Travel on Sparktour’s Blog

USA Travel Diary

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:00:00 +0000

During the winter break, my friends and I completed a loop road trip through Arizona and New Mexico, starting from Phoenix. Our route primarily followed the I-10, I-17, I-40, and I-25 interstate highways. The journey took one week, covering a driving distance of approximately 1,870 miles (3,000 km).

Trip Preparation

Climate and Roads

Cities on the southern side of the loop (including Tucson, Phoenix, and Las Cruces) enjoy winter daytime temperatures consistently above 10°C (50°F). Flagstaff, Albuquerque, and the areas along I-40 are somewhat colder; temperatures can drop below freezing if a cold wave passes through. Almost all roads on the loop and within the attractions are paved, or are flattened dirt/sand roads (like at White Sands), so a standard sedan can easily handle the entire trip.

USA Travelogue

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 18:00:00 +0000

This blog post shares my travel experience in the United States during the summer of 2024. In this two-week trip, I visited cities on the West Coast, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, and on the East Coast, including New York and Washington, D.C.

Route and Attractions Map

My general itinerary involved driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles, then flying to New York, taking a train to Washington, D.C., and finally flying back to San Francisco.

Korea Trip: A Typical Northeast Asian Metropolis

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 18:00:00 +0000

A Typical Northeast Asian Metropolis

A Weekend Trip to Kansai, Japan

Sat, 25 May 2024 18:00:00 +0000

This weekend trip was sparked by my friend getting a student discount on a hkexpress flight, with round-trip tickets for each of us costing just 1300HKD. Considering our limited travel time, we decided to stick to the Kansai region of Japan, focusing on Osaka and Kyoto.

Exporting Your Personal Data from the Schengen Visa Information System (VIS)

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Many people applying for Schengen visas have heard of the Visa Information System (VIS). VIS allows Schengen countries to exchange visa data. It consists of a central IT system and the communication infrastructure connecting this central system to national systems. It processes data and decisions related to applications for short-stay visas for visiting or transiting the Schengen area. The system can perform biometric matching (mainly fingerprints) for identification and verification purposes. A common use in Schengen visa applications is to store applicants’ fingerprints (so that applicants only need to provide them once every 5 years).

One-day trip to Sha Tau Kok Port Closed Area

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 12:00:00 +0000

The second phase of the Sha Tau Kok Open Plan will commence on January 1, 2024. In the first stage, up to 1,000 visitors per day will be allowed to visit the entire Sha Tau Kok area except Chung Ying Street after applying for a Closed Area Permit online. This will give more people the opportunity to learn about the history, culture, and natural landscape of Sha Tau Kok and nearby outlying islands, and promote cultural and ecological tourism.

Graduation Trip Under the 'Dynamic Zero-COVID Policy' - Qinghai-Gansu Grand Tour

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Graduation Trip Under the ‘Dynamic Zero-COVID Policy’ - Qinghai-Gansu Grand Tour

The initial idea for my graduation trip came about at the end of 2021. Back then, the plan was to visit Shanghai and the surrounding areas of Zhejiang. However, with the lockdown in Shanghai and the tightening of restrictions in various regions, by April-May 2022, most cities were requiring individuals to quarantine in place if there was even a single confirmed COVID-19 case in their district. We once thought our graduation trip might be ruined. However, with the “Nine Prohibitions” policy introduced by the State Council in June (specifically, the two prohibitions that impacted our trip were: “Do not arbitrarily expand the scope of travel restrictions from medium- and high-risk areas to other areas” and “Do not impose mandatory dissuasion, isolation, or other restrictive measures on people from low-risk areas”), entry policies in various regions were relaxed. So, we gradually finalized our plan to travel to Tibet in early June. However, with the emergence of new cases in Shenzhen around June 18th, to avoid unnecessary trouble, we ultimately opted to travel to Qinghai and Gansu, where the control policies were relatively loose at the time. With the release of the Ninth Edition of the Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol, which explicitly stated that “isolation of individuals entering from low-risk areas is not allowed,” we finally confirmed our graduation trip plan - a chartered car tour along the Qinghai-Gansu circuit.

Visit to Ma Tso Lung Again in 2021

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

In order to activate cross-border roaming service for my classmate’s phone, I recently took the time to visit Ma Tso Lung again (the last time was two years ago). Due to the impact of the border closure, compared to August 2019, the number of people going to Ma Tso Lung has significantly increased. The way to get to Ma Tso Lung was slightly different from the last time. This time, I took the 51B minibus from Sheung Shui, which took only about half an hour compared to the two-hour walk in 2019.