Travel is back.... right?

OPINION PIECE by MIKI TAKASHIMA July 16th 2022 Remember when we used to travel frequently for business and pleasure? Because my network of friends and professionals are typically avid travelers like myself, I recently had some significant conversations with them where the theme was simply about sitting in a hotel lobby. How does it make you feel to sit in a lobby of a hotel? You can people watch. You can subtly hear the kind hotel concierge advising the guest where to find a good bowl of sushi + rice is in the neighborhood. You can enjoy the tranquil yet exciting energy of where visitors come and go from their hometowns to a foreign land like Japan. At the Shangri-La hotels in Hong Kong, they have a certain scent that floods throughout the hotel lobby when you enter - and this gives you a sense that "you have arrived"... from a hospitality point of view, there most likely isn't a definite good or bad feeling that the guest feels. I am curious to know in more detail about how this unconsciously impacts your experience at the hotel and beyond... Back to being in hotels for travel purposes. Oh, how I miss that so much. BUT I know travel is slowly but surely coming back and I will be part of that wave of travelers taking advantage of my privilege to start moving - both domestically and internationally now that the pandemic is (somewhat) under control. Japan, as usual, has been slow with "catching up" to the rest of the world in regards to relaxing entry and in-bound travel policies despite the fact that the MLIT has welcomed tour groups to enter the country since last month. I am still confused with entry into Japan (assuming there are restrictions based on where you are coming from), although my impression is that is it much easier and actually possible; compared to before. For those thinking about coming, I encourage you to keep reading about updates because this most likely will continue to change and evolve. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan website: https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/cp/page22e_000925.html See you soon world. I will be back in the skies actively, like I used to :) Countries + Places I've been previously outside of Japan: Spain Portugal USA Singapore Maldives Hong Kong Korea China Australia Taiwan Thailand Malaysia Indonesia Canada .... And apparently I've completed a family version of "Around The World in XX Days" but does it count if you don't remember it since you were an infant? #worldtravel #tourism #japan #osaka #airtravel #crossculture #international -- 高嶋美姫 Miki Takashima email: contact@mikitakashimaryo.com website: https://www.mikitakashimaryo.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikitakashima/