The Backpack Adventures

A Letter to 2020 Thank you for the 365 days that we've shared together. It was just sad that the COVID-9 pandemic took a lot from everyone. Unlike last year where I made sure to have at least one trip per month, the Philippines went on several quarantine procedures to avoid a boom in infection by the virus which took thousands of lives worldwide this year. I took this opportunity to improve my blog by adding cover photos and checking the grammar of older articles. Aside from that, I also exerted more effort in promoting my blog on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Sadly, Facebook saw this as SPAM and blocked my blog. Luckily, my Pinterest and Twitter accounts are reaping dividends and my views doubled in the last few months of the year.  Let's look back and see what milestones we've achieved this year. 1.  This year, I was able to  publish 63  articles  ( 13 articles less than last year 😢).  2. I have finally reached 2.2  million views . (That's 204K  new views this ye

Our third adventure in Japan might have been long over but its memories still linger. To summarize our adventures in the Land of the Rising Sun, here's the list (complete with links*) of places and events that we have visited and experienced : * Please click the links to read the articles. Day 0 - Arrival Day 1 - Osaka to Kyoto Day 2 - Exploring Kyoto 1 Day 3 - Exploring Nara Day 4 - Exploring Kyoto 2 Day 5 - Exploring Kyoto 3 Day 6 - Exploring Osaka Day 7 - Flight Home Tips Japan's 4G Sim Card VS 4G Pocket WIFI Others Japan's Awesome Manhole Covers A Guide to Collecting Eki Stamps Kyoto Prefecture Kyoto City Kyoto Station Higashi Honganji Nijo Castle Tenryuji Arashiyama Bamboo Grove Kimono Forest Yasaka Jinja Shrine Maruyama Park Kyoto's Edo-style Starbucks Kodaiji Higashiyama Healing Buddhist Statues Ryozen Kannon Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka Preserved Districts Kyoto Tower Pokemon Center Kyoto Kyoto Station Illumination Fushimi Inari Shrine Mt. Inari Tofukuji He

Day 7 December 25, 2019 Flight Home Merry Christmas or better yet Meri Kurisumasu from Japan ! This is it, our last day in this beautiful country known as the  Land of the Rising Sun .  5 more minutes, please! We woke up to another beautiful but very cold morning at  Oriental Suites Airport Osaka Rinku   in Izumisano City, Osaka Prefecture. As you can recall, we spent our Christmas Eve with our Japanese godparent and his family in their home in Kumatori before checking in to this awesome hotel late last night. Check out the amazing view from Oriental Suites Airport Osaka Rinku Rise and shine Team Nicerio! Since our flight to Manila was still at 5:45 in the afternoon, we took the opportunity to relax and enjoy the comfort of our room. Speaking of our room, we were checked in at room 2405. It has an amazing view of Osaka Bay and of the Kansai International Airport Access Bridge .  Who wouldn't want to have a photo with this view as the background When the eighth member of our grou