Most of my favorite holiday stories are when we have gone somewhere and its empty of tourists and just pretty quiet overall.
I feel you, there is nothing worst than a place full of tourists doing the same stuff.. It just feels so unauthentic.. Unfortunately I had that feeling in Japan's most popular spots.
Reading the first sentence I knew bikes would somehow get part of your story lmao! Spontaneously connecting with local people is quite hard as a tourist, you must have been quite open, I really love that!
Atheist, I never was interested in spirituality as I believe religions are population control tools.
However, I recently got the chance to meet Sikh peoples, and I understand they define themselves more as warriors than group of religious people. I just fell in love with what they are, what they represent.
This is us is so wholesome it made me cry almost at every episode. So many good vibes, it came out at the right time for me: needed it.