Excellent advice from previous posters. Resorts offer a great many perks that casas don't, such as a pool, big buffet meals, often live entertainment, air-con buses that pick you up at the lobby door for tours to Havana, Bay of Pigs, etc, etc--and those mentioned by Poster #1. But as he said, you have to like resort atmosphere and prefer to spend your time with other foreigners rather than with Cubans, as only a few resorts (usually the lower-priced ones) will have a substantial number of Cuban guests.

Poster #2's suggestions for thinks to do in Varadero if you're not staying in a resort are excellent. And the beach there in town is every bit as beautiful as it is in front of the various resorts.

Ah right, you were coming from Almaty, and not from Bishkek!

I imagine Kashgar's animal market has undergone various reincarnations since you were last there. Still, it's pretty hard to time.

The hike was nice, certainly rather pleasant at that time of morning and with few people about. There are some bits of original paving stones here and there, but I thought that the Tokaido at Hakone was more atmospheric. I liked some of the villages along the way. Especially the "Pass Village" which is right next to the pass. What I really like here are the mountains in the background - you don't get soaring 2000 meter peaks in Western Japan.

When I worked as a mechanic I used to supplement my beer money by doing repair jobs on cars and motorbikes, the first bike check I made was the condition of the drive chain, if it was dry / rusty and slack I knew the machine did not have a sympathetic owner, although most modern motorbikes have an enclosed shaft drive instead of a chain the all-important oil reservoir might be empty if the rear hub seals have been leaking, if there is an audible knock when accelerating and deaccelerating the internal universal joints are badly worn. The next check was the crownhead bearings, pull the machine back onto the stand ( not the rest) sit on the saddle with both hands on the handlebar grips and push the handlebars forward and back, if you can hear any knocks or feel any play, the bearings are shot and accurate steering will be impossible. Most machines will now have front and rear disc brakes, so the condition of the friction pads will be visible unlike the older drum set up.

Any or all of these defects could result in loss of control at speed and possibly kill you and your girlfriend, so carefully check any prospective rental deal before handing over cash, if in any doubt just walk away.

Casablanca traffic congestion is a nightmare, not the ideal place to become familiar with an unfamiliar motorbike and especially with a pillion passenger to distract and compensate balance, you must indeed be in love!

A lot of people think Monteverde is a lot of wildlife, but its a Cloudforest and high elevation, so it has a plethora of fauna, and birds, but thats about it, and that time year would be very misty/rainy and foggy.

You can not really go as a day trip, it is 3-4 hours drive from anywhere, and 3-4 hours drive back. The last hour is a rutted slow go mountain road, odds are it will be raining and hard to see.

The Top Parks and regions for wildlife, nature and Bio Diversity are-

Corcovado-Osa (Southern Zone 9 hours from San Jose) best to fly in out, and best for hiking.

Tortuguero
Sarapiqui-La Selva
Cano Negro
Cahuita
La Amistad-Chirrrpo

Cano Negro a nice place with a pool, as its hot, and cafe, as there is not much of a town. This place is lovely and relaxing too. Do a boat tour in morning first thing, as it gets hot. 1 night is fine.

Animal activity is best from twilight to 11...for the entire country, then it shuts down, so early rising and off to see the nature is the rule of thumb.

https://hoteldecampo.com/

For Tortuguero, best to stay in the village, they you can access the guides, boats and enjoy the towns cafes and mom & pop feel, the village is all foot paths, no roads. Everyone knows everyone. I like to stay by the soccer field nearer the ocean, its peaceful, about 500 meters from the village/docks/boats. I stay at Mis Miriam II, basic and fine. Ceheck Trip Advisor, Booking.com or AirBNB. If you stay a lodge off the river elsewhere, nice but you are isolated and have to use the boats for everything, and that gets $$$.

In Cahuita, I love the Alby Lodge. Thatched roof bungelows, monkeys and sloths everywhere. Share kitchen, old school town and with great seafood, and afro caribe spice dishes.

South of Pt Viejo, I like Playa Cochles, Chequita and the paradise of Pun ta Uva. Rent bikes and slow down and chill. PV the town is a great foodie/cafe and hang out for nightlife on the chilling vibe side. Sat night maybe a disco open till 12am...depends on time of year and how busy.

Sarapiqui La Selva, a must, try to stay at lodge so you can use the 30 miles of trails 24/7, this is a major world reknown park for tropical studies, all guides are research scientist from around the globe and major universities.

If not lodges around area, or try the Treehouse Posada Andrea-Christina

Use Booking.com or AirBNB/VRBO.

Let me know what you need, been going to CR and this coast for years...

Thanks for the great information. I like the idea of taking produce to the outpost rancheros. Do you need to speak Spanish in order to communicate with them? I understand some Spanish if people speak slowly but I don't speak much beyond some very basic words. Can you just stop by a ranchero and are they on side roads or fairly visible off of the main road? I checked the turtle conservation camp website for Todos Santos and it does not look like their turtle release starts until about December. I would love to do something like that. I will definitely look into the Hostel. I have heard mixed reviews about Todos Santos and how touristy it has become. Your thoughts?

