Wow.. you paid full price to the cop? I believe you should have just taken the ticket and paid the fine to the right department. I was lucky. When I was stopped at a roundabout.. the cop asked me to pay 400 dirham which I did. But he was generous enough to give me back 200 dirham so he kept the other 200 dirham. I guess it depends on which cop you get. Some are greedier than others :)

I showed my son this comment and he was genuinely impressed that someone actually knows what that dance is. 😂 Thank you!

End of December, basically the Christmas Week. Right at the beginning of peak season.

We only drove at Shiga Kogen. It's a time saver for sure when you have a car. We had no issues getting around with winter tires on our rental car, even on days when it was snowing. We were probably lucky that we didn't have a day where it snowed so heavily we couldn't drive. I imagine it's even better with a car at Hakuba given how spread out the area is. You'll love it! I wished I had a car for Hakuba!

@whereisant mate, thank you so much for the reply ! This time I am training it to Nagano, then driving from Nagano to Hakuba... Fingers crossed weather isn't too hectic. Love your vids btw !

This is a tough one. Hakuba has a lot of ski resorts to explore and much livelier night scene along with shops/restaurants to choose from. Shiga Kogen focuses a lot more on all in one resort. Skiing is good whichever one you go. My son enjoyed both. Shiga Kogen, we didn't explore as much but did meet a lot of other skiers/kids because we spend more time at the hotel/resort. At Hakuba, we just explored a lot of places (eg. Iwatake for non-skiing related activities). You can't go wrong with either of them

@whereisant thanks for your input. Hakuba seems more fun for first timers, we decided to try out Hakuba first and save Shigakogen for another trip purely for skiing. Your videos have been very helpful, keep exploring and sharing good stuffs!

Well.. my top 3 is Happo One, Goryu and Tsugaike for beginners. Which of these top 3 will depend on what else you want to do there. If you like to experience the central Hakuba village where there's a ton of restaurants/shops.. I would say Happo One where it's the closest. There's also a good international ski school at Happo One (near Rhythm Snow Sports Hakuba). Goryu is a bit further out, but also have ski school with English speaking instructors. Not as happening but great if you want a bit less crowd, this is the one to go. Tsugaike is also a bit further out from town, and popular with first timers. They probably have the most beginner friendly runs. So if your focus is skiing itself and want to progress fast.. come here. I don't have experience with the ski instructors here, but I hear they do not have English speaking instructors. You can't go wrong with any of them. Comes down to what is your priority.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Really appreciate it!

Thank you for watching my video! Really appreciate your kind comments. 本当にありがとう！

The car rental company probably would have done that if I could speak French. Language barrier unfortunately.

@whereisant I was in Agadir and everyone I met spoke English but alot of Irish and english people go there

That's interesting. Maybe it's just Fez then. The hotels, car rental people I was dealing with wasn't too comfortable speaking English at all

We had the same dilemma as well when we planned our trip there. So we did both. Half our stay there was with a car, while the other half was without a car. What I can say is that if you are ultra organized, you probably don't need a car. Assuming you do want to explore the whole resort, the biggest hassle is ensuring you don't miss the scheduled buses that shuttle you around the resort. It's not as frequent as I think it should be given the resort size. So we had instances where we were done with one ski area but had to wait for ages to go to the next one. This is where having a car helps quite a bit, because shuttling around will be that much quicker and maximizes your skiing time. Having said that, if you intend to ski one way from one end to another end.. you'll still need to rely on a bus to come back anyway. So get familiar with the bus schedule ASAP :) Having a car does have its positives in that on our rest days, we could drive 20-30 mins out of Shiga Kogen to town to see snow monkeys, try different restaurants, onsen baths@yudanaka or just go shopping etc. of course.. this is assuming the snow isn't too heavy that day and you are comfortable driving in all sorts of snow conditions. We could even explore the town after skiing the day just for the evening. Still.. even on our days without a car, we were happy without it as well. This was the case when we were staying in the "above average" hotel. We just spent more time talking to fellow tourists and more quality time together etc.... we didn't feel the need to have a car. Either way will work depending on your priorities. Having a car is definitely a nice to have but not essential.

Thank you so much for such a detailed reply! Really appreciate it❤ It sounds really stressful to catch the bus 😅 May I know if you rented at Nagano station or Yudanaka area or anywhere else? Also, you mentioned that you went there last Christmas, any areas we should avoid in case of late opening or lack of snow? e.g. Okushiga? Thank you for your time in answering all our questions in the comments!!!

We rented our car from Toyota car rental @ Nagano station (can be pre-booked in advance in English). I'm sure you can rent from Yudanaka Onsen too, but there's a lot more options at Nagano station. It was just convenient to rent @ Nagano for us because we came to Nagano by bullet train. As for your 2nd question, we were there early (around 19th Dec) at Okushiga Kogen last year when the slope wasn't open yet, which just meant a bus trip / hotel shuttle to the central area for a few days. Central area and Kumanoyu/Yokoteyama seems to be open more consistently if you're talking about early season. Having said that, we had the best skiing days at Okushiga when it finally dumped, and no one was around to enjoy the snow except a handful of us on the slope with nobody else!

Thanks for all the useful tips! And thanks to your video, we managed to book Shirakabasou for this xmas before it's too late 😊 I think we are safe with no cars while staying there. We will definitely hit Okushiga when it's open. Can't wait!!!

If your question is whether diving mask is necessary as oppose to just swimming goggle, the answer is no. For low tide snorkelling where you are just walking around the shallow reefs you can stick your head in to see the corals. But if your question is whether diving mask is provided free of charge, then the answer is it depends on your hotel. Serendipity and Zodiac Seesun (both hotel we went to) do provide snorkel sets for free. But I'm not sure if other hotels provide them. So best to check with them. Hope that helps.

Yes I agree all of those are legit traffic violations. However, what's perhaps not clear from the video is that a lot of these traffic rules/signs would not make sense in USA. For example, you would not have speed changes multiples times in very short spans, like every few 100m (not exaggerating). Nor would you have solid line on dead straight roads for many kilometres on end, or would at least have reasonable room for agricultural vehicles to travel out of main road's way as to not hold up all traffic and expect no one to overtake it. So yes, if you absolutely follow every rule, I agree that I wouldn't be in trouble. But I can assure you that it's a lot harder to do in practise in Morocco.

Yeah.. I can see how others may judge this hotel (Zodiac Seesun) as "not worth it" because of the not so well maintained cabin rooms. The cabins isn't their selling point. For the price.. it's location and the beach more than makes up for it.

It sounds like you had an amazing time! It’s so heartwarming to see your experience captured in this way. Totally agree with Jeju Island bring a hidden gem! I would go back there some time for sure

Glad it was helpful! You're welcome!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

That's great to hear! Enjoy the snow!

Good to know it's not just Fez / Chefchaouen. It's the same everywhere in Morocco!

Thanks for watching!

I admire you for being able to even soak in that warm bath at all, let alone sleep in it! 😉

Thank you!

You're absolutely right. When I was stopped by the police.. I had to line up to pay. I noticed there were a lot more locals than foreigners! :)

Thank you! Will do!

Will depend on how much time you have. If you are only here for a day trip, I would probably head straight to Iwatake Ski resort which has a lot of non-ski related activities. If you have a few days, I would probably stay at Hakuba town centre near the main bus stop. The town centre has many shops, restaurants, onsen with plenty of atmosphere. Because it's Hakuba central, you can still take a free shuttle to any of the ski resorts to play with snow or just checkout some views. Hope that helps.

@@whereisant Thanks a lot!

I haven't personally gone skiing in April so can't say for sure. There will be snow, just not the fluffy snow that Japan is famous for. I imagine only the bigger ones will remain open (like Happo One and Goryu). As you are already aware, free shuttle bus stopped already, so you're probably better off renting a car or make sure you stay in one that's walking distance to the ski resort. I'm sure it's fun too, with little to no crowd in April

It's definitely more challenging with season already coming to a close. It's doable if you don't mind a bit of hassle The snow quality will likely be a bit slushy at the foot hills, and getting around is a little harder. The resorts at lower elevation will likely be closed, so safer to stick to the bigger ones at the top like Ichinose or Okushiga Kogen. The snow is fine for beginners, although it's a bit harder to learn and progress quickly if the snow is slushy. Personally, I would drive a car to make sure I can drive to another resort if one is closed for the day. Or perhaps stay right next to the bigger resorts like Ichinose. If you can't drive, check with accommodations if they offer dropoff / pickup service to the other ski areas.

It's a video that I shot personally. Which "photos" are fake? And what is "jo Koh Lipe"? Would appreciate it if you can expand and clarify what you mean

We went back in 2021 when this cruise was operated by Dream Cruises. Ownership have since changed to RWS (Resort World Sentosa) as far as I know. Back then, it was SGD $3800 for the 3 of us (2 adults, 1 child) for a 3 nights cruise. Would have no idea how much this cruise would be in the same room today. Hopefully that gives you an idea though.

My pleasure!

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!

Glad it was helpful!

Yeah. Totally understandable. But it has been a while though. Such a shame that not more people are taking those ferries. It's such unique experience!

Thanks for watching the video!

2 weeks is a nice length to cover Seoul-Busan-Jeju. I personally think the ferry is worth it for a bit of "off the beaten path" adventure. It only takes one extra day out of your schedule and you'll get to see a more local Korea too. There's sights near Samcheonpo that we didn't cover because we chose to leave Busan late in the afternoon. But you can easily fit in a bit of sightseeing too if you leave earlier. Really depends on what you are looking for.

Welcome!

Wow.. Sahoro looks like an interesting ski resort to look into! Thanks for that. We've been to Furano and Tomamu near it but haven't come across Sahoro!

Thank you for your encouraging comment!

We went from 23rd Dec to 3rd Jan. Pretty much the dates that you want to go. It was quiet the first 2 days.. but the last week of December (from 26th Dec onwards), that was when you can feel the crowd really starts to come in. No problem with snow.. but you will need to think about booking restaurants that you might want to try out in Hakuba village, unless you want to spend time lining up for dinner. It's that bad!!

@@whereisant thank u. In that case I think we’ll change plan and go to hakuba in the first leg of our 2 weeks trip. Do you think Dec 21-24 is better?

Crowd wise.. definitely much better before 26th Dec. Generally accommodation and ski lift tickets are slightly cheaper too just before the last week. Depending on snow.. with climate change and all... They may not open up all the lifts yet.. not even the last week of Dec. Not an issue if first time skiing or ok with less chances of "powder snow". So if you're not fussed with that.. definitely better to avoid that last week.

Says someone who tells others to enjoy their 'dog' for dinner is common sense? Lighten up. Life is too short. Work on your sense of humour and move on

Am I in court? Why do I need to provide supporting evidence? Am I accusing any specific officers? Chill dude. Think of it as a satire / entertainment video. Maybe you should provide evidence of 'poor grammar'?

Thanks for watching. Glad you found the info helpful

I was stopped for crossing a white continuous line to overtake that slow moving tractor/truck. You would think that is perfectly ok given the tractor also moved out of the way for me to overtake. I probably only have half the vehicle over the centre white line. As a tourist, I guess I just don't know what is legal / not legal

@@whereisantare u still in morocco?

No I am not.

@@whereisant oh ok

@@whereisant btw were u going slow on police check points becuse ur not rlly supposed to do a full stop i think but ur supposed to go slowly so the police can verify

Ichinose Family ski area. Take the Ichinose Quad lift and get off to the right at the top. It's a "black' run but not that diffocult. Beautiful view on a clear day!

we used Rentalcars.com. The actual company that we got the car from was Sixt which had a branch right at the Fez airport. So it was convenient. We didn't have any issues with the car. The cars probably aren't the newest but worked fine.

Nozawa Onsen is a great resort too! Been there once and would love to back there again some time in the future

Glad you found the information useful. And thanks for the comment. Really appreciate it!