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 in 2015, 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. So yes, this little blog is old school. Mind you, my very first blog was back in the 90s at Geocities 😉
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?
- I read/speak: English, Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Japanese and
Afrikaans(gone to hell due to lack of practice). - I hate spending money on transport i.e. flight, ferry, train, bus…
- I prefer rural and non-city travel.
- I am fond of minshuku and hostel experience.
- My favourite destination is firmly Japan.
- I can drive a manual car, but cannot parallel park a Smart car >_<
- I sleep easily on a long haul flight or bus or anywhere.
- 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*
- My backpack max tolerance weight is 12kg. I am 157cm, weigh +/- 43kg.
- I love meat, but do not eat lamb.
Where am I from?
- I was born in Hong Kong.
- Chilled in Durban for 10 years
- Partied/worked in Cape Town for 8 years
- Exported to Shanghai for 8 years
- Lived in London for a year
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 🙂 email address is the same as the blog name @gmail.com. Sorry that I cannot spell it out because the amount of spam is just unbelievable.
I have opened a small workshop in Paris since 2019 😀 teaching kitsuke (how to wear a kimono) & make Japanese fabric goodies. As of 2025, I am officially a part of the “Fabriqué à Paris” artisan clan! https://kikitaru.com
