The Luxury Lowdown - The Luxury Lowdown

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Do you know where the largest ski resort in the wo

Do you know where the largest ski resort in the world is?

It’s @les3vallees_officiel in France! I got to snowboard there for the first time this year and they aren’t joking about being the largest.

It literally took us the whole day to get to one valley and then back again. There was no such thing as “lapping” runs hahaha.

There are 3 valleys and this particular lift is on the Val Thorens side. I love that the lift went right over the village! Such an epic view!

#les3vallees #méribel #courchevel #valthorens #frenchalps #skifrance #frenchalps🇫🇷

If you’re not falling, then you’re not trying

If you’re not falling, then you’re not trying hard enough 🤣

I thought this was such a funny video that I had to post it.

Holding the @insta360 X4 and snowboarding in powder takes a different level of skill that I don’t have 😂

#powderlife #snowboardingfails #fallinginpowder #nisekolife #insta360x4 #hanazono

Day 47 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip We ar

Day 47 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip

We are headed back to the slopes today but trying out a smaller local resort versus the big ones we’ve been visiting lately.

Sapporo Teine is about an hour by train+bus from the center of Sapporo. We had to take a local train to Sapporo Station, another train to Teine, and then the ski bus.

Once we got to the resort, we had to rent a locker to store all of our snowboard bags and shoes. Since we know we wouldn’t be boarding all day, we just got a 5-hour pass.

So the total price breakdown is:
-Nakajimakoen Station>Sapporo Station: ¥220
-Sapporo Station>Teine Station: ¥340
-Teine Station>Teine Highlands (Bus 70): ¥1000
-Ski Locker: ¥500
-5-Hour Lift Ticket: ¥5800
-Same ride back: ¥1560
TOTAL: ¥9420 or around $63 USD

On our way back from Teine, we saw this man selling sweet potatoes outside his van so you KNOW that I had to try one. We actually tried the day before be he was sold out so we were glad to see him again.

He sells different sizes and we got the medium size and the monster size. I like the medium size better just because it was sweeter. The monster size felt more starchy.

No trip to Hokkaido can be complete without having some sort of milk-based dessert!

We’ve been passing by this store every day and finally decided tonight was going to be the night to try their Hokkaido soft serve!

The place is called Parfait, Coffee, Sake, Sato (Japan, 〒060-0061 Hokkaido, Sapporo, Chuo Ward, Minami 1 Jonishi, 2 Chome−1−2 木Ninaru Bldg. 1F-3F).

Pro tip… if you just want the soft serve ice cream, you DON’T have to wait in line. We learned the hard way after waiting in line for 20 minutes.

I randomly went inside and just asked them if we can do take out and they said “Yes!” But only if their basic soft serve and 3 parfaits. For the full menu, you’ll have to wait in line and be seated.

#sapporoteine #sapporo #sapporoskiresort #hokkaidoicecream #hokkiadosoftserveicecream #snowboardingaroundtheworld #snowboardingtrip

Hi! My name is May and if you don’t know me, I’m currently fulfilling a dream of mine to snowboarding around the world and on top of that, I’m doing it SOLO!

Some friends have met me here and there along the way but I pretty much have planned and booked everything myself.

If you’re interested, make sure you follow along to see where I go next! At the very end, I’ll make sure to do a recap of all of the resorts I visited, the accommodations that I stayed at, and he much everything cost.

Stay tuned!

#snowboardingaroundtheworld #snowboardingislife #snowboardingtrip #snowboardinggirl #snowboardingjapan #ikonpass #epicpass

Day 46 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip

OMG… this was such a tiring day and I can’t believe we actually accomplished everything on our schedule.

We started the day walking around Nijo Market. We wanted to eat here but every stall had a long line and the food was actually more expensive than what I was expecting.

Luckily, we found a small restaurant across the market serving donburi bowls for a reasonable price. My bowl cost me ¥1700 vs. if I were to eat inside the market, it would have been ¥3500+.

The restaurant is called Sakanaya no Daidokoro (Japan, 〒060-0052 Hokkaido, Sapporo, Chuo Ward, Minami 2 Johigashi, 2 Chome 小西ビル１階).

I’m not a whiskey fan, but when in Japan, might as well go try some Japanese whiskey right? And what better way than to do a whiskey tasting at one of the most popular Japanese whiskey brands.

The tour and tasting is free and you can sign up here (https://distillery.nikka.com/eng/yoichi/reservation). You have to be at least 20 years old to partake in the tasting.

For the initial tasting, we got to try one apple wine and two whiskeys. The day we went, they had a special promotion going on where we got an additional third whiskey!

