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?

• 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 🙂 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