Tour leader - Oksana A. · Tripsider.com

Last seen 8 months ago
Hello, my name is Oksana
On Tripsider.com since December 2019
On Tripsider.com since December 2019
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3 reviews

Professional traveler, expert of the Russian Geographical Society. For 15 years I have been organizing with my team author's expeditions and routes of various levels of complexity around the world, including VIP (over 200 to date).
I travel a lot on my own in the most impressive places of Asia, Africa, America, lived on a desert island as part of the game "Last Hero", in monasteries in Japan and Myanmar. More

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Rating 5.00 (3 reviews)
About the tour: Thank you very much, Japan was very impressive! What exactly did I like:

Trips to Kanazawa, Takayama. It was interesting to see how Japanese people lived and live outside the big cities. Take a walk in a relaxed atmosphere without tourists. Living in ryokans is an extraordinary experience. Matsumoto Castle is remembered for its history.

I would like to learn more about Japan's history. Not just facts about sights (which is also good), but the history of the country as a whole. Of course, I took the books, but I'm sure they could be supplemented.

Sometimes it seemed that the time was misallocated — at first, too long walks for no specific purpose, and then rushing to get transport, trying to get somewhere before closing time, etc. I think we could spend a little more free time in each city, literally 30-40 minutes would be enough for everyone.
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About the tour: Very positive impressions were left from the trip. Everything was great, we were lucky with the weather! The route is well built During these nine days, we had the opportunity to see the country from different angles: we saw both a lot of natural sites and urban Japan. However, the latter is slightly less so, but in my opinion, it's even good. In addition, the big advantage was that we did not encounter crowds of tourists along most of the route. I was pleasantly surprised because I expected the worst Sometimes it was very uncrowded, I had the opportunity to enjoy nature As far as I understand, this is largely due to the guide, as he knows the most popular ones tourist places

The workshops diversified the program very much: playing the drum, renting a kimono This all adds emotions and impressions, and immerses you more into the country's atmosphere. You can probably even add something else, because it's very cool!

We are also happy with the hotels It was a great experience staying in ryokans (traditional Japanese hotels) — they are incredibly authentic One of the ryokans was located in the mountains, and when you enter it, you feel like you are in the Miyazaki cartoon It's all very cool and important for getting the wow effect from the country If we talk about European hotels, they are also all of good quality Generally all Japanese hotels are very comfortable You could not even take something with you: for example, rooms always provide toothbrushes, shower caps and slippers. In addition, hotels are located good: near train stations, bus stops

When it comes to food: different hotels offer different food choices, but there is always something to choose from, for every taste Japanese cuisine has surprised you! These are not familiar udon, sushi and mochi at all Ryokans serve lots of small plates of snacks for dinner. Although I didn't like everything about this food, it was a lot of fun Dinner had a real quest: guess what it is

We really liked our guide. He immediately found a common language with the group and brought us together. But it's worth saying that the group was also nice. The guide was very friendly and optimistic Everything was well organized, according to the program, no failures Nothing ever fell off

What else I liked was that we were last in Tokyo The day in Tokyo turned out to be incredibly intense We were in the city from morning to late in the evening: it was tiring, but also full of emotions It turned out that the trip was over on the rise Not that by the end everything comes to naught and you start to get bored, but here was the last day on takeoff We saw a completely different Japan — modernity, technology, urban life nism, which was incredibly interesting

It would be great to add additional free days, but you can do it yourself, not as part of the program. We didn't have enough time for shopping: I'm not even talking about shopping centers, but rather about souvenir shops in the old part of the city, because of the timing we couldn't go there. We went on excursions until five or six o'clock, and then we had free time, but everything was already closed. It would be great if we gave free time in the afternoon

Besides, none of the group enjoyed the sake tasting at the sake brewery: everything was extremely chaotic, there was a huge crowd behind us, we couldn't even breathe freely, and we ran away. Much more enjoyable was tasting sake with dinner in a ryokan, where we took the tasting set ourselves. It was delicious, pleasant, wonderful

There was enough information from the guide If we had any questions, we got answers. Besides, everything we saw made my head spin, and sometimes we couldn't concentrate at all. I wanted to read a book on the history of Japan quietly at home and everything would settle down in my head. No one overloaded me with information, but if they saw interest from the group, they certainly gave us more I would like to immerse myself in Japanese art and visit more galleries museums, museums

I would also like to say about transport In general, I don't mind traveling by public transport, in a sense it was even interesting, an additional introduction to culture. We tried all types of transport: trains, buses, subways, trams. But it wasn't very convenient with luggage: because it left separately, we had to constantly reboot everything, put everything from the suitcase into the backpack we took with us Here it would be great if a minivan were organized that would carry our things along the route

I don't regret the trip at all, only positive impressions. I really want to visit Japan again!
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About the tour: If you had told us about mountain routes right away, we would not have gone and seen these beauties. Impressions — we enjoyed it very much! But mountain trails are steps, and they are quite steep, made of stone, of varying heights and depths. It was difficult for us with our knees, although all the other participants were walking. There are places to rest on the steps, there are benches, but the group is moving on; they don't want to detain everyone. But in general, of course, it's very beautiful, everything is great!

We went to the opera, changed into national clothes, great! The most valuable thing about your itinerary is the guide, who is a highly professional. This trip would have been very different without him. He has very deep knowledge, the deepest! We've been remembering the same city for three days, and it's just crazy with these concepts. We met a group who even asked us where we got such a guide; they and their Chinese woman did not understand anything at all. I solved all the issues with the group; they all don't know a single word of English there, and our guide solved any problems and all everyday issues.

Of course, we learned to draw: we had calligraphy, wrote hieroglyphics and went to qigong in the mountains. That's great!

Anyone who wants to take this route just needs to know that there will be many stairs: both around temples and in the mountains. The experience was definitely positive, the food was delicious, the views were amazing!
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