I avoid KOA they are priced, full of huge RV with AC/Generators and not very peaceful and or feel like camping in nature...

Keep in mind you may eat and/or get food supplies before getting to the campground.

--(1 of 4)--

＜Map of Yading NR＞--again--
http://www.chinatrekking.com/UserFiles/Image/Maps/Sichuan_map/yading_trek.jpg

＜3 holy mountains＞
▲①Mt.Chengresig(Tibetan L)=Mt.Xiannairi(Chinese L)=仙乃日(6,032m)
▲②Mt.Chanadorje(Tibetan L)=Mt.Xianuoduoji(Chinese L)=夏诺多吉(5,958m)
▲③Mt.Jambeyang(Tibetan L)=Mt.Yangmaiyong(Chinese L)=央迈勇(5,958m)
---Mt.Jambeyang is not so high comparing with high peaks in Tibet and Nepal(over 7,000m peaks are many) and still has no summiter who reached to the top because it's a sacred mountaing for Tibetan peope like Mei Li Snow Mountain(=MLSN)梅里雪山(6,740m) in N.Yunnan which had caused major distress accidents several times up to now including a big snow accident by a Japanses＋Chenese climbing team losing 17 climbers(all of them were Japanese climbers in a team and no remained) at a time by a big avaranche in 1991, so after that, it's closed by Chinese government with the reason it's one of 4 sacred mountains for Tibetan people so MLSM aslo has no summter till today same to Mt.Jambeyang.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
＜your activity in Yading NR＞

---there are wooden walkways easy to walk(almost flat) installed all the way from Chongguxi(4,100m) to Luorong Pasture(4,180m)/6km as hiking course so if you walk on this wooden walkways to Luorong Pasture, it becomes "hiking" or "walking".

---if you go ahead from Luorong Pasture to Milk Lake(4,480m),Five Color Lake(4,530m) or further more to the 1st Col→the 2nd Col→Pearl Lake→Long Tong Ｂa (elevation:max.4,700m) on foot, it becomes "trecking".

---but 95% of Chinese tourists i saw in NR used E.Carts abndoning this wonderful hiking course without walking as if they came to a Desneyland so i thought it's not hiking but "idling"!

---if you use E.cart like Chinese tourists without walking, you cannot experience not only walking but also seeing beautiful and amazing scenery sufficiently on the way to Luorong Pasture taking pictures,taking breaks anywhere you like--they come to Yading NR from Beijing, Shanghai-etc for getting beautiful & amazing scenery spending much money but they abondoned almost of them for using 19 mins of E.carts insted of walking and sweating, i thought.

Indeed i met a few(1～2) Chinese tourists only on wooden walkways in a day though i don't know how about peak season of Autumn leaves is.
So i confused which one i should simphasize with Chinese tourists who has been assigned such a convenient but easy tools & things(E.carts and the paved road and walkways possible to walk wearing "high heels"=ladies in Nature or with others(great nature itself) or criticize local government which installed such things like hobby tools making people lazy into great Nature).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyway, a criticism of that aside, there are 3 ways of going(& back) to/(from) Luorong Pasture.
①Walking: 1.5 hours(fast pace)～2.5-3 hours(slow pace ,resting & taking photos) on foot for one way using wooden walkways.
http://img.gg/7WmaJ9Y ---Wooden walkways(my photos)
http://img.gg/sqrNpM9 ---Grasslands(my photos)
http://img.gg/ZHw9D7R ---Streams(my photos)
②Electric cart: 19 mins on paved concrete road for one way
http://img.gg/1p9uQ8f ---E.carts-(my photos)
(＊Passengers of E.carts are prohibited to take photos while in E.carts for preventing accidents)
③but E.carts is maybe useful for returning to Chongguxi after completing a hiking + trecking to Milk Lake & Five Color Lake or in cace you start from Yading village late in the morning.
(＊)operation time of E.cart at both sides of Chongguxi and Luorong Pasture: 07:00～18:00pm(=ticket sale time)

--to be continued (2 of 4)--

(jp_geckozy 6/9)

Los Angeles - 25 to 28 July
San Diego - 29 to 31 July
Las Vegas - 1 to 3 August

The time you're spending in these three cities is putting great pressure on the national park route - as you suggest.

You need to add into that the heat, the crowds, and the availability of accommodation at this late stage.

Zion NP - 6 August
Grand Canyon - 7 August
Valley of Fire - 8 August
?? [where to stay?] - 9 August
Yosemite Valley - 10 August
Tahoe Lake - 11 August
San Francisco - 12 to 14 August

This is unrealistic (even setting aside the accomm issue, and peak season). And your geography is askew - you go past the Grand Canyon NP South Rim to get to Horseshoe Bend, etc.

Perhaps re-cast your trip in terms of where you're planning to spend each night - for example Valley of Fire only occupies two hours on the way from Utah to Las Vegas. One night in Yosemite NP doesn't work, and Lake Tahoe isn't achievable in your timeline.

Why not drop San Diego, and Lake Tahoe, have three nights in LA, and two in Las Vegas, and then see what the itinerary can look like? Night by night.

A night between Las Vegas and Yosemite NP can be had in Lone Pine through to Mammoth. You drive essentially straight through Death Valley NP because of the heat - I would leave Las Vegas just on dawn to do the drive to Lone Pine ... it's starkly beautiful.

As for climbing Mt.Fuji in off-season---Oct to early June--

Mt.Fuji in on-season(summer season=July and August) is easy to climb=hike even for doing a bullet climbing during night with no sleeping but climbing Mt.Fuji in off-season(Oct to May) is very difficult and hard and dangerous beyond your images you have now.

I don't know which part of June OP want to climb Mt.Fuji-- in early June? or late June?--because the condition between 2 is fairly different.

---the foremer(early June) condition is, the worst, returns back to the one in winter sometimes having snowfalling though snow itself is not problem for experienced mountain climbers having good climbing skills and equipments.
---the latter(late June) condition is almost the same to the one in summer but Mt.Fuji is still not opened for visitors and all mountain huts are still not opened in June.

The most difficult factors to climb Mt.Fuji in off-season(Oct to May) is not "snow" but "hard iced bane" and "extreamly strong wind"(=＊＊) peculiar to independent peaks having no other mountains around like Mt.Fuji.

(＊＊）the strong wind at Mt.Fuji suddenly blows from unexpected direction so it's difficult for climber to respond it immeadiatly to keep balance on hard iced bane or hard crusted snow and its strongness is almost the same or superior to the wind blowing through "Denali Pass" at Mt.Mckinley(6,194m) in Alasuka(famous Japanese mountain climber "Naomi Uemura"=a summiter of Mt.Everest(8,848m) brew off from there after reaching to the summit in 1984 and still in missing) or high points over 8,000m of Mt.Everest (those are very famous for extreamly strong wind) though Mt.Fuji has 3,776m only with its elevation but very dangerous mountain in winter.
(the wind at Mt.Fuji in off-season blows and lift up climber's body in the air together with heavy luggages so if you meet with those strong wind, it's very difficult for you to keep balance on iced bane or crusted hard snow even if you have enough climbing skills and equipments(ice axe and cranpons) and once you lost your balance on iced bane or crusted hard snow , you slide on them to the rocks at the bottom of slope and crashed to the death, and even if you still alive in accident, you cannot expect for immeadate rescueing in off-season).

Many expert climbers who experinced high mountain peaks in Hymalaya(6,000～8,000m class ) and European Alps etc occured accidents at Mt.Fuji in off-season in the past and main reasons of them were sliding on iced banes in strong wind so Mt.Fuji is a very dangerous mountain beyond your images though it's very easy to clime=hike in summer season.
------------------------------------

The problem i think is many foreign travelers who come to Japan for doing traveling easily want to climb Mt.Fuji in of-season beside their travelings have great misunderstanding about climbing Mt.Fuji and wrong images coming from easy hiking on-season(summer =July and August) for avoiding the crowds but it's dangerous thinking to climb Mt.Fuji in off-seasn though Mt.Fuji in early June have no more iced banes because they have changed from iced bane to crusted hard snow but the possiblity of sliding on hard crusted snow still remain, especialy at upper part of Mt.Fuji, together with very low temperature(+-0℃ or less 0℃) even under fine weather in early June.
https://www.ici-sports.com/%E3%80%90%E5%A4%A7%E5%AE%AE%E5%BA%97%E3%80%91%E5%B1%B1%E9%96%8B%E3%81%8D%E5%89%8D%EF%BC%88%EF%BC%96%E6%9C%88%EF%BC%89%E3%81%AE%E5%AF%8C%E5%A3%AB%E5%B1%B1%E3%81%AB%E7%99%BB%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8D/ ---a report of climbing Mt.Fuji on 15th June

So my suggestion is----ABONDON your hope to climb Mt.Fuji in June and use your energy for traveling Japan to enjoy "empty Japan with no tourists(Japanese & foreign tourists) due to THE CORONAVIRUS at the present" avoiding infection of it very carefully but thinking "It's a chance in a million !"

(jp_geckozy)

I've gone with another Brooks......better the Devil you know, than the Devil you don't....and all that!

In the past, I liked Brooks. It offers great comfort. The first saddle lasted more than a decade, then the frame broke. The second Brooks lasted only 4 years.
I tried a very hard plastic saddle afterwards, because I've bad experiences with gel saddles (is that the correct term? They are made softer by some non-solid matter. And that starts leaking some when and provides stinking patches on the clothes). But it was too bad for my backside.
Then I bought another Brooks. And guess, after some 13 months (or 8000 km) only, it broke. Fortunately, the dealer returned my money.
A photo can be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/132567578@N06/16565626084/in/album-72157649710005713/
Currently I use the Cube saddle which originally came with my bike. It is said to be such a gel saddle, too, but actually it's filled with some foam (nothing liquid inside: I can see that because a monkey bite off a corner of it).
True, the Brooks felt more comfortable.