My Post-travel checklist

After writing about my pre-travel checklist of what I do before I go away, I thought I'd do one for what I do when I get back too. It's a mixture of essentials- like getting a sneaky latergram in- to more productive things like chucking the washing on straight away when you get in. I love to have an early night and chill in bed with a face mask on too.

14 things to do before a holiday: My pre-travel checklist

This year I've been travelling a lot, and I've got a bit of a routine sorted before and after I head off anywhere. (If you fancy checking out where I've been lately, make sure to check the Japan tag~).
So this is what I do on the day before travelling:

1// Plan your outfits and pack

Planning which outfits you'll wear will save you taking up space by bringing unnecessary items. I have  a weekend away packing list which I always check to make sure I don't forget anything like toothpaste or underwear.

2// Make a vague itinerary

You don't have to plan every second of every day, and it's good to be spontaneous, but it's good to have at least a couple of ideas on where you want to go. If there's something you must do, check if you need to make a reservation beforehand.

3// Eat a good meal

While you're at it, why not make 2 portions and freeze one for when you go home.

4// Make sure you know your route and have a back up plan

Check for railworks and know what time you need to wake up, etc.

5// Check you have all your important documents

Passport, insurance, plane tickets, travellers cheques

6//Charge everything like cameras and phones

Camera batteries especially take hours, so don't leave it until the last minute.

7//Don't leave all the prep really late

8//Have a little pamper sesh

Some hair removal, a face mask, nail paint and hair dye can make you feel super ready for a holiday. 

9//Get an early night

 I'm horrendously bad at this at the moment, but it's seriously a lifesaver. Travelling can sometimes be stressful, and if you have an early start you wanna be as well rested as possible.

10//Give your space a little clean

At the least take the bins out if you're away for more than a night. This is the best present you can give yourself- when you're tired after travelling, coming home to a clean room is sooo relaxing.

11//Make a checklist for when you come back

Things like finishing off homework, library books to return, anything

12//Put on a load of laundry

So you're not coming home to a tonne of dirty clothes on top of a suitcase full of worn clothes.

13// Write a (preferably short) to-do list for the next morning

Mine always reads "chargers, bin, pack toothbrush"

14//Make sure everything is switched off and locked up

Thanks for reading, If you're travelling soon, I hope it's ace!
I'm going to post a post-travel checklist tomorrow, so look out for that~
-Amy xoxo

How to deal with loneliness and homesickness on your year abroad

A little more personal post today. I'm gonna be real, I think everyone suffers with loneliness at one point or another on year abroad. The only ones who didn't seem to be affected were the people who'd already been abroad, and were already used to it. It feels pretty terrible, because you're supposed to be having the best, most instagrammable year of your life, but instead you're up at 3am in exam week watching old episodes of ex on the beach and feeling sorry for yourself (may or may not be based on a true story) It's nothing to be ashamed of, if anything, try to see it as a good thing because it means that your home is good too. You also need to remember that it's totally normal. However, although a little bit of homesickness is fine in moderation-it makes you appreciate home more- feeling too homesick is undoubtedly miserable.

So today, I thought I'd share a couple of tips on how to deal with homesickness:

Practise basic self care// Look after your health and sleep enough- when you're run down you're way more prone to depression, anxiety or loneliness.

Sleep// Seriously, I can't stress how important sleep is for your wellbeing. One late night is fine, but if you're only getting four hours a day, it won't be long until you have a breakdown. Youtube will still be there in the morning, I promise.

Keep in touch with those you miss// Via things like Skype, Line, Whatsapp, hey, even letters

Remind yourself that it's not forever// and you'll see people again sooner than you think. 

Make new friends// Don't prioritise people back home over making new friends here

Keep yourself busy// and try to get out- don't give yourself endless hours at home

Talk to other people about it// it surprised me that all my super confident seeming friends had also struggled. It's good to know that you're not alone. That being said, don't let it turn into a thing that happens a lot, and don't waste your time complaining all the time.

Talk to a professional// If you're really struggling, you could even talk to a year abroad councillor or someone like that. 

