Alayna Abroad

08/14/2026

There’s an estimated 2-3 million cats living in Greece and it’s my mission to pet them all 🐈🐈‍⬛

08/03/2026

I’ve been to 28 Greek islands so you don’t have to take my ratings personally…. Or I mean do, I still stand by what I said.

07/20/2026

07/20/2026

Okinawa didn’t have to go this hard but it absolutely did.

The best way I can describe it is a “Japanese Hawaii”. It’s warm, tropical, laid back, incredible water, beach culture everywhere. After the chaos of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto during sakura season this was exactly the reset I needed. I spent a week in the quieter, more remote village of Onna and genuinely just… breathed for the first time in a while.

What surprised me most was how distinct Okinawa feels from the rest of Japan. The culture here is its own thing entirely. Okinawans have their own language, their own traditions, and their own food that is completely different from mainland Japan.

And then layered on top of that is this fascinating, sometimes jarring American influence everywhere you look with tons of US military bases, American style businesses, English on signs, even an entire American Village shopping area. As someone from Southern California I won’t lie, stumbling onto a burger and fries after weeks of skewers and rice felt like kinda like a personal gift from the universe. Come at me.

But Okinawa also carries a heavy weight that was impossible not to feel. The Battle of Okinawa in 1945 was one of the bloodiest battles of the entire Pacific War. Over 100,000 local civilians were killed, ordinary people caught between two imperial powers in a fight that was never theirs to begin with. Visiting the Peace Memorial Museum and the surrounding grounds was one of the most sobering and important experiences of my entire trip. It was heavy and I’m really glad I went.

The biodiversity here is also insane, the snorkeling and diving alone make it worth adding to your Japan itinerary. Do not skip Okinawa. Truly.

07/17/2026

I was not prepared to be so overwhelmed, and I will not apologize for how long I was in there.

For those who don’t know Don Quijote is a Japanese discount chain that sells… EVERYTHING. Snacks, alcohol, electronics, costumes, souvenirs, skincare, kitchen appliances, and things I genuinely cannot explain. All crammed floor to ceiling across multiple floors with a jingle playing on loop the entire time. Many are open 24 hours for some ultimate shopping experiences. It is a fever dream and I loved every second of it.

If you’re going to Japan, you will end up here. Probably more than once. Godspeed.

05/24/2026

One night in Bangkok and the —

Okay I won’t do it but WOW Thailand 🇹🇭 She is the moment 👏

Bangkok is loud, chaotic, delicious, overwhelming, exciting, humid, beautiful, and approximately 947 degrees at all times.

Like if you know me, you know I enjoy heat. I’m not picky about hot weather. But even EYE was melting in this heat. That humidity was far from a joke.

Spent my days temple hopping, taking canal boats around the city, shopping, working, and eating a concerning amount of mango sticky rice because damn that s**t was GOOD.

The food alone deserves its own post honestly.

Also six days here was nowhere near enough. I already know I need to come back and properly explore more of Thailand because Bangkok barely scratched the surface.

05/22/2026

Another bedumpy of a place I barely posted because my hobby is taking 4,000 pics and then not sorting through them for weeks.

Anyway: Taiwan 🇹🇼

This started as more of a strategic stopover before Bangkok because flights back to North America made more sense… and it ended up becoming one of the most fascinating parts of my trip.

Taipei was really cool. Super modern, great food, insanely efficient, and probably the biggest language barrier I dealt with during my entire Asia trip. Thank GOD for Google Translate honestly. Also met some of the best stranger photographers of my trip. Shout out.

I also made it out to Hualien to see Taroko Gorge. Turns out Hualien is on top of a major fault system so I even got the pleasure of experiencing a 1 AM jumpscare earthquake while I was there. Really neat. A lot of the gorge is actually still closed after the devastating 2024 earthquake, but I’m still really glad I went.

And politically Taiwan is such an interesting place to experience firsthand. It completely feels like its own country with its own culture, identity, government, language, and currency while existing in this really tense gray area geopolitically. It’s considered part of China but I’m soooooooo tempted to count it as my 36th country lol.

04/20/2026

God you guys I really am so behind on posting.

I get so caught up in the moments while on the go and I literally take so many pics and vids it gets overwhelming to the point it takes hours to go through everything to even figure out what to edit and post lol. Stupid first world problems.

So anyway here is a totally random dump of the past two weeks.

I accidentally stayed for the entire Sakura (cherry blossom) season. I truly only intended to stay no more than 2.5 weeks but Japan has blown me away with everything it has to offer. I feel so lucky to have experienced so much. I got to see the flowers bud, bloom and fall off Japan’s trees over the course of a month. Absolutely will remember this forever 🌸

Plus lots of animal encounters in the wild and at special cafes which I absolutely loved.

And somehow in all of this I made my way through Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Okinawa… which still doesn’t feel real.

Unbelievably amazing country I’m so glad I was able to experience it. It’s been one most fulfilling experiences I’ve had in a long time. I’m loving every second of it.

04/01/2026

I’ve been saying for years that I wanted to spend my golden birthday in Tokyo… and I did it 🎉🇯🇵

Turned 31 on March 31 and found myself in one of the most efficient, clean, and incredibly impressive cities I’ve ever experienced. Like I get the hype now. I really do.

Spent my birthday exactly how you’d expect from me… 3.5 hours at an exotic animal cafe feeding hedgehogs, holding owls, snakes, turtles, little chicks… and a SLOTH (couldn’t touch him which honestly felt personal but we move)

Then another 2 hours at a cat cafe because it’s no secret I have no self control when it comes to animals.

Perfect day. No notes.

Also shoutout to for saying yes to a trip with basically no itinerary. We just showed up, figured it out as we went, and had one of the best trips I’ve had in a long time.

I think that’s the point.

I hear all the time “I wish I could travel like you” or “I wish I could do what you do”.

You can.

There’s no secret formula I can tell you. Or no perfect timing. Or a mythical moment where everything lines up. I just decided I wanted to spend my birthday in Tokyo and said f**k it… and went.

And not having everything planned made it that much better. We found things we never would’ve scheduled, stayed places longer than expected, and just let the trip unfold.

I don’t fully know where I’m going next on this Asia adventure… but I do know that some of the best travel moments happen when you stop trying to control everything and just see where it takes you 🤍

Onward and upward 👆