Sophie Goes to Tokyo and Discovers Strange And Wondrous New World. LUC8K’s fearless traveler, Sophie, flew into Narita Airport and took the train to Tokyo to immediately discover that she was lost and confused. It is a common occurrence. Despite being a highly developed country, it is also one of the most culturally isolated places in the world. Travel writer Paul Theroux once wrote: “It wasn’t possible for a foreigner in Japan to feel anything but an alien species, not just different but backward, a clumsy yokel from the colorful but decrepit past.” Sophie, being pragmatic, regarded her bewilderment as…

Sophie Considers Disappearing in the Paradise of Tonga, Fiji and Bora Bora Tonga, the name and its far-flung location conjures exotic images of tropical flora and fauna, beautiful beaches and solitude. This reputation is well earned. The country of 169 islands is scattered liked pebbles over 700,000 square kilometers of the deep blue Pacific Ocean among thousands of other pebble-like islands. From the air at sunset they can look as remote as stars in the night sky. Only 36 of the islands are inhabited so like many of these Pacific islands, it’s a place you can disappear if you choose.…

Sophie’s going to the Land Down Under to fill her sense of awe and wonder, with custom handbags for ladies by her side she’s going for another great ride. If a novel was made about a place like Australia it would be deemed unbelievable, even for fiction. It’s a land of extreme diversity with beautiful, populous and dynamic cities on the southeastern coast; an arid, desert interior; and a tropical northern region. Much of the country is uninhabited. However, its isolation provides a unique environment for fauna and flora that dates back to pre-history. Kangaroos and koalas are only a…