Try and consume less content online from home// get more immersion and find youtubers, bloggers and TV shows from the country you're in. 

Try and not be too clingy// to your friends, family or partner though, it won't feel good for either of you.

Go out by yourself sometimes// practise being on your own more and try and learn to be more ok with it. This is a life skill by itself.

Give yourself a goal// something to focus on, like studying, can help you feel purpose and gives you something to take your mind off being sad.

Appreciate the year abroad while you can// This is a once in a lifetime thing, and although of course there are times when you'll be down, the rest of the time is awesome <3


If you enjoyed this post, another post of mine which I think could be helpful is my self care post- it's less about cute fluffy things, and more about concrete, basic things you can do to help yourself out when you're feeling low.
Thanks for reading!
-Amy xoxo

Summer OOTD

Famous Sakura at Yoshinoyama

This is pretty much the last of my sakura posts guys! On the day after my birthday, my family left for the UK and I went to Yoshinoyama with my friends Vicky and Caro. Yoshinoyama in Nara prefecture is famous for it's cherry blossom covered mountain sides, and has been a hanami spot for centuries.

Packing tips: What I packed for my year abroad in Japan

Packing for a whole year of uni anyway is pretty daunting, but deciding what to take to Japan for my year abroad was so hard! Especially with limited space.  In the end, I managed to take just one suitcase, a mini carry on, and my laptop! Lots of people took three whole suitcases of stuff, so I reckon I packed light, but I still managed to bring a tonne of stuff with me. Today's post is about what I took with me on my year abroad, and a couple of my tips on how to pack light and avoid any mishaps.

What to do with two weeks in Japan: My itinerary and Japan travel tips

Today I thought I'd do a quick summary of what my family did in Japan, plus some tips on how to make the most of your time in Japan. Of course, it's totally subjective, but it might be helpful anyway. I've been living in Osaka, and I love the Kansai area in general so we decided to stay there and were based in Kyoto. So, most of the places we went to were in the Kansai area, but we also managed to get to Tokyo and Hiroshima too! So here's where we went, and my tips on how to make the most of your travels in Japan.

What I'll miss (and what I won't) about Japan

So, the day I'm flying home is getting ever closer, and after my post on what I'm excited for and what I'm not looking forward to about going home to the UK, I thought I'd write the other side to that post today: What I'm going to miss and what I won't miss about Glorious Nihon.

Going home to the UK: what I'm looking forward to and what I'm not

I have less than a month left, and to be honest, I'm panicking about going home. I've booked my flight, but I still have so much I want to dooo! But of course, Britain is my home and I'm super excited for a few things too! Overall, I'm hoping to be able to relax, get ready for uni next year, and hopefully cram some fun trips and stuff in too :)

Not quite summer OOTDs

My Osaka Birthday

I turned 20 in April (so scary..) and here's what I did on the big day! Nothing too fancy (as we'd had a big trip to Hiroshima the day before) and a whole lot of Osaka, so it was basically perfect. My family came to Japan, and it was spring and lovely.... but, I had an interview at uni, which I was dreading. But it went ok, and the campus sakura were on point. After the interview I headed off into town to meet up with the fam a lam. They went to Osaka castle in the morning. and in the afternoon we met up at Ebisubashi. They made me take 'the' Glico man selfie, we had Okonomiyaki, and then we went to the Umeda Pokemon centre~

My family made me do the classic 'tourist' Glico man pose. Then we went and got okonomiyaki at Fugetsu! Okonomiyaki is hands down my fave Japanese food, it's perfect.

 Me and my fave sister @ariezabeth <3 <3 Side note, did you know that if you go into a pokemon centre and say it's your birthday month they will give you a lil hat, a pokemon in game aaaand a card? Now you know. Lizzie loves pokemon, so going to the Umeda pokemon centre was a must!

