It's the start of our adventure! We arrived at the airport bright and early and ready to start our full day of journeying to Japan. Some of our students have traveled extensively, while others are taking their first-ever plane ride with us! And to top it all off, George turned 17 while we crossed over the international date line on the way to Tokyo. Happy Birthday, George!

We can't wait to start on our 9-day adventure!

Today we headed into Kamakura to see the Great Buddha. This was a bucket list moment for some of our chaperones and out kids so it was amazing to be able to experience it all together. 

Then it was off to see the Hachimangu shrine and explore the local area. The students had a fantastic time wondering the small streets and shops where they picked up hair pins, chopsticks, and other souvenirs to take home. Other students embraced the food stall culture trying different lemonades, baked goods, and squid on a stick (which Kabod says was a 10/10).

Lastly, it was time to check in to our hotel for the night. This was a special treat as it is a traditional style Japanese hotel where we got to change into yukatas and slippers, have a traditional floor seated meal all together, and some brave students even tried the onsens at the end of the night.

It was a bright and early day for us on day six but we had an amazing traditional breakfast where we got to try all sorts of new foods, like natto which are fermented soybeans. 

Our first stop today was at the Owakudani Volcanic Valley to try sulfur eggs and take a cable car over the active sulfur mines. 

Then it was off to Lake Ashi to take a small boat ride over to the town of Sekisho ato where the students had free time for lunch and to explore the Samurai village. Plus we got a little sighting of Mount Fuji when the weather cleared up for a few minutes (kind of :P).

And then it was off to the bullet train to catch a ride to Kyoto! This was definitely a challenge for the 87 of us as you only have 40 seconds to get inside the train car, but we all made it!

And to end the day we got a little bit of a surprise! Kyoto was actually having their largest festival of the year so we got to experience the floating shrines and street vendors as we made our way to the hotel for dinner.

In the morning we headed off to see the Golden Pavilion, a Zen Buddhist temple that we got to explore with a local guide. Some of the chaperones and the students on the trip even got to experience a traditional tea room just outside the temple. 

Next it was off to a special surprise! Our amazing Tour Directors got all of us tickets to a monkey village where we would not only get to see the monkeys, but feed them as well. The only downside was it was a bit of a hike to the top but once we were there, the view of the city below was amazing! And of course, who could pass up feeding little baby monkeys and their parents.

Then it was time to explore the town of Arashiyama where we had lunch and got to hike into the renowned bamboo forest before heading to a traditional katsu dinner. Again, the kids got to experience dining on the floor, making their own sesame sauce, and I think Andy had 7 portions of chicken... all that hiking made the kids extra hungry!

And lastly, we made our way back to Kyoto for the night but it wasn't time to say goodnight just yet! Our Tour Dirctor Saki made a scavenger hunt of the top 10 things for the kids to find during the Gion night festival and they got COMPETITIVE, even taking pictures with some of the locals to win the race! From trying local delicacies, to winning yukatas, and seeing the floating shrines, this was an amazing way to end the day.

It's our last full day in Japan and were ready to make the most of it! 

Our first stop of the day was to Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine which is most known for its thousands of tori gates. Then it was off to Todaiji Temple which houses the world's largest buddha. 

And of course we couldn't leave Nara without feeding the infamous deer! Did you know that if you bow to these deer they will bow back to you? It was an incredible sight to see, even if the deer got a little feisty once they spotted the food. 

Then it was off to see Kasuga-taisha, Nara's most celebrated shrine before heading into Osaka for the rest of the day. Here we got to explore the legendary Dotonbori canal street which is known for its neon lights, extravagant signs, and enormous varieties of restaurants and shops. All the kids were given money to go explore some of the amazing street food options for dinner and we even got to ride the world's first oval ferris wheel that looked over the whole street. 

We spent hours exploring the area, eating delicious food, and shopping as much as we could to celebrate our last night in Japan. This trip has been absolutely fantastic and we had the most amazing group of students. They were so excited, adventurous, respectful, and seriously one of the best groups I have gotten to take overseas. I can't wait to do it all over in Greece next year!