Japan is a great choice! Camping below or around Mt. Fuji with locals is a rich cultural experience.
When I was a child, I was fascinated with a children's travel encyclopedia called Childcraft Places to Know. This was my treasured possession. When I felt sad and down, to drown out the noise or family problems, I'd lock myself in the room and read this book and imagined myself in those places. I read them again and again and earmarked the ones I wanted to see. That was the beginning of my motivation to travel. It was the allure of discovering new things and exploration to understand life and people more.
The first place I traveled overseas was Dubai for work. It was my stepping stone to get to all the places I wanted to see. Thank you for such an insightful question. It was nice reflecting on it.
It's good to look back on the things that motivate us to do stuff. I often forget how I started drawing and why I pursued going digital. I just do because I like it but even liking it and doing it burns me out when it's not the only thing I should be doing with my time (adulting problems). Reflecting gives us an opportunity to renew a contract we once negotiated with ourselves to commit to. If it makes sense, we pursue. Your response made me reflect on it a bit as well. Thank you too.
Do you still do hand drawing or use traditional medium? I used to paint in oil but have lost the joy of doing it. Have to reflect on why.
I still do before I try to apply it on my graphics tablet. It's to try and get the visuo-spatial and muscle memory down. I think it lessens my time to test on the tablet as I get to have a baseline on what my output would look like translated to digital. I never lasted long with traditional colored painting, it was more of charcoal and graphite works for me. Something about sucking at using the color wheel. Perhaps you just got occupied with more fun stuff that painting no longer keeps your attention glued?
Drawing with a graphics tablet is another set of skills but it sounds fun. Yes good point, perhaps that could be the case. It's much more fun blogging.