25 Wednesday Dec 2013
Mr. Selfish and I wish our readers a merry and selfish Christmas! May you indulge all of your wanderlust desires next year. We know that we certainly will…
Come the new year, we will commence blogging every day until we’ve covered our recent trip to Hong Kong, the Maldives, and Japan. We look forward to sharing with you our trip report and the many, many photos we took.
12 Tuesday Nov 2013
Posted in California, North America, San Francisco, United States
Tags
Battery Spencer, Battery Wagner, California, Golden Gate, Golden Gate Bridge, Kirby Cove, Marin County, North America, San Francisco, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years, United States
In my previous post, I went over my obsession with the Golden Gate Bridge, specifically the day that I dragged Mr. Selfish to Crissy Field, Fort Point, and onto the bridge itself. This post will continue with my obsession and go over another day during which I forced Mr. Selfish to view the bridge from the Marin side.
We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and luckily snagged one of the few parking spots at Battery Spencer. Then, we walked up a little way and wow, the view was amazing.
09 Wednesday Oct 2013
Posted in Asia, China, General, Japan, South Korea
Tags
Selfish Guide, Selfish Guide to China, Selfish Guide to Japan, Selfish Guide to Seoul, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years
It took me a while but I’ve finally completed the Selfish Guides to Seoul, China, and Japan, which completes the rest of Asia. Considering that Mr. Selfish and I spent 33 days in China and 43 days in Japan, I don’t think that it was that long. Okay, so we did leave Asia about four months ago. I promise that I’ll finish the Selfish Guides to Australia, New Zealand, and Bora Bora in a much shorter time.
Here are a few pics from the new Selfish Guides:
If you would like to see the Selfish Guides in their entirety, please click here.
01 Tuesday Oct 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Asia, Australia, Best Of, Europe, Oceania, Travel Hacking
This is the final part of our 15 part series on the Best of Our Selfish Years of Traveling. You can check out the other parts below:
Our great Selfish Years adventure started when I discovered the world of miles & points, back in September 2011. Mrs. Selfish and I applied for 2 Citi AA cards, for a grand total of 150,000 AA miles a piece: enough for two business class tickets around the world!
We’ve done some pretty awesome things, flown some amazing flights, and stayed at some world class hotels. So how much did it all stack up?
Let’s look at the numbers, shall we?
Mrs. Selfish and I spent a grand total of 372 days of straight traveling, leaving the States in August 2012, and returning in August 2013. During the course of the trip we saw 102 cities and flew 61 flights across 25 countries. 
We spent the most days in France, followed by Japan, Australia, and England. Expensive countries, indeed – though surprisingly, Australia was the MOST expensive country – coming in at roughly 50% more in costs than any other country.
Some random factoids:
30 Monday Sep 2013
Mr. Selfish and I are starting to settle down in San Francisco and are happy to be here for the next few months. It’s odd being in one place and being able to fully unpack our suitcases. We are definitely enjoying SF life thus far, especially our new view:
We can’t believe how fast this past selfish year went by and are truly grateful for all of the wonderful experiences we had.
Here are our top 60 photos of the past year. Enjoy!
29 Sunday Sep 2013
Posted in General
As I went over yesterday, Mr. Selfish and I took over 50,000 photos during this past year. Although we weren’t in each of these photos, we were in plenty of them and definitely learned a thing or two about posing for photos.
Although the photographer is very important, a model should also know what he/she is doing. Here are our posing tips.
Some people look good face on. Others look good from one side. Whatever it is, know your angles and pose that way.
I never realized how important it was to wear bright color clothes in photos until this selfish year. Just look at the difference between the two photos below. In the first, I’m wearing a tan jacket and completely blend in with the background. In the latter, I’m wearing my bright orange coat, and you can easily spot me.
![Colorful Clothes1_thumb[1]](https://theselfishyears.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/colorful-clothes1_thumb1.jpg "Colorful Clothes1_thumb[1]")
28 Saturday Sep 2013
Posted in General
Mr. Selfish and I took over 50,000 photos during our selfish trip, which is approximately 135 photos per day. Although we are nowhere close to being professionals, we have figured out a thing or two about photography. After all, practice makes perfect, and we’ve had a lot of practice!
Other than our iPhones and iPad, which we never used for photos, Mr. Selfish and I had two cameras on our trip. Mr. Selfish has a Canon EOS REBEL T3i, which is a starter DSLR. For the majority of the trip, he was using the starter kit lens. It wasn’t until we reached Tasmania, Australia that Mr. Selfish upgraded his lens.
I, on the other hand, used a point and click the entire time – the Canon PowerShot S95. Apparently, my point and click now has much newer models but I found that mine worked fine for the vast majority of our photos. While I carried my camera with me at all times, Mr. Selfish only brought his DSLR out on what we thought would be scenic days.
Today, we’ll go over our amateur tips on how to take photos.
24 Saturday Aug 2013
Posted in Disney, Los Angeles, North America, United States
Tags
California Adventure, Disney, Disney California Adventure, Los Angeles, North America, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years, United States
Mr. Selfish and I were excited for the last of the Disney parks around the world. We both had never been to Disney’s California Adventure before and were not too sure what to expect. California Adventure opened in 2001 to negative reviews and has never hit targeted attendance levels. However, we had heard great things about Cars Land, which opened in June 2012. In 2012, the park had 7.78 million guests making it the 11th most visited park in the world.
We arrived at the park fairly early and headed straight for Cars Land. Mr. Selfish and I were quite impressed with the theming of Cars Land. It was straight out of the Cars movie.
20 Saturday Jul 2013
Tags
Agincourt Reef, Australia, Cairns, Calypso, Great Barrier Reef, Oceania, Opal Reef, Poisedon, Port Douglas, Queensland, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years
Mr. Selfish and I became scuba certified in March 2012. One of the primary reasons for our certification was so that we could dive the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is practically every diver’s dream to dive at the GBR.
We took a short flight from Sydney to Cairns and then immediately rented a car to drive to Port Douglas, which was our home base for the three days we were in the area. The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas took about an hour and was lovely.
20 Thursday Jun 2013
Tags
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Asia, Japan, Kanazawa, Kanazawa Castle, Kenroku-en Garden, Oyama Shrine, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years
Mr. Selfish and I spent three lovely days in Kanazawa. While I initially thought that three days would be too long, it proved to be just the right amount of time in Kanazawa, which had quite a few sights to visit.
The most notable sight in Kanazawa is Kenroku-en Garden, which is considered to be one of the three best gardens in Japan. Admission was only 300 yen a person, and you can definitely spend at least half a day strolling around.
16 Sunday Jun 2013
Tags
Asia, Golden Pavilion, Japan, Kinkakuji, Kyoto, Myoshinji, Ninnaji, Ryoanji, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years
Mr. Selfish and I visited the iconic Golden Pavilion (aka Kinkakuji), which is a Zen temple covered in gold leaf. Just like everything else in Kyoto, the temple has burned down several times during its history. This latest version of the Golden Pavilion was built in 1955.
13 Thursday Jun 2013
Posted in Asia, Food & Drinks, Japan, Kyoto
Tags
Asia, Food & Drinks, Higashi-Honganji, Japan, Johnnie Hillwalker Tour, Kyoto, Kyoto Station, Nintendo, Nishi Honganji, Ramen, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years, Toyokuni Shrine
Back in 2010, Mr. Selfish and I went on the Johnnie Hillwalker tour of Kyoto. It’s a five hour walking tour taking you through the back streets of Kyoto. The tour starts at Kyoto station and ends in Higashiyama near Kiyomizu Temple. It was a fun walk and only cost about 2,000 yen per person. I highly recommend it.
This time around, we decided to primarily visit the same sights on our own. Our apartment was in Higashiyama so we did the tour backwards and ended at Kyoto Station. First, we went to Toyokuni Shrine, which was built in 1599. This Shinto shrine is dedicated to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was a famous warrior and general and was best known as being responsible for the restriction that only the samurai class could bear arms.
10 Monday Jun 2013
Tags
Asia, Japan, Kurama-dera, Kyoto, Mount Kurama, Selfish Years, Tengu, The Selfish Years, Yuki Shrine
Mr. Selfish and I decided to take a short day trip to Mount Kurama, which is about a half an hour train ride away from Kyoto. Mount Kurama is a mountain that is northwest to the city and is the birthplace of Reiki practice, which is a form of alternative medicine.
The most popular attraction on Mount Kurama is the Kurama-dera, which is a Buddhist temple. Apparently, Kurama-dera is quite popular with Japanese tourists since it has an aura of mystery and occult associated with it. In particular, it is still believed today that tengu and other mountains spirits live in the area. Tengu are mythical creatures with human and avian characteristics, which are often depicted with large noses.
09 Sunday Jun 2013
Posted in Asia, Food & Drinks, Japan, Kyoto
Tags
Asia, Beef Cutlet, Beef Cutlet Sandwich, Food & Drinks, Hafuu, Inoda Coffee, Japan, Kobe Beef, Kyoto, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years, wagyu, wagyu beef, Wagyu Cutlet, Wagyu Cutlet Sandwich
After all of the controversy about Kobe beef not actually being Kobe beef in the States, Mr. Selfish and I decided to have some wagyu beef while in Kyoto. Wagyu beef is notoriously expensive. We decided to have some katsu wagyu beef sandwiches, which are a little less expensive but still a bit costly. We tried two place, and both were delectable.
First, we went to Hafuu (located at 471-1 Sasayacho, Nakagyoku, Kyoto), which was well-know for its wagyu takeout sandwiches. Each sandwich was 1,800 yen and completely worth it.
The beef was perfectly cooked and melted. The sandwich also had lettuce, tomatoes, and a heavenly sweet but savory sauce. It was as wagyu should be. I’ll be sad when we leave Japan and all we have our supposed “Kobe” beef.
07 Friday Jun 2013
Since Mr. Selfish and I were in Kyoto for three weeks, we wanted to visit some of the more obscure and difficult sights. The most expensive and most difficult to get into sight in Kyoto is the Moss Temple, which is also known as Saihoji Temple or Kokedera. Admission costs a whopping 3,000 yen (~$30 USD).
You can only visit the Moss Temple by mailing a special reply postcard requesting a reservation at least 7 days in advance. Your postcard should indicate: (1) your name and address, (2) the number of people in your party, and (3) the date(s) on which you are available to visit the temple. Your postcard should also include a stamped and self-addressed postcard, which the temple will return to you with your scheduled date and time. In Japan, you can request this type of special reply postcard at the post office; it is known as ofuku hagaki. The Moss temple’s address is: Saihoji Temple, 56 Jingatani-cho, Matsuo, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8286, Japan.
