25 Things You Didn’t Know About Disney Parks
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Author: withoutbags
PRSKALO WATERFALL
Prskalo waterfall is one of the most beautiful and most interesting waterfalls in Serbia, with its very unusual structure that resembles a tall stone sculpture. The water from the nearby spring flows over the top of the rock, creating a thin but powerful jet. It is located in the Kučaj mountains, 17 km away from the nearest paved road, at about 760 meters above sea level. Continue reading
Flights LA-London are $484 on Norwegian!
Flights LA-London are $484 on Norwegian! Are you headed to Europe? Bags are extra – so travel #WithoutBags http://ow.ly/sOUc301UTaL
Whitehaven Beach
Whitehaven Beach is a 7 km stretch along Whitsunday Island, Australia. The island is accessible by boat from the mainland tourist ports ofAirlie Beach and Shute Harbour, as well as Hamilton Island. It lies across from Chalkies Beach on Haslewood Island.
Whitehaven Beach is a pristine, award winning beach on Whitsunday Island, the largest of the 74 islands in the Whitsundays. Whitehaven Beach stretches over seven kilometres and boasts brilliant white silica sand that is among the purest in the world. Sink your feet into the sand and wade into the warm waves that gently lap the shore and you’ll soon realise why people come here from all over the world.
At the northern end of Whitehaven Beach is Hill Inlet, a stunning inlet where the tide shifts the sand and water to create a beautiful fusion of colours. Many people claim Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach are the most beautiful places they’ve ever seen. The lookout at Tongue Point is the best spot from which to view the swirling sands of Hill Inlet, so if you don’t mind a short bushwalk, book your Whitehaven tour with an operator that visits the lookout.
Whitehaven Beach can be experienced in several ways. If you’re interested in a day trip there are ferries, yachts, power boats and luxury cruising yachts that depart from Airlie Beach. A variety of sailing companies also offer multi-day charters that include a memorable visit to Whitehaven Beach.
Interlaken, Switzerland
If you’re after a winter sports holiday, you can’t find a more gorgeous place to do it than Interlaken, the popular Swiss resort town. There’s super lative skiing, toboggan rides, miles of sledding tracks (which, like the ski slopes, vary in difficulty), snowboarding… all with amazing views of the mountains. In summer, hike among the ibex at nearby Neiderhorn, or shop for watches in the town’s boutiques. Find more at http://goo.gl/Xgrj9P
Day 9 – 15 Tigers in the Garden
Today revealed the highlights of Kyoto, Japan’s capital from 794 to 1868 that was spared destruction during World War II.
We began at 16th-century Ryoan-ji Temple (ca. 1540), where we saw the dry garden of sand and rocks (kare-sansui), a marvel of classic Japanese design. The simplicity of its 15 rocks belies a complex symbolism which its designer never revealed – but whatever the meaning, we’re sure to feel the calm that the garden is meant to instill.
The story of the garden is as follows: You can only count 14 rocks in the image, and you can only see 14 rocks from any single perspective, however, if you go to the far side of the garden you can see the 15th stone – the hidden stone – reminding us that only if we view the world from the perspective of others can we see the whole picture.
A very lovely sentiment displayed in a very gentle and permanent way as re minder for life to those who viewed the garden. A reminder that no one single view can always be right.
Ok – now for those of you that know me personally you know that I have a vegetable garden at my home in Arizona. I’ve been having problems with my 3 troublemakers (Thor, Mavi, and Shade) eating my sweatpeas in the garden (those are MY Sweetpeas! Grrr) So, when I saw this fence I realized that I want to build this at my home! I think it will help keep out my little monsters!
My trouble makers!
Our next stop was Kinkaku-ji, the lakeside Temple of the Golden Pavilion originally constructed in the 14th century as a retirement villa and later converted to a temple. Burned to the ground by a fanatic in 1950, the temple has been entirely reconstructed
following the original design, and is covered in gold leaf from Kanazawa all the way up to the upper floors. Its setting on pillars suspended over the water makes it one of Kyoto’s most inspired – and inspiring – sights.
The shaping of Pine trees was something I have come to expect. This one has been shaped continually in the shape of a wealth boat – a symbol of wealth for the culture.
You can see the cat beckoning wealth with his paw up sitting on top of the Ingot (what this tree is supposed to be shaped as)
OK – I HAD to include this picture. I have to admit that I can get really upset about this. (I know, I know, they say it’s a reflection of self to get upset, and certainly it is in this case – I feel I spend WAYYYY too much time on the internet for sure!). Really ladies? Really? You are in this lovely park, amazing surroundings, and they sat there for the 15 mins I was staring at this lovely garden literally heads down in their phones. Amazing! Jeez!! I read an article the other day talking about how the average adult spends 4 YEARS of their lives staring into their phones by the time they are 30 years old. 4 YEARS!!! I think, other than doing my posts, I need to get out in the real world more and get off of the internet! OK – enough ranting! Sorry!
