Travel Smarter

Hi, welcome to our new blog. We are Courtney and Andrew. We are originally from Canada and have been living in Japan since March 2006. During our time in Japan we have travelled many times domestically as well as internationally, especially through southeast Asia. If you want you can see pictures and read about our expatriate exploits here.

On our trips, we have made more mistakes than we are proud to admit. These missteps have cost us time, money, and peace of mind. I supposed this comes with travelling. However, we decided to start this blog to help other people avoid making our mistakes, as well to share some of our travel strategies.

Our Travel Philosophy

We don't have a lot of money which has shaped our travel philosophy. Our travel philosophy is also always changing and being updated. Currently I would describe our philosophy as:

“To travel and experience a new country or area as safe, cheap and entertaining as possible. All the while looking as little like a tourist as possible.”

If this interests you please take some time and read through our articles. As well, we would also like to learn from you. Please make comments or suggestions on our site. Anything is welcomed.

Articles we have written. The most recent are at the top of the list:

• 2008.08.22 Does anyone here speak English?
  How do you communicate effectively with someone whose first language is not English?

Safe travels,

Andrew and Courtney.