Why You Should Travel While You're Young

Above, Armand at the Tokyo City View in the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills.

Last February, I celebrated the 22nd anniversary of my 39th birthday. One of the reasons I recently bought a motorhome is that I am planning to retire soon and I plan to do a lot of roadtrip traveling. But don't wait until you're my age to begin traveling.

In my early teens, my family went traveling around to different national parks and camping in them. Then from my early twenties to age 30, I traveled around the state of California going to state political party conventions and events and to three national conventions (Kansas City, Detroit and Dallas).

Later, after getting married and starting a family, we traveled around and camped in a tent trailer or a micro-mini motorhome.

Then during the past 15 years, I have made several trips to Japan, taken a cruise to Alaska and visited other cities while going to Godzilla or other conventions.

So, as far as traveling goes, I have done my fair share. But I am not done yet. So while I am still in excellent health, I plan to continue to visit other places.

The Passport Lifestyle has picked up on the theme of traveling while a person is young. In fact, they present eight reasons for traveling while you're young. Especially those who are in their twenties.

Even former President Richard Nixon advocated traveling while a person is young. During his famous early-morning visit to the Lincoln Memorial, he told Viet Nam war protestors:

You must travel when you're young, If you wait until you can afford it, you will be too old to enjoy it.

The Passport Lifestyle starts their "eight reasons" article with:

We do a lot of traveling and people often ask me both how we travel so frequently but also why. As for the how and the why, the simple answer is because we can and because we want to. So we make it happen.  

I’ve learned so much over the years with my passport alone and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Traveling the world has definitely changed my life and my entire perspective on the world in an enormous way. 

Spreading my wings abroad has been one of the best investments into my personal growth imaginable. We’re fortunate to be born in the USA and have the unique freedom and ability to travel the world. I definitely don’t take this for-granted. 

Traveling while you’re young doesn’t have to be hard and honestly it’s the best time in your life to travel. So here are some reasons to use that passport as much as you can in your twenties!

To read more, go here. 

Where To Shop At Kappabashi Kitchen Town

Above, you know you're in Kappabashi when you see the giant chef. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If you happen to be a chef, culinary student, serious home cook or just an ordinary foodie, a stop in Tokyo's Kappabachi Kitchen Town is a must.

I went to Kitchen Town last year to pick up a chef's knife for my roomie Jes. Recently, I purchased two more chef's knives, one for my daughter and one for the motorhome kitchen from my favorite source for Japanese knives, Kamaasa. Kamaasa gets a big plug in a new article in The Passport Lifestyle.

Along with Kamaasa, the article tells where to shop in Kappabashi. Additionally, there are plenty of photographs to go along with the article.

It begins with:

Today I went to Kappabashi-dori, better known as Kitchen Town here in Tokyo. I absolutely love this part of town. It’s close to Asakusa and Tsukiji so it has a much older Asian feel to the neighborhood. But Kappabashi is essentially one very long street consisting of nothing but restaurant supply stores. Many stores are very old, but some are newer. Years ago when I first heard about this place, I mistakenly assumed it consisted of mostly a bunch of food model stores and useless restaurant supplies you only find here in Japan. This is why it took me a few years to care to go there, because it’s famous for where you go to buy food models. But since then, I’ve been back three different times, each time bringing home a quarter of my weight in kitchen supplies and glassware. You can find literally anything.

To read more, go here.