A Gift to Myself

oh hey blog, I feel like we've become strangers lately. I've been cheating on you with my work blog (and I'm not really sorry). I've been blogging and pumping out content more now than ever, but it's just not happening here...

Lest we Forget the Daisies

With all the tweets about Easter and chocolate goodies, it's sometimes easy to forget what this holiday is all about. Religious or not, it's a good time to connect with family and friends even if for a night of drinks (or tea). It's nice to kick back and reminisce on your youth (and have those people in your life remind you of the times you may have forgotten about) both good and bad.

Today is also Anzac Day in Australia/New Zealand and I had the honour of experiencing this first hand last year when I was in Melbourne. I remember waking up at 4am to head to the dawn service where hundreds of Aussies gathered around a monument for the ceremony and two minutes of silence.
I have never felt so solemn as I did that morning watching the sunrise...

Facetime in Van

This past week I had a chance to hang out in Vancouver for work and ended up getting so inspired by the people I met, and capturing what this city had to offer from behind the lens.

I had a lot of meetings, ate a lot of awesome sushi, and drank some excellent seasonal brews.

Scoring the Best Travel Job Ever

As I sit here writing a blog post for Flight Centre about my love affair with Couran Cove in Australia, I have to stop myself for a second to take it all in. I'm sitting here getting paid to write a blog about my travels and then share it with the world.

To say I scored a sweet gig would be an understatement. I'm on cloud nine and I'm thrilled where life has taken me. I never imagined myself here two years ago when I decided to quit my job at MTV and travel down under. Since then, I have met so many amazing people and truly 'found myself' if you will. It's true what they say about Australia, 'sometimes in order to find yourself you need to walkabout'

Talk to me Baby

Today is going to be a fun day. Not only do I get to shoot the Travel Expo in Toronto today, but I get to host the live webcast! I'll be broadcasting live from the floor at this year's Toronto Travel Expo at the Convention Centre and talking to some awesome travel people. You can join in on the fun at: http://www.flightcentre.ca/live

Love at First Bite

Received this lovely gift in my e-mail inbox from the awesome people at Nomading Film Festival:

Couldn't ask for a better Valentines Day gift really :) 

Want to get your name in noodles? Sign up for their newsletter and make sure you're following them on Twitter. For all my travelling filmmakers out there, I sure hope to see some of your entries in their film festival this year! Submissions can be no longer than 15 minutes. Give it a go!  

That's a Wrap!

As November comes to a close, it's time to wrap things up. After a very successful season, I was happy to announce 'That's a Wrap!' to the cast and crew of Battle of the Blades Season 2.

I've Found my Date for Cali...

and his name is Mike!

Toronto, WE GOT THIS!

Are you good at figuring out clues? 

What if I told you there was a sweet treasure involved? 

Mark your calendars Toronto friends: Tues Sept 14th! 

This day is going to EPIC.

The good people at Intrepid Travel (who were one of the awesome sponsors involved in the Best Travel Job Ever Contest I recently won) are giving away even more!

GET INTO IT:

Over the month of September, Intrepid is hiding globes in five different cities around the world (Aukland, Chicago, London, Melbourne and TORONTO!)

http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/

Torontonians, Sept 14th is OUR DAY and I really want to see some of you win this stuff!

HOW IT'S GOING DOWN:

- 8 globes will be hidden in Toronto with awesome prizes in them like trips to Peru, Morocco and other exotic locations as well as up to $1000 in vouchers for a future Intrepid Trip!!

-Clues will be given away every hour starting at 9am on Twitter, so make sure you're following them @Intrepid_Travel

GOOD LUCK FRIENDS!

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!

What I Ate With My Mate

Content. 

I love creating it. Reading it, but most of all sharing it.

After recently travelling Australia for six months, I've started writing for various websites including Travel with a Mate, MTV Fora, Chickadvisor, and of course my own Aussie blog. But what I love most- is meeting all these other great people producing content as well. I'm so fortunate to be surrounded by some seriously creative and brilliant minds who offer nothing but support and encouragement. By the way if you haven't met the tribe, I highly suggest you get to know them ;) 

I've really enjoyed being on the road- it's allowed me to write and completely produce my own content outside of a cubicle. I'm really proud of my MTV Fora pieces- the team has given me so much freedom to write whatever the hell I want, produce video, and even have a say in the design layout of the pages. If you haven't read 'From YYZ to SYD' I highly suggest you do so ;)  

This month, I am pleased to give you: 'What I Ate with my Mate ' 

Stay tuned for my next article on Aussie fashion. I hit the streets of Melbourne to dissect the street style and try on some different hats-literally.  

