Shai Coggins

Like I promised in Part 1 of my NY-Toronto Trip Recaps and Highlights, here’s Part 2. And in this entry, I start with my Toronto welcome…

Toronto Highlights

• Stayed at the Delta Chelsea. Great, central location. Good customer service. No WiFi, but High Speed Internet Access is available in some rooms, I got one of those rooms. The bathroom was a bit of a disappointment (in need of renovation, as far as I’m concerned), but the room itself was quite spacious and nice. I was told that the hotel had a great pool, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the time, energy and inclination to check it out.

• My fabulous “Welcome to Toronto Party” that almost never ended. After checking in the hotel at around 4.30, I was already on my way out to see and experience Toronto by around 5.30 pm. Although I’ve never met any of them before, I went to see Junnie Arreza, Robin Yap, and Che Diego. Junnie is this smart, talented photographer whom I know through blogging from 5+ years ago. Incredibly enough, we’ve never met in person until then! The intelligent and outgoing Robin is someone I met just a few months ago, also through blogging. I think MyBlogLog even had a hand in it. And, sweet interesting Che… well, Che was the only non-blogger of the bunch (well, shortly after, she started her own blog too!). I knew her through my good friend and FreshWave co-blogger Berns. She ‘introduced’ us via Facebook a few days before I left for my trip. Junnie, Robin and Che didn’t know each other either even though they lived in the same city. So yep, we were bunch of virtual strangers/acquaintances meeting up. But, if you saw us that night, you would’ve thought we hanged out for years. For some reason, we all just clicked. Loved the lame jokes, the silly banters, the stories, the subway ride, the trip up and down the CN Tower, the view from the 360 restaurant (and the food, of course!), the weird feeling of walking on a glass floor from “the tallest building in the world” (115 stories high, right?), the incessant photo-taking, the light show… and everything else in-between. It was nearly 11pm when we all parted. Needless to say, we met as strangers and parted as friends. Thanks again for the treat (the guys wouldn’t let me pay for anything - not even my subway tokens!)... and for an amazing welcome.

• Meeting the b5media Crew. No, not everyone. But, it was an almost surreal experience to finally meet Jeremy Wright (my co-founder and our CEO), after knowing each other online for a couple of years and working together. We didn’t get to hang out a lot, but the few hours we managed to get together were definitely good and worthwhile. His most memorable line to me was, “I thought you’d be a lot shorter.” Well, he said a few other memorable things but I probably shouldn’t be blogging about them. Heh. It was also great to be able to meet Mark Evans, who was obviously Mr. Popularity. Everywhere we went in downtown Toronto, he seemed to be bumping to someone who knew him. I managed to hang out with Mark the most while I was there. And, it was great for productivity, brainstorming, and such. I also had the pleasure of meeting his lovely wife Pam on my last evening there. One of Mark’s memorable lines to me: “You should definitely change your profile picture. You look different in person.” I was a bit taken aback so I never got the chance to ask, “Different, how?” Meh. Anyhoo, other than Jeremy and Mark, I also met our two new interns then - Duncan Cairns-Brennan and Janet Tieu. It was cool. And yeah, I caught up a couple of times with Chad Randall again. And, amazingly, the three guys (Jeremy, Mark and Chad) managed to show bits and pieces of Toronto to me during and in-between business meetings… Kensington Markets, Eaton Centre, Mills Pub, etc. Yay. Just a shame I didn’t get to meet our fab Office Manager (Darcie), who was then on vacation. Ah, maybe next time.

• Meeting Some Great Folks from JLA Ventures. Other than fellow b5ers, I also had the fantastic opportunity to meet part of our VC team. Rick Segal, John Albright (whom I ended sitting right next to during dinner), etc. were all fascinating . Seriously, some of the people I met there (from the VC company and some of the business folks that they work with) just had such great energy and passion. It was incredible even just to watch them all in action.

• Hanging out at the brand new b5 Office. Well, ‘hanging out’ doesn’t sound quite right as we were working. But, boy, that was one cool office space to work in. Ah. Well, I won’t go on about it. I already blogged about how fantastic it is.

Toronto - LA - Sydney - Adelaide Journey

• This is by far the longest trip I made in one straight journey. About 35+ hours in total and roughly 22 hours of that spent inside an aircraft. Yikes. There were delays, missed flights, annoying seatmate and an even more annoying Qantas flight attendant (on hindsight, I probably should’ve reported him to Qantas for bad behaviour - he was very condescending, among other things) — for the LA-Sydney route, and all sorts of grief. But hey, that’s business travel for ya.

