Greetings from Busan, South Korea — our new home for the next 2 months. We’ve found ourselves a cozy (read: very small) studio apartment and will be settling down here for the next couple of months. Today’s post is focused around a constant battle Sharon and I experience: trying to see all of the sights versus taking it slow and not tiring ourselves out.

You’re never going to hear me truly complain about our current lifestyle. Essentially, traveling for a living has been a dream come true. However, one aspect we consistently struggle with is how much to do and how much to see in a given city. It’s easy to get carried away and try to pack each day full of activities and sightseeing. A couple examples:

Example A – Vancouver Island

During our first week of traveling, in Vancouver, we were immediately faced with this issue. We had to decide whether or not to see Vancouver Island. It sounded like an interesting place. However, it was going to require getting up very early and getting back to our hotel very late. With our days being pretty packed as it was, we decided to pass.

Example B – Tokyo

In Japan we recently had an ever tougher choice to make. We had a rail pass which allowed us unlimited travel in the country for 7 days. We planned on seeing Hiroshima, Kyoto and Osaka during those 7 days, but leading up to the trip I began questioning if we should add Tokyo to our list of destinations. How could we go to Japan and not see Tokyo? We ended up not seeing Tokyo and instead left it for a future trip.

Our Travel Style

The more we travel the more we realize it’s mostly about the people we meet that make the destination; not seeing as many sights as possible. It’s more important to us to not tire ourselves out and ensure we’re enjoying our time.

As an added bonus, when you miss something, it’s the perfect excuse to go back there. While I had an awesome time in Japan and I feel like I got a good feel for the country, I know I need to go back and see Tokyo.

Image Credit: Funkyfootage

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This is a quick update post about our site. All of our Vancouver pictures are now linked on our website in the “Gallery” section. Every Sunday we’ll be adding our latest pictures from the trip here.

Another addition to the site is on the right navigation bar — we’re now on Twitter and all of our “Tweets” will be posted automatically to the website. If you’re interested in following us, Sharon and I are @LifeAfterCubes. If you’d like our tweets emailed to you, I’d recommend checking out http://nutshellmail.com/. Shoot me an email if you have any issues with this.

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This past Friday was our “take it easy day”.  After three full days of extensive walking around Vancouver, we decided to take a little break for our feet’s sake and do some work on our computers.  The day consisted of a self-guided tour of Gastown to which Jason took reins of and became the tour guide.  Although it was raining, Jason had us stop at each landmark as he read its historical significance out loud to the “tour”.  Thankfully, the tour guide allowed questions, so I kindly asked Jason for a lunch break and we ended up eating at the extremely exotic Old Spaghetti Factory.

After days of attempting, Jason finally convinced me to do the “Grouse Grind” with him on Saturday.  He had made the mistake of reading the information about the Grind from the website earlier in the week (this trail was called “Nature’s Stairmaster” due to the entire trail being uphill, and those who were considered very athletic could complete the trail in about an hour while the average person normally takes around two). I was firm in letting him know that I would not go and that I would be happy if he wanted to go by himself.  Just to set the record straight, I am not out of shape, but I consider anything regarding running, jogging, or going up hills to be my personal kind of torture.  I simply prefer a more entertaining form of exercise that is not monotonous and boring, otherwise I am easily discouraged.  While the Grouse Grind was of no interest to me whatsoever, Jason was able to pull a yes out of me and on Saturday morning we were on our way.

With coffee in hand, we departed on the trail.  Directly ahead of us was a mother and her 5 year old daughter (who ended up beating us to the top by the way) and I thought ‘okay, if this little girl and her mom can do it, so can I”.  Unfortunately, about 10 minutes later I thought I was going to turn around and go back down because I didn’t realize just what I was getting myself into.  I am still astonished at how these people CHOSE to climb up that mountain on their own free will!  I thought I was going to pass out even before we reached the 1/4 mark and I must have told Jason that I hated him about 30 times.  By the 1/4 mark, I figured that the only way I would be able to complete this trail was to reward myself with a turkey burger for dinner.

It became a little easier once I came to terms with exactly how difficult it was.  I developed a habit of stopping and taking quick water breaks every 5 minutes or so, panting like a dog while Jason looked as if he was taking a leisurely stroll down the block.  I somehow made it to the top after two hours, surprisingly completing each quarter of the climb faster than the previous quarter.  I think the key for someone like me (who despises the thought of walking uphill for 2 straight hours) is to know what you’re getting yourself into, and to pace yourself while taking frequent, quick breaks.  (I still have yet to get my turkey burger reward).

Quote of the Day: (My personal favorite part of the climb was a Korean dad and his young teenage son whom he was forcing to run up the steps in sprints.  Although his son looked like he was going to pass out or throw up, he kept shouting “Hurry!  Hurry!” in Korean.  The child was defintely not the most athletic crayon in the box, but his dad continued to push him to his limits.)

Sharon:  “Aren’t kids supposed to have more energy than their parents?”
Jason:  “Not when you’re a fat Asian boy.”

For more on Grouse Mountain, check out Uptake.com.

