I have a lot of posts planned to recap our two-week trip to Japan, but let’s start with an easy one—what I wore to stay warm and comfortable in the cold weather! After calculating our mileage when we got home, I realized we walked a total of 96 miles over the two weeks. By the end, our feet were definitely feeling it, but thanks to my comfortable supination insoles from PowerStep, I avoided serious pain. I've had these insoles in my boots for over a year now, and while the boots have always been comfortable, the insoles took them to the next level. To stay extra cozy, I also used a pair of Flat Socks fuzzy liner socks on top!
I tried to pack as light as possible since I knew we’d be bringing home a lot of souvenirs. The plan was for me to use my Day Owl backpack and a small carry-on, while Christian carried his brand-new Tortuga backpack (which he got specifically for this trip). We entered Japan with just these bags, determined to see how far we could get before needing extra luggage. We made it all the way back to our last night in Tokyo before buying a medium-sized suitcase from Don Quijote to check on the flight home. Before that, we had been using a giant Disney shopping bag for our purchases, which obviously wasn’t going to work for air travel. It was great for train travel because we didn't need to buy "oversized baggage" train tickets that are required if your bags do not fit in the overhead bins or by your feet.
Packing light meant re-wearing a lot of the same clothes, but honestly, it didn’t matter since I had my coat on almost the entire time. No one would have noticed if I repeated outfits every day (not that anyone would care!)
For clothing, I brought two pairs of jeans, comfortable pants that don't look like sweatpants I bought 2 days before we left (mainly for the flights, since hotels in Japan provide pajamas), and a handful of sweaters and layering shirts. For extra warmth I had a Disney hat, big Madewell scarf and gloves. I only packed one pair of boots, knowing they’d work in rain, snow, and cold. Looking back, I probably could have packed even less, but hey—a girl likes to have options! I also brought a simple sling bag that would fit my essentials on sightseeing days.
Here’s what you can look forward to in my upcoming Japan posts—assuming I can get myself in gear and actually tackle them! 😉
- Our Full Trip Itinerary
- A Deep Dive into Our Tokyo Disney Experience
- A Tokyo Disney Planning & Information Guide
- Our Stay in Shibu Onsen & Visiting the Snow Monkeys
Is there anything specific you’d like to hear more about? Let me know! In the meantime, you can check out my daily Instagram recap carousels for a peek at what we did.
On day two of our Salem trip we started bright and early again, arriving at our same parking place on Essex street at 8am. We did all the paid things on day two after deciding what we wanted to do on Saturday. We also repeated a lot of spots since I wanted some non-rainy shots too. We left to drive home a little after 1pm so it was a short day. Before we get to the schedule of the day here comes the outfit photos.
We took a stroll along the water and by the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. After about 45 minutes there we headed back to Town Hall, the Bewitched Statue and Allison's house on the way to walk some of the historic streets like Chestnut, Cambridge and Pickering. We made sure to walk by The Pickering House, one of the oldest home in Salem.
After our morning walk we headed back toward the water for our tour of The House of the Seven Gables at 10:30am. I haven’t read the book (whoops) but learning the history of the house and how it inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne was very interesting. After the tour we also walked through the house where Hawthorne was born.
Our next historical activity was walking through The Witch House, which is down the street from the Ropes Mansion. For this tour you have to buy your tickets at 8am. We were on right at 8am and ended up with tickets at 11:45. It was cutting it pretty close to our first tour of the day but we knew we'd be able to make it.
After all that history we headed to the Salem Common to have lunch at the food truck festival! We shared some birria tacos, Christian got a Mac Melt and we both had whoopie pies.
Before heading home we went back to Forest River Park so we could visit Salem in 1630: Pioneer Village. At only $5 it was a steal. It is a small village but there's a lot to explore within the houses. This is where they filmed the first scenes in Hocus Pocus where Thackery Binx lived.
Finally getting around to posting about our trip to Salem, MA last month. We had originally booked an airbnb within walking distance of downtown but a month before the trip the owner cancelled it. After some back and forth with airbnb we ended up at a place in nearby Marblehead and $400 in extra spending money because of refunds and booking a cheaper place! We went to celebrate the first day of Autumn and our sixth wedding anniversary.
