Hometown Tourist

I love guests. Not just because I love opening my home to our friends and family, but because having a guest in town gives me a great excuse to go out and explore my home town. 

Born and raised in South Florida, I think I perhaps take for granted how amazing the culture, the food the sights and sounds down here can be. But having a guest come visit usually reminds me how amazing this city can be. 

Our friend came into town recently for a friends wedding. After him and the hubby wrapped up some groomsmen business – the three of us made our way down to Calle Ocho. 

Calle Ocho or 8th Street is the heart of Little Havana. As a proud Cuban I know this. It’s in the manual. What I didn’t know  was how much of a little hot spot it was on Friday nights. Naive I know – but I think of Calle Ocho and I think dominos and traffic not trendy little historic bars. 

Anyhow, we made our way to Ball and Chain – a bar that’s been around since 1935. It was entirely what I expect. Great ambiance, live music. Maybe a bit over priced for what I’m used to with Cuban places, but that was probably because of the killer drinks and food. We were there for happy hour which made it more reasonable. BOGO drinks – yes please! 

Warning: Many Mojitos were harmed in the making of this memory. 

So we found ourselves lounging on floral cushions, enjoying the back patio area with its giant pineapple stage. We chowed down on Cuban egg rolls and congri fritters while sipping some minty, sugary goodness. Good little tip if you visit, you may see reserved signs, but apparently you can ignore those until 8.  

Considering that the apps we’re the first thing we had eaten all day, we got to a point where a full meal was necessary. So we abandoned our table and went in search of good place to get a traditional meal. 

And so we came across Old’s Havana Cuban Bar & Cocina. Not the typical place I would have gone with Mami and Papi, but most definitively a fun little spot with authentic food. We spied a little table right by the musicians and quickly snagged it. And when I say musicians I mean two old men playing guitar and killing it!! 

I quickly ordered us a nice mix of fish, chicken and ham (the most traditional) croquetas – my favorite Cuban snack – and convinced my hubby to give vaca frita another shot. Vaca Frita, which literally translated means fried cow, is a Cuban speciality of meat that is sautéed with onion, garlic and sour orange.  He was not disappointed and I could not be more grateful to have a converted vaca frita fan! (Sorry for the lack of a pic! It was so delicious we forgot!) 

After an amazing meal we enjoyed the walk back to the car, stopping and enjoying all the special little moment that Calle Ocho has to offer! 

It was so much fun being a hometown tourist and getting a chance to see why people love visiting Miami. I encourage everyone to spend a day being a tourist from time to time. You really don’t have to get on a plane to have a cultural adventure if you have a little imagination.  

It’s the…never agains

The past few months I’ve stepped up my Instagram game. I’ve always liked to use my IG account to test various social media marketing tactics and…well I’ve discovered it’s a great way to relive something I’ve been doing since I was in diapers – traveling!

I’ve pretty fortunate in my life to have traveled to 25 countries. Not as much as some people out there but definitely not insignificant either. What’s the best part of traveling you may ask? The memories. The little bits and pieces that stay with you forever. The experiences that shape the way you look at the world, at people, at relationships, food, history, art or architecture.

It’s the bizarre once in a lifetime experiences, like seeing a famous communist leader preserved for our viewing pleasure or sitting down to a meal of horse steaks in Italy with local friends. (Yea, it happened!)

It’s the beautiful moments where you get to experience the local culture – a nun sitting by a fountain reading her devotions while children play and people hurry on their way. It’s trying to learn the chants (and thanking the Lord you didn’t buy seats in the cheering section) for the opening night of the Swedish Hockey League.

It’s seeing the local craftsmen at work, artists creating impeccable mosaics at the Vatican, wood worker’s hand making intricate pieces at Stockholms living history museum or just a street artists doing his thing to earn a few coins to eat that night.

It’s the flavors of a country that stay with you and make you hungry just thinking about them. The simple street foods like fried cheese sandwiches in Prague, a slice of pizza in Italy or French fries with mayonnaise in Amsterdam.

It’s the delicious luxurious meals you share with your travel companions at a tourist attraction cafeteria (yea you read that right!) or the whitewashed cellars of the oldest restaurant in Stockholm or even, if you’re willing to splurge, a Michelin star restaurant in Florence where you’re served more courses than you can reasonably eat.

It’s taking a shot of homemade liquor in the middle of Wenceslas Square or enjoying a glass of Sangria on a hot Seville night.

