A Beautiful Christmas in Okinawa: The Perfect Last Trip Abroad in 2024

The last trip abroad of 2024✨🎈 It's almost Christmas Eve✨ Merry Christmas🎅🎄 Spend Christmas solo in Japan chasing Santa Claus🎄 🎅 An off-the-beaten-path trip to Okinawa🌠🌟 Today's weather isn't great, it's cloudy and windy🌬️ Originally planned for a whale watching tour, but it was canceled due to high waves🛥️ Luckily, the weather was great yesterday, and we saw the beautiful Pacific Ocean and stayed at a hot spring hotel♨️ 😆 Today, with the bad weather, we visited cultural spots like American Village (where many Americans live), a Ryukyu village, and even a spectacular stalactite cave in the countryside😍 Back in the city, there's Kokusai Street, full of shopping, drinking places, and massages, whatever you like😆😉 And many things are cheaper than in Taiwan, which is quite surprising😄 Overall, the island's cultural elements are very diverse🏖️ It feels like both Japan and Taiwan✨ On Christmas Eve, we met Santa🤶 American Village has a bell tower, a canal, and European-style buildings, a bit like Macau✨ And Christmas bells ring throughout the streets all day✨🎈 But unlike in Taiwan, where shops are open late, here things quiet down at night🏠 A cold front has also arrived recently, bringing temperatures down to 16 degrees in Okinawa. It's not very cold, but it's chilly all day🌬️ Today, we explored Okinawa by bus🚍 It's different from riding a scooter or driving; you don't feel the cold wind while riding, but it feels like being in Hualien or Taitung, with buses coming every one or two hours and not always on time🤣 And the prices are high, starting at 9 dollars✨ A whole day on the bus cost almost 200 dollars🤣 With limited time, we couldn't visit many places🎉✨ In hindsight, riding a scooter would have been more flexible and cost-effective, but we encountered heavy traffic when returning to the city, taking almost 4 hours🤣 Unlike in Taiwan, where scooters can weave through sidewalks, here you either take detours or wait in traffic😂 Okinawa is as big as Hualien, and three days and two nights aren't enough to see much or taste all the delicious food. Since I have to return to open my shop for Christmas, I'll leave the rest for next time✨😃