Author: Alyssa Ramos

10/10 the best self defense lesson and stress relief retreat ever in Fukushima, Japan 🥷🏼😂 You can take samurai lessons with a real life samurai (and famous youtuber) and then practice on the cardboard “enemy”, and later go steam it out at the onsen! Full info and itinerary on my blog, including how to book it! There’s not many tour options here in Fukushima so the best option is to get there by car 😬

I hate that IG has changed so much that each of these photos can’t have their own individual post. Or should they? I think they should, but IG literally says to do Carousels and Reels…then I end up not posting so many unique moments, that I once used to post individually almost every day! I miss those days and I’m so grateful I started all of this when a single photo post was all you did…a thousand words in one photo. How do I even explain what each of these photos held? I can write it on my blog but 🤖 will just summarize me in the search results. I can spend hours making a reel, only for the system to analyze it’s not interesting enough ugh because not enough people watched past 6 seconds (yes that is the current algorithm) So I guess I’ll just keep my memories in my mind and share the tips and pretty photos! And keep trying to add in those BTS moments, like the last one, which is what we were actually doing most of the time 😂 Definitely a major highlight of this #fukushima trip was the Samurai class and the onsen town, I’d go back there for both! All of I was very stress relieving! Anyone missing the one photo post days? Or wishing they could take a Samurai class right now? 😬 #japan #samuraiclass #japantips #mylifesatravelmovie

Don’t go to Japan and ONLY visit Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, when there are beautiful hidden gems like Fukushima, just an hour train ride away! I’ve been to Japan six times now, and have visited six prefectures as well, and I can honestly say that Fukushima was so impressive, that we extended our stay! I know some people hear “Fukushima” and associate it with the tragedy that happened there in the past, but that was 15 years ago, and today Fukushima is not only safe, but thriving with nature, culture, and traditional, unique experiences! Some of my favorite things to do there were: - Take a Samurai class (GREAT for stress relief) - Stay at a Ryokan and go to the many onsens - Make your own sushi and eat a lot of it! - Visit the Fukushima Museum of Art to see famous pieces and traditional ones - Stroll around Ouchi Juku old town and eat the soba noodles with a giant green onion - Go for a hike in the mountain National Parks or boat ride on the lakes This is also where we did that fun little self-made “free foot spa crawl”, and I’d honestly go back just to do that and stay in that area again! (Actually we might, anyone want to join?) All of the information to plan your trip to Fukushima is on my blog, and also more BTS videos are on the highlight on my profile! Which of these sounds most magical to you? #Fukushima #FukushimaTravel #JapanTravelTips #japan #solotravel

Only 0.01% of humans have passed 80 degrees North latitude and guess who’s one of them? THIS GIRL! (And 26 of my Travel Tribe friends) 💪🏽 Sailing through the Arctic Pack Ice is a huge achievement because that means you’re close to the North Pole (90 degrees North), which you can only reach via the Pack Ice (so if it’s melted…you can’t reach it) In the past this area was only traveled by famous explorers, meanwhalers/trappers/hunters, researchers, photographers, and wealthy adventurers, and also mostly men (shocker, I know). Then there’s us, reaching 81 degrees North, mostly because we want to see Polar Bears and other wildlife, and tick the Arctic Circle off of our bucketlist! I’m pretty proud to be an unconventional female adventurer, and to be able to “influence” others to do the same! I may not look the stereotypical part of an explorer; but let me tell you how much warmer that girl in the hot pink swimsuit was in the jacuzzi looking for polar bears than everyone else was!! (Well, at least having extra amounts of fun 😂) I’m so grateful to have been to Svalbard twice now, it’s truly a peculiar and interesting place! If it’s on your to-go list, drop me a comment and I’ll send you the info for this trip plus five-hundo-off 😁 Drone footy by the Polar Latitudes Photographers who have a permit to fly there (guests cannot): @vegarabelsnes @stevenrosephotography #svalbard #packice #thearctic #arcticexpedition #womenwhoexplore

Happy World Ocean Day! Here’s some ocean insights from someone who has swam in all 5 oceans (can anyone name them?), has crossed the Drake Passage 8 times and recently voyaged through Arctic pack ice, who has scuba dove in over 30 countries, learned to free dive only because they’re trying to keep up with animals, and has developed a severe obsession with swimming with marine apex predators, and all the creatures! First and foremost — the Ocean is more powerful than humans are. Don’t mess with it or it will mess with you. One of the many things I learned during the lectures in Antarctica is that krill (tiny little animals that 🐋’s eat) is in danger of being over-fished, so avoid products that use it. Try to only eat locally caught fish, avoid big companies that use ghost nets — the number one killer of marine animals aside from actual hunting, and yes, people still do that too in places like Japan, Iceland, Faroe Islands, and USA. Speaking of the U.S… the place I’m from, FLORIDA, is one of the top killers of my beloved SHARKS, and right now the gov is trying to stop Shark tourism there, such as diving with sharks (my favorite hobby), something that really does protect these extremely necessary animals as opposed to all the people there that kill them for business or for FUN 😡 Some will say that this and other swimming with marine animal excursions are “unethical” but guess what happens if there’s no tourism demand? They kill them to sell. I’ve seen it over the years and I’m highly experienced with ethical and non-ethical tourism! So for this World Ocean Day, I am asking you to please share this post, and sign the petition on my Stories against the stopping of shark diving in Florida! And if you sign it and want to come with me next time I visit for the holidays, I’ll give you first dibs and a discount and also a glass of my vino!!! Thank you for reading this if you got this far! I know I write too much! 🐳🐋🦭🐟🐠🦈🦈🦈🦈

People always ask if I’m afraid an Orca is going to come attack me whenever I post my Polar Plunge videos, so here’s me doing my 4th Polar Plunge mixed with me snorkeling peacefully with Orcas a month earlier in Mexico. The only records of Orcas attacking humans are the ones forced into captivity, so just don’t support zoos and aquariums, and you’ll have no problem plunging! 😁 This Polar Plunge was my first one in the Arctic (Svalbard, the other 3 in Antarctica) and as much as I dread the cold, I always hype up to do it — actually a crew member explained it better than I’ve ever heard: “The shock on your body is like doing c****aine but without the crash” (I don’t do that but it was funny). I actually only fear being cold the moments beforehand, and the jacuzzi being full. Marine animals are always hoped for, though maybe not a Polar Bear! Health assessments and safety hardnesses are always required for Polar Plunges off expeditions ships. Animal behavior evaluation and strong swimming skills is required for swimming with Orcas, at least with ethical operators! Info for both adventures are on my website, linked in bio! Would you Polar Plunge ?!?! Someone please drop the new orca emoji, I haven’t updated my phone yet! #polarplunge #orcas #swimmingwithorcas #svalbard

Swipe to see the Polar Bears we got to see in the Arctic! 🐻‍❄️ The first 4 photos are mine (captured with a 550 mm lens from 500+ meters away and heavily edited and enhanced for clarity!) check out the reel before this one to see what it was like trying to take a long distance photo from a moving boat! The rest of the photos were captured by one of the many amazing crew members @stevenrosephotography who was kind enough to always immediately airdrop us his pictures after taking them! More disclosures: these photos look like we were close to them but we weren’t - Norway has strict rules and regulations to prevent disturbing these nearly endangered animals, whose biggest threat is climate change. In fact, if you’re on a land or zodiac tour and a bear is spotted, you have to immediately go back to the ship! It also took us several days and endless hours searching with binoculars to see them in Svalbard, and it happened to be the day we decided to all dress up like polar bears! So imagine having a polar animal onesie party and suddenly getting called to go out to the deck to see a real polar bear! In my mind, we manifested them into existence! We saw a total of 5 bears: two sets of mama and cubs, and then the swimming male (all separate locations), and I still cannot believe it! I’m so in awe of the polar bears that I’m already eyeing a trip to Churchill and Greenland 👀 possible also to see some Belugas! *The very last photo is from Steve’s trip to Churchill! Have you seen a polar bear? Is it on your bucketlist? Lots more Arctic content coming - please be sure to follow me @mylifesatravelmovie for rare, unique, adventure destinations and experiences, and @mylifesatraveltribe if you’d like to join me on one! #svalbard #thearctic #polarbears #mylifesatravelmovie

WE SAW THE POLAR BEARS OF SVALBARD!! 🐻‍❄️ After spending a full day on the pack ice (thick sheets of ice and snow that make up the Arctic near the North Pole) where Polar Bears are usually seen, and not seeing anything but tracks, I lost hope of seeing one. Then yesterday, we all dressed up as Polar Bears (one of my signature expedition events 😂) and as we were dancing around and singing, we finally heard the call that a Polar Bear had been spotted!! This morning at 7am, the crew announced over the speakers that there were more! A mama and baby! I’ve never flown out of bed so fast in my life! We were able to get on the zodiacs (small inflatable boats) and get closer to them, but new regulations make you stay back 500 meters now, so we saw them the best through binoculars, and luckily a lot of people have those mega zoom lenses! The photos in this video are mine, but they are heavily edited and enhanced — it was too hard for me to aim the camera on a moving boat while also freezing 🥶 Hopefully we will have the crew’s photos soon!! Seeing polar bears in the Arctic was one of my biggest dreams and bucketlist checks, and I truly think the energy we put out yesterday helped make it happen (the captain and crew mostly made it happen of course!) Thanks everyone who sent us good animal spotting energy! This was such a wild and magical experience! More info coming soon! Can you believe we saw them?! Please like/comment/reshare if you’d like to keep seeing my posts in your newsfeed! Thank you! #svalbard #thearctic #polarbear #mylifesatravelmovie #bucketlist

Today we reached 82 degrees north in latitude! That means we’re pretty close to the North Pole! We’re slowly moving through the Pack Ice, which is what makes up the actual North Pole, and our ship has an “ice breaker” bow which slices easily through the thick floating ice. This is Polar Bear territory, so we’ve been on the lookout all day for them, but it’s also extremely cold, so I thought it would be best to take the rear lookout station…in the jacuzzi! No bear sightings yet, but lots of bear tracks! This might be one of the most elusive animals I’ve attempted seeing, and if we don’t see them this trip, I may be going to Greenland or Canada next year!! Stay tuned for more Arctic content and some other major bucketlist destinations! #svalbard #thearctic #arcticcircle #mylifesatravelmovie #bucketlist