This is a sample post so the design has something to wear — Kelly's real trip reports will replace it.

The joy of leaving room in the itinerary

This is a sample post. Replace it with a real trip report in the CMS.

Everyone tells you to plan Japan meticulously — book the restaurants months out, reserve the museums, schedule the day trips. We did some of that. But the hours I keep thinking about are the unplanned ones.

The unscheduled hours

A morning in Yanaka with no destination. The tiny coffee shop with four seats we would never have found on purpose. Getting mildly lost in Kyoto’s backstreets and ending up at a shrine with nobody else in it.

What worked

One anchor per day — a booking, a neighborhood, a meal — and nothing else. Japan rewards wandering more than any place I’ve been.

New journal entries,
straight to your inbox.

No spam — just the occasional postcard from wherever the suitcase lands.