From participants
Satisfied Clients Spreading the Word
I love helping my customers find the perfect destination for their next vacation, and I love hearing back about their travel experiences. Discover some of the wonderful times my clients have had working with BLTA LLC. Take a look at some of their testimonials below, and learn how I’ve helped them explore the world.
DeeAnna 2023 Summer Retreat joinning for the second time to JAPAN Okinawa 2025 May
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Kaori knows so much about Japan as she is from there and she is an excellent guide and I trust her. I would love for a family member or a friend going with. This is going to be a beautiful trip and I know that I am going to enjoy it as I did when we went with her in 2023 to Japan. Not much of an Asian Food Fan-and she found me an Italian restaurant where I had my first taste of Carbonara! We went to Tokyo, Kyoto and more. It is was beautiful. I am looking forward to the Okinawa Trip that includes Kyoto and Hiroshima. I would have never in a gazillion years would have ever visited Japan! Not even once but now twice! If you are interested in this trip or any other Asian trip, contact her! My next trip with her will be Thailand!
2025 Winter Thailand Colleen
So we just got back from our trip to Thailand with Kay, January 2025. This trip was amazing and Kay did an incredible job with finding a great balance between time to relax or do on your own with preplanned, very interesting other activities.
We started in Chang Mai and was thrilled to have this included in the trip, it has the great feeling of "more local" less "touristy" which was so enjoyable! A Day trip to Chang Rai was long but seeing the White and Blue Temples cannot be surpassed.
We did so many fun things it is hard to list them all out, but here is a list of some of it. An Elephant sanctuary, Night Market, Thai massage every single day!, fishing in Phuket, Going to the islands around Phuket and into a cave which was super cool, riding on a Tuk Tuk, having a pool right outside our room, snorkeling, swimming, excellent temps, ancient ruins, and mango jellies which are now my favorite! This list does not even mention the food which was beyond my dreams good.
If you have ever wanted to go to Thailand in a safe way (Kay is a great tour guide!) this is the trip to take. I think wih out her expertise I would not have enjoyed the trip nearly as much. Kay works extremely hard to make the trip fun and enjoyable for everyone and the number of 10 people total is a great number. I would HIGHLY recommend going with her!
Chris B. 2024 Fall Japan
I’ve wanted to go to Japan my whole life, and just had the opportunity to go with Kay and BLTA. It was even better than I expected!
Kay led a small group of us, and it was an amazing experience. Because of the smaller group, we were able to get around very easily. And we had the flexibility to be able to stay a little longer when we were at sites we found particularly interesting - of which there were several. In particular, it offered us the flexibility you don’t always have with larger tour groups to explore true Japanese cuisine at local places. Sushi, ramen, Kobe beef, okonomiyaki, udon noodles….. all of which were better than anywhere I’ve been before. And I would be remiss to not also mention that she is a force of nature at karaoke!
Since Kay lived in Japan for over 30 years, we had the benefit of her life’s experience. She took us to so many places we never would have gone if traveling on our own, and it was so easy to navigate. In addition to major sites in Tokyo and Kyoto, we also saw remote temples and castles where it felt we were some of the only people there from outside Japan - a tremendously special experience.
Whether in Japan or anywhere else, Kay is very kind and personable. She helped the group gel quickly, and I feel like I made some new friends along the way. It was an incredible trip. I learned so much along the way, and I can’t wait to go back!
Kristi - 2023 Spring Retreat
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I visited Japan with Kaori and her travel organization Bucket List Travel Asia www.bucketlisttravelasia.com in April 2023. Kaori was very organized and planned an amazing itinerary for our 14-day trip to Japan. She took care of every detail of the trip including booking our flights, hotels, activities, train, van rental, meals and helped with all of the preparation planning activities. Any questions about passports, travel insurance, health documents, cash exchange, or any questions we had, she was so helpful. The cherry blossom season was in full bloom in April and words can’t describe how beautiful the trees were. We visited Kyoto and saw the most beautiful Temples & Gardens (Kinkakuji – Golden Temple & Ryuan – Zen Garden & Temple) & amazing bamboo forests. The bamboo forest was so unique, like a tunnel but you can see the sky, so relaxing. We visited the Fushimi Inari Shrine and hiked through the beautiful tunnels or orange torii gates up the mountain (Mount Inari) to see the view of the city. We also visited the Kiyomizu Temple and waled the Gion district (Geisha Street) where we saw beautiful Geisha’s in their Kimono’s. We drove through the mountains to Lake Kawaguchi and went to Arakurayma Sengen Park where we saw the breath-taking view of Mt. Fuji surrounded by cherry blossoms. Lake Kawaguchi was so fun biking, kayaking, and enjoying the delicious Japanese food (Houtou noodles). The famous natural hot springs at Kusatsu Onsen (streams that are fed by hot volcanic waters) were so relaxing to soak in. We also toured volcanic park on Mt. Asama where we saw the unique rock formations from the volcano eruptions. We drove to explore the city of Nikko in the mountains north of Tokyo where we explored Lake Chuzenji & the beautiful Kegon Waterfalls. We saw the Toshogu Shrine famous for “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” monkeys. The private Sake Brewery tour was so interesting and we were able to sample many different types of sake (Japanese rice wine). We also spent time exploring a Samurai town where we went back in time to the Edo-period (1603-1867). We ended the trip exploring the city of Tokyo where we saw historic temples, busy city streets (Shibuya Crossing) & skyscrapers and beautiful towers (Skytree). The personal private trip to Japan was truly a trip of a lifetime with Kaori. The small group of 8 people was perfect to explore the country and cities in a positive, friendly way. With Kaori having grown up in Japan, it was a perfect way to explore the Japanese culture. Truly an amazing fun experience! I would highly recommend traveling with Kaori and Bucket List Travel Asia (BLTA) organization 😊
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Natalia 2017 Spring
Unforgettable 2017 trip to Japan
I visited Japan with Kaori Kay during Cherry Blossom week in the beginning of April 2017. It was really unforgettable trip. First of all Kaori developed very good itinerary and detailed plan of the trip by car. She is very good driver. So you can see very interesting and unusual places in Japan. Have no words to describe the beautiful nature in cherry blossom or sacura blossom days! Our trip was from Tokyo to the Japanese sea, then to Kyoto and Nara, to Mt. Fuji and Hakone, and finish in Tokyo National museum. We saw a lot of sites of National Treasure of Japan. We visited very famous Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, many of them are UNESCO sites. We saw Mt. Fuji from the top of sky view wheel took hot springs spa several times and walked in very nice Japanese gardens and bamboo forest. We tried the best Japanese sashimi and sushi at the local restaurant near the sea shore. We enjoy national treasure of Japan in several very famous museums in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hakone (open- air museum of sculpture). Great impression! We passed a lot of very good l Japanese roads with help of Kaori. Kaori is always cared about the members of her group. She is very attentive to people, soft, polite, very friendly, and cheerful. I love travel with Kaori! I strongly recommend going with Kaori in Japan and seeing one of the world famous countries Japan. You will have Great Fun!
Thank you, Kaori!
Natalia Afanassieva