I think Def Leppard had a perfect summary sentence for New York City in their song Rocket:

“White light, strange city, mad music all around
Midnight street magic, crazy people crazy sound”

That’s just one side of this big, beautiful, bustling city.

Don’t forget the incessant honking horns from angry drivers, the sheer number of people pounding the pavements, the extraordinarily bright lights of Time Square that overload the senses.

This trip to NYC has been entirely different to my first one here in 2008 when I came to see the US Tennis Open and discover this city as a tourist.

In the 10 days I’ve been here this time around it’s been far more business focused and I’ve met more amazing people than I could begin to summarize in this post. Other highlights include:

• Sitting at the VIP Blogger Table at the NYTimes American Express Small Business Summit
• Filming super fun videos with Natalie MacNeil in Timesquare that included a cop, a horse and a statue
• Being late to meet the NYTimes Small Business Editor!
• Walking – a lot and taking numerous different subways to reach destinations
• Shooting a video interview in Central Park after being kicked out of a shopping mall location
• Holding my social media bootcamp in NYC

• Enjoying way too much great South East Asian cuisine
• Getting to play the semi final with Cone Shots Frisbee team (thanks Nick) and achieving a layout catch!
• Finding too many adorable dogs to stop and pat
• Listening in to all the cellphone conversations you can’t help but hear on the streets – what an insight to peoples’ lives
• Sitting next to a crazy mofo in a cafe who blurted out random thoughts like rap lyrics while studying for a medical exam
• Witnessed an undercover arrest

I really do love this city even though you need a ton of energy just to survive it. I’m enjoyed living in Brooklyn thanks to generous friends who I’ve barely seen.

I appreciate being so close to Prospect Park but have not made enough use of it at all.

Time Square Baby

In fact I realised that this has been the hardest place to keep any kind of discipline. Not one night have I managed to get to bed before 1am. I never set my alarm and am often waking at 5am with thoughts racing.

I’ve not managed to factor in daily fitness, I’ve missed people wanting to do podcast and telephone interviews with me due to dead batteries, flaky wi-fi and bad time management on my behalf.

I’ve also never craved an office so much in my life – a place I can call my own and work in for just one day of normalcy. Yet I know if I had one I’d be bored of it within a few days.

Living out of a suitcase forces me to be creative and discover each location and new people every time. I normally find this a blessing. Full photos on NYC are on my Flickr stream.

Clearly I wrote this a few weeks ago as I’m now in Manhattan Beach, California. I can still smell NYC though.

Sometime back in December, not long after arriving in Buenos Aires to live for 5.5 months, I wrote this text below and had given it this title – my how things have changed – or have they…

What you can learn about  Buenos Aires in a week

I heard from friends who’d lived here it was better to look at places to rent once here. So that’s what I’ve been doing.

That said I think it’s a little harder than that. From my discoveries you don’t want to go through rental companies here unless you are staying for quite some time and work can work on a better contract. Otherwise they charge you two months commission straight off, plus a 1 month deposit and sometimes extra expenses.

Even better they ask you to secure your property against the rental – seems nuts to me since I’m here to rent and if I owned a property I’d live in it.

I’ve been using Craigslist to deal direct with owners so you don’t have all those silly charges and friend of friends who have rooms or apartments available.

1 bedroom apmt in the more touristy areas seem the most common thing to rent and they aren’t really less than $700 US per month all expenses and utilities included.

Taxis seem cheap to me, $5-7 US for a 15-25 minute journey. Buses are dead cheap and pretty regular and there’s the subway. Driving is crazy here – might get a scooter when I figure out how not to get killed but will more likely bike cos I love it.

3 Months on and what have I learned?

Well once I got my own lovely studio things were looking up and I absolutely love living there in a great area, small pool, nice and private and close to lots of things but not in the touristy area. In fact I shot a video giving you a tour of it here.

I started practicing my non existent Spanish. I got private lessons with the lovely Melinda who suffered through two hours of speaking for 2-3 days a week with me until we could have proper conversations.