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Before visiting Vancouver, Jason and I had heard nothing but rave reviews on how gorgeous and awesome the city is.  We wondered what could make Vancouver so awesome- wasn’t San Francisco, also a big city, just as cool?  It took nothing more than daylight to show us how different Vancouver is compared to other cities on the west coast.   Although our first full days of this trip have consisted of nothing but walking, restaurants, rain, and a lot more walking, it didn’t take long for us to both fall in love with this place.  Yes, it is very reminiscent of San Francisco in the sense that there is every different type of person to be seen all around the city and the look and feel of the buildings and shops are very similar, but there is more of an east coast feel to Vancouver with the amount of nature that is embedded inside the city.  We are lucky enough to be here when the leaves are turning the most amazing shades of yellows, reds, oranges, and of course bright green.  We have been finding ourselves taking tons of pictures of the city’s trees, and thus feeling very touristy.  (Just like how we used to get annoyed with all the tourists taking pictures of Lombard St).

Our first full day in the city was spent walking across the Granville Bridge to Granville Island where we roamed around the very cute town and ate lunch at the Public Market.  What a great place!  I am very confident in stating that on Tuesday, October 20th, I ate the best sandwich that I have ever had… in my LIFE.  If you want details on what was on the sandwich, please inquire.  Then we took the Aquabus to Yaletown and later met Holly, Cole, and Courtney for a delicious and fun Thai dinner on Davie Street.  (Thanks so much for coming, that was a fun night for Jason and I!!!)

After spending our first two nights in a 4-person shared hostel room, we decided that we wanted a little change of atmosphere and booked our remaining 4 nights at a different hostel across town.  We were able to get our own private room for the same price as the first hostel and had a great view from our room.  On Wednesday, we walked down Robson Street which is famous for its many shops, ate a delicious Korean meal, and headed to Stanley Park.  Other than the outrageous amounts of walking we did at Stanley Park, we had a fun time checking out the area and taking in the breathtaking views of the Seawall and the scenic hiking trails.  By the time we walked all around Stanley park and then back to our hostel, I was limping, had to take frequent breaks just for my feet’s sake, and had practically pulled a groin muscle.  But, other than the shooting pains, I would call it a very successful day!

On Thursday we went to Lynn Canyon Park, a beautiful area where you can hike and cross waterfalls on a Suspension Bridge.  Then we hiked in what looked like the wilderness, Jason dead lifted a fallen log, we saw a few gorgeous waterfalls, and then we left and walked through Chinatown.

Random Thought of the Night: I have been in Vancouver for four full days and have not caught any glimpses of the Twilight cast.  Big let down.  R-Patz, where are you?

Some more info on Granville Island.

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Our trip starts with an incorrect flight time (our flight was actually 30 minutes before what we thought it was, so good thing we got there early enough!), a 3 hour delay due to unfavorable weather in San Francisco, two seats that were not next to each other, and a bitchy passenger next to me (I got up once to use the bathroom and when I politely let her know, she very slowly rolled her eyes at me and took her sweet ass time getting up out of her seat as slow as a snail.  At first I thought ‘wow what a rude person, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, she’s probably slow moving due to her age or a weakness’, but that was quickly eliminated once I saw her speed walking at the speed of a freight train at the arrival terminal).  On the plus side, I got to watch a movie and one and a half episodes of How I Met Your Mother on the flight.

Once we arrived in Vancouver and got our bags it was a bright and lovely 3am and 50 degrees.  The customs officer grilled us on why we were entering Canada and I get this feeling that he’s on a power trip and wants to intimidate us.  When he asked us what our occupations are, we say “…. Uhhh we’re bloggers”.  He looked up at us like we were aliens.  “We quit our jobs to travel”.  He STILL looked at us like we were the mayors of crazy town, but this time he stamped our passports and sent us on our way.

I felt sick as a dog with a splitting headache and nausea, but once we stepped outside in the fresh air and out of the air that the bitchy passenger was sharing with me, I started to feel a little better (probably because of the Advil I took 20 minutes prior).  Public transportation was no longer available and we had to take a Taxi to our hostel which was a great deal more expensive than we had planned, but our driver was extremely friendly and somehow knew that Santa Cruz was on the other side of Los Gatos from San Jose because he was “good at geography”.

When we finally arrived at our hostel, it had been almost 10 hours since my last meal.  Technically I had eaten an apple on the plane, but oddly enough, apples make me hungry, so that was about as useful as eating my in-flight magazine.  We walked to a convenience store and bought a burrito which made me feel like a human again.  Another piece of good news is that we ended up in the same room.  We weren’t sure if we were in separate, single sex rooms or not, but thankfully we were able to share a room.  There were two people already asleep in our room and I was finally able to get some sleep once we arrived.  Shout out to our awesome headlamps that gave us the ability to see in our room without waking up our dormmates!

At 10am the following morning, Jason felt sick and went back to sleep, whereas I had only gotten 5 hours of sleep but somehow did not feel the need for any more.  I got some breakfast for myself and Jason, then we went out on the town…  To Be Continued…

Quote of the Day:

(Sharon: “We should have a mascot that we put in every picture we take, like a stuffed pig.”)
Jason: “You could be the stuffed pig that we take pictures of.”

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