Where: Attention this festival…
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Test and review of the Sento Akashi-yu in Osaka (Japan)
To find out how a session in an Onsen takes place, it’s this way.It is the nearest Sento that we are testing this time, it is 300 meters away. As usual we take off the shoes before entering (no need for a locker room).An automatic machine allows you to buy what you want. It is translated into English which greatly facilitates operations.The entrance fee is 440 yen. Small surprise, the sauna isn’t included in this price. So we decide to take the “kit” entrance + sauna + large towel at 640 yens.One enters and the manageress explains us as she can that the sauna is only 50°C, which isn’t much…
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Transportation: Google Maps in Japan, don’t believe it 100%, how to avoid the pitfalls
We just spent a few days in Kyoto and took regional trains, local trains, JR trains, local buses etc. and we have to warn you: follow Google Maps, but double-check, always! Because the mistake can come from your inattention Note: we don’t have a JR pass, so don’t count on us to tell you which lines are compatible with your pass. We don’t know 🙁 Situation 1 : Remain on board There are two trains with different names to take in a row, but Google Maps tells you to stay on the same train (“Remain on board”) He isn’t wrong, but YOU may make some mistakes. Follow these steps to…
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Travel journal Kyoto (Japan) #2: Museum of Traditional Crafts, Kyoto Botanical Garden, Fushimi Inari-taisha
Read the first part of our stay in Kyoto here This morning, we wake up early to enjoy breakfast at Le Bac à Sable, a café opened by a French-Japanese couple. It feels good to have a good croissant and a good chocolate bar. Moreover here we don’t speak about “pain au chocolat” but about “chocolatine”, they are real ones. We highly recommend you! This morning, we had a meeting with an old Vietnamese friend and his wife. But we still have an hour ahead of us so I am motivated to walk to the Museum of Traditional Crafts, of which I saw some flyers yesterday at Gion Corner Museum…
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Travel journal Kyoto (Japan) #1: Sakura, Cherry blossoms
Seeing cherry blossoms has always been my dream. Every year, we remember that we have to go there one day. And finally, that day has finally arrived! As early as January, when we still didn’t know what we were going to do the next day, I put pressure on JB to book a hotel in Kyoto on March 29th and 30th, because the January forecast predicted the “full bloom” (the fact that all the flowers would be open) around those dates. And the forecast was absolutely correct. But unfortunately, as of January, the accommodations were already well booked, for both nights we will have to sleep in two different guesthouses…
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Test & review of sento Suehiroyu in Osaka (Japan)
To find out how a session in an Onsen takes place, it’s this way.As our bathroom is tiny and the apartment quite cold, we make a habit of going every other day to wash ourselves in an onsen or sento.As long as we do, we test a new one each time.Today it is the turn of the sento Suehiroyu which is next door.As usual we take off the shoes and put them in a small locker (no room is needed for the locker).A machine is used to buy the tickets.Everything is in Japanese but we are starting to get used to it, you have two main rates : For 440…
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Sending a letter to France from abroad – Test and advice from Service Postal (servicepostal.com)
This post isn’t sponsored Even if most of the procedures can now be done online, there are still cases where you need to send physical mail (signed contracts, sending registered mail, …) For the reception of mail (which is then scanned for me), I have already mentioned the traveler’s mail service To send mail, I used until now the online service of La Poste It works very well but the service has two drawbacks A limitation of 8 pages maximum by mail. We can do double-sided but in some cases it isn’t enough. The ergonomics of the service is null and void. Really! An operation as basic as entering the…
