When dreaming up our vacations we usually start with a bit of wonder… Oh, I wonder what is like there? Oh, I haven't been there yet. Oh, I've heard great things about their hiking, beaches, food.
Then we zero in on the details: flights, overall game plan, multiple cities? One hot spot? When planning our Great South Western Adventure: us, a CRV, 7k driving miles, 60ish hiking miles among AHHHMAZING scenery; someone ahem Jesse, insisted on a spreadsheet outlining where we plan to sleep at night.
May have stemmed from when we drove through the backwoods of Colorado searching for a place to sleep while someone was getting hungrier and hungrier. We found a mostly decent hotel if you ignored the animal heads staring down upon you while sleeping and the fact that Jesse tripped the circuit breaker while attempting to use the toaster and the coffee maker simultaneously.
Ever since our vacas have been outlined in spreadsheet form. A handy space for all the details to recall the night before when we're wondering what time to be at the airport or how many outfits we may need in between laundry stops. Also handy for our expat lifestyle where the company wants a detailed itinerary for our whereabouts (equally big brothery and helpful when they alerted us to a potential travel glitch in Tokyo due to a parade)
Then we land at our destination, relax into vacation mode and begin planning the details of what we want to do in this new place.
So often like almost always our plans are driven by food. A quick googling: best food, unique restaurants, what is famous here and we have our agenda. Try everything! Or take a tiny tasting bite while Jesse scarfs the rest down.
Then we zero in on the details: flights, overall game plan, multiple cities? One hot spot? When planning our Great South Western Adventure: us, a CRV, 7k driving miles, 60ish hiking miles among AHHHMAZING scenery; someone ahem Jesse, insisted on a spreadsheet outlining where we plan to sleep at night.
May have stemmed from when we drove through the backwoods of Colorado searching for a place to sleep while someone was getting hungrier and hungrier. We found a mostly decent hotel if you ignored the animal heads staring down upon you while sleeping and the fact that Jesse tripped the circuit breaker while attempting to use the toaster and the coffee maker simultaneously.
Ever since our vacas have been outlined in spreadsheet form. A handy space for all the details to recall the night before when we're wondering what time to be at the airport or how many outfits we may need in between laundry stops. Also handy for our expat lifestyle where the company wants a detailed itinerary for our whereabouts (equally big brothery and helpful when they alerted us to a potential travel glitch in Tokyo due to a parade)
Then we land at our destination, relax into vacation mode and begin planning the details of what we want to do in this new place.
So often like almost always our plans are driven by food. A quick googling: best food, unique restaurants, what is famous here and we have our agenda. Try everything! Or take a tiny tasting bite while Jesse scarfs the rest down.
Airports, roadside rest areas, mall/train station food courts all fall into that same category for us. Places we know we'll find food, but we typically put the effort into seeking out more interesting places to eat. However we've been pleasantly surprised at the quality and presentation of our food. Pre flight lunch at the airport? Wow!
Random roadside rest stop? Plus you order from a vending machine? Then exchange the ticket with the lovely older lady in the back who's been making the same recipe for decades!
Loving all the access we have to incredible seafood, especially when we're staying in a coastal city! Trying all sorts of new textures and flavors. Sea grapes are a local specialty. A delicate sea plant that bursts with ocean flavor, a bit too reminiscent of the mouthfuls of ocean I've gulped while trying to ride the waves (or at least not get too thrashed by them) in Cali.
Sometimes rather often our orders turn out a bit more complicated that we expect. Loving the tiny dishes of a few bites of things. Less loving the eyeballs and the need to debone the fish.
We wandered through a food stall area. 20 different restaurants packed in next to each other. Each place seating maybe 10 folks. Often just one or two guys handling the cooking and ordering. Our favorite way to eat like a local! Browsing menues then deciding 'chicken sticks!!!' We order our standard starter: one chicken set & one veggie set.
And OMG these were the best sticks we've had!!! Jesse told the cook 'ichiban kushi' my number one kushi, ie: my most favorite. The guy smiled and thanked us. I don't think he understood the level of Jesse's chicken stick love. We've tasted at dozens of restaurants, and for him to declare a favorite is a big deal! I don't know what kind of magic dust they sprinkled on those things but I wanted to lick the plate!!
Not our ichiban kushi place, but also mighty tasty. love how simple it is: meat on a grill with magical flavors added (and probably sweat but I choose to ignore that)
In researching best foods to eat in Fukuoka (again, how we plan must of our vacation agenda lol) we read about a food stall area near the river. These stalls specialized in Tonkotsu ramen, a local take on yummy broth and noodles. Trying to decide which of the nearly identical stalls to try was a bit overwhelming. Finally we stood outside one long enough and decided it was our place!
They take our order before we even sit down, then squeeze us on tiny barstools elbow to elbow with other patrons. A warm grill in front of us and plastic sheeting behind (it was a nice cozy break from the blowing breeze). And the ramen was tasty, the experience made it even better! Except we also ordered a Kushi sampler. The veggies were good. The meat was liver and hearts, the trouble with ordering in a foreign language.
Another odd but this time on purpose order. That's bacon cooked Yakiniku style (on a grill at our table). Dipped in a not at all cooked egg. Jesse loves it. Carri didn't even try.
And then there was the best spicy ramen we've tasted! We hopped on a train to Karatsu to add to our growing pottery collection (yay for new dishes!). Wandering through neighborhood streets with growling bellies we find a spot that's open and pop inside. We ask 'futardi?' (two people) and are maybe told something but we can't really decipher what it is. We inch closer to the empty barstools along the counter and ask 'dai Jo bu?' (ok?) We don't get much of a response from the only worker who is hustling food orders behind the counter, but this isn't too unusual.
We order and get some amazing spicy ramen. We eat and slurp and make appreciative murmuring sounds while quicky filling our bellies. After a few minutes, as most of the other patrons are finishing and leaving a new customer comes through the door. The bustling chef tells them something, they apologize and leave.
Turns out the shop was closed. And likely had just closed when we sat our tushies down at the counter. The lack of response from the busy chef was her trying to figure out how to explain to us that she was closed. Now we've been kicked out of restaurants before, almost always due to lack of reservation. But this was a first for us, we still got to eat amazing food but realized it was mostly due to communication error and the chef deciding the easiest solution was to feed us and get us on our way. #sosorry #butitwastasty #themistakeswemake #thanksforbeingsokind
Turns out the shop was closed. And likely had just closed when we sat our tushies down at the counter. The lack of response from the busy chef was her trying to figure out how to explain to us that she was closed. Now we've been kicked out of restaurants before, almost always due to lack of reservation. But this was a first for us, we still got to eat amazing food but realized it was mostly due to communication error and the chef deciding the easiest solution was to feed us and get us on our way. #sosorry #butitwastasty #themistakeswemake #thanksforbeingsokind