Hello! I'm Lena

My Love for Travel

I think it is because of my parents that I fell in love with the world. When I was growing up in Germany we would go on family holidays once a year. The most memorable one was a four-week trip to Venezuela where my mother grew up until she was 18 years old. She showed us her old house and school and I was fascinated by the difference between what I was used to in Germany and the rest of Europe and what I was now experiencing in Venezuela. The food was very different but most of what I tried was delicious. I also noticed that the people behaved differently and led quite different lives than the people who I know from back home.

In my teens, I developed a love for Japan. I started learning the language because I wanted to understand what the characters in my favorite anime were saying. Even though I lost the interest in anime quite quickly, my love for Japan only grew. At first, it was the music, then the food and traditions. My first visit was at 18. I stayed with a host family in Tokyo and attended a language school for 6 weeks. After that I came back repeatedly, and after my graduation, I came here for work and have been living in Japan for almost 3 years now.

I am still fascinated by everything the Japanese people do, but I have grown restless staying in one place. My Japanese boyfriend thankfully feels the same way and so we started on a big adventure in July 2018. A trip around the world.

After the trip ends sometime in July 2019 I have decided to go back to Japan. I do miss it very much, especially the food. And I want more people to know more about what makes Japanese food so special. For this reason I have created a new website called Nagoya Foodie and I am in the process of creating a unique food tour in Nagoya. If you are planning a trip to Japan, don’t miss your chance to try some of the most unique and best foods Japan has to offer. I’m also working really hard on promoting Nagoya in other ways like my newest project called ‘Nagoya is not boring‘ an experience and tour booking platform focused on Nagoya.

Why I Started This Blog

This blog is not just my travel journal. It is a place where I write about my travel philosophy, what I call Social Travel. If you are planning a year traveling around the world and want to have an in-depth experience everywhere you go, a social travel experiment might be just the thing for you. I want to share this philosophy with my readers and show you how it is done and how you can replicate my trip around the world.

My Values

I value honesty and transparency in real life and therefore I will also respect these values online. There are times when I write reviews about products or experiences, some will be sponsored, which means I received them for free or even received money for them. I will always state my honest opinion, and won’t leave out the parts that I didn’t like about a product or service. And most important of all I won’t lie.

Also, I would like you to know that I am using Affiliate Links throughout this website. If you purchase something through one of these links I will earn a small percentage of the sale, at no extra cost to you. So, don’t hesitate to use these links.

I am also using advertising on The Social Travel Experiment. Please note that the adverts are not chosen by myself and I can’t speak to the quality of products or services advertised. Use at your own discretion.

The last thing there is to say is “thank you” for your interest in me and my blog. I am looking forward to seeing more from you and I love getting to know the people who visit.
So don’t hesitate to leave a comment anywhere on this website and if you want to, you can also just drop me an email to say hi.
I am looking forward to getting to know you.

If you want to jump right into the topic I suggest you read about Couchsurfing, or about how to communicate with locals without using English.

As Featured On

By the way, I have been featured or interviewed on other blogs. If you want to know more about me check out the below link:

Authentic Travels – Travel Style Interview

Expatolife – Living in Tokyo as an Expat