It’s that moment you enter a building and look up only to have your jaw drop at the sheer beauty that surrounds you. ‘Nuf said.

Travel is both frustrating and fabulous. It teaches you something that stays with you forever. It gives you countless memories to look back on and laugh about, think about or reflect on. The only bad part is that it lives in a moment frozen in time.
I know that I will never return to Italy and pay for my gelato with a lira or travel to Spain and buy a calling card so I can let my parents know I’m ok. I will never again eat cold cucumber soup in a random Polish countryhouse and play in the fields with horses. I will never again get the chance to spend a week in a 1-bedroom communist era apartment in Slovenia with nine people (and an electric shower heater- yikes!)

But despite all the never agains – I can say without a doubt that the best part of my Instagram marketing experiment has been simply reliving all these beautiful moments of my life’s travels…and getting to dream about what’s next of course.

Planners Anonymous

It is officially less than a week until we leave for 14 glorious days in Europe and I can’t believe this nearly 8-month process is finally coming to fruition. Now, earlier this year I started working for a travel company specifically working with the agents who book travel for so many of our amazing customers, but I’m going to tell you a little secret–I love to plan!

Much to my husband’s relief, for me, part of the fun of travel is the actual planning. Whether it is the puzzles that form when you try to figure out a personalized itinerary or finding the deals as you scouring the web–it’s addicting and I could (and have) spent hours adjusting schedules or looking for just the right tour.

Over the past few months, I’ve learned more about the great travel deals that are available to me now that I’m considered a travel agent, so the “need” to plan might change over time (especially when little ones come into the picture). However, I doubt my passion for it will ever fade. Throughout this process, though,  I’ve found some really great mobile tools that I’m excited to test out on this trip and probably use for a long time to come!

To give you just a little context, sticking to our budget on this trip is kinda a big deal. I even saved us nearly 25% by using points, rewards and finding great deals whenever possible! So paying the exorbitant rates for mobile service was one of those expenses we cross off the list quick. All these apps that I’m using have the ability to be used offline and are free or in a few rare cases, cost a minimal fee.

Making plans…

Sygic Travel
This app was a lifesaver! One of the hardest things to plan is how long, what order and how much you can get done in a day. While it’s not perfect by any means (i.e. lacks public transportation options, doesn’t show every attraction/restaurant available etc.) it is a great place to start. You create trip itineraries by date and location and while you can put multiple destinations in one trip – I decided to divide it up by city instead.

I didn’t use this app to book any hotels or car rentals, but I did book a few tours through them (aka Viator). It’s great because you can save favorites, add activities to each day and then see all that on a map. It’s easy to use the filters to see what other attractions are nearby and keep adjusting the itinerary to meet your needs. You can also share itineraries with friends (or spouses) and there is a desktop version as well.

All the attractions have links to the Wikipedia page or websites and include the information you really need like descriptions, addresses, opening times, and costs. The app even offers suggested itineraries that you can add into your day. While the main app is free there is a paid version that allows you to use maps offline and gives you access to Fodor travel info.
Free, Sygic Travel (Offline Maps Require Fee)

Trip Advisor 
Another great, and pretty well-known travel resource is TripAdvisor. Similar to Sygic Travel, what was  most helpful about this app was being able to download the cities so they were available offline. Of course, each city has information and user reviews of the most popular attractions. In the destination guides, there is also an area called Travel Guides, that provides just that, user generated Travel Guides for various lengths of times and interests. The creators have assigned suggested times for attractions, which is again useful when planning your own itinierary.
Free, Trip Advisor for iPhone / Android

Google Maps
Tried and true, Google Maps is probably the app I use most frequently for life in general, so using it for travel is pretty obvious! You can use it to search for basically anything and can star locations to marks them for later reference. As you can see above I’ve been busy marking restaurants, bakeries, and bars in the areas we’re going to be. There are two other great features that came in handy too. The label feature lets you save locations under a name of your choice, which is great when you’re not staying at a hotel. Plus, did you know you can download parts of maps for offline use? Just tap the three lines at the top left corner, select “Offline Areas”, adjust the view you would like and download! Driving directions are available offline, unfortunately, transit is not, so that’s when you have to pull out the good old map reading skills.
Free, GoogleMaps for iPhone / Android

Tripit
This application (and desktop version) is a great way to keep track of that pesky thing called an itinerary. Took me a while to actually start using this one, so maybe it would have been more helpful had I started earlier. Basically, you can store all the important information about your flights, hotels, accommodations, dinner reservations, tours and more. Bonus, it helps you track your budget by letting you attach a price to each item. There are a lot of features available, like a place to store travel documents, but for me, it too manual to functions as anything more than a basic itinerary tracker. Oh and just one reminder, while an app like Tripit is a great resource, it’s always good to have a hard copy of the important details and tickets as a backup. Free, TripIt

Hotels.com & Airbnb
There are a million places to find accommodations out there. Personally, these are my favorites. On this trip we’re staying in 3 hotels and 3 Airbnb apartments–each apartment we chose is in the heart of the historic areas where we wouldn’t have been able to afford the hotel costs normally.