Thanks for reading!
Want more Osaka goodness? Osaka, Okonomiyaki and Dotombori //Minami Osaka// Plum blossom at Osaka castle//
-Amy xoxo

Meeting Samurai(!) in Hiroshima

Lizzie had seen an advert for a samurai dance group in Hiroshima, so we headed there for a day trip. My family had been to Hiroshima one day already (without me though because I'd been a bit ill) and had visited the peace park and the castle, but this time my parents went to Miyajima and me and Lizzie hung out in Hiroshima! 

Tetsugaku no michi part 2: more sakura and Nanzenji

We carried on walking down the philosopher's path until we reached Nanzenji. It was a pretty tiring walk, but it was so pretty! After Nanzenji, there was another walk to the subway at Keage station. The Nanzenji end of the philosopher's path was way less busy, but it was getting later in the day so I think that helped. Also, the area of the path near Ginkakuji is definitely more of a Sakura-splosion. Nanzenji was as lovely as ever, it's been one of my favourite places in Kyoto since I went there back in December. Anyway, the whole area was full of full bloom sakura, even the walk from Nanzenji to Keage. Gorgeous. 

10 months in Japan

So rainy season has just finished, I'm still in uni, and I've been studying a lot this month. Honestly, it's been a little boring and annoying. Just studying and essays. Buuut, I have had a couple of good bits! (I can't complain too much, I am in Japan after all...)

The best Sakura in Japan? Tetsugaku no michi- The philosopher's path

Tetsugaku no michi, or the philosopher's path, has a reputation for having the most amazing Sakura, and oh boy, it deserves it. It is a path by a river, running from Ginkakuji to Nanzenji, and there are so. many. cherry trees. It's honestly so breathtaking. I took my family there for full bloom, and although it was crazy busy, it was so beautiful. It felt like walking in a dream, I honestly nearly cried. It was a pretty overcast day, but I think my pictures turned out ok! I'm gonna have to come back to Japan in cherry blossom season another year, it's officially worth the hype.

More Pink haired grungey OOTDs

Another couple of OOTDs today, from a while ago which of course makes me miss my pink hair! Why am I so indecisive with my hair. Also, those glorious sparkly Urban Outfitters glittery thigh high socks finally bit the dust. Rip fab socks. 

Ginkakuji- the silver temple that's not actually silver but is still pretty aesthetically pleasing

So we went to Ginkakuji in peak Sakura season, so it was pretty busy... but we were in the area anyway, seeing the famous cherry blossoms on the philosophers path. So, I thought I'd show my family Ginkakuji to complete the set. Ginkakuji's garden is really lovely, and when there aren't many people there it's lovely, but it's one of the busiest places in Kyoto, so it was pretty intense. 

You can get the bus to Ginkakuji, but if you can, I'd say get the subway part of the way and walk the rest- we couldn't get a seat on the bus as usual, it was as crowded as a sardine can, and due to the Kyoto traffic, it took one and a half hours instead of the 45 minutes predicted. I really dislike Kyoto buses. Avoid if possible kids. Walking is usually faster. Anyway, enough about Kyoto buses, and more onto Ginkakuji~

It was so crowded, and it made me pretty nervous to be honest. We arrived in the evening and there was a big queue for Ginkakuji, and I was worried we wouldn't be able to get in, but we managed. Relief. It was crowded af, but I still managed to get a few nice pictures in.

P.s. if a Japanese aesthetics snob asks you if you prefer Kinkakuji or Ginkakuji, you're supposed to say Ginkakuji ;)

Thanks for reading! If you wanna read some more Japan posts, why not check out: Fushimi Inari Taisha// Himeji castle// Sakurajima// Miyajima// Hikone Castle

-Amy xoxo

My plans for the perfect English summer

Ok, after we're done laughing about the contradiction that is 'English summer'... I'm going home scarily soon, and so instead of sulking about it, I wanna make loads of plans and really enjoy my time at home. Here's what I'm thinking so far...

1// Picnics- as pinterest worthy and yummy as I can make it!

2// Barbecue a summer staple! Hopefully I won't burn anything this time...

3// Make homemade lemonade. And then preferably drink it from a mason jar and instagram the heck out of it ;)

4// Have afternoon tea (gotta amp up the Britain factor, amirite)

5// Go to the Beach with my family~
We've got a little mini break to Broadstairs planned, and I'm sooo excited. I'm gonna have fish and chips, and ice cream, and go swimming... It's gonna be great. I'd love to drag the boy out to the beach too if I get the chance.

6// Shopping~ I love Japanese fashion so much and I'm gonna miss shopping in my beloved Osaka, but there are a few places I'm excited to shop at back in the UK

7// Go to London: I'm determined to go to places that I haven't been to a lot, like Shoreditch and Brick Lane

8// Go to a theme park~ especially Margate Dreamland- it looks so cute and vintage <3

9// Visit Bournemouth again and make my sister show me around (she's at uni there)

10// Of course, visit my boyfriend in Salisbury <3

11// I wanna go to Brighton again, I've never been to the Lanes there, and that's the best bit, right?

12// After I'm back in Leeds, I really wanna explore Yorkshire too. I've only been to a couple of places like Howarth and Skipton, but I really wanna go to Scarborough and York next.

Thanks for reading! Do you guys have any exciting summer plans?

-Amy xoxo

Having unnatural hair in Japan: how people react

One of the things I was worried about before I came to Japan was how people would react to my bleached hair, and the blue dip dye I had at the time. I even seriously considered dying it back brown(!) In the end I decided that Japan should accept me for who I am, but I worried a lot about it, and I did my own share of frantic googling. There wasn't as much info around as I thought there'd be, so here I am with my two cents. Basically. the reaction from people has been mostly really positive, especially to the pink.

Firstly, I'm a white girl, and in a country that is 99% Japanese (and lots of that 1% is Korean or Chinese people) you're gonna get stared at if you're white. Sometimes it makes me uncomfortable, but I don't think it's coming from a racist place and most of the time you can just ignore it. It is what it is. So even if I had my natural brown hair, I'd probably still get stared at. Honestly, I don't think there's much difference between being a blonde gaijin and a pink gaijin either. Because I'm not Japanese or Asian, it might make people more lenient towards unnatural hair - people expect foreigners to be different anyway. Sometimes, people also think that blonde/ white blonde is my natural colour anyway.

Having said that, I think having blonde hair might attract more male attention here- sometimes salarymen have come up and tried to talk to me, and I've been catcalled before (and someone called me barbie recently) I've also had a guy keep asking me to go to a bar with him... I'm definitely approached less when I have pink hair, because it's more scary >:) Saying that, it doesn't happen a lot at all. We're talking only a couple of times over a whole year. It's something I thought I'd mention but I don't want to make it a big deal because honestly, it's pretty rare.

I'm also a uni student so I don't have to worry about looking "professional". Like in any country, if you're working for a company or looking for a job then people's attitude against coloured hair might be stricter.

Overall, much like in the UK, most of the actual feedback I get is positive. I get a lot of shop staff and people commenting on it when it's pink: one of my teachers asked to touch it and was really excited when I had pink hair, and she has since said that my pink hair is her favourite. I also have had starbucks staff comment "ooh it's pink" "it's so pretty" type of comments, and I've even been asked to be a hair model a couple of times. Of course, it fit right in in Harajuku too ;)

I'm pretty shy to be honest, but I've had my hair pink, silver, blonde and even blue! If I can do it then so can you ;) In the end, if you wanna do coloured hair, and you aren't restricted by things like job hunting, parents etc. you should totally do it! Coloured hair team go <3

Check out the other posts in this mini-series: where you can buy unnatural hair dye in Japan // which Japanese hair care products I'd recommend


Edited to add: I did a part 2 of this post about how people reacted to my bleached blonde hair when I worked in Japan for a year

Thanks for reading! Do any of you guys have bleached or unnaturally coloured hair? How do the people around you react to it?

-Amy xoxo

Mini Japanese and Korean Beauty haul

Asian beauty is often talked about as -the best thing ever- but the only thing I've ever tried before is a BB cream that was too dark for me (rip). So while I was in Japan and could buy stuff from an actual physical store, I thought I'd pick up a couple of bits. This year has been such a struggle between wanting to buy everything I see, and trying to remember that I have to ship it all home halfway round the world if I want to take it back to the UK... the struggle is real.

Safe to say, all the products I've tried have been great so far!

Kitano Tenmangu and the Kitano Odori

One of the things my Mum really wanted to do while she was here was to go and see a Geisha dance, so we went to see one at the Kamishichiken theatre called the Kitano Odori. It was amazing, but of course it was Geisha and theatre so we couldn't take photos. I would super recommend going to see a Geisha dance performance if you can though! They performed dances and also a theatre piece which reminded me a little of Kabuki, except the Japanese was more understandable and it was really funny. We booked the tickets through the Kyoto tourist information centre in JR Kyoto station- the staff there were so helpful! If you don't know how to book theatre tickets or things like that, go there and the staff will do it for you! 

After the theatre, we had a look around a shrine that has long been on my 'Kyoto bucket list': Kitano Tenmangu! Kitano Tenmangu is famous for its plum blossoms, which were over, but it's still a large and really pretty shrine to have a look around. There were lanterns everywhere, and the shrine architecture was gorgeous! It was a little more subtle than the usual bright red of shrines like Fushimi Inari Taisha or Heian Jingu. Some of the roofs were pretty old, and had tonnes of moss growing off them. It was also pretty quiet when we went (although I don't know if that's to do with the fact that it was about to rain) I'd super recommend going to see it!

You can get to Kitano Tenmangu by taking the 50 or 101 bus (which also goes to Kinkakuji, so it's sometimes a little crowded). You could stop off there on the way to Kinkakuji~

How to post more regularly on your blog

So I have a busy uni schedule: I'm studying Japanese, and this year I have about 16 hours in class a week, plus I have to study at home too. I'm only writing CandyflossOverkill as a hobby, but I'm trying to post daily (or at least regularly). One thing I've definitely noticed is that when I can and can't post depends less on how busy I am (example, throughout my latest trip to Tokyo, I still managed to post daily) but rather on how tight my organisation is. So, here are a couple of tips:

how to post more regularly:

1// Make a schedule
Work out how often you want to post. Make it realistic, and think about how much time you honestly spend on each post.

2// Publicly commit to it
Let your readers know, in an obvious place, like your About Page. Not only do they know when to expect new content from you, the fact that they know can motivate you to post more so you're not letting people down.

3// Batch write and schedule posts
Scheduling posts is your best friend when you know you're going to be busy. It's also been great for me this year, as I'm in Japan, and in the wrong time zone for a lot of my readership. If you schedule your posts every day, you can target it to when your readers are online and more likely to read it.

4// Even if you don't have a set writing time, because sometimes creativity is hard to schedule, it could definitely be useful to batch edit posts. Checking for grammar and spelling mistakes/ typos and adding in links can all be done in batch. I also think it's helpful to not publish posts immediately after you've written them, coming back with fresh eyes makes mistakes easier to spot.

5// Schedule promotion and your social media posts too.  Social media is something I seriously need to up my game on, but there are a tonne of social media scheduling tools out there now, like Buffer and Hootsuite.

6// Have a few days' worth of 'buffer posts' written up and ready to go for when you're busy. These would ideally be fully written and ready to go, but they could also just be some good fallback ideas that you can quickly write up.

7// Start some ongoing blog post series: like OOTDs, or a weekly tips, or a favourites series. This makes it easier to come up with lots of content.

8// Take photos in batch Taking good photos can be super time consuming, so why not take a whole bunch when you've got all your set up ready.

9// Make an editorial calender for your blog. Write down what you're posting and when so you can see what mix of content you have coming up. (I like to colour code mine because rainbows).

10// Maximise your time this is so cliché, but things like using your commute to brainstorm ideas or draft posts is a cliché for a reason.

11// Make sure you have stuff happening in real life too: this is the easiest way to make sure you always have ideas for new content.

12// Make sure the quality of your content doesn't suffer from posting too much.
Sometimes it's better to produce a few good quality posts rather than a tonne of short, half baked ones.

13// Keep it fun!
Isn't the reason we all started blogging in the first place because it was fun?

14// Avoid blogger burnout: posting a lot can mean that you run out of ideas and suffer from blogger burnout. Brainstorm topics, read a lot, go to exciting places and expand/ update your old posts and themes.

15// Take some time to create some pillar posts rounding up your old posts and make sure your archives are easily navigable. If you're posting a lot of content, it would be easy for readers to miss out on some of your posts.

16// You'll only be on top of blogging and be able to post more often if you've got some kind of organisational system for other things in your life too. Get some kind of planner calendar situation going.

17// Remember: It's ok to take breaks too, and no one is perfect. Although it is nice, there is no real need to have a full blown perfect post every day. In fact, it might be good to post less and focus more on promoting your stuff. Anyway, don;t pressure yourself too much, enjoy blogging and it should come easier.

Thanks for reading! Do you guys have any tips on how to post more often, or how to balance blogging and everything else? I'd love to know (^O^)/
-Amy xoxo

Bleached hair care in Japan: my damaged hair product recommendations

Continuing on from my post on where to buy hair dye in Japan, I thought I'd share which hair care products have been working for me to help look after my bleached hair. I'm no beauty blogger or hair stylist, but this might be useful if, like me, you arrive in Japan with no idea of which products to buy.

Fushimi Inari Taisha....at night

If you've been reading CandyflossOverkill over the last few months, you'll know that this is in fact the fourth time I've been to the famous Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine in Kyoto. It's an awesome place, and it's not somewhere you can miss out on a trip to Kyoto. If you wanna see what it looks like in the daytime, here's my post from the last time I went there). Anyway, as the title suggests, me and Lizzie went there in the evening, and it is so cool after dark! Usually in the daytime, it's rammed with people (I think it's the most popular tourist attraction with foreigners too) but at night it was really quiet. The lanterns were still glowing, and it was magical and spooky in equal measure. I'm not sure the photos can quite do justice to the atmosphere there, it was so intense. If you get the chance, definitely add going at night to your Kyoto to-do list!

Where to buy unnatural hair dye in Japan?

So I'm on my year abroad in Japan, and I have bleached hair and a penchant for trying different colours... At first, I was so worried I wouldn't be able to find hair dye here, I bought some with me in my suitcase!  Luckily, while I've been here, I've found some places where you can get hair dye, even if it is more expensive it's better than nothing, right? I think I'm going to make this a little mini series on having unnatural hair in Japan, and soon I'm gonna post about how people react to pink and blonde hair, and also my favourite Japanese products for looking after damaged hair.

Where to buy hair dye in Japan:

Kyoto imperial palace park

After we went to Toji, we headed over to the Imperial Palace park to see the sakura there. You can't go into the main palace, and although you can go into the Sento Palace (which is like the secondary palace complex. you need to book a tour beforehand to go in I think), we decided to just chill- have a picnic, have a walk around, it was great :3 The park itself is really huge, with the palace in the centre- although you can't see inside, the walls themselves are pretty impressive. There were a fair few cute girls in kimono, and many more people taking selfies with the sakura (you just gotta do it guys), but because the park itself was big, it didn't feel crazily crowded. There are huge wooded areas in the park too, and sakura trees, and plum trees... it's just a really nice park tbh.

Sakura at Toji, Kyoto

If I had to pick my favourite temple that I've been to this year, Toji is the first place that comes to mind. The iconic pagoda is the tallest in Japan, and is one of the symbols of Kyoto. When I went it was so peaceful- even though it's a large and historic temple, it's in the south of Kyoto away from the more popular Higashiyama area. So, when I took my family there in spring it made for a really peaceful morning away from the busy-ness which was Kyoto in sakura season. Toji actually has some amazing sakura too, and we were there at the perfect time- the blossoms were basically at full bloom, and were already starting to scatter. But I think Toij would be lovely in any season, and I'd super recommend putting it on your Kyoto itinerary if you get the chance! It's just five minutes on the Kintetsu line from Kyoto station, and if you go there on the 21st of the month there's a flea market there too.