I had a business trip in Boston the week before so Christian came along (worked from the hotel) and we headed to Salem on Friday evening so we'd be ready to go Saturday morning. Our first day was slightly rainy with a nice chill to the air. Normally I would hate rain, but it made it seem more spooky and Halloweeny.
First, let's take a look at my outfit! I decided to wear my fun b chyll cashmere cape for the day with an old Zara crop top, J Brand high waisted jeans, Etienne Aigner bag and some vintage lace-up heeled boots. Not the best outfit for a rainy day, but I had hoped the rain wouldn't be constant all day, and I was right.
I now apologize in advance for all the photos!
We started our morning bright and early getting to the Forest River Park parking lot around 7:30am so we could walk from there to 4 Ocean Ave, which just so happens to be Max & Dani Dennison's house in Hocus Pocus! We didn't want to park on the street to disturb the people who live there and we didn't get too close to the house, but I had to have a photo at this iconic location! Even though we were there very early there was one other couple that showed up while we were there and a couple cars slowed down to take photos.
Next, we headed to Downtown Salem and found a free on-street parking spot. Tip: we found our spot on Essex street, down the road from the Hawthorne Hotel. After parking we walked to Wolf Next Door Coffee for a quick breakfast. We shared a hot chocolate, I had a lemon poppyseed muffin and Christian had an egg sandwich on a biscuit.
After breakfast we walked back towards Salem Common and the the Phillips Elementary School building that is featured In Hocus Pocus. I had to video a scene from Hocus Pocus where Allison is walking along the Commons after school because I'm crazy. Unfortunately they were setting up for a food truck festival so there was a lot of junk in the way, but I got something at least! I did it again later in the afternoon after I got a witch's hat because Allison had a hood on in the scene and I thought it would look better. But then we got lovely Port-o-Pottys in the shot. Love it. We'll see which one I decide to post. The Salem Witch Museum is also across the street but we decided not to go because we didn't need to see mannequins and dioramas.
Then we made our way from the Common to the Salem Witch Trial Memorial. It honors those who unjustly lost their lives in 1692. It is so sad to see the reasons these people were killed and how they were killed.
After that sombering moment we made our way to Ropes Mansion, otherwise known as Allison's house in Hocus Pocus. Along the way we passed the Bewitched statue, Old Town Hall and The Witch House. Be sure you check out the garden's behind the mansion as well, very pretty. By the time we finished there it was till only 9:50am. This is my main tip to help you beat the crowds. Although I can't vouch for how crazy it is in October, I'm sure it's busy all day long.
Next up was one of the most touristy areas, Essex Street. It's full of shops, street performers and restaurants. We were a little unorthadox and got some chocolates at 11am from Kahawa Chocolates. I tried a variety of chocolates, some were a little too out there for me, but it was fun.
After our dessert we waited in a short line to eat lunch at Red's Sandwich Shop. While waiting one of the staff exclaimed how the Autumn crowds started very early this year and that they didn't usually have lines until October. Once seated Christian had the Fried Haddock Sandwich and I enjoyed the Strawberry Moon salad with grilled chicken, watermelon, strawberries, feta cheese, onion, & cucumber on a bed of lettuce with raspberry vinaigrette — I asked for no feta, and I think the watermelon was missing, ha ha.
We walked went back down to where we had breakfast to check out Ye Olde Pepper Companie, one of the first candy stores. We didn't buy their famous Gibraltars because they were very expensive, but we did buy a few chocolates to eat later!
Before dinner we walked around a few more shops, explored some more side streets in the main downtown area and rested our tired feet on some wet benches.
We had our anniversary dinner at Ledger Restaurant & Bar. We shared Popovers with beef drippings & pumpkin-maple-sage butter. Christian had the Ledger Double Burger (special sauce, American cheese, pickles, lettuce, sesame seed bun, onion, fries) and I had the Strip Steak special with mushroom sauce, broccoli rabe and hassleback potato. It was all delicious! (I did have to ask for the cheese to be removed from my potato because the waitress didn't mention it when describing the special, whoops!)
After dinner we walked back to the car, passing Odl Town Hall again headed to our airbnb and watched Hocus Pocus before resting up for day two!
