My Favorites of You and Me Part 2
After collecting our favorite photos from the past years, I decided to create a separate one for our international trips because why not? We never really thought that we could travel internationally together.
I had been to the middle east and he was sponsored by his company to travel to Sweden as a business trip together with his colleagues. So I am grateful for the opportunities given to us in 2019, we were able to go to three different countries in a year. That year of 2019 was indeed a huge blessing to the two of us and even to our families as we found out we were pregnant as we reached home and before the pandemic had started.
So for this third and last article, allow me to share with you these favorites photos of me and my husband as we travel to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
Taiwan With Love
In 2019, we had a blast of a year as we experienced three international destinations. First was in Taiwan sponsored by my husband's company, a perk for staying with the company for five years, they call it "Five Year Club".
As part of their appreciation program, they allowed the employee to bring an extra person, a family member specifically to join them during this trip. We are thankful that his company is very giving them free trips every year for those who had been with the company for five years onwards. Last 2020, they went to Malaysia, we didn't join them because I was already pregnant and the risk of COVID was already there. This year, there was no news about the trip because it's still a pandemic.
So, hopefully, by next year, when everyone is vaccinated and travels are already around, we can join them and bring with us, Matti!
It was also the first time that we personally saw Cherry Blossoms.
We kept the camera on the ground most of the time. It was great that in Taiwan, people won't give a huge deal with those who take photographs of themselves. The photo above and below were taken in Taipei Zoo.
Notice that when taking photographs of ourselves, it is not a one-time shot, sometimes, it takes two or more depending on the situation. This is also the reason why we love DIY trips since we always take time in photographing ourselves.
We had fun at Taipei Zoo, taking photographs of the animals, we had an encounter of different ones which we have seen the first time like penguins, bears, and the cutest Panda! I will tell you more about our trip in a separate article soon.
We stayed in a hotel named Papa Whale Hotel and they have a great space on the ground floor with restaurants surrounding the hotel and the lighting was really nice during the evening so we made sure we could take some shots of ourselves.
We were really given the best free trip by their company as the hotel was also very nice and we were given private accommodation. It was a blessing!
It was all raining when we went on a city tour in Taipei but it didn't stop us from taking this shot. I use our phone to take photos too!
Tokyo Japan - Ultimate Destination
It was only by God's grace that we were able to set foot in the land of the rising sun. Japan is definitely one of our ultimate destination countries and we were blessed to book seat sales with Cebu Pacific (we always travel with seat sales). While we would have loved it if the time of travel was during the Sakura season, Tokyo was still amazing in July.
We witnessed how polite and courteous the Japanese are, how busy their train stations are too and how accurate and on-time their mode of transportations is, and how lively this country is.
But there was a problem, it was also expensive!
The above photo was taken in Tokyo Station. And this below was taken a few minutes of walk from Tokyo Station, this is the Imperial Palace!
We waited a few minutes to clear the tourists who were flocking in this area. There's a huge garden in front of us and the tourists as well just come and go. It was only us who stayed for more than ten minutes and so we finally got a chance to take a photo with the view of the palace behind.
Bringing a tripod would just cause trouble with the airport so we didn't bring one but we had bags and so we placed the camera right there on top of our luggage and then a timelapse! Yes, timelapse helped us take many shots, and then I just curated the best of the collection.
I mentioned above that Japan is quite expensive! And that's why my husband and I lived our four-day trip in Japan with their convenience store food meals which never disappoint!
The photo above was taken in Nezu Shrine and there were so many people around that taking a photo of us would take hours of waiting before we could get a good one. So we just had to set the timelapse and stayed still for a few minutes. People pass by us and it was alright as I post-processed this image using the masking tool, I took the other tourists and left the image with just the two of us.
Of course, we strolled at the many streets of Tokyo. Google Maps would tell us this place is just a few minutes of walking but Japanese walk fast so the few minutes became more but we didn't complain, instead, we love all the walking and finding cute Japanese stores, restaurants, and even traditional houses along the way.
Coming to Shinjuku, we decided to take some shots of ourselves with all the people walking past us in a blur.
And of course, we can't miss doing the same at Shibuya. I wish we had someone else to take a photo of us at the Shibuya Crossing but we don't and we can't risk leaving our camera on the streets while there are thousands of people joining the scramble. So we decided to settle at the Shibuya station instead. We placed our camera and our things on the sides and the timelapse started.
I didn't know that sitting was prohibited here so my husband was making this sign while an officer was running towards us. I apologized for my ignorance and we didn't try another shot.
Meiji Jingu’s sacred forest, covering 70 hectares or 172 acres. Alive within Tokyo's bustling city!
One of my favorite finds in Tokyo was this sacred forest. It feels so good to be in a forest within a city with so many skyscrapers! It felt like we were transported to a different place!
If I would have another chance, I'd like to go back to Japan and experience their Sakura season in Kyoto. I'd surely save up for that trip! But of course, not until the pandemic is over.
South Korea
The last country that we visited before 2019 ended was South Korea. It was again another seat sale and I thought we will not be able to pursue it due to visa cases but we did and it was such an unforgettable one.
I have to admit that I still have my raw photos on my hard drive, I have yet to finish editing them all so today, I am only sharing two photos of us in South Korea.
Travel makes us wonderfully vulnerable in many ways, and so it also provided an extraordinary opportunity to learn something about a person. You learn what makes them happy, what makes them laugh, what annoys them. You learn how they deal with stress, how they approach strangers, how kind they are in the face of adversity- all very important things to know about someone you love.
When in South Korea, going to Nami Island is of course on top of our list. It was a DIY trip to Nami which started early morning and then we realized it was far colder in Nami than in Seoul.
We ended up going to their fireplace every now and then, there's the number of tourists. You can't get a decent photo of yourself with the view because of too many photobombers and so we decided to find another spot with a lesser crowd.
Since we came to South Korea during the start of their winter season, most of the trees and plants were already withering but we were blessed to see the beauty of fall on our first day before all the leaves fell to the ground.
We also spotted a very nice area in The Garden of Morning Calm and of course, we can't let that chance slip through our fingers, we had to be fast and take multiple shots to capture the beauty of the mountains with the sun slowly highlighting the trees. It was a perfect moment.
Since I have yet to edit our South Korea photos, yes, I have a lot of backlogs, I will have to leave you with just two photos but the best thing for us though with this trip was knowing that I am pregnant. We already have a feeling as I was not in the mood to eat and my once favorite seaweed, at that time, I can't stand its smell. I ended up eating only for the sake of eating but I didn't have any appetite at all.
Upon arriving home, we confirmed with a pregnancy test and so that was the happiest day of our lives! After five years, we were finally pregnant!
Thank you so much for following my three-part series of my favorite photo collection of my husband and me. We have more photos to share but I guess I will have to reserve them for the next articles!
If you have not yet checked the first two, you may do so in the links below:
My Favorites of You and Me Part 2
Shoutout to @ARTicLEE for the inspiration. If you have a compilation of your favorite photographs of your husband or wife or partner, go ahead and make your own version. I'd love to see them and know the story behind those photographs. Feel free to tag me!
xoxo,
mommy jean of momentswithmatti
Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.
It is very nice to travel and have that loved one by our side to share such beautiful images. Congratulations on your travels and the photos shared.