Hotels.com usually has some great prices compared to other sites, and their loyalty program is great; stay 10 nights, get 1 night free. Basically, you get a credit for the average cost of all your nights combined. We’re paying $25 in Rome for a 4-star hotel and paying only $125 for the Copenhagen Airport Hilton (normally over $300), thank you very much. Not to mention you continue racking up nights for the next adventure by booking through the same vendor. So whichever hotel site you choose, make sure they have a rewards program and that you consistently book through them.

Alternatively, Airbnb is a great option if you’re in a city that is expensive because it’s often more affordable. If you’re smart about it, it can provide a cultural experience of its own too! It’s easier to mix with locals since you’re literally living like they are. Case in point, on our honeymoon three years ago we befriended a young woman who worked right outside our apartment. She invited us to dinner with some of her friends, we’ve stayed in touch via Facebook, and three years later we’re meeting up in Bologna for some adventures.
Free, Hotels.com for iPhone / Android 
Free, Airbnb for iPhone / Android 

 

While you’re there…

XE Currency & Google Translate
After trying several version of both currency and language translators, I landed on these two tools, both of which work wonderfully offline. The XE Currency app needs to connect and download the rates so be sure to do that over Wi-fi before going offline, but it works wonderfully as you can easily remove and add the currencies you need. Similarly, with Google Translate you need to download the languages that you need offline, but once you do it’s easy to use.
Free, XE Currency for iPhone/ Android
Free, Google Translate for iPhone / Android

Google Drive/Amazon Drive
Sometimes you don’t want to have to lug a camera around, but you don’t want to miss out on capturing the perfect sunset over the city either. While I like to travel with my Fuji XT-10 and don’t mind carrying it around most of the time, there are still plenty of moments that are captured on cell phones. For those of you that don’t have unlimited memory on your cell phones, make sure to set up your free Google Drive or (free if you have Prime) Amazon Drive apps on your phones before you go. When you get back after a long day of sightseeing you can always put things to upload overnight and delete them from your phone for a fresh slate the next day.

Local Apps
As you make your way through websites and information online be sure to keep an eye out for local apps. By that, I mean applications that are specifically meant for local attractions or vendors. In our case, I was able to download a lot of things for Copenhagen such as the metro map and the local living history museum app which has a self-guided walking tour. We’re taking one EasyJet flight, so their app is a great way to store our boarding pass. (Although a screenshot
and print out version as backup was a must!) So as you plan, stay vigilant for these local apps in order to personalize your trip. Bonus: you may find apps that the locals use – talk about a cultural immersion!

Staying in touch…

What’s App/Facebook Messenger/Skype
All three of these apps are wonderful for staying in touch with family or friends while aboard. Of course, you need Wi-fi to get in touch, but this is usually not too hard to find either around the city or in your accommodations. Remember there is a time difference when you travel internationally so you may want to remind loved ones what their local time will be when you’ll be online.
What’s App
Facebook Messenger for iPhone / Android
Skype for iPhone / Android

All of these apps can be super helpful, but there are a couple things that I like to remind myself of before we jet off. The most valuable thing about going some place new is getting to immerse yourself in the culture and experiencing the world around you in real time. So put down the phone and get out from behind that camera and just enjoy the experiences going on around you. Perhaps the biggest thing to remember though is that no matter how much research and planning you’ve done before you get there, things change. Plans changes. So sometimes it’s important to go with the flow and enjoy the rush that comes with not knowing what is going to happen next.

Intricacies of the Unfamiliar

Traveling is one of those activities that changes you forever. Opening your eyes to people and customs so different from yours, that you are forced to choose who you are in an instant.

Will you be close minded and unwilling to take chances? Or will you be open to experiences that make you uncomfortable?

Will you judge people for being different than you? Or will you embrace their uniqueness and dive into their world with open arms?

I’ve been fortunate enough to have been an international traveler from the ripe old age of three.