I intentionally planned to visit the Otaru Light Festival during blue hour on our way back to Sapporo and it did NOT disappoint!

The festival is free and it happens roughly the same time as the Sapporo Snow Festival so you can easily do both. Pro tip… make sure you have crampons! I was slipping and sliding EVERYWHERE! I saw a lot of people fall too so make sure you invest in some proper footwear.

Last but not least, if you are staying at the Courtyard Marriott Sapporo, they have an option for you (at least for the time being) where if you opt out of housekeeping, they’ll give you a free drink ticket (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) per person per day that you opt out.

I thought this was a pretty genius idea! I never stay in a place long enough where I really need housekeeping and this got people out of their rooms to hang out in the lounge.

#sapporosnowfestival #otarucanal #otarulightpath #otarusnowlightpathfestival #nikkawhiskey #sapporo #whiskeytasting #japanesewhiskey

Day 46 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip

OMG… this was such a tiring day and I can’t believe we actually accomplished everything on our schedule.

We started the day walking around Nijo Market. We wanted to eat here but every stall had a long line and the food was actually more expensive than what I was expecting.

Luckily, we found a small restaurant across the market serving donburi bowls for a reasonable price. My bowl cost me ¥1700 vs. if I were to eat inside the market, it would have been ¥3500+.

The restaurant is called Sakanaya no Daidokoro (Japan, 〒060-0052 Hokkaido, Sapporo, Chuo Ward, Minami 2 Johigashi, 2 Chome 小西ビル１階).

I’m not a whiskey fan, but when in Japan, might as well go try some Japanese whiskey right? And what better way than to do a whiskey tasting at one of the most popular Japanese whiskey brands.

The tour and tasting is free and you can sign up here (https://distillery.nikka.com/eng/yoichi/reservation). You have to be at least 20 years old to partake in the tasting.

For the initial tasting, we got to try one apple wine and two whiskeys. The day we went, they had a special promotion going on where we got an additional third whiskey!

I intentionally planned to visit the Otaru Light Festival during blue hour on our way back to Sapporo and it did NOT disappoint!

The festival is free and it happens roughly the same time as the Sapporo Snow Festival so you can easily do both. Pro tip… make sure you have crampons! I was slipping and sliding EVERYWHERE! I saw a lot of people fall too so make sure you invest in some proper footwear.

Last but not least, if you are staying at the Courtyard Marriott Sapporo, they have an option for you (at least for the time being) where if you opt out of housekeeping, they’ll give you a free drink ticket (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) per person per day that you opt out.

I thought this was a pretty genius idea! I never stay in a place long enough where I really need housekeeping and this got people out of their rooms to hang out in the lounge.

#sapporosnowfestival #otarucanal #otarulightpath #otarusnowlightpathfestival #nikkawhiskey #yoichidistillery #courtyardmarriottsapporo

Day 45 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip We fi

Day 45 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip

We finally got to ride the famous Pizza Box chair lift! There are actually a bunch of pizza box chair lifts in Niseko but this particular one we took is called King Lift #4 which takes to the entrance of the summit hike.

Gurlllllllllllll… I feel like I’m in pretty good shape but there’s nothing like a steep incline hike in the snow to humble you back down.

I definitely had to stop a couple of times and I was so out of breath. At one point I wanted to take my jacket off because I was sweating so much hahaha.

As long as you are slow and steady, I think most people won’t have a problem doing this hike. I was kind of sad because it wasn’t a clear day so I couldn’t get to see Mt. Yotei but it was our last day so it’s not like we had any other options.

Boarding down from the summit was a little sketchy since there are NO signs. It was literally a “pick your own adventure” type of situation but I’m so glad we did it.

It was the BEST POWDER I’ve ever boarded in. You literally felt like you were floating on air!

For the rest of the day, we spent it riding Strawberry Fields on Hanazono side since we wanted to be close to our hotel. We were leaving Niseko today and heading off to Sapporo so we could catch the Snow Festival.

For dinner, we decided to check out the popular Ramen Alley and yes, it was full of people. Both locals and tourists.

All the stalls/stores were selling ramen so we just picked the one with the shortest line. Luckily, we got in right before they were closing.

After dinner, we walked around a portion of the Sapporo Snow Festival and then called it a night.

#sapporosnowfestival #pizzaboxchairlift #kinglift4 #niseko #nisekojapan #courtyardmarriottsapporo #sapporo

Day 44 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip The H

Day 44 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip

The Hanazono lifts were finally opened today so we got the chance to visit Grand Hirafu and Niseko Village.

