>>1423643Pic was Toya lake near Toyoura, Hokkaido. This 4mb limit is kicking my ass. I'll have to edit the photos on my computer tomorrow and get more organized. This is a slow board, right?
>Tours Australia>Asks about the bantsWhat have they done to you?!
Yeah, my first tour I was alone in the U.S. Met nice people and would end up in these insane situations.
The pros of traveling with someone were that we had so many inside jokes, constant talking, someone who was experiencing the absurdity of a given situation with you.
The cons are you are much slower. Twice the stops for checking gear, bathroom, food, etc. Differences in ability. I designed the route to hit every mountain pass and eventually had to change it completely to avoid mountains because I was killing her. So you compromise.
I don't think it would have been better without her, though. Japanese are cold sometimes. I know none of the language and didn't even try because I thought we'd be in the woods the entire time. We just tended to shy away because it felt like an inconvenience to them. You feel like a baby when you can't use words. There is something refreshing about making only small talk for a month. You become a completely new person over time and when you do meet someone who speaks it feels like a nostalgia.
There was a weird thing that we noticed happening with white tourists. They do not like to talk to you. It's like it would ruin their immersion. Maybe they didn't speak English. I don't know if you are American, but apparently we are a chatty bunch. This tour felt more voyeuristic. I have many photos of elderly Japanese men
enjoying their hobbies. They are like Pokemon trainers. Fisherman icko, photographer Yoshi, bugcatcher, cyclist, gardener,