From there it was great to achieve minor breakthroughs every day like a Taxi Driver understanding my directions, a shop owner figuring out what I was ordering and for me understanding 40-50% of their response. Progress!

The beautiful gardens, ally cats, old colonial style buildings and street markets give this city its essence.

I have to admit that my initial thoughts about Buenos Aires and Argentina have changed quite a lot. Despite what I thought this is third world baby – as my Argentinian friend likes to say.

This means I’ve had more frustrations than moments of joy and my patience is running low right now. Even my sister agrees. In trying to find a battery for her Sony Camera yesterday she went to an official Sony store – did they have them? No of course not.

When trying to get a cream for some bug bites at a pharmacy she got told they couldn’t help and she should go to the hospital!

It’s not ideal for managing my business either. Here’s a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly – in my opinion

20 Things to Love and Hate About Argentina (or the A-V)

1. The empanadas are delicious and my new favourite thing plus the Mate (a strong tea)
2. Cider, beer and wine is dirt cheap in supermarkets
3. Taxis are cheap and public transport is a steal
4. You’re constantly aware of being mugged or pickpocketed
5. Porteno Spanish (that of Buenos Aires) has a lot of nuances found nowhere else
6. Wifi is becoming available in more cafes but it’s ridiculously slow and unreliable*
7. The street markets are full of unique goods and amazing art
8. Coffee is tasty and the mini medialunas for desayuno (breakfast) are common place
9. Food here is on the whole pretty boring and I miss spicy foods
10. Service in general – more in shops, generally sucks. Work ethic is not in their dictionary
11. Things don’t make sense – why can you buy a sim card at a major cell network but load credit on it?
12. The tango is a mesmerizing dance that’s much harder to learn then you think
13. The temperate climate and hot summer is right up my alley
14. People seem to love animals and even streets dogs and cats are well looked after
15. The Argentinian people are quite a proud and elegant race if not a little serious and moody
16. Did I mention the wifi sucks – 15MB would cost you US $150 to buy
17. Infrastructure in this country is poor and the officials are corrupt
18. You can find music, theatre and dance here every day in many different styles
19. The Argentinians know the meaning of relaxed and not being on time (which helps me)
20. Argentinian TV is on the whole tacky but thankfully good for learning Spanish!
21. Barely nowhere takes a credit card over which is unbelievable and withdrawl fees are US$4
22. People accept you into their family here and are welcoming

Ok so that’s a very rough overview of all my experiences combined. I have more tales to tell including incredible photos and video from Patagonia where Debbie and I just spent an amazing 10 days hiking.

PS this *refers to the fact that it took me 6 hours to upload a 20 minute video the other day in Patagonia and the internet cut out while it was processing so I lost it all. It’s episodes like that that make me question my sanity.

PPS while writing this in a cafe the internet cut out and I lost some of my post, the next cafe couldn’t get their wifi working and the third one also cut out. Finally found a reliable one with great Spanish Tortilla.

It’s pretty clear that running my business blog means I pay little attention to my personal blog. Yet since leaving Vancouver on 2 October I’ve been travelling around the US for various conferences and to stay with overly generous friends and had some fun adventures.

In short I did the border run crossing to get my Permanent Residency from Canada, literally around the flagpole as they call it. Then continued on into the US where my good friend Justin drove me all the way to Seattle so I wouldn’t miss my flight.

I forget that many US airlines charge you extra for baggage, turns out when your life is one suitcase, and a tennis racquet bag plus laptop bag, your luggage is kind of heavy. And it cost me more than my flight!

But I figured it was a small price to pay for hauling my life around in bags that make me look like a travelling Xmas elf.

I headed to LA to stay in the lovely mansion of Rebecca and Scott and hang out with Kernby and Tucker – my two best friends who’ve made me remember why I love dogs so much.

For two weeks I basically kept working on my business, putting big plans into place for some key projects next year, preparing for upcoming conferences and continuing to learn more about the online marketing world.