UNFORTUNATELY the weather was absolute crap! It was so windy and the visibility was awful. To the point where a bunch of my friends and I got vertigo because we couldn’t see the mountain and where we were going.

I’ve never experienced anything like it! It was the roughest day snowboarding this season for sure.

By half the day, we gave up and decided to visit @niseko.yo which is supposed to be this new cool foodie area.

Aince we were all traumatized by the blizzard, we thought the most reasonable thing to do was to get a glass a wine @chuya.nisekoyo to calm our nerves lol 🍷.

For dinner, we made reservations @nisekobangbang for our large group. They were able to accommodate 11 people but we did make reservations months in advance. The food and sake were amazing and I would definitely come back here!

After dinner, my friends wanted to go to @bar_gyu or more famously known as the Fridge Door Bar. It’s so popular that the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas has a replica of the bar in their hotel.

The best time to go is obviously when it’s snowing so you get to see the beautiful snow outside the window.

Keep in mind that this place is always busy and we had to wait at least 30 mins and I consider us lucky because we were the last ones in.

#niseko #nisekobangbang #bargyu #fridgedoorbar #nisekoeats #snowboardingaroundtheworld #nisekojapan #nisekovillage #nisekoyo #snowboardinggirl

A full RUNDOW of how much I spent on my solo snowb

A full RUNDOW of how much I spent on my solo snowboarding trip to Hakuba Valley in Japan 🇯🇵

✨Lift Tickets✨
Since I have the Epic Pass, it gives me access for 5 consecutive days at all 10 Hakuba mountain resorts.

If you don’t have the Epic Pass, windows tickets start at 9,700 yen or roughly $65 USD per day for an all-mountain pass.

Or you can buy single mountain passes or multi-day passes that save you a couple hundred yen per day. For example, only Hakuba 47 is just ¥8,000.

✨Rentals✨
I flew all my gear with me from the States, Yes, it was a pain but I like using my own gear and did I saved a lot of money. I’m also on a 2.5 month trip so it made more sense for me to stuff

✨Accommodations✨
I booked my accommodations at this quaint little pension near Echoland for 5 nights for only $350 so about $70 a night.

I lucked out even further because I originally booked a bedroom with a shared bathroom but the owner was so sweet and upgraded me to my own private bathroom!

✨Meals✨
My accommodations did not have a kitchen so I mainly had to eat on the mountain or in town.

Luckily, food wasn’t too expensive and on average, I probably spent around $20-$30 per day on eating out and snacks.

✨Transportation✨
For transportation, I was coming from Nozawa Onsen and I had to take a bus, a train, and another bus which cost me 4690 yen or about $31 USD.

If you are coming from Tokyo though, you’ll have to take the shinkansen and a bus which will cost you around $85 USD.

✨Flight✨
If you watched my previous reels in this series, you would know that for my flight, I flew business class from Helsinki Finland to Tokyo on Japan Airlines. It cost me 75,000 American Airlines miles and $19.20 in taxes/ fees.

✨Total✨
So in total, for me to fly to Japan, stay 5 nights in my own private room, snowboard for 4 days, cost me roughly $550 or $110/day and 75,000 American Airline miles

✨Breakdown✨
Lift Tickets: $0
Rentals: $0
Meals: $150
Accommodations: $350
Transportation: $31
Flight: $19.20
Total: $550.20 or $110/day

#hakubavalley #hakuba #hakubajapan #hakubatips #snowboardingaroundtheworld #snowboardinggirl #snowboardinggoals

Day 43 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip The P

Day 43 - Snowboarding Around the World Trip

The Park Hyatt Niseko is seriously one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed at. The basic tier rooms are HUGE. This is what I feel like defined true luxury!

For my Hyatt Globalists, you get free breakfast for 2 adults and 2 kids. In our room, we were sharing it between 4 adults but they would allow us to transfer the two free kid breakfasts to my other two friends.

I feel like Hyatt should change their policy and at least give us the option to change their two kids breakfasts for one adult one if we wanted. A lot of time I travel with friends and sucks when 1-2 of them has to end up paying.

So yeah… I guess it was super windy up at too today so they closed all the Hanazono lifts and the only thing that was running on our side was the Hanazono Gondola.

We could have taken the bus to the other side of the mountain but it felt like too much work and I’ve heard the bus lines getting back or horrible.

Hopefully it’ll be better tomorrow!

#niseko #nisekojapan #hanazono #hanazononiseko #parkhyattniseko #hyattglobalist

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