Summer break is here again. This time last year I was travelling through the Tohoku region of Japan, the furthest north I had been in the country. Next month I will go even further, spending time with my fiancée’s extended family in Aomori, just shy of Hokkaido. As I type this, however, we are not even in Japan – instead choosing to swap the humidity of Tokyo for that of Vietnam. For the next week we will be working with three hotels: Park Hyatt Saigon, a beach resort in Danang, and a boutique property in Hoi An Ancient Town. There is a lot of writing to be done, including a backdated report from Quintessence – a three-star Michelin restaurant in Tokyo – that we visited a few weeks back. Travel for me is all about experiences, be them luxurious or local, and so now in my mid-thirties I am perfectly happy to mix-up high-end travel with local life on the streets. More posts to come soon. x Justin / IKIMASHO