I guess it's time for a change.  Instead of asking you about your travel tales, it may be time to share one of my own.  Being a military daughter, I have had many opportunities to travel and experience great things.  One of them was living in Japan for three years.  My parents are divorced, so I didn't live there full time.  I visited my father every summer and holiday break.  As terrible as they were, the twenty-four hour flights were worth it.  There were only a few things about Japan that I hated.  One of them being the weather.  Typhoons are a daily event there all year long.  When there aren't any typhoons coming around it was very hot and humid.  Considering I was only there during summer times, I guess I should have expected that.  However, there was so much to do.  I lived on an island right off of Mainland Japan, called Okinawa.  The island was only 60 miles long.  It was just big enough to enjoy yourself and always have something new to do.  My family is big on the outdoors, so we had many adventures.  We hiked through the woods to waterfalls at least twice, which is exhausting but worth it in the end.  We also went snorkeling a lot.  If you are traveling somewhere where you might engage in snorkeling or other water activities, I highly suggest bringing an under water camera.  That way you'll have memories on a fun and unique time.  Also, we did a lot of things involving the culture.  It was fun in an educating way.  Going there from time to time through out a period of three years, I also picked up on some Japanese.  Just the basic phrases to get around without the communication barrier.  I enjoyed visiting Japan with my family, and I would suggest that it be a place you consider visiting too.  It is so beautiful there, and peaceful too.