u/Automatic_Valuable84

About to come back to Hokkaido again for a trip. Last time I came I tried a bunch of soft serves but none were as impressive as Kinotoya which literally ruined soft serves for me everywhere else. I literally stopped eating soft serves. This time coming back I am committed to getting Kinotoya every day I am in Sapporo / when I depart/arrive at New Chitose Airport. Outside of Kinotoya though, are there any other soft serves that particularly stood out to you? I will be doing a road trip to Noboribetsu and Kutchan, so will be making stops on the way to visit any milk farms with soft serves as well!

I was wondering how people here feel about hotel reward programs. For background, I consider myself a chubby traveler (generally book hotels between $400 - $1000 / night) and spend ~100 nights a year in Hong Kong, Japan, China, and Europe. The most important things for me would be the 1) suite upgrades and 2) delayed checkouts. It feels like Globalist is the easiest to obtain but my concern would be the availability of suite upgrades (seems like online people commonly agree Ambassador suite upgrades happen more frequently) and the fact that during the build up period the perks are bad. Marriott seems like harder to reach but I can start right away as a Platinum with the Amex card, although I also wonder if Titanium / Platinum will have a worse time with upgrades than Globalist before I reach Ambassador. They do have a much bigger footprint in Asia though. Lastly is Hilton Reserve which I don't see much discussion on. Would be curious to see if any chubby travelers here who frequently travel in East Asia (esp Japan / China) and also Europe can weigh in on their experience with these programs.

Curious if people have suggestions for an Asian FAT trip that escapes the heat in August. Seems like the easiest option is to go to the southern hemisphere but ideally want something that can be in less than 5 - 6 hours of flights from Hong Kong.

I am wondering if anyone has stayed at the new Azuma Farm Koiwai from this sub. Granted they have only been open for less than a month, but I figured if there's anyone with trustworthy opinions & have been to new FAT stays like this, it'd be on this sub. The concept looks interesting but just curious about the "farmhouse activities" they provide, the dining experience (ngl the website/marketing photos of the food looks like mainstream mediterrennean cuisine??), and the sauna (there is no onsen? also according to the website you need to pay 55000 yen just to use the sauna with no free public option?).

We are looking for a splurge stay in Japan for my birthday in late June. The wife is paying so I am not trying to be too ridiculous with the spend. For the days we are looking at, Aman Tokyo would be $1500/night which I feel like is a pretty good price for Tokyo?? So we are thinking about staying there for a few nights. Was wondering if there are any other hotels/ryokans that are "blow your socks off" in terms of luxury & service & stay in Japan. We have stayed at a bunch of the top-rated ryokans by Fufu, RC Nikko, Sanso Murata, Shinsen, already. Was hoping for something that can top them in terms of the wow factor...not that we weren't already impressed by these amazing ryokans, but so far we haven't stayed at anywhere in Japan that truly made us WOW like we did at Amanzoe.

We are wondering if anyone has recommendations for bathhouses / spa places near Heraklion. We are hosting a big group (18 people) and want a place where we can hang out for the day, chill in the hot pools, saunas, get massages, etc. I have looked up some places on Google Maps and it seems most belong to individual hotels and I am unsure if they would be open to a big outside group like ours.

Wondering how's the weather right now in Crete? We are coming this weekend and have some days booked for yacht trips, but a bit worried that it might not be hot enough for swimming.

I am wondering if anyone here has ever driven from Heraklion to Arvi before. For context, we are a group that will be renting cars to drive to our villa in Arvi. Our host has advised that the drive is a bit dangerous near the end, since there is a descent down the mountains. We are wondering if this is indeed the case, because we are also suspicious he may be trying to get us to buy his car services.