On to the next adventure of the day! After this lovely place of calm and peace (yes, breathe! Calm and Peace!) we then went on to the 17th-century Nijo-jo, the medieval castle of the first Tokugawa Shogun, containing “nightingale” floors that squeak to signal the presence of intruders.
The nightingale floors were amazing! Since the Shogun lived here most of the time he wanted to know when ANYONE in the castle moved, at ANY time, so he had the floor boards intentionally installed in such a way that they squeaked. There was NO way you were going to sneak up on the Shogun! Do you see the little wooden piece? It allowed the floors to stay in place but still “squeak.”
We ended this full day at Kodaiji Temple to attend a tea ceremony. Both a state of mind (calm and content) and performance art prizing ritual and grace above all, the traditional tea ceremony to this day represents the principles of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility encouraged by Master Sen no Rikyu, who perfected the ritual Zen practice when tea first was brought to Japan from China in the 16th century.
Day 5 – Bullet trains & Serenity
So, today was mostly a travel day I have to admit, normally I don’t like travel days, but today! Today we got to ride a bullet train! AWESOME!!!! I’ve posted a video of it on our YouTube channel if you want to watch what I could catch of that thing (Damn it moves fast!).
We travelled by bullet train from Odawara station to head to Nagoya, and then from Nagoya to Takayama. All I have to say is thank goodness for Starbucks! I woke up this morning with a NEED for some Chai Tea – not quite like home, but pretty darn good.
I have to say that I personally find Takayama to be one of the most peaceful places that we visited. Calm, small, town. Only 500,000 inhabitants. Big enough to have modern conveniences and small enough to be just perfectly charming.
After being settled into our hotel, we went to the best preserved section of town, an old commercial street and visited the local stores and street food carts.
Some of the old homes were just lovely! (This one has been turned into an Art Gallery!)
I just love how they use the natural world around them to make even small spaces gorgeous representations of the world at large.
Known for it’s beef, the Hida prefecture ranks #4 behind Kobe, etc. in best beef in Japan. 
And yes, it was quite yummy! Beef bun steamed! Yum! I LOVE street food!
Nice and simple afternoon/ evening. It was COLD! Windchill, raining, and so we ran back and got into our Takayama hot baths! Jeez I love this country!
Can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds! 🙂
Shauna~
Day 3 – The Imperial Castle of Edo
Today we visited the Imperial Palace East Garden of Edo as well as learned Calligraphy with a world renowned artist of Japan.
Firstly, I have to say that the walls of the Imperial Palace are very reminiscent of the walls of Sacsayhuamán in Peru. I visited there again last year with my Shaman John for a private audience with Don Pepito (his nickname) and was able to visit this powerful place again. It never ceases to amaze me the power and skill of accomplished humans!
The amount of guard gates that the untrusted Daimyo (Lords) would have had to go through to actually obtain entrance to the palace (past Ninjas – YES REAL NINJAS – 100 of them – guarded the castle gates at the 3rd gate – you know the first two were just Samurai (gate #1) and basically the Edo Navy Seals (gate #2) – NINJAS – PS – the Shogun was awesome – need I say more!) was crazy! Check it out:
Gate #1
the “100 Ninja” guard house – um yeah, NINJAS!!
A lovely day in a lovely garden. I was literally imagining what it would be like to be a court lady roaming the grounds with all the flowers in bloom and enjoying the gorgeous day!
So, from here we went to our calligraphy lesson. (Do you see the size of that brush in the foreground! That thing weighed a TON! made from the tail hair of (2) horses! (The horses are safe – no worries!)
I will let you watch for yourself! (Kind of long, so speed it up!)
Learn about the tools of Calligraphy
Watch Shauna paint a Tiger (Tara Tara)
You can also see that they gave us our names in Calligraphy (here is a photo of mine – and I have to love it! Unending Prosperity is what the symbols mean! YAY! 🙂
Day 1 – Arizona to Tokyo, Japan
Today is the inaugural flight and blog for WithoutBags.com. I am so happy to be launching this site with this trip. It’s going to be amazing! (yes, both the site and the trip!)
This trip will include Japan (tour), Northern Thailand – Chiang Mai, Singapore, and then Bali. I am adding (3) new countries to my trip count on this venture.
This morning I woke up at 4am to get the dogs ready, me ready. Vitamins taken, puppies given great belly rubs and lots of momma love before I leave them for 7 weeks. This trip is taking me from Scottsdale, AZ to Japan, Thailand, Singapore, and Bali. I adore trips like this but I always worry about things at home (dogs, business, and family) but then I realize that I’ve spent over a decade perfecting my systems and my teams to make sure that everything goes according to plan.
Ready to come with you Mom! Thor, Mavi, Shade (Left to Right)
I called for my uber to take me to the airport. The awesome gentleman Mike who was my driver told me the most fascinating story. I always ask why / how people end up driver uber. I find the stories so interesting. Such a slice of life. Mike’s story is that he was an ex-banker before the crash of 2008. He was making net take home of about $250k/ year and had a staff of about 125 that helped him cater to wealthy doctors, lawyers, etc. He told me about how after the crash he moved to Chile & Argentina for a year and met his wife and then moved back to the states. When he couldn’t find a job as “a fat, old, ex-banker” a friend of his suggested driving for Uber. Now he lives in Tucson and makes over $6k/month coming up to Phoenix to drive in 36 hours shifts each weekend and then go home. Driving for uber doubled his take home for him and his family. I LOVE success stories. Those who find a way to make it and create and grow and (not only survive but) thrive in the world as it is. I sometimes feel pity for those who are so stuck in their ways that all they think about is the way things “used to be” and they can’t get out of it, see the future, and move on to bigger, brighter, and better things.
Once at the airport got thru TSA using pre-check (THANK GOODNESS for that!!! Don’t know where I would be without it!) and waiting for the flight Phoenix – Los Angeles.
PS – if you are hungry for breakfast in LAX, American Airlines terminal, near gate 48B, eat here: OMG is this delicious! Steak, Bacon, Cheese, no beans breakfast burrito!!! YUMMY!
Met the nicest gentlemen on the plane. He was heading for an interview in LA to work for one of the schools there. He hadn’t slept, and was nervous and anxious about the interview. He was supposed to be flown in yesterday so that he could rest before his interview, but him and I both agreed that the “mistake in booking” might just be a way for them to stress-test him for the job (making him fly in and interview on the same morning). We started talking about travel and I mentioned that I had been to 32 countries and counting. He said he has never left the country. It always surprises me. There are SO many things to see in the world, so many amazing people to meeting, foods to taste, and experiences to be had. I just couldn’t imagine my life without travel. I thank my mother every day for getting me on a plane at 2 months old. I am pretty sure that put some deep seated need to travel deep in my psyche.
I arrived at LAX very early for my flight (7:10 for an 11:30 flight). Not the best planning, but I kind of like roaming around, relaxing and stretching my legs a bit before I get on a long flight (LAX -> Tokyo is almost 12 hours). I logged into my American Airlines app only to find that an upgrade was available. $150 for first class!!! AWESOME!!! To be honest I’ve never flown first class. Most of the time I sleep on a plane flight this long. So I’ve been willing to pay for it. But for $150, you bet I took AA up on it! You can see my awesome seat configuration options below.
And AWESOME on you American Airlines! Gotta love First Class food! There was a snack, then an appetizer, then a meal, then another snack, and LOTS of bottled water. Um, yeah, I am pretty sure I will upgrade any chance I can get!! AWESOME!
Ok, so, travel, watch a movie, travel, nap, travel, write this blog, and some more travel.
Arrived! YAY TOKYO!!!!!
Arriving at Narita airport, terminal #2. Nice, clean, easy, not too crowded. Just simple. I am already loving Tokyo.
Now, for this part of the trip I am travelling with my Mother (the most awesome one I know!) and a group of Alumni from U of Penn. I feel so lucky that I am able to go on this trip. Firstly because I adore my mother, and secondly because Japan is amazing and I’ve never been! J Add another one to the country list!
I met up with the tour group, greeted by our guide “Sammy” Tanida San. He is very knowledgeable and a bit older, so he knows how to run the group. I am happy to be with him on this piece of the journey.
To the hotel in Shiodome we go, Toyko Park Hotel, Shiodome. Nice, business travelers mostly. Simple room with great water pressure – one of the few things I absolutely adore in a hotel is good water pressure.
Went out for a quick bite with Mom to a local restaurant in the underbelly of one of the business towers near us. We are in the middle of a wealthy neighborhood where there seems to be a good mix of business towers and hotels. LOTS of locals all in black suits (women, men, everyone but the kids who are all in bright colors). I guess this is the dress for all “business men” in the city. (More to come of them later). Had a great meal of ground beef patty in a light curry type sauce, rice, and water. A good basic, delicious meal. Great for a first night so we could get a good night’s sleep.
And now, for sleep! Can’t wait to get up tomorrow and find out what’s happening! (I should note, especially when I am on tours, I don’t read ahead on the itinerary. I like to be surprised. It is SO rare that I go on tours, normally I travel by myself and just let the days unfold.)
I am a HUGE fan of TSA Precheck & Global
I am a HUGE fan of TSA Precheck & Global Entry – why wait! And no taking off your shoes! what’s better? 🙂 http://ow.ly/ZYbO4