By the way- only one week left to vote for me in the 'Best Travel Job Ever' competition. Send some goddamn love my way would ya? 

The MIM (Melt in Mouth) Series: Part One

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After spending the past six months in Australia, I came across some really great food dishes that made my experience that much better. But there is one recipe in particular that still makes my tastebuds water just thinking about it. So I decided to share it with the world by writing an article for my dear friends at Chickadvisor: 

Be sure to check out the full recipe on Chickadvisor's Website.

Big thanks to my Melbourne mate Gill for her amazing cooking skills while I snapped away. 

Feel free to check out more of our food experiments on her blog as well :) 

Wanna Go on a Date?

In Cali? Like for reals.

The Bonus round of the BTJE Competition is in full effect and THIS girl here is in the running to win a trip to Cali and blog about the adventure. Even better news... I get to bring a friend! So I thought, why not make a date of out it?

If you're too lazy to vote, all I ask is that you head over to: http://besttraveljobever.com/tagg and write me a nice comment :)

Every vote and/or comment I receive enters me in a draw to win the Cali trip for 2 (did I mention the dates are open?!)


Hope to see you in Cali ;)

xoxo
@Taggio

Birthday Travelganza Part 5: Toronto

After two crazy weeks and five amazing cities, I am happy to announce I have made it to my final destination in my home and native land! Toronto embraced me with sunshine and smiles and it felt so damn good :)

I flew in from NYC with Porter which drops you off right in the heart of the city at Toronto Island Airport. Getting through customs was a breeze since there was basically 30 other people on my flight (yet another reason why I LOVE this airline).

I went straight to my Toronto apt, jumped in the shower, threw on the cleanest clothes I had and walked down Queen St to surprise my roomie Nicole at Davids Tea. It was so awesome to be reunited with her after 6 months you have no idea.

 

After this it was pretty much non-stop.
Had a rooftop beach party with my neighbours

Reunited with some friends at Betty's (one of my fav pubs in Toronto). It was a perfect night of people dropping in and out so I could have some one-on-one time with them and catch up. I've discovered how helpful it was to blog about my aussie adventure while I was away. Most confessed that they were living vicariously through my phot albums and blogs and already knew everything about my trip. I love that :)

The weekend was full of coffee dates, BBQ's, beers and very little sleep. My bod is still running on Oz time so I often wake up at 4am for no reason.

So it's official. I've hit the quarter century. 

25 and still going strong!

Thank you to everyone from all the cities I visited over the past two weeks for making this experience an unforgettable one. It sure feels good to be back :)

Birthday Travelganza Part 4: LA/NYC

I stood in front of this sign at the Sydney airport for a solid ten minutes and thought to myself 

'am I really doing this?' 

The answer was yes. 

I ended up going with the window seat after all. But scored BIG time since I was in the first row in the economy section. I had heaps of leg room and didn't have to worry about bugging the french dude in the aisle seat anytime I had to pee. Oh and the cute male flight attendant would occasionally pop his head through the curtain and offer me warm croissants and other goodies only business class had the luxury of enjoying. Best Birthday flight ever. 

 

So it's official. I am back in North America. I knew it the moment I stepped off the plane and the hostile airport security yelled at me where to go. What ever happened to 'Welcome to Los Angeles, please head this way to collect your luggage' ?  Meh... a girl can dream can't she?

God I miss Australia already. Luckily it was a sunny day in California so after going through the headache of American customs and stripped/patted down to virtually nothing, I hit the bar. Met some cool dudes, some not-so-cool dudes, and some really creepy 50-something men who think they've still got game. I laughed, and continued to drink my beer.

I went to the ATM and realized how much I hate American money. It's so dirty, bland and boring. The Aussies not only have colourful bills organized by size, but it was rip/waterproof too. So brilliant my mates are :)

After finally making it to rainy NYC I realized how not attracted I am to this city. I used to think NYC was so cool, but now coming back to it for the third time I see nothing but an overpopulated piece of land that looks concrete old and rusty. Living in Australia has really changed by perspective on things... I realize now sitting here in an NYC cafe how much I never want to live here. #realtalk

But let's talk about something I do love about NYC shall we? The BAGELS AND CREAM CHEESE. 

I kid you not when I say I was literally shoveling this stuff into my mouth. Australia doesn't specialize in this at all. It was VERY difficult for me to find places that had bagels anywhere in Aus and the ones that did tasted like crap. New Yorkers... now they know what they're doing when it comes to this shit right here. Hands down.

My time is short here in NYC but since it's so crappy out I could care less. It is afterall only a one hour plane ride away from TORONTO.

4 cities down. 1 MORE TO GO!
Toronto, this is it!

Birthday Travelganza Part 3: Sydney

The official halfway point on my birthday tour, Sydney embraced me with open arms. I didn't realize how much I missed the smell of the ocean until I arrived back in Bondi. I'm seriously going to miss going for morning runs along the beach...big time.

It was so great to see old friends again and say a farewell to this beautiful country of Australia.

Had a nice big dinner at Bondi Pizza with both my Canadian and Aussie friends 

Enjoyed many open bar nights on the rooftop patio of Diageo (the nights got a bit blurry)

Had a good old fashion Aussie BBQ with the Whalley Family- my long lost Aus relatives. 

How cute is this little munchkin? I'm going to miss her big time

Another thing I'll miss about Australia? THE COFFEE.

 None of this drip business- everyone here is a barista even in their own kitchen.

I find it rather fitting that I'm ending my time here in Sydney where it all began. Over the past 6 months I have learned so much and met some really great people. I couldn't think of a better way to ring in my 25 years of living than by going out and actually living it. 

Goodbye for now dear Sydney... I will most definitely be back.

Next stop: NYC

two. five.

Two weeks. Five cities.

Can she handle it?

Hobart

Melbourne

Sydney

New York

Toronto

let the madness begin.

New.Beginnings.

Ok. So I'm at this weird crossroad in my life.

After working slightly over a year for MTV Canada which is a place thriving with incredibly creative and brilliant minds; I started thinking about my future in this industry. I absolutely love the company and love what I do so much that I could see myself working there for a long long time. This led me to realize how lucky I am at the age of 24 to have such a sweet gig. I must be doing something right if they like me enough to keep me around this long.

But then, it happens... every time I log onto a social network, (Facebook whore) I see yet another album of a friend who has posted their experience from Europe (or the like). 

And then there is me... the one who has never been outside of North America. Seriously.

I've done my share of US states including the incredibly gorgeous Hawaii. And like any other college kid, had my share of spring breaks in Cuba etc.

But I've never lived outside of the city for more than a couple of weeks. Toronto is the only life I know. And I feel like now is that time go out and experience this sort of stuff before I settle down to a 'real job' if you will, (although working in TV is definitely not your 9-5). 

So I took the leap of faith. I sat down with my producer and talked it out. She was completely on my page, in fact even had stories to tell of when she did the same thing.  

Now it's happening... I'm taking this next year off to travel to Australia. I'm not just going for the beaches, boys, and sexy accents (although it is rather appealing) but to also try my hand at working in TV land out there. 

So what's the point in traveling if you're just going there to work you ask? 

TV works a little different...it's a lot of freelance which when planned out right can allow you to travel in between gigs. This could mean Fiji, New Zealand, Thailand. Hell, I'm going to try and hit everything I possibly can while I'm on that side of the world. The more money I make out there, the more I can do with it. 

And then it became real. I found a super great deal through a company called VAustralia and literally jumped at the chance to book a flight. I had butterflies in my stomach watching the payment go through and the itinerary show up in my inbox. 

I'm stoked. I'm reuniting with my Whistler homies and old friends. Everyone is telling me it will be an experience I'll never forget. "You'll love it Alicia. You'll never come back"

But then, my heart drops. My company posted a job two days after booking my flight for a position that has my name written all over it. As I read the qualifications I'm mentally checking off the list in my head:

-Online social butterfly? Check

-Understanding and evolving with these social networks? double check

-portfolio of writing skills? triple check

-Photography skills/photo editing- check check could this job get any better? check

-HTML/ web understanding - check check I can feel the tears forming check

I have to stop here... It hurts to replay this in my mind.

The perfect job at the worst possible time.

Why do I feel like I'm making a mistake by leaving?
I'm not. I just have to keep telling myself that.

I can't wait to look back on this day and laugh about it :)