About

Hello!

I am Joyce, a micro-entrepreneur, blogger based in Paris. I love to wander around getting lost everywhere I go, and I laugh a lot. That’s why my slogan is: Explore. Laugh. Repeat.

Beauty related profile: click here

This blog started out as a digital travel journal, because my real life journals were getting out of hand and there’s no space to keep them all. Little by little, I started to write about beauty, blog admin and other lifestyle topics.

Travel preferences

Mainly travel solo or with my spouse. I love exploring affordable local options. Spending like crazy is not my idea of fun. Price tag and expectation has an exponential relationship in my books; aka splurge usually results in disappointment.

Favourite tourism is cooking class, hike, museum and local street food. Walking around getting lost is pretty good too. I do regularly ignore reading ‘top list’ and ‘best list’. I find that if I wander around enough, I’ll spot something that tickles my fancy. Personal experience is good enough for me.

In a nutshell?

  1. I can read/speak: English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese and Afrikaans (gone to hell due to lack of practice). Currently studying French.
  2. I hate spending money on transport i.e. flight, ferry, train, bus…
  3. I prefer rural and non-city travel.
  4. I am fond of minshuku and hostel experience.
  5. My favourite destination is firmly Japan.
  6. I can drive a manual car, but cannot parallel park a Smart car >_<
  7. I sleep easily on a long haul flight or bus or anywhere.
  8. The way I tend to pack? 2 nights travel means a 20L. 8 weeks is a 45L for summer / 60L for winter. A carry-on case is enough luggage room for my 30+ days summer travel. *I will bring a check-in luggage if I plan to haul*
  9. My backpack max tolerance weight is 12kg. I am 157cm, weigh +/- 43kg.
  10. I love meat, but do not eat lamb.

Where am I from?

Now live in Paris 😀 I clearly have an identity crisis issue. LOL

My motto is, ‘Ichigo ichie’ 一期一会. In English: One opportunity, one encounter

All photos are my own unless stated otherwise. Support original work! If you will use my photos / videos, please do not remove my watermark; otherwise, please ask me for permission.

Looking for me?

Contact me 🙂 localgirlforeignland@gmail.com

I have opened a small workshop in Paris 😀 running kitsuke workshops (how to wear a kimono) & I make Japanese fabric goodie. https://kikitaru.com

58 Comments

  1. Pingback: Hitch hike in Japan | look around!

  2. Pingback: Yokai (monster) town… Sakaiminato | look around!

  3. Pingback: Flying noodle – Miyazaki, Japan | look around!

  4. Lovely to meet you! I was in South Africa (Cape Town based) for nearly two months – can’t wait to read your blog and reminisce!!

    • Hi Emily 😀 Thank you for dropping by. Lovely to meet you too. How wonderful that you got to stay in the Mother City for so long. I don’t write that much about CPT. Now that you’ve inspired me, I should work on that 😉

  5. Lovely to ‘meet’ you Joyce! You have such a stunning blog and one visit is definitely not enough to absorb everything on offer 🙂 Looking forward to my next visit already! 😀

  6. Hey, twin ???? thanks, I was busy making birthday graphic to text you wahaha. Happy birthday to you too ????????

  7. Congratulations speaking so many languages and especially that You learning also French, which I love very much. I love languages and that is why post in four languages since nearly two years.

    Happy and safe travels!

    P. S. Great blog.

    • Wow, Sartenada! Posting in 4 languages for 2 years!!! That is crazy talent and discipline!!! I should be the one congratulating you ???????? amazing!

  8. Your photos are breathtakingly beautiful. They make Japan look like a much better travel destination than any other advertisements they do here. Thank you!

  9. Thank you for stopping by my blog, Joyce! I can’t wait to read more about your adventures. It sounds like we enjoy the same kind of travel. 🙂

  10. Love your blog and your motto. Just wanted to say thank you so much for visiting my own and for kindly following.
    I shall look forward to keeping in touch.
    Luv n peas
    Bob

  11. Hey, very interesting blog and I like your style a lot – visually clear. Happy to start following! 🙂 I’m an ex-expat who doesn’t feel at home in my “home” country and I was just asked yesterday which nationality I think of myself as belonging to. The only answer I came up with was “international”! Luckily here in the blog world, I can be whatever I want!

  12. Hey, you have a great blog, thanks for commenting(yes, it was tough reading about the Massacre of Nanking).

    Btw you have a beautiful smile, keep smiling!

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