About Travely Notes

Hi I’m Sarah!

Thank you for visiting my blog! I'm a travel enthusiast always on the lookout for places and activities that are off the beaten track, and I try to embrace a slow, sustainable travel approach, so that I can take the time to appreciate the country I'm exploring. For the past years, I have served as my family and friends’ personal trip planner. I love to prepare my trips, take notes, and write about my experiences. I thought I could start sharing these notes with others, hoping that they might be of use when planning their own travels. And so “Travely Notes” was born!

Having lived in Tokyo for 4 years and travelled extensively around Japan recently, my blog will focus on Japan for the time being. I have been fascinated by this country and its language for a long time. I came for the first time as an high school student in 2014, then studied in Tokyo between 2016 and 2018 and came back to work for two years in 2022-2023. I am already thinking of my itinerary for the next time I will travel to Japan, my favorite country in the world (hopefully soon)!

Eventually, I would like to expand my blog and write about other countries too, particularly France (my home country), Iceland (my partner’s country), and other European countries.

I hope this blog will inspire you to pack your bags and discover new places. Feel free to leave a comment and follow my socials! I would love to hear from you!

🔎 A Little  FAQ About Me

  • I'm back in Paris after having enjoyed my summer holidays in Reykjavik, Iceland.

  • For now, I want to concentrate on destinations close to where I live, in particular exploring Paris and making easy day or weekend trips from there.

  • As a passionate traveler, I see travel as an approach to life. It's about feeling continually curious about my surroundings, active in my daily life, always looking for places to discover and new experiences to live. I particularly enjoy long nature hikes, but I'm also a keen urban explorer.

    I try to take a local, slow and sustainable approach to travel, focusing first on exploring places close to where I live. When I decide to travel to more distant destinations, I try to minimize my ecological footprint and stay longer, while favoring off-the-beaten-track destinations and activities that can contribute to the local economy.

  • I've always been fascinated by everything about Japan. There's something very special about this country that always makes me so curious and enthusiastic, and draws me back there again and again. My dream is to explore all 47 prefectures of Japan (I've visited 27 so far).

    As well as sharing my passion for Japan and my travels there, I hope to contribute in my own small way to counterbalancing over-tourism in some of Japan's main destinations by showcasing more off-the-beaten-track places and hidden gems across Japan, and making them more accessible to foreigners living in or traveling to Japan.

  • When I'm not exploring and traveling, or planning trips, you'll find me jogging and exercising at the gym, drawing or painting, or at the movies.

  • In 2024, my main goal was to reach more than 50 articles published on my Japan blog (already achieved 🎉 ), and to continue to regularly publish articles related to Japan.

    My other priorities are to start sending out my monthly newsletter and to add a Europe blog section to my site (mainly focused on France and Iceland in the near future).