Japan for the 18th birthday

Birthday gift redeemed: Tokyo-Kyoto-Nagano-Tokyo mother-son program series well done, and so the eagerly desired trip came to reality. But be careful! Japan is infectious. I can declare my son was infected by Japan as well.

This is simply something different. Very easy to get accustomed to the fact that everything works. Returning home you immediately miss the whole and start to play with the idea of the next trip. Previously I had the chance to visit the island country twice and told a lot to my elder son about those trips in the past. He asked me a few days after we arrived home: “Mom, how long does it usually take for you not to starve for it, again?” Yeah, that’s the nice part. The enthusiasm never stops. His question plainly proves his infection. That’s why I’m saying that Japan is infectious but mostly when you have own experience with it.

10 days, 4 accommodations, several trains and bullet trains, continuous map diving, amazing places and people wherever we go, whatever we try – the essence of Japan is everywhere and in everything. And do you know what gives its essence, what is the point? The unique harmony of tradition and modernity based on deep respect, responsibility for the community, discipline, constant pursuit of perfection. Not just a geographical place but a lifestyle and a sense of life based on several pillars where quite contemplation and bustling city life coexists.

Gratis: the Sakura festival had just begun during our visit (02-12/MAR). Arigatou gozaimasu!

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Traveling to Japan is a good thing, traveling within Japan is even better. You can quickly get used to the intricate Tokyo subway network, and you can get used to the comfort, speed, accuracy, and safety of the shinkansen even sooner. The "super express" or "bullet train" is the technological symbol of modern Japan with a maximum operating speed of 320 km/h. The Nozomi is the fastest of the trains (a good choice between Tokyo and Kyoto), but the Hikari and Kodama are also top-notch. They are earthquake-proof; they stop automatically in the event of a natural disaster. Their delays are extremely rare, measured in seconds; if they are more than 5 minutes late, a lateness certificate is issued, which in railway culture already belongs to the category of shame. Disciplined passengers have 1 minute at the stops to get on and off.

Favorite: the seats that can be rotated in different ways

Gratis: His Majesty Fuji-san, visible only 70-80 days a year, showed us himself on our way from Tokyo to Kyoto!

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Kyoto or Tokyo? If I look at it from a UNESCO World Heritage perspective, 17 of Japan's total 23 UNESCO sites are in Kyoto. For collectors (for me), this is a treasure trove, so for me Kyoto takes the top spot.

Kinkaku-ji, also known as the Golden Pavilion, is really made of gold! Its wooden facade is covered in five layers of 24-carat gold foil. The use of gold is symbolic: it cleanses the soul of negative thoughts about death.

Gratis: the entrance ticket is also a blessing

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Arashiyama is a wonderful place to spend a not-too-exhausting day. It's a good idea to arrive early so you can stroll among the bamboo trees, which can grow up to 20 meters tall, before the tourist crowds (but be aware of the signs warning of bears and wild pigs). While walking along the main street, you can taste all kinds of Japanese delicacies, look around the gardens of temples, dress up as a geisha (or take photos with them), sit on the riverbank, or even go boating - the backdrop provided by the mountains will be picturesque in any case.

- Bamboo Grove

- Togetsu-kyo Bridge

- Tenryu-ji Temple

- Kimono Forest

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Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto is one of the most important Shinto shrines in Japan. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion-red torii gates that lead up the mountain like a tunnel.

A torii is a dividing line, a symbolic boundary between the ordinary and the otherworldly worlds, between humans and gods. Founded in 711 (!), the site is the central shrine of the god of business prosperity and rice cultivation.

Gratis: the crowds run out by the end of the 2-3-hour hike to the mountaintop

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Another place of historical importance, although for this we have to travel further north, to Nagano Prefecture: Edo-era Japan, NARAI-JUKU, the longest post town of Nakasendo. While/after wandering the streets, it's nice to sit down for a hot soba in a quaint traditional tiny family restaurant. While waiting, the notebook on the table encourages you to write anything you want.

We can find great hiking trails (Nakasendo Trail, Torii Pass Hike), following that we can explore the Kiso Valley.

Gratis: snowfall + the tourist crowds are completely gone here

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Japan's National Treasure: Matsumoto Castle

A medieval castle built in the 1500s in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture. It is one of the three most beautiful castles in the country. It is also known as Crow Castle because of its black walls. Every summer, the castle hosts the Taiko Drum Festival. (I would love to see that one day!)

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Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting tower (a farewell to Japan for us) and the tallest man-made structure in Japan at 634 meters. Unfortunately, one of its elevators broke down on February 26, 2026, leaving 20 visitors stranded for almost 6 hours. Lucky us, that it did not happened during our visit.

2025 recap

2025 was the year of the rat, therefore only rats felt good.

January

Worldwide news >> wildfire in LA, inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the US

Hungarian news >> Client Gate switch, central exam for students in the 8^th class (Emil was affected)

Family news >> my Mom officially was retired, had a party on this occasion

Something new for me >> ice skate lessons

January is usually about >> making up for those things that were lag behind from December, screening tests  

Date to note >> 21/JAN – Aranka (my ex father-in-law’s beloved one) passed away

 

February

Worldwide news >> flood in Australia

Valentine’s Day >> celebrate it again since I’m single

Carnival Season >> Nolen in the nursery: Doctor Plague

                                 me at the workplace: rollergirl (first carnival at Corteva)

Family news >> Dominik applied for early graduation in English

Something new for me >> roller skates

February is usually about >> WORK, two important big events in this month (Yield Challenge & TOP100)

 

March

Hungarian news >> margin stop for the shops for certain products

Ramsons >> record number of visit (3x) on the ramson field in one season, experienced all growing phase, but my favourite one is still the smallest fresh sprouts in early stage

 

April

Spring holiday including Easter, with the traditional family get-together in Taksony. This month is also about running, and the preparation for running events – most optimal weather conditions for this activity in this month.

 

May

Leaving the nursery, final good-bye.

 

June

Noncsika again was brave enough to spend a few days with us, without her parents. First time to try the mullet hairstyle for Nolen. Relationship attempts (only) while cycling around Lake Tisza.

 

July

4S Street concert in Szigliget castle around Lake Balaton with the sunset and monadnocks as the most beautiful natural background – was a memorable one.

Kids turned to 18 and 7.

Short family holiday with sis and the kids at Sebes Körös. Nice solo SUP experience along the river.

 

August

Meteor shower. An exciting evening & night was spent with Nolen in a tent at Hármashatárhegy including a curious fox.

Short vacation with the boys at Tiszafüred in a floating house. Most memorable part is the breakfast on the tiny balcony directly surrounded by swans.

Two teeth of Nolen were forced to remove as the new ones were coming while the milk ones stood very still. Till then no tooth wanted to come out.

At long last for the first time we could go into Parliament on the day of our national holiday, 20/AUG.

Another attempt for making connection with a male (who was born on the very same day like me).

 

October

Worldwide news >> burglary in Louvre Museum, Paris

Hungarian news >> peacetalk between USA and Russia in view, located in Budapest but finally not happened

Something new >> vivifying ancient photos, weird experience

Class 1/B was started by Nolen, specialized in English. Same school like Dominik attended. I just fret myself that they won’t learn English at all during the first 2 years. (Dominik did.)

Traditional family grape harvest.

Spartacus pathway – solo extended hiking. 😊

ChrisFit Gym - bought monthly ticket twice but realized using gym machines is not my style and atmosphere.

We invited Noncsika for Halloween and had fun together with her.

 

November

Psychologist – looking for help in spiritual resolving as time not eased as expected but my thoughts were revolved around my ex and his girlfriend day & night and I was tormented by them.

 

December

First time to let Elfie in our home to start the year end daily routine spiritfully. So much fun, both parties enjoyed; kid and mom as well. Kept the habit for advent season: bringing as many miracles for the December days as possible.

 

2025 at work

- Organized 15 events with hundreds of participants each: 1x TOP100 (Marriot, Bp), 1x Yield challenge (Aquaworld, Bp), 2x job fares (MATE Bp, Mosonmagyaróvár), 5x summer field events (Kenderes, Szarvas, Debrecen, Dombóvár, Hegyfalu), 3x autumn field events (Szarvas, Debrecen, Hegyfalu), 2x internal kick off meetings for sales team (Kóspallag-Nagyirtáspuszta, Siófok), 1x Year end dinner (Danubius Hungaria Hotel, Bp). 

- Arranged 1x incentive trip (Corrida, Spain), regional meetings, an international meeting held in Bp. (Radisson BudaPart).

- Took part 1x prestigeous award ceremony (AGROmashEXPO), 2x round table discussions (Agrárium, AgroFuture), 1x charity event working as a volunteer (Hotel Vau sanctuary), 2x running competitions (UB, Diabolo), 1x marketing team building (Mártély).

- Received several recognitions.

- Faced many CHANGES: our beloved country leader Sergii was replaced to Romania, new marketing leader came, inside of the marketing team a colleague quit, a new one came and the split was officially announced in October, so the two businesses (seed & crop protection) will be separated entirely, after the team worked hard on the new one-face-to-customer conception just introduced…

 

Keep on in 2026 (year of the horse)

- Reform kitchen, cooking variedly, tastily, healthy, knowingly, seasonally

- Excursions, exploring new places, being outdoor

- Moving

- Following a bit better the national and international news

 

Songs describing 2025 best:

Nagy Ricsi – Kit érdekel

Rácz Gergő – Ja nem

 

Transition time

We are in between summer and winter. September is always gone away quickly; pulling out the summer as much as possible, busy with the school start. October is about Halloween and its preparations, attunement for autumn, delicious dishes. And then comes November that is usually an under evaluated month. November is the silent entrance hall of a new start. It is neither about spectacular starts, nor about big ambitions. It is rather a transition from the light to the darkness, from the external fizzling into the inner calm. While the nature steps aside, trees fall their leaves, we feel that it is high time to arrange, to let go, to resolve. Slowly, knowingly, honestly.  So this month is about inner work and systematization requiring deceleration, introspection before we get on the Christmas express. We have to decide not only what to present to whom for Christmas but also think through what worked in our lives this year and want to keep for the next year and what we have to let go.

Honestly, I fret and distress myself a lot recently, waste much time on thinking of the unprocessed past and the distracting present. 

Summer 2025

This summer no special destination was planned. We had some really short vacations locally, just within the border, and some habitual and new engagements.

In June, I had some field events throughout the country. In Hegyfalu, Nolen was with me and proved to be a great help at putting together the gifts, to distributing them at the registration, and also at the packing with the agronomist guys in the end. He really enjoyed the feeling of the event and being useful. Another habit of us is to invite Noémi, my cousin's daughter to stay a couple of days with us. We have some habitual engagement like Palatinus strand in the middle of the Margaret island approaching by buggy, climbing up to the hills, and this year we had the procession at that time and we also was looking for the mini sculptures of Kolodko in the downtown by scooter. Nolen had his first mulett style haircut. He attended even two summer camps: one was a swimming camp and the other was a farm camp with full of animals, together with Noel.

In July, we had a brilliant marketing team building in Mártély. Nolen spent his very very last week in the nursery. A magnificient and sooo memorable 4S Street concert highlighted this month in Szigliget castle at Lake Balaton where the sunset and the monadnocks were in the background at the same time. We had a big big party for the kids' birthday, as Dominik turned 18. Ex father-in-law made many programs with his granchild Nolen. We organized the habitual sisters with kids short family vacation at Sebes Körös, where of course my SUP was a compulsory part. I had some cycling tours like around Lake Tisza (70 km) and to Etyek and back (50 km). We have visited Nolen's early childhood health supervisor for the last time. Tooth Fairy visited him for the first time twice - although, those two teeth had to be removed forced by the doctor as they were not moving at all and the new ones were already coming, growing in the wrong place.

In August, we had a memorable meteor shower seen from the Hármashatárhegy with Nolen, where we brought a tent and slept there and were witness of a fox coming quite close to us and the sunset on the next morning. Me and both kids were experienced a special floating house at Lake Tisza as accomodation. The best part was to eat breakfast on the small balcony on the water while swans were around us. Our National Holiday, 20/AUG, was spent with my cousin coming from the countryside. Finally, we could go into the Parliament for the first time in my life. Regarding the fireworks on the same evening, just to remind everyone, forget the Batthyány square as a view point for fireworks. It was a real nightmare because of the crowd. 

Dominik 18

Can't believe that my elder son already reached the full age and entered the adult section. Still learning and does not have the exact idea what he really would like to do in the future. The outcome of this school (system administrator) seems not the most attractive walk of life for him. He excels in English and completed early graduation with great results. Thank God, he is still trouble free, avoids conflicts. Real gen Z, with all characteristics of his generation. What makes my hair stands on end is his dining. He eats very little, quite inordinately, mostly in the evenings which comes from the fact that lives the other way round mostly in summer - when we are awake, he sleeps.

NOLEN 7

My sweet little one or my little sweetie at the age of 7 is vibrant, full of life. Brave, daring, smart and tricky. Speaks a lot, constantly, he has to tag something to everything. He is exaggerated in his feelings, can manifest well how he feels. What made my hair stands on end is that he is willing to carry a huge and heavy backpack everytime to everywhere when he leaves the house. He's always packing up his things, his knick-knackery into a bag till over full and sometimes he even does not know what is inside at the bottom of it, just carrying steadily. At least he is training for the school. 

Really untirable - but we have to be careful with this as he needs the sufficient number of sleeping hours. He eats very well, much better and bigger portions than his bro and he is not choosy. Still likes to get dressed in different customes and to wear accessories. He proved his self-dependence during this summer as well: he attended even two summer camps and managed very well and went everyday with pleasure.

Spring running events

 End of April, beginning of May is the most ideal time period for running events. Not so cold to freeze and not so warm to sweat. By now, I have two running events I usually enter and became a tradition in the last couple of years. Both thanks to the company. One is a quite unique one organized within our seed plant around and inside the factory in Szarvas. Love it, and this year I involved my sister as well.

The other one is a longer one. My solo bike tours around Lake Balaton within a day transformed a bit in the last 3 years since I'm with Corteva. The differences: not solo any longer but definitely team work, not monotonous but is about running and biking. The main point remained the same: going around the lake within 24 hours. It is called Ultrabalaton. Popular charity event, attracting huge crowd: 28,300 participants this year with the collected amount of HUF 23.5 million to support hospitals and foundations. For the first time in the history of the event, there was the possibility to double the achievement and run 2x rounds one after the other in solo (Project422), which is absolutely an unhuman achievement. Couple of people did it! The best one (Tibor Erős) run 422 kms in 46 hours. Crazy!!  211 kms (1 round) was completed by our 17-member-team in 22 hours. First I thought those people are abnormal to undertake such a huge distance in solo and they completely ruin and exhaust their body. But after I saw the video showing his last meters just before entering the finish, I changed my mind and thought what a fantastic strength of will, what an endurance! This man set an outway goal and achieved it. Exemplary! It gives me motivation when I want to die after my 5th km. The solo one-round track peak is attached to a woman (Andrea Mórocza) this year, who was 40-min faster than the second one: she run the 211 km in 18.30 hours! My main profile during Ultrabalaton is still biking. I attend my colleagues on their distances by bike, take pictures and support them if needed. Not to be so monotonous I usually run shorter distances more times. I really like the common goal, to see that everybody does his/her best, acting as a real team.

2024 recap

Last year was a super EXHAUSTING one, the YEAR OF CHANGES also at work and in private as well.

I changed position within company and left the beloved facility service and start working for marketing as event program specialist at the very beginning of the year. Second time to start a position with no help, as I had again nobody to handover the tasks from and also the boss question was open, again. Everything from zero, again. This is a really time consuming process which requires big efforts.

Additionally to this, I initiated some big changes at home as well during springtime. Painting the whole house was due for a long time and also made my old wish completed with covering the floor with laminated parquet for warmer feeling. The walls became much brighter (white or so), therefore the brown antique pickles furniture was replaced with white ones. Looks fresh and nicer. Huge project but happy with the result.

I sold my beloved Chrysler PT Cruiser which I was said went to Ukraine for serving voluntary work.

The boys were both also were facing some changes in the school and in the nursery. Dominik could come back to Budaörs in September at long last after 2 years spent in the 8th district of Budapest, while his school building was renovated. Nolen had to leave his nursery in October and move to another building, as the old one will be distroyed so that a new, modern building can be established instead. Some tears were dropped during the official good-bye ceremony, as it was the very same building where I started to get accustomed to the public spirit before ~40 years ago. So no more nostalgic commemoration standing in front of the building.

Loss of the year was Dominik's electric scooter in summer. The punchline of the story, that it was me who lost it, who was robbed. I was preparing the birthday cakes of the boys and wanted to jump into the supermarket to get some missing ingredients. I used Dominik's scooter, locked, spent 30 minutes in the shop, and by the time I came out, it disappeared. His Christmas present disappeared. It was reported to the police, but no result since then, the case was closed.

I bought my SUP which opens new water perspectives.

After 1.5 year of separated living, I headed for the official way to give forth the divorce by the court of justice. In September, everything was over smoothly, on paper. It will take time to rebuild my old/new life, relationships, feminity, and mainly my self-esteem. Second marriage started on the 17/FEB/2018 and ended officially on the 06/SEP/2024. It was a bit strange to go to Szigetköz together right after the trial for the habitual huge family camp and water tour weekend.

I go further on my way, and don't stop cooking, moving, exploring, discovering new places. Going without him on this way is much calmer and more peaceful. This is what we all need. I have time. No rush. I have everything I need in this life. In this new chapter I should concentrate on myself more.

As for the travels, new places were discovered, some could be ticked from the bucket list. Family vacation (probably the last one) in Steiermark during Easter, Greece in May as a 40th-birthday-gift for my sister, I've been to Barcelona on business in October and could enjoy a Sevilla-Barcelona football match, and the beginning of December was about Lapland, Finland to meet the real Santa Claus, to enjoy snow and the nothern lights.

Legendary Lapland - warming up for holiday season

 

It is a cliche but very true: Lapland is truly a Winter Wonderland! Snow, reindeers, cozy cabins, snow, nice colours on the sky before and after sunset - the arctic landscape of the Finnish Lapland left us in awe! We visited the Santa Claus Village and the Arktikum in Rovaniemi (1 day) and explored Levi area where we based (4 days).

 

I planned this trip even when Dominik was young. So it was high time to actualize it. I did not really find such organized trips from Hungary, just some travelogues for the same from ancient times and on extremely high price. So I did everything by myself. Flight and accomodation were reserved well in advance, even in June.  Finally I managed to keep the original dates (01-06/DEC) but with two transfers: BUD - LHR - HEL - KTT.

I can tell without exaggeration that this vacation was a perfect one, from each point of view. Even from the very beginning, when I chose Kittila airport instead of Rovaniemi. Rovaniemi is overcrowded, full of tourists, ruining the beauty of this place. Of course, a perfect vacation means different for everybody, but for me a perfect vacation is thoroughly planned in advance but leaves space for modification on site. These 5 days were my darest and most succeeded trip of mine with kids ever.

Second best decision was our cottage. Reserved on the day I saw it, being afraid of loosing it later. A very well-equipped, well-heated log house in the forest with sauna, high above my expectations. The accomodation came with a car fully prepared for winter, with 2x fat bikes, with tripod to catch the auroras, with 3x sledges. We were given everything to maximize our stay!

Third best decision was to go down to Rovaniemi, the official hometown of Santa Claus on the very first day. Although, I had to drive almost 200 km there and the same back on icy roads; somewhere on ice ribs or ice armor, somewhere on mirror ice - and of course the major part in darkness, and once reindeers crossed the road in front of us. Thanks to our host, the car (Suzuki Vitara) was very safe and comfortable (and new), really enjoyed it. It turned out, that the weather was warmer than usual on that day (around 0°C), that is why the road conditions were so bad. In general, the roads are not cleaned very much in Finland, they let the snow trample down and rather use tyres with special rivets. They also often use oversized lamps on the cars outside the cities. So why was the best decision to visit Santa Claus village on our very first day? Because it was under expectation and it would not have been good to wait for it during our whole stay and then to disappoint. Overcrowded, without snow, restaurants and souvenir shops everywhere. Rather call it business center than a theme park. I really missed the magic of Christmas. No Christmas tunes in the background at all, looong serpentine row waiting for that short 5-min reindeer sleigh, crowd that wasn't handled professionally. We had to ask an appointment to meet Santa and then go back. In between we decided to visit the nearby arctic museum, named Arktikum. It was OK and at least we spent that time contentfully. 

To meet Santa Claus is miraculous, indeed, even as an adult.

 

And to tell you the truth, it is free but you aren't allowed to use any cameras. They are taking the photo and also a video of the great meet that can be purchased either in printed or in digital form. So we sat, posed and even had time to ask Nolen's question: how is it possible that his reeinders can fly? The answer is top secret and cannot tell to anybody. Here, at Santa Claus Office you also have the chance to send a postcard to your beloved ones stamped by the elves. And one more famous spot: you can cross the Arctic Circle which runs right through the village. It marks the southernmost latitude where the sun can stay continuously below or above the horizon for 24 hours (called Midnight Sun in the summer, Polar Night "Kaamos" in the winter).

We had to plan our days smart, as the sun was on only for 2 hours during our stay. In return, the sky was beautiful right before and right after sunset. The darkness wasn't disturbing at all because of the snow and the play of lights. It was good that the sun did not stress us to wake up.

Fourth best decision was to reserve the reindeer ride not in Rovaniemi but in Sirkka winter forest (10-min drive from us), at a family-run business. It was pretty cold but the landscape along the frozen river and the cozy ancient café as assembling point compensated. Before the ride we were told that the reindeers are semi-wild animals, therefore we have to avoid sudden movements and loud noises next to them. After the ride Nolen enjoyed and hardly could stop the sledging from a hump. 

On the same night we decided to hunt for the Nothern Lights. We had to wait till 22:00 at least (almost fell asleep and hardly wanted to go out and feel the cold again), and find a place where there was less artificial light. The sky was clear and we drove to a nearby lake. We had luck! Within 30 minutes, we could admire the aurora in full beauty and could take some gorgeous photos with Dominik's iPhone (mine was not suitable for this, ha-ha). It was on my wishlist for a long time to see the polar lights, and now I hardly believe that everything was together to come this true.

As our accomodation was located in a ski paradise, we could not miss to go up to the peak by gondola. Surprisingly, the temperature was warmer high above than down below. Although, the view was fantastic, everybody spend time there only until put on their ski or snowboard and decide on which track to slide down. 

Wherever we went, there was snow, mountains and hills, therefore we put all 3 sledges into the trunk and if we felt like sleighing, we did. And all of us really enjoyed. The cold drawed off not only the energy of the mobile devices but also the children's.

Tontulla Elves Village was an unexpected good experience. Almost missed but luckily we stopped on the way home. We found the feeling there that was missed from Santa Claus Village. It was wonderful even just walking around. Found a hole in the lake to dip after sauna, an intimate place to warm up, reindeers together with their candies (lichen), and of course there was sledging possibility, here on huge donuts.

Loved the nature, the white roads, the less number of people in Levi area, the "Glögi", the noodle chips, the oversized tissues, the oversized snow-shovel, the oversized tyres of the bikes - Lappish people are undoubtedly prepared for this climate! I think I would return anytime without any hesitation.