My parents, who are travelholics themselves, took me to Greece as a child. My mom tells this funny story about the day that we went to the beach there. I apparently walked out onto the warm sand with my pink polka dot one-piece and did a long scan of the beach, with its topless women, before taking one look down at myself and wriggling out of my bathing suit entirely. Refusing to put it on again for the remainder of the day.

I think that story shows that even from an early age, I knew what kind of person I was going to be. Brave. Willing to take chances. Hungry to experience life and cultures. Eager to understand the intricacies of the unfamiliar.

Over the years I’ve been to dozens of countries, experienced hundreds of moments that have continued to push me. The wonderful part is that each of these moments has played a part in who I am. It’s made me more able to express myself, more willing to take chances and speak my mind. More capable of believing in myself and what I can offer others.

My education in marketing and my experience in branding tells me that I should be writing on this blog about “business topics” but really…isn’t it more fun to break the rules? To take off the one-piece and run naked through the blogosphere just to let people get to know me.

If it leads to a work one day because someone sees the talent in me, great – but if not, I’m going to keep seeing it in myself. I’m going to keep walking the earth, experiencing the intricacies of the unfamiliar, and letting each nuance become a little part of me.

Back to Basics

You may notice some changes on all my social accounts and this blog/website. Amidst the craziness of a busy job and married life, I hadn’t really taken the time needed to build a brand. But recently, someone on my Instagram account asked if I had a blog. It was just enough to get me motivated.

The hardest part of this entire process has been coming up with a name. I’ve been putting it off because I just couldn’t figure out the right angle. Should I just use my actual name? Not a bad idea, but it also doesn’t tell anyone anything about me.

I wanted something that could, in a couple words, share with the world what I was all about. But really, what was I about? Defining that was critical. So I took it back to the basics, grabbed a notebook and starting writing what I wanted people to know about me.

Words like communicator, creative, organizer, photographer all came to mind pretty quickly. There are other interests I’m passionate about too and so words like traveler, culture, foodie also came to mind.

When I started to look at my list, I realized that while those interests are a part of me, I’ve been using my core skills to share those parts of me with the world. Those core skills are what I needed my brand to focus on.

From there, things became easier. I realized that everything I do falls into one category, being creative. Although I’ve got an eye for design and the ability to put together a mean event, for the most part, I express my creativity through writing and photography. If I could provide no other services for people, that is what I would do.

With that in mind, I took another look at my list and one other thing stood out – ‘takes action’. Anyone who knows me personally is fully aware of my need to get things done right away. I like things to be actionable and then I like to take action. That is when it came to me. I asked myself, “What words describe action within the areas I’m focusing on?”

In writing, with modern technology, we write through the action of typing on the keyboard. Type.

In photography, adjusting the shutter can either blur motion or freeze action.  Shutter.

And that is how I came up with the new name for my personal brand.  I spent the rest of my evening changing my handles and usernames, updating my website and feeling inspired by this newly focused brand.

Developing a brand is a very personal thing. You have to be willing to take an honest look at yourself and what you want. You have to find commonalities where there may not appear to be any.

My hope in sharing this process is that it might inspire someone out there who doesn’t know quite where to start… to just start and realize that sometimes it just takes going back to the basics to figure out what makes you special.

Starting Fresh…with Hope

I hate to sound cliche, but has it really been nearly 9 months since I’ve posted something on here?  When I last left off I was just wrapping up my Master’s degree and searching for a more fulfilling job. Which by the way, I found.

I’ve been with this new company for nearly 9 months and I have never felt more at home, more appreciated and more supported in my work. Oh, and the home part is pretty accurate since I work virtually now. Did I mention they are a travel company and I now get ridiculous access to amazing travel deals?

But why post now, all 3 of my followers may ask? Well as fulfilling as my life is right now, I would still like to be able to write things for myself. Create, photograph things for myself or for people whom I choose. (*cough cough* check out my services page- apparently, I’m not above a shameless plug!)

I’m not sure what shape this blog will take. In the past, it has been a collection of marketing and communication topics, with design thrown in for good measure. It’s a world I love so chances are I will revive these topics with a fresh perspective. But I make no promises about what else might appear over time!

I do have hopes though–to find some focus for my personal brand and with that a following. Hopes of building myself up as (even more of) an expert. Enough so that people would hire me for small creative projects or event coordination or photography. Yup- I love to do all that too and I’m pretty darn good at it actually. Sometimes the world we live in seems a bit bleak, but I will hold onto this hope and see what I can make of it.

Charity Champions!

I’m so excited that it is the holiday season and I get a second shot at organizing my companies Christmas Box Challenge. (Yup, it’s Christmas around here…)

First a little backstory. Last year, the company’s president requested that I take his idea to do a toy drive in each office and formulate a plan. It was already late in the year, but we managed to collect a little over 700 toys.

Admittedly, it’s not alway easy to get employees involved in charity events. I am very fortunate that this company’s spirit leans towards generosity, thanks in great part to the family that owns it. However when developing internal plans, you must deploy a little ingenuity and insight into your corporate culture to determine the best ways to engage people.

Once again, this year each office was asked to select a local charity partner that will receive their toys. These selections allowed them to touch their local communities, an important aspect of our giving philosophy.

After looking at the needs of the charities, we decided to host this event during the month of November, which would allow enough time for Santa’s elves to do the rest.  All month long each of our 12 offices had a ‘Christmas Box’ in their office and they were shamelessly set on the task of collecting the most toys!

Why did they need to collect the most? Because it was a competition of course! The office with the most toys would get a lunch party. With the deep competitive culture across our offices, I knew that positioning this as a competition would create the buzz and excitement necessary to outdo ourselves.

Being the main social media coordinator here at the company, I also wanted to incorporate a social element that would drive engagement online…and so the “Employee Social Media Challenge” was born (very fancy name I know!).

Office Manager were asked to submit pictures of individual toys for a variety of categories (Best Classic, Most Unique, Most Educational, and Most Adult-Enviable) which I then uploaded to an album on our company Facebook page. The photos with the most likes and comments determined the winner, whom would then receive a handy $10 Starbucks gift card. Simple Enough.

Well, now that you know the play…let me tell you the results. In terms of toys, we collected 1,572…814 toys MORE than last year (impressive for just over 200 people). The photos on Facebook drove people to our page, increasing our followers by 15.25% in 1 month, our reach was up 65%, and engagement up 250%. Overall, I would say the event was an all around success–and it only cost us about $125.

Best of all, however, are the 1500+ children whose Christmas is going to be made special because of the generosity of others.

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Editing Endeavors

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to work on some videos for various charity events in which my company has participated. While I had to use my personal 8-year-old Mac and an almost equally old version of iMovie (my go-to for these shorter productions) I’m rather pleased with the final products.

I was fortunate enough to have a minion…I mean an intern as each event helping me film. 😉 My only wish is that the person who helped me with the Goliath Gauntlet had been present at the Fishing Tournament–but alas, we live and learn!

And with that, here are the videos for your enjoyment.

 

 

New Year Advertising

As we come to the end of 2015, I find myself getting a chance to get a little creative with our industry advertisements. Usually, we like to include photography and great content–but how do you do that when you have 2×4 inches of space!

As a fan of infographics, a design approach that allows the dissemination of information in digestible ways, I determined it would be most effective for these ads. With that, I present, a 2016 Corporate Ad that is sure to stand out from the competition. 

 

Simulation Branding

It’s November already and I’m only 6 weeks away from being done with my Masters in Marketing and Communications. Work has really picked up in the last few classes, which is probably a contributor to my disappearance for a while.

A lot of the assignments in the last couple classes were group based. As a rule of thumb, I don’t like to share things that aren’t my own work. However, in the class I’m wrapping up this week my team worked as brand managers in an online simulation. (Super intimidating at first, but then we rocked it!)

One of the extra assignments was a logo design and an ad for our fake OTC cold medicine brands. So I did get a chance to flex my design skills just a little bit.

First I did a little research and noticed a lot of over the counter cold medicines didn’t implement a complicated design. Normally, it was just the product name in a rather boring font. I wanted our product to stand out but also wanted to be consistent with the industry so I decided to keep the design on the minimal side.

Secondly, I noticed red was a popular (but not too popular) color in the market. I appreciated the power that this color has, it evokes feelings of energy, strength, determination, and desire. Do I want someone who’s sick to feel like the product they are about to take is weak? Um, no. Quite contrary.

Finally, I did want to add a small element of design to help the logo stand out on the market. So I added a small icon that subtly displays a cross, which is often used to represent healthcare. Replacing the letter “o” in the design with this icon really integrated it. And so here are the logos for our “AllStar Brands” product line.

For the ad mock up we decided to keep it light and humorous–something that the OTC drug market doesn’t really use in advertising. We wanted to differentiate ourselves while still appealing to the target segment selected.