August 17, 2010

California Lovin'

Most of you that have been following me the past few months would know that I've been involved in this crazy cool competition called the 'Best Travel Job Ever' by Flight Centre. Despite finding out about it a month into it (and on the other side of the world in Australia) it seemed like way to good of an opportunity to pass up. I threw together a video submission as quickly as I possibly could and starting social networking like crazy to get people to watch, vote and share it with others.

The response from friends, family and even complete strangers was truly incredible. Thanks to all of you, I made it to the Top 25! Unfortunately the judges didn't pick me to be one of the Top 6 semi-finalists (wah wah) however I was still able to compete in the bonus round which is a blogging trip to California.

I blogged about this a while ago and once again, you all came through for me with even more support.

This week we had the live announcements where the bonus round winner was revealed and the two grand prize winners were chosen. Crazy enough, my name was drawn as the bonus winner! And even better news, Mike was chosen as the Grand Prize Winner and gets to go to Aussie! How AWESOME is that?! I am so excited to finally explore Cali outside of the LAX walls. I've only ever been there for layovers and sadly have only seen the Cali sunshine from a window.


This whole journey has been a truly incredible one and I can't believe the amount of friendships that I've formed with some of the other contestants. For the final announcements, I decided to throw a meetup with some of them, along with friends that have been voting so we could celebrate the end of a very long six month journey. (YES this competition was 6 months long).

Some familiar faces showed up like Sonja from Team Asia, Mike from Team South America and Marie from Karmacake.ca. We had such a kick-ass time catching up, chatting about our experience over some bevies and skyping in for the live competition.


You can see our whole night go down on Burstn as the awesome Josh and Steve captured the whole event with live photo streaming on their iphones. Here are some of my fav's from the night:

Catching up with fellow RTA'er Sonya

Skyping in live for the announcements

freaking out over Mike's Grand Prize


Taking it all in :) 

Big thanks again to everyone who took the time to vote and leave me a sweet comment on my submission. I'm still sticking to my word about taking a lucky friend with me for the ride so if you're interested in joining me in Cali, let me know and I'll put your name into the draw!

Cheers!

August 12, 2010

Life Unedited

Imagine being at your favourite concert and having the ability to take photos and have them upload instantly for you while simultaneously saving to your phone and notifying your followers on Twitter/Facebook that you're taking photos in real time.

Now use the word Burstn to make that idea, a complete reality.

My talented neighbour Josh Davey and his business partner Dave Senior have been working (for what seems like years) on this free app called Burstn- which is completely changing the way we take photos. I can explain it to you with words, or I can simply show you how awesome this app is in 30 seconds:



Imagine having the ability to not only update your friends where you are in the world, but show them with a series of photos instantly!

        




Pretty cool eh?

I've been involved with the beta testing over the past few months and am so happy to announce the app is ready for download in the app store on any smartphone for absolutely FREE! So join the party, follow me so I can return the favour, and start snapping your life in real-time! This is as real as it gets. Life unedited.

Can't wait to follow your adventures!

August 02, 2010

Thanks Steve

I'm at this incredible crossroad in my life where I have a bunch of opportunities thrown onto my lap and choosing one could completely change the course of my life. It's crazy exciting because I love each and every one of my options. I just wish I could do them all at once. Alas, my cloning machine isn't quite up to par yet (my Star Trek transporter has taken priority).


I remember blogging about this crossroad last year before I made the decision to travel to Australia and was scared shitless at how one decision could affect the rest of my life. Now I live for these moments.


What have I learned? It's important to surround yourself with good people, positive energy, and most of all people that inspire you. For me, it was Steve Jobs. Have you met him yet? Dude's got some serious advice to lend...

So with that, I leave you with a very inspiring speech and in particular my favourite quote from it:

"You've got to find what you love. And that's as true for work as it is for lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking...and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."  -Steve Jobs


Now it's time for me to get back to work. I have a website that awaits it's launch :) 
Related Posts with Thumbnails