Kacz
Where did you go again? Joined: March 5th 2008
Logged in: July 25th 2011
Logged in: July 25th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Traditional Icelandic Cuisine
Wow. It feels like forever since I've updated this blog, but that's reality when you're on the road often. There's so many great things to share, but I feel like I have a great "comeback" blog entry. This summer, I took a week long trip to Iceland, London, and Dublin which was fantastic. Now, all these places I've mentioned aren't known for the most exotic food, but Iceland by far is known for some pretty, I'll say, "out there" eats. Of course, everyone asks me what I tried and where I ate, but the one thing that kept coming up was my experience with one of Iceland's national dishes - the dreaded hakarl. Warning - this blog article might make you sick to your stomach. No matter where I go, I always want to sample the ... read more
SKA St. Petersburg
To most Americans, hockey is the bastard child of professional sports. With so many other sporting options to choose from, the Stanley Cup Finals take a far backseat to the World Series, Superbowl, and dare I say it, the NBA Playoffs. Head up north to Canada, and hockey is a way of life. Head across the pond to Russia, and hockey is, well, a great way to spend a Wednesday night. On our last day of study tour, our group was presented with an interesting option. Shell out over $100 to see a performance of the Nutcracker ballet near the Hermitage, or, spend about $20 and see a Russian hockey game. While a few chose an evening some may call high brow, the rest of us wanted a real local experience. As we arrived at the ... read more
Over the Nevsky River
My dad had always been a big fan of James Bond movies. Growing up, I can't count how many times we would have some Bond marathon on TBS playing in our house all day. I was never really engaged by these films, nor did I ever get into them much. Perhaps this leads to some explanation why I really wasn't that excited when I found out that Russia would be the last stop on our study tour. It's a country that I really had no desire in visiting...ever. Nothing really popped out at me, even with all the histroy behind the nation. It just never struck a cord with me. However, as time passed on prior to depatrue, my curiosity became more and more intrigued. A bit of hesitation struck as we were informed of a ... read more
Beware of the Orange Cab
It wasn't until I started living in Philadelphia until I really started utilizing taxi cab service. Needless to say, we didn't have any cabs tooting around Palmer, MA growing up, and I took the taxi in Syracuse only a couple of times. Once I started living in Philly, I grew to realize that some cabbies were awesome, some said very little, and some could be a bit testy. However, nothing compared to the cab ride I had heading to the airport in Seattle on my return trip from the Pacific Northwest. By a landslide, the worst cab experience I've ever had, and I would hope after reading this, one would be very cautious of taking a cab in the Emerald City. I had a flight that left Seattle-Tacoma International at about 7:30 in the morning. The ... read more
Top of the Space Needle
Without a doubt, it is one of the most unique structures that we have in the United States. It screams futuristic, and it is clearly the recognizable symbol of Seattle. It was without question that for my first visit to Seattle, I had to go to the top of the Space Needle. I had just finished visiting the Experience Music Project, which was right next door to the Needle. I bought my ticket to basically ride the elevator up top and walk around the top of the Needle. The inside had some cool exhibits about Seattle, including an interactive feature about the best parts of the city as told by people who live there. However, the action is really outside on the observation deck. Walking around, I got a great view of downtown Seattle, the athletic ... read more
Experience Music Project
Seeing as I was so close, I decided to spend a day in Seattle after my trip to Vancouver. A city that was also on my list of must visit places, I was anxious to see what this Pacific-Northwest vibe was all about. After taking a quick hopper flight from Vancouver, I took a quick shuttle from the airport to my hotel. Dropping off my bags, I immediately headed down 3rd Ave. straight towards Pike's Place Market, home of the famous flying fish. I ended up talking to one of the employees there who actually can be seen in the Seattle episode of Man v. Food behind the counter. Not only did he give me some insight on the market, but recommened a great spot for lunch that the common visitor would not be able to ... read more
Tim Horton's
Since my filming project was complete, I was relieved that I would not have to tote the camera around Vancouver on my last day there. However, I still wanted to stock up on some great photos and still had a few places to check out. Before I started my day, like many Canadians, I enjoyed a “double-double” and maple dip donut from Tim Horton’s. For those of you that are not part of the cult of Horton’s, it is by far the best coffee you’ll get from a fast food outlet..period. Seriously, I could have an IV needle stuck in my veins with Tim Horton’s coffee flowing through my body 24/7. Yes, I became a little bit obsessed with the T-Hos. If they ever decide to expand their franchise along the east coast, Dunkin Donuts and ... read more
Granville Island Public Market
I normally don’t wake up @ 6:30am on a Saturday, but if you’re going to get the best market experience, you’ve got to go early. I took a taxi down to Granville Island where I had an 8:30 tour of the public market with Edible British Columbia that I would be filming for my video piece. When I arrived to the meetup spot, I quickly discovered that I was the only person signed up for the tour, which avoided any issues of guests being uncomfortable with filming. Score! I met my guide, Chef Gurj Dhaliwal, who gave an excellent tour through all the fresh ingredients the market had to offer. Gurj didn’t mind being filmed as well, as he actually won a reality show completion on Food Network Canada. I could go on about how awesome ... read more
JapaDog
Before I had left for Vancouver, a collegue of mine had sent out an email to an old colleague of hers with whom she worked with on The Electric Playground while it was on the Science Channel. I had heard nothing back from this guy until I woke up on Friday morning with a “Come on by!”. This man was Victor Lucas, creator and host of the Electric Playground (now EP Daily), which runs on G4 TechTV in Canada and online. Seeing as this was a rare opportunity, I hopped in a cab over to Greedy Productions on the north side of the city where EP Daily was getting ready to film. The show is basically a daily rundown of video game/entertainment news and features, with reviews and colorful commentary thrown in the mix. I met ... read more
GM Place
As someone who works @ the Travel Channel, you might that I'd be whisking away to some exotic place every now and again for work. You'd actually be very wrong. I barely travel for work, and the surprising thing is, a lot of my co-workers don't do it that often either. I had a vision to create a culture change @ our organization, and thus created a program with a co-worker of mine that essentially allows Travel Channel employees to actually get out there and travel. To make a long story short, employees go out to a destination to create video and blog content for web and mobile platforms, and Travel Channel picks up the tab in return. As one of the co-founders of this program, I got to go on a pilot trip to work ... read more
