Little adventures

Holiday Weekend I

bowen island ferry
For the BC day long weekend, Sean decided we should go on some adventures. Our mini-break would be all about things we haven’t seen or done before.

The thing is, the BC Day long weekend are to Vancouverites what Thanksgiving Day weekend are to Americans. Newspapers predicted it would be a weekend of traffic jams, long border and ferry line-ups and carnage on the roads. As BC Day long weekend is considered the most busiest travel time of the year, it seemed like everyone had upped and left the city.

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Day Job

Weekend Paper Win


Vancouver Opera is in this weekend’s Globe and Mail newspaper! Columnist James Bradshaw wrote about how cultural organizations in Canada have incorporated social media initiatives and had interviewed me for the piece.

It’s pretty awesome exposure, considering that Globe and Mail has a readership of 935,000, making it the largest national newspaper in all of Canada.

Here’s what Bradshaw wrote about VO:

Vancouver Opera has been one of the more successful Canadian arts outfits online. Its Facebook and Twitter accounts hum with regular activity, and are quirky and revealing. One factor that contributes to its success? They have a dedicated employee to manage them.

Ling Chan joined Vancouver Opera in the fall of 2007 as an assistant to the managing director but soon had the company’s social networking tasks added to her duties.

So last December, VO made her their full-time social media manager, and she now spends her days churning out content for Facebook, Twitter and the company blog, as well as setting up contests and promotions and scouring and commenting on other social media arts channels. The primary goal is “lifting the veil to demystify the industry.” The company now live-tweets rehearsals and posts a “Fashion at the opera” feature, with photographs of patrons decked in their finery.

For. The. Win!

To have my name in the Globe and Mail, well, makes me all sorts of speechless.

Read the article on the Globe & Mail.

Travel the world

I’ll Always Have Pictures

amsterdam flickr albumCan’t believe it’s been a week since I came back from my trip!

Pictures are now posted to my Flickr.

As I went through my images, I was reminded of what a really fun trip that was. It is my hope that it won’t be another 15 years until I go back to Amsterdam. And that I must go back to explore more of Belgium next time. So much to see, so little time.

brussels flickr album
View more photos of my trip to Amsterdam and Brussels on my Flickr albums here and here.

Travel the world

Wind Power

zaans schans map
For my last full day in Amsterdam, I took off to the countryside to see windmills. Jumping on the train to Zaans Schans only took 20 quick minutes. Originally, I wanted to sail the Zaan river with a hop on/hop off ferry (such a romantic), but unfortunately the ferry only operates from Friday to Sunday. No matter, I took the footpath and I got to see more.

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Travel the world

In Bruges

bruges brick walkway
Today I went to Bruges!

Can I just say, it’s as beautiful as everyone says. After the one hour train ride, I walked the 20 minutes to town; just follow the stream of people heading there. The city is old Europe charm, with its pristine cobble stone streets and brick buildings. It’s a place where you just meander. I didn’t really even use my map but just wandered down the streets and ducked into alleys.

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Cool beans, Travel the world

We Are all Atoms

antwerp train station
The more I travel, the more it becomes easier to navigate through a city and its transportation system. Or maybe I’m just uber-comfortable with infographics like a subway chart or train routes?

The more I travel, the less intimidated I feel. With experience, I know what to look for in terms of markers and noting which direction I’m going and where I’ve come from. Usually by the second day in a city, I have it sorta mapped out in my head already.

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