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Shoyu Sugar

Malia Yoshioka is a freelance Food & Travel Writer and ESL Tutor from Hawaii. She's slowly eating her way around the world, 43 countries and counting so far! Get behind the scenes news, travel tips and the best food stories from around the web in her weekly Savor the Journey newsletter.

Featured Post

The View from the Rails ๐Ÿš‚

๐Ÿ‘‹ Greetings from my next train adventure, a 13-hour day aboard the Amtrak Northeast Regional train from Richmond, Virginia to Boston, Massachusetts! I've been rediscovering how much I love watching the scenery change out the window of a long-distance train and how much I love the people watching (and eavesdropping!) I can do from inside my roomy seat. I also love a historic old train station, like the Main Street Station (above) in Richmond, VA Iโ€™ll be spending the weekend in Boston and then...

๐Ÿ‘‹ Greetings from somewhere south of DC! Continuing along my East Coast USA train journey, I spent the past week in Washington, DC with Adrienne (@TheHaphazardTraveler). I hadn't been in DC since 2016 and as you can imagine, a LOT has changed since then! One important stop was to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It had just opened when I was there last and the entry tickets were impossible to come by. It was a sobering reminder of dark times in our history...

๐Ÿ‘‹ Greetings from the Big Apple!It's been a whirlwind since I've been back stateside... I landed in Miami, then started north via the high-speed Brightline train to kick off my flight-free trip up the East Coast. From Florida, we took an overnight train to DC, then the high-speed Acela to New York which arrived at the beautiful Moynihan Train Hall. I was here for my first Women in Travel Summit (WITS) in Downtown NYC, which was a great experience! My focus in the next few months will be on...

Happy Aloha Friday! Welcome to this week's roundup of tasty tidbits specially curated for you from Hawaii to Istanbul and everywhere in between... ๐Ÿ‘‹ Hi friends, Istanbul has been both in the news and on my heart recently. I'm down to my last few days here in the city, so I've been spending quality time with friends and also revisiting some of my favorite places and taking notes to update some of my past Istanbul posts, including: Best Parks in Istanbul Galataport Guide How to Visit the...

Happy Aloha Friday! Welcome to this week's roundup of tasty tidbits specially curated for you from Hawaii to Istanbul and everywhere in between... ๐Ÿ‘‹ Hi friend, Big changes are brewing around here, and the countdown is on... No, it's not an April Fool's joke. I'm actually leaving Istanbul soon! I recently heard someone mention the idea of โ€œsoulmate cities,โ€ and if I had to pick mine, it would be Istanbul. Even with the multitude of changes โ€” some good, some bad โ€” in both myself and my soulmate...

โฐ Deal alert + special bonus! ๐Ÿ‘‹ Hi Reader, If you've ever found yourself second-guessing your travel plans or wondering whether you're missing out on the best experiences, youโ€™re not alone. Thatโ€™s exactly why my friend Michelle at Intentional Travelers created her Google Maps Travel Hacks course. It gives you the confidence and know-how to optimize your itinerary and navigate smoothly anywhere in the world. ๐ŸŒ Until midnight tomorrow (April 3), you can enroll for just $37 (soon going up to...

Happy Aloha Friday! Welcome to this week's roundup of tasty tidbits specially curated for you from Hawaii to Istanbul and everywhere in between... ๐Ÿ‘‹ Hi Reader, This week I've got an exciting collaboration with Michelle at Intentional Travelers as she gears up for the relaunch of her Google Maps Travel Hacks course, a step-by-step system to help you travel with confidence. You may know that I'm also a huge Google Maps fan since it's part of my own strategy to avoid tourist trap restaurants...

Happy Aloha Friday! Welcome to this week's roundup of tasty tidbits specially curated for you from Hawaii to Istanbul and everywhere in between... This week's newsletter is a day late, forgive me. Last week, I returned to Istanbul and it feels like there's been a certain heaviness in the air, with the stirrings of change...While I was away, the weather had been warm and spring-like, but as the week progressed the temperature dropped once again. Days of clear blue sky now alternate with moody,...

A collage of images from the Kalamata Open Market: special varieties of tomatoes, fresh fish, fresh coriander stems and language tips from Maria Monastirioti from Mama's Flavors.

Happy Aloha Friday! Welcome to this week's roundup of tasty tidbits specially curated for you from Hawaii to Istanbul and everywhere in between... โ˜€ Kalimera from Kalamata, Iโ€™ll be here for the next few days for a campaign called #MyPeloponneseVibe. As you might have guessed, MY Peloponnese Vibe revolves around food, language and connecting with locals! Itโ€™s my second time in Kalamata, and Iโ€™ve spent a good deal of my trip in the old town area around their wonderful open market. I was joined...

Pizza margherita from Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Naples, Italy

Happy Aloha Friday! Welcome to this week's roundup of tasty tidbits specially curated for you from Hawaii to Istanbul and everywhere in between... ๐Ÿ‘‹ Hi friends,It's no secret I love visiting markets in any new city when I travel. So when I visited Naples, it was great to get a recommendations from someone who is from there - none other than Chicca from Chicca's Cooking Club! I also had a chance to catch up with Jedd & Michelle from Intentional Travelers before they all caught their train. The...