• While in a queue to leave Toronto, a guy behind me said, “So, do you also work for FedEx?” Uh, no. Didn’t get the connection until later on. But, he just kept on trying to chat. Asking me if I’ve been to Boston and if I wanted to see it, since he was from there. OK. I decided there and then that all those chat-up stuff must be due to the crazy, hectic feelings we get when we’ve been travelling. Ergh.

• Was just absolutely thrilled to be back Home.

So, there you go. Now, to move on and make new memories…

Technorati Tags: b5media, toronto

It’s been over a week since I returned from my NYC-Toronto trip. And, I know that I promised to do a recap of some sort, so here ‘ya go. Long overdue, I know.

Adelaide-Sydney-LA-NYC Journey

• Started off with a weepy morning, saying goodbye to the family. But, my 3-year-old was just excited to know that I was going overseas on a Qantas aeroplane (he’s nuts about planes). Heh.

• Bad start to the trip when I found out that my credit card wasn’t working (only got re-activated 24 hours later, just as I landed in the U.S.). And, I didn’t have any U.S. currency with me.

• Flight from Sydney to L.A. was delayed because of ‘bad weather’. Some scary turbulence along the way.

• LAX was hectic and crazy. Missed my connecting flight to NYC due to the earlier delay. Ended up with 3 hours delay. Was taken to ’second interview’ at immigration, but thankfully, it didn’t take too long. A customs/immigration guy came up to me with the line: “Wherever you’re going, please, please take me with you.” Huh?

• Arrived in NYC almost midnight. JFK airport was nice, but was surprised to be greeted by masses of ‘unofficial cabbies’ offering a taxi ride. Yikes. I decided to go to the official cab queue instead, and ended up with a nice cabbie who said he was a nursing student, originally from Cameroon. Briefly saw the entrance to the Grand Central Station.

• After 30+ hours of travelling, I was finally in North America. After 10 years of not travelling to that side of the world, my return trip to America began…

New York City Highlights

• Stayed at Hudson Hotel (58th St). Modern hotel with an obviously popular bar, that’s why it was always very loud and busy at the reception/entrance area every single night that I was there. The room I stayed in was small, with an en suite without a bath (Somehow, I always look for bath tubs in hotel rooms). Loved the complimentary toiletries that came with the room. Other room facilities were underwheming. Reasonably priced. reliable WiFi from the room. Generally good service. Overall, not bad - but probably would prefer to stay somewhere else, preferably nearer the Times Square area, if I’d ever find myself back in NYC.

• Attended the Future of Online Advertising conference. Held at a really fancy, impressive venue: Gotham Hall (loved the quotes on the walls). I was only there for part of Day Two, though. Free WiFi, but kept dropping. Some really interesting presentations, but there’s room for improvement. Oh, and it was at the conference when I met b5 co-founder/partner Darren Rowse for the very first time, after working together online for nearly two years. Imagine having to meet on the other side of the planet when we’re living in neighbouring states here in Oz. Incredible, huh? And yes, I also met b5 colleague Chad Randall (Director of Sales) for the first time. Anyway, I wrote about FOOA at Just Make Money Online here and here.

• Enjoyed the after-conference get-together at Sortie. Some folks I met then include: Rachel Clarke (a b5 blogger, who took me to my first ever NYC subway ride at peak hour and kept me company; Still owe you a drink, Rachel!) and Nick O’Neill (a young, passionate web entrepreneur). Also had fun meeting some of the folk from Carson Systems (FOOA organisers). They seem like really nice people. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to chat extensively with most of them. But, I did have the great opportunity to spend some time talking to Andrew Calvo (VP, Sales), who ended up treating us to a gorgeous Italian dinner. I was going to join Andrew and company for an extended evening of fun at a Jazz bar, since I was told that it was “The NY thing to do.” Unfortunately, I got too tired and got anxious when we couldn’t hail a cab quickly. Ended up hanging out with Chad and Kiwi entrepreneur Jon Beattie (of Marker Studio) walking along Times Square (can’t beat seeing this part of New York City at night!), ending with drinks at TGIF. And, Jon didn’t really need to pay for my strawberry drink (yes, I chickened out and didn’t go for the Mojitos like the boys did) - I would’ve still thought that he was a really nice bloke (thanks again, Jon).

• Loved the Quick Tour of NYC, courtesy of the wonderful Lara Kulpa. Started off with me being late to the appointment. Yikes. Anyway, Lara, Darren and I shared a fantastic ‘family style’ lunch at Carmine’s (Darren’s treat), which was near Broadway. The penne pasta with vodka sauce was really good, but the salad was just the best I’ve ever had. After lunch, we took the subway to Battery Park. We had to get off the subway at some point and had to take the bus the rest of the way. Saw Wall St. in passing. Viewed the Statue of Liberty from afar (the one NYC landmark that I really wanted to see during my brief trip). Explored Battery Park a little, and really enjoyed the ’street show’ by a group called The NYC Tumblers (that’s what I remember them calling their group anyway). I even took some video footage of the act, but will have to find the time to edit that before I post it. Also saw some really cool statues/sculptures, including one that was from the World Trade Center. And yeah, I did a very cheesy, touristy thing by actually posing with a busker who was meant to be Lady Liberty. Heh.

• The Problogger Meet-up at the Speakeasy. After the quick tour, Darren had a quick stop at his hotel and Lara and I had a drink while waiting for him. Then, we went straight to the venue, where I ended up meeting another b5 colleague for the first time - Aaron Brazell (Technology Director). It was an interesting evening (though a tad bit awkward for a couple of reasons) that really stretched my networking muscles. Some folks I met include: Valeria Maltoni, John Keegan (of Blog Harbor, probably the only non-b5 person in the meet-up that I’ve ‘known’ online for a while; thanks again for the photos!), Paull Young (a fellow Aussie who now lives in NY), Derek Halpern, Jonathan Dingman (from TLA), and Marshall Sponder (who was the ‘big winner’ of the evening), among a few others. And, yes, one of the most enlightening conversations of the evening that I had was with Liz Strauss (b5 blogger at Successful Blog). That talk certainly deserves a blog entry of its own. Anyway, I didn’t really stay too late at the party. I left just after 10.30pm, I think. I had to go, especially since I was flying to Toronto the next day.

Well, I did say that I wanted to do more multimedia blogging this year. So, yeah, here you go… Episode #11 of FreshWave.TV (link goes to FWTV’s page).

It’s just a quick one-minute “video snapshot” of a trip to this popular beach called Boracay in the Philippines. Nothing grand. In fact, it’s probably the shortest and simplest video on file over at FreshWave.TV. And, I recognise its faults. It doesn’t matter.

One thing I remember when I started experimenting with multimedia blogging was that I just wanted to learn. To have fun. To enjoy the process. To share — and to connect. But somehow, both with podcasting and vlogging, I ended up feeling the pressure to create great stuff. And, the more I thought about it, the less I managed to do it.

That’s why I stopped podcasting. And, that’s why in 2006, there were only TWO measly videos published on FreshWave.TV. Agh.

So yes, I decided that from hereon, I’m hoping to do more podcasts and videos. They won’t always be great and polished. In fact, I imagine I’d end up creating a lot of fluff. But, when it comes to podcasting and vlogging, I think I need to apply the same lesson that I learned in writing and painting — Creating more leads to creating better. In order to come up with great things, one must be able to put up with rubbish. One just needs to keep on going, to keep on creating.

Anyway, if you don’t feel like going to FWTV’s page, you can also watch the video right here:

You can also go to this page at Revver to watch and rate the video. Feel free to grab the code and share the vid in your blogs/sites too.

‘Just got back from a long weekend trip to Hobart, Tasmania. The place is just full of breathtaking landscapes, amazing scenery, and quaint little villages. Even though I only managed to spend a total of 2.5 days travelling around the area (not including the trip from and to Adelaide), it definitely didn’t disappoint. I just wish I had more time so I could’ve visited Cradle Mountain too, among other places.

Anyway, here are just a few snapshots that I’d like to share…

A View of Perth, WA

Having a holiday (even if it’s just a mini one) is great. Seeing new places is great. Eating lots of yummy food is great. Meeting long-time online friends (for the first or second time) is great. Finding the time to read is great. Taking time to do leisure shopping is great. Catching up with a former colleague and her family is great. Meeting new people is great. Beautiful weather is great…

What’s not-so-great?

- having to see creepy people in your hostel for a week.
- no ensuite showers and toilets. argh.
- paying more for food and drinks (e.g., average cost of a fry-up brekky in Adelaide: AU$9-10… average cost of a fry-up brekky in Freo: AU$12-15) .
- finding over a couple of thousand of emails to sort out upon returning home.
- trying to play eternal catch up on work and chores.

But then, even after weighing the greats with the not-so-greats — I’m still glad that I went on this trip.

And yes, no matter how much I love to travel, being back on home turf is definitely GREAT.

More blogging to come soon.

OK. So I didn’t really ‘rough it’ that much. We stayed in a caravan park, so that made things a little bit easier.

In any case, I had a fantastic time.

And, guess what? I even made a video about it! Watch FreshWave.TV’s 3rd episode, Travel to The Southern Flinders Ranges (South Australia).

How about you? How did you spend your weekend?