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The next day was forecast for dodgy weather so we had a chilled morning, I did some work and Pete watched motorbike racing. Then we headed out to buy a cool bag and some snorkels and masks.  Daiso didn’t let us down.  Y100 each (less than 50p) for a cool Read more

We flew from Asahikawa to Tokyo to Naha and eventually to Miyakojima, an Okinawan Island connected to three other islands by land bridges.  We read that from Sapporo it is over 2,000km south – closer to Taiwan than Tokyo.  And more a tropical climate.  While we were there (early April) Read more

After a day in Furano sorting out leaving admin, we hit the road once more, this time heading West.  We drove all the way to The west coast to Otaru which is famous for its little canals and Venetian glass (Japan’s Venice).  The canals are pretty small but used to Read more

And before we knew it, we were saying goodbye to our colleagues.  After a few good leaving parties and a Paddy’s Night blow out, we also finished work at the ski school on 17th March (our latest finish yet) and headed off on a Hokkaido North road trip.  First we Read more

Following on from the last post, we did have to rest and recover on some days off but we’d requested 6 days off at the start of the season to go ski some other resorts we’ve never been to. So this had to change as recovery took priority but we Read more

With being busy and ill, off and on for 4 weeks, it took a deadline to go and see Luke before he headed back to NZ. He was an instructor our 1st season in Furano and had been here for 5 weeks, we met him his last night 🙈🙈  He Read more

So the freedom of having our own car this year has been amazing. After all the natural onsen trips we thought we’d go somewhere different so tried the Shirahige waterfall near Biei. TBH there were alot more people there than we expected, who knew there were so many tourists in snowy Read more

Pete’s continued good health saw him go to Ajitos and showed the youngsters how to play pool 🎱    he hasn’t been back incase it was fluke 🙈🙈🙃🙃 Pete then had a student from last season for a week who managed her goal of being able to ski down from the Read more

So Pete did get better – phew. Then got gastro 🙈🙈  he’s blaming a 5 year old he taught the day before…….   The Doctors were really good though and prescribed anti nausea,  probiotics and “stomach ” tablets.    No work sick days though 💪 although its the 1st time we haven’t Read more

So this year we have heard lots of Christmas tunes at the supermarket and on the chairlift music.  It is getting a tiny bit more Christmassy here each year.  Although not a Christmas tree in sight.  Unfortunately, just before Christmas the weather turned crazy warm and we had a whole Read more

After a long old flight and lots of movies we touched down in Tokyo late at night. We just made the last train to our accommodation, 2 stops away. The next morning we were going to eat ramen at a favourite place but decided we’d be tight on time so Read more

So, yeah, somehow Summer is already finished here on the Isle of Man !!   Countdown to ski season seems to be fast approaching. It’s been a fun summer – and, for the IOM, a hot summer which was a nice change. Pete’s been busy working outside and actually has a Read more

So you may have noticed that we always try to go to a new country on our travels (it’s a big old world) but we decided to go back to Singapore to see how much it had changed since our last visit in 1999 🙈🙈🙈🧓👵 There were 2 reasons for Read more

After another false Google pin 📌 🙄, we ended up at Lake Liyu and had a walkabout.  It was cool seeing guys training for the dragon boat racing in really slim boats.  We watched a few go for a swim 😀😀 Then, we drove to our hotel for two nights Read more

We left Kenting and headed north via Route 199, a hilly, twisting, fun road. We dropped off to the coast for a break on the beach. Back up over the hills and back down along the coast to our accommodation which had its own hot springs 🙂   We soaked in Read more

So we collected our hire car in heavy rain at the airport and headed South.  We didn’t really have a plan – apart from head South to nicer weather. We drove for a few hours and decided to stay at a hotel near the highway.  What another love hotel??  Honestly, Read more

We were still in Japan when people were asking “why Taiwan ” and we were saying we’d had some lovely students from there so why not try it…..    To be fair when we asked the students what to do in Taiwan, most said eat !!!  Although that was the same Read more

We collected a rental car and headed South out of Seoul to the lakes and mountains.  We stayed at a cheap (£20 a night), possibly “love hotel”, on the outskirts of Chungju City.  We headed into the city to locate tourist information but no joy.  Information is quite tricky to come Read more

Many Koreans (and Japanese and Chinese) come to Jeju Do to be near the stunning coastline and escape the heat of the cities.  We came here to escape forecasted snow in Seoul but it was far from warm – more like the IOM really – strong bracing cold wind! Thankfully, Read more

Before we left the airport in Japan, we could already feel some of the hustle and bustle about to come our way in Korea.  More pushing and shoving, for example.   We landed in Seoul and stayed that night close to the airport while we got our bearings.  The next Read more

Lessons, lessons, lessons. Can be tiring for our old limbs sometimes !! We both find it so rewarding still though when you see that moment something clicks and you know you’ve created another skier or boarder 😍😍  or just made them think “damn that green is so easy now – Read more