industrialist

This place is absolutely beautiful – all I remember is the garden, the pool (inside and outside), and a sitting-type room – but I’m glad that my parents dragged my grade school behind here. It’s been more than a decade since I’ve been here last, but some memories stay with you forever.

The last time I came was back in 2005. I think I’ve only been attending Anime Expo for three years, or so. It’s pretty cool – you’ll definitely get your money’s worth for all four days (or even one day) with anime showings, cosplay, glorious fun, new friends, and the overall high-energy in this place. If you’re lucky, you might be able to experience MAN-FAYE.

If you’re a total fan of anime, I’m sure you’ll go broke the first four hours they let you into the con.

We were coming from LAX (Los Angeles, California) to the Narita Airport in Japan. (We stopped here first, then went to Incheon, South Korea.) They have a lot of security checks! This was before the ban on liquids on airline flights, so it was a bit of a hassle. My mom and I probably went through five, that I can remember off the top of my head, checkpoints before we made it to the resting area.

6/24/06 to 7/29/06

I love this place. It’s a lot different than California. The mountains are SO CLOSE and they’re so full and lush with vegetation – not like the bare, sand-like-dirt mountains that we have here.

I visited Seoul for a week and a half (not at the same time, just at the beginning and the end of my stay in Korea) and let me tell you, the nightlife is OUTRAGEOUS! There’s not much pollution in Seoul (feel free to breathe deep without getting any smog in your lungs) and you can probably thank the government and their lush mountains for that.

They’re very recycle-conscious here. There was once a gigantic landfill filled with trash, but they moved that over to a mountainous area near the main river in Seoul (I forget names, please forgive me) and vegetation grew over it – thus helping the economy.

The majority of South Koreans recycle in their homes as well. There are trashcans everywhere that indicate what should go in.

I’ll admit, the autos here threw me off. After about three weeks, I slowly adjusted, but … eh, the cars! Sorry, I’m starting to fade off into a dream-like state. I suppose Asian cars are just different than American cars. (yeah, I bet.)

We didn’t stay in Seoul for very long, as I mentioned above. My mom and I went to her little brother’s place (my favorite uncle) in Changwon, South Korea. My grandparents (mom’s parents) live with him there. I wish I had pictures to post, but my mom’s being a stink and not letting me upload pictures yet. :(

Anyways, I loved it here. I love my grandparents and my uncle so much. We have plans to start coming back every summer.

First time, last time, shmeh – same thing, at least to me. My mom and I visited Tokyo and wow, is there insane amounts of traffic, busyness, and excitement, or what?

We went to a no-star rated hotel – we were only going to be in for two days anyways, as the flight schedule got a bit messed up for us. It was nice (and I compared this to my friend who also went to Tokyo, Japan this past summer, we just missed each other by a month), but the rooms are cramped and small. Don’t expect a lot of leg room between the sink in the bathroom and the toilet and in the actual bed-area.

Definitely though, walking, subway-ing, train-ing, bus-ing, or cab-ing, any modes of transportation through this terrific city is a treat in itself.

Maybe next summer, my mom and I will visit for more than just two days.

I have no experience with airports, but my family has been using LAX (as opposed to the John Wayne, Long Beach, or Huntington Beach) for our travels. It’s nice, but if you’re going to sight-see, you don’t have to come here.

I live approximately 30-so miles away from The Grove (or Los Angeles, if you want to be general). With slim to none traffic, getting here can be from half-an-hour to fifty minutes. With horrible traffic (mind you, the I-5N gets traffic anytime except 4am), it can take anywhere from fifty minutes to two hours.

So if you’re planning on visiting here, LEAVE EARLY! If you’re a bit skeptical about the travel time and it turns out that you get there a bit early, it’s cool – just park in a nice spot in the parking structure, get out into the center of The Grove, and browse around.

May I recommend the three-story Barnes & Nobles?