Then I was off to Las Vegas for close to 3 weeks – don’t worry I didn’t stay on the strip that whole time – that would drive a girl crazy. But I did see a really different side to Vegas including staying out in suburbia thanks to family friend Tina Gent and family, and staying behind the strip in a residential apartment thanks to a friend of a friend and talented poker player Dan.

I also got to attend BlogWorld – yes a conference for bloggers and probably one of the best and most useful events I’ve ever attended that sparked my desire to really make my blog remarkable. I wrote about it in this article: How to become a Problogger in 3 days or less – even the probloggers liked it.

I worked on producing social media bootcamp videos, posts, guest posts, setting up affiliate product recommendations and some other projects in between this conference and Shine – `Discover your true wealth’. A conference put on by the pretty amazing Ali Brown who earns $5 million a year and started out writing e-newsletters.

Luckily I got to interview her before the conference too.

During my time in Vegas I got to play some ultimate Frisbee, see`Peepshow’ for free with Tina and the dragcar races too.

A real highlight was visiting the incredible Hoover Dam plus getting lost in the desert for real. A 6 hour epic ordeal with little water or food, an iPhone as torch light and attempting to read the stars while tripping over rocks.

Luckily we made it out (that 2 hour round hike to some hot springs really was quite the adventure).

Then I was off to San Francisco – a city that also delivers and gets better. I had two solid weeks of amazing sunshine and beautiful days – very rare. My friend Jeff kindly lent me his apartment by the marina – an awesome area by the water to be in with tonnes of great cafes and restaurants.

He was never there so I felt very lucky indeed to be left alone with this great apartment in a neat location. My friend Mo who’s recently moved to SFO kept me entertained with a few nights out and we went to Alcatraz which was so worth it.

I even met a fellow traveller on my first day and his last in the city and we cycled across the Golden Gate bridge, to lovely Sausalito and Tibador and came back on the ferry, just  fantastic day. Even paid $7 to watch a bit of a college football game. So doesn’t compare to rugby!

The whole reason for being there was to speak at Incubate 2.0 conference, part of Global Entrepreneurship week, I got sick however for the first time in two years with some stupid flu that meant I couldn’t even attend let alone get out of bed.

I did however still manage to host my first ever webinar with a husky voice and sore throat and then almost manage to fly out on the wrong day – i.e I read my itinerary wrong and luckily others picking me up from LAX read it right!

Now I’m back in LA, where it’s still sunny and listening to my Vancouver friends regaling me of stories of snow and the worst winter anticipated ever.

I’m just so glad I made the choice to guy and test out living in Buenos Aires. I fly out next Sunday for 6 months and it’s an open invitation to all you to come stay before I leave in May!

And for those of you who wonder why Buenos Aires, here’s my reasons:

1. Heading to a summer and avoiding another Vancouver winter
2. Improve my Spanish which currently sucks in a country that won’t break into English each time I falter
3. To learn to tango
4. Cheaper cost of living and since I can run my biz from anywhere why not
5. Sophistication of Europe combined with the passion of South America

So come join me!

Yes that’s my big news, and I have absolutely no doubt that this is hands down the best decision I have ever made.

Despite only arriving home this Saturday afternoon from my trip to Europe,  I have wanted to live and work in BA, Argentina since my visit there in 2003 when I realised the city had the sophistication of Europe combined with the passion of South America.

Where I drank amazing wine, ate far too much meat and went to a La Boca Juniors soccer match which ended in a mass evacuation of the stadium, armed police, riots and fans trashing the place plus a player getting shot! Here’s proof

So now I have less than 6 weeks to run a Social Media Bootcamp in Vancouver, pull together all the content for it, turn it into an online program for WomanzWorld, tie up loose ends, rent my room, sell my stuff and do some hikes and see some attractions I haven’t yet managed too!

In between that I need to open a new bank account, close up accounts here and find a place to live.

For those of you who know me this intrepid traveller lifestyle is something I adore. I realised in my 6 weeks in Europe that I am made for travel and adventure. I also love the people I get to meet and hang with on my journies. I invite you all to Buenos Aires for a visit!

One thing that never gets easier though as I pack up and leave cities, is leaving behind great friends – be prepared Vancouver for a see ya later party.

I also know that it takes time and energy to set up these networks in a new city. So this time I thought I’d try a different tack.

I’d enlist my friends to come with me

Well enlist is not the right word, convince, cajole, persuade, enthuse perhaps? Turns out people want to go to Buenos Aires. The stars seem to be aligning.

The Ultimate Frisbee crew there apparently need my experience (they haven’t seen me play yet so they may regret that …) and they’ve been super helpful.

The one person I really wanted to introduce myself to there who’s a super successful entrepreneur with an awesome site called Mixergy has already emailed!

Yep connections are an amazing thing. A good friend here who kept wanting to intro me to her boyfriend (how many women say `You must meet my boyfriend, you two would just get on so well’?), well he just happens to know Andrew Warner so made the intro – problem solved!

There’s apparently a vibrant expat network there, regular dinners and a bunch of cool people.

On top of that this posse of people I mentioned it to is growing, here’s exerpts of an intro email I made today (hope the people don’t mind being posted here)

‘Let me introduce you all to each other. Sebastian (Sabu) is a rocking guy currently doing his MBA and looking to come to Buenos Aires with some other MBA mates in December for around a month to live.

Tia is a life coach and cool lady who is looking to head to BA late November or December for several months and we’ve been discussing sharing an apartment.

Jeff is just a superstar marketer and all round good person living in Toronto and just informed me he’s heading to BA for a month Nov 20 to Dec 20 ish.’

To which Tia replied with more BA helpful tips and Jeff with his crowd’s description:

• ‘Micah: World’s leading infusionsoft (email marketing 2.0 software) specialist, wordpress/membership site software developer and expert, and all around bad guy. He is however bringing his beautiful wife (Teresa), so that makes up for his sometimes less than desirable company. He plans on being down there for 2 weeks starting just after American (read fake) Thanksgiving (Nov 25th).
• Tiff: Heads up a little program called Six Minutes to Success, you may have heard of it! If not, you should check it out. It’s an uber successful internet based business, and Tiff is an uber fun time.  Not exactly sure her timing in BA as her sister is having a baby in Arizona around Nov 14th and she will bed-side there for that.
• Cherrie: Coolest person on the planet.  Period.  She is coming down same time as me (Nov 20-Dec 17ish).  Then Cherrie and I are nomad-ing our way to Costa Rica for an undecided amount of time.
• Amzi: Born rockstar. She has worked with me, Tiff, and Cherrie for the last few months and is now doing some internet marketing/membership site/live events with the Spanish Tony Robbins. She lives in BA right now and is helping us on the ground to get stuff set up for our trip there.
• Natalie: Coolest Kiwi I’ve ever met. Entrepreneur extraordinaire, social media genius, world traveller! Nuff said.’

You can tell Jeff is a talented marketer from the above.

So plans, they are a shaking.

Oh and if you happen to be in Banff and Jasper late September come join Lisa (coming from UK to visit) and I or if you’re going to be in Toronto and Montreal late September early October let me know (my first ever visit).

Then again if you’re in Vegas Mid October or early November I’ll be there, and if you’re in LA last two weeks of October see you around ;0

For all you other travellers tips are welcomed. Suggestions that I’ve lost my mind are not!

Nat

I really can’t believe that my travels are almost an end. I’m writing from a German Wings flight from Split to Cologne, where I’ll board a train to Frankfurt for my departure back to Vancouver tomorrow.

This has been one helluva of a trip. 6 weeks of travelling to Prague, Budapest, Graz, Maribor Lake Balaton, Vienna, Bratislava, Zagreb, Split, the island of Brac and Hvar and then to Dubrovnic.

I have visited four new countries to take my total to 44 now. Only 52 more to go to reach my goal of half the world (according to the OECD). Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia have all provided me with new experiences, cultures and friends.

One thing that has been different for me on this trip was the reliance of the generosity of friends (both existing and new) to put me up in their homes. I am well accustomed to having people coming to stay with me in the various places I’ve lived over the years, I love it and welcome it.

Views over Hvar Old Town

To be on the other side of that though has been truly wonderful, and without a doubt I would not have been able to afford to travel so long had I not stayed with Phi Je and Martina in Graz, Kika in Slovakia, Anna in Vienna, Vjeran in Zagreb, Duje in Split, Luka in Dubrovnik and Marija in Split!

Many of these people had never met me but being an Ultimate Frisbee player affords you a certain rite of passage in this world, which is why I love the community of players as much as the sport. It’s accepted that since you play you must be a decent person, who is open, fun, smart and free-spirited.

I also much prefer staying with locals as it gives you an entirely different view of your trip. I often wonder what tourists who stay in hotels really experience, and what they miss out on.

I also have to reflect on the following lucky moments that helped shape my trip:

• The English lady who overheard the hydrofoil boat from Vienna to Bratislava I had intended to go on was sold out, and then offered me a spare ticket she was looking to sell – I was in the right place at the right time.
• The lovely family from Yugoslavia who live in Australia and have a holiday home (& apartments for rent) on the island of Hvar. They gave Kyla and me a place to stay when we couldn’t find any accommodation. Sleeping on a mattress on their balcony under the stars for free was quite something
• To Luka who I met while wandering back with Kyla via the marina on her final night in Dubrovnik at 1am in the morning. He was finishing up taking boat bookings for the next day and just happened to try to sell me one. Instead he gave me his number which turned into hanging out the next day at the beach, a place to stay at his (when all of Dubrovnik was full – seriously) and riding around on the scooter to see more outside the city walls.
• The buses, trains and planes that have all allowed me time to work on my laptop and create, write, produce and stay on top of my business when everyone else appears to be sleeping, reading, or just doing nothing.
  

  Working from a cafe on Dubrovnik's old town Placa

• To never falling ill or having any serious accidents or injuries (bar a dislocated finger) for the whole trip, all while drinking local water from taps and eating local cuisine.
• The incredible weather – sunshine, heat, and more sunshine that has followed me almost everywhere I have gone, coupled with the exciting stormy moments of lightening and downpours which I love

The last two weeks I have spent in Croatia. I fell in love with Zagreb and the peace and quiet of the city in summer when almost all its inhabitants head to the coast. It helped having History Professor Vjeran explain to me the entire reason Croatia and Croatians are the way they are. In fact within 5 minutes of getting off the train I knew more about this country than any other.

I played Frisbee, biked around, worked, wrote postcards, discovered and enjoyed. From this peace I headed to Croatia’s second largest city, Split which was the complete opposite. Filled with people my first memory was the large ship in the harbor with a huge budget/ low cost logo on its side. The bus station was heaving, the ferries were departing to everywhere. The city was alive with tourists.

Dining out with Kyla seaside on Brac Island

Brac island was fun, especially so hanging out with Kyla who’s travel schedule just happened to co-incide with mine. We actually relaxed on the beach for one day (my first and only full day of doing this), played Frisbee in the water and taught some locals how to throw to their delight. We stayed in a room in someone’s house which always feels odd but is pretty common here.

We have both been really amazed Croatians who speak English, because they speak it so well with all the nuances of the western world. It is apparently because they watch TV and movies in English with subtitles and learn it that way. Especially Duje who had watched the entire series of Seinfeld 9 times over and cracked us up with his comments.

In return I learned to say hello, goodbye and pronounce thank you properly (no mean feat).

I also learned that Croatians generally end up living with their parents for a lot longer, late 20s and into their 30s even. This is largely because renting is expensive and buying a house is near on impossible, although right after the war it was highly encouraged and affordable so you’ll find a huge chunk of the population own a holiday home on the coast.

Old Town Hvar by night

That also made more sense as to why so many young people make out on park benches and other places – because they don’t want to do it at home in front of their parents!

And when they say you should book ahead if you’re heading to the Adriatic Coast they mean it. I have never travelled in any other country – bar maybe some of Thailand in peak season, where everything is booked up. It makes having no fixed schedule or plan less easy to travel with.

I am definitely coming back to Croatia, next time on a yacht with friends, to spend more time on the beautiful island of Hvar which is just charming and lends itself to walking through the maze of tiny alleys, enjoying the classiness of the people, the lavender, the Venetian influence, the lights, the sunsets and the natural port that encourages phenomenal yachts and sailing ships to park so close to the heart of the Old Town.

Dubrovnik is also unique. The old town is entirely surrounded by city walls that act as a fortress to those outside. You can walk around this 2km perimeter and look out over the stunning blue hues of the ocean and the clear waters or back to the sandy coloured buildings with red brick roofs that fill the city space and every nook and cranny.

Dubrovnik Old Town from the City Walls

The streets were filled from morning to night with walking tours and tourist activities, cafes, drinking, museums and music. It was fascinating to spot the difference between the dressed up and stylish Italian women who posed for every photo and whined at their boyfriends who seemed to tune it out, compared to the British who were more relaxed and often looking pink, to the many Australians who were backpacking in groups to the French, Scandinavian and of course Croatian nationalities.

And now I’m heading back to Vancouver, but not for long. It seems this travelling has sparked a desire for more travel in my life.

I will look to visit Toronto and Montreal in late September, be in Las Vegas for two conferences in October and November and in between time possibly stay in LA. Then the major plan is to head to Buenos Aires to live and work for the winter months.

Right now there is a small posse of people I presented this idea to who are up for moving there for a month or so too. I figure if I am to keep moving all the time, the hardest thing is saying goodbye to friends and starting over again. So why not convince them to come along whenever possible ….

PS I really had not connected Dalmatian dogs coming from the Dalmatian Coast before.

She will be the one who doesn’t understand a word of Slovakian. She will take close to 3 days to remember how to say thank you, by rhyming it with `requiem’ which is what it sounds like and replacing the R with a D.

My friend, the lovely Kristina (fondly known as Kika) knows it’s a hard language to learn, it’s her native tongue and she speaks it so fast that even her family can’t understand her sometimes.

She also speaks English and Spanish fluently and some Portugese. It never ceases to amaze me that Europeans in particular can speak so many languages.

I often feel we’re spoilt if English is our first language because every other country has to learn our language too in order to have a successful tourist industry, to establish close economic ties with the super powers and to really understand the major influencers in the world both in terms of news and politics.

I felt quite international hanging out with Kika for close to a week and her friend Maria and son Gui (both Portugese) and we spoke a mixture of English and Spanish (let it be known that I mainly understood the Spanish and attempted a few words from time to time).

My head was still practicing German after a lovely week in Austria, predominantly spent in Graz with Phi Je and Martina and baby Tim. In the space of a few days they managed to turn me into a mush who finally wants to have kids. I mean it’s only taken 33 years and little Tim, just 9 weeks old was such a cool chilled out baby (with fab parents to boot) that I immediately thought `I want one of those too’.

Here’s proof!

I got to play in a super fun hat tournament called Pig Me Up just outside of Graz and only a week after Worlds finished. It’s hard to transition from competitive mode to having fun and I’m not sure I did it really well, however my pink team put up with me and I had a load of fun playing a variety of positions on the field.

They even awarded me MVP Female of the tournament! I was blown away and received a silver bracelet that I’ve worn to this very day, it’s perfect.

Off the field we ate this giant pig and it was delicious. A few of us won the party by playing flippy cup all night interspersed with shots of Jaegermeister which was my undoing and saw me heading home around 3am  - walking off into the dark night in the torrential rain while everyone else sheltered under the party venue and wondered what the crazy Kiwi girl was up to.

I really felt at home with Phi Je and Martina and they showed me around their beautiful city and then I showed myself around, heading up to the main lookout and clock tower, jumping on the bike along the river and letting my self loose in bookshops to practice my German.

I also spent one day working 12 hours straight, at which point they yanked my laptop away from me and we walked down to the old town for ice-cream. I managed to be pretty productive when there and actually wrote a blog post that went viral on my blog and Forbes.

Since then things have been on a roll and I’m pretty sure this travel and work on my business thing is coming together. It actually makes me focus harder when I do get the time to work because I’m either sitting on a train or in a car or with no internet so I’m productive.

View over Graz

I go out and sightsee during the day and work late at night, or in the mornings or the other way around, either way it is pretty awesome. Now I just need to earn revenue…

During the week in Austria I got to go on an afternoon trip to Slovenia (because you know this is Europe and you cross borders easily and find yourself in a country with an entirely different language just 1 hours drive away) and hang out at Phi Je’s country cottage (no electricity or running water) for a beautiful evening BBQ dinner under the trees and drying sun.

I also got to drive quite a lot – Phi Je entrusted his kick-ass Mercedes wagon to me aside from stalling it in a major intersection I didn’t kill anyone or dent it so I’d say it was a success. Plus they allow you to drive at a decent speed here – i.e fast, always fun in my mind.

Last weekend we then headed back to Hungary to Lake Balaton for a beach Ultimate tournament. I LOVE beach Ultimate, it is, for want of better words `Da Bomb’. It’s exhausting but awesome. I got to play with the mixed team Phi Je had put together Augartner and the Austrian Women’s team Eyecatchers, so on Saturday I played 8 games!

Team Eyecatchers - catching the wind!

They were only 20 minutes luckily and we had some great wins and frustrating losses and in between time we shot off for some tasty food, coffee or beer at the nearby restaurants that are part of this holiday destination. At night the party was right outside our room as we all stayed in the town hall (yeah odd I know).

What did I learn? That the Slovenians are crazy partiers, so are the Slovakians and that visual communication can transcend language barriers. I also learned that my German is not as good as I thought, and that Austrians are definitely harder to understand than Germans but everyone is very inviting and good natured.

I love the ultimate community as 3 strangers from Vienna gave me a lift to their city and one lovely lady put me up in her apartment that night (very lucky really as I had not planned a thing). The next morning I took the ferry thanks to a suggestion, down the Danube to Vienna.

Once again luck played a hand when a lovely older English lady happened to walk by when hearing the boat was sold out (which I hadn’t expected given there were plenty of seats available when I checked on line the night before) and offered up one ticket she had spare. I was the first to jump at it (closely followed by 5 others who hoped she had more).

Similar to the hydrofoil I went on

Turns out it was the front row seat so I had a pretty great view and listened to a webinar with my fave thought leader in marketing and beyond, Seth Godin (check him out if you haven’t) whilst leaning back and cruising along the river on a hydrofoil – very smooth ride.

Kika was there to pick me up and take me to her parents house who were staying out at their farm house.  The four musketeers took a tour around Bratislava with Kika translating everything which was awesome and very useful.

Here’s what I learned about Slovakia:

• All tours are in Slovakian including the cave tour guide who sounded like a monotone priest
• Dobre den = Hello
• Dakujem – thank you
• Litov is the region of K1 and C1 Olympic champions and one father who designed a man-made river so that his son could become a champ and got the city to pay for it!
• Gypsies are common here, and burn down public housing made especially for them.

Obviously there’s a lot more but I’ll save that for another post.

Despite what many of my Uggle friends think Ultimate is a dangerous sport.

And before you ask Uggles is a non Ultimate player, think Harry Potter and it will all make sense.

Opening Game Ceremony

Before I left to play at World Club Ultimate Champs in Prague from 3-10 July I had to sign a participation form stating that yes I knew I could potentially injure myself or even cause myself death by playing a game with a plastic disc, a pair of cleats and a whole lot of awesomeness.

It was in fact playing a silly game of bottles and it was the weirdest thing to look at ever (thanks to the equally calm guy as me who popped it back in for me).

So after all those months of training in a short but intense seasoning, all that fundraising, organization, payments and committment, team Zephyr turned up to Prague ready for action.

For most of my team they’d never competd at the Worlds level. To those that don’t know what it’s like it’s a week long tournament with two games a day on average lasting up to 100 minutes. There’s travel time, early morning breakfasts of foreign food, missed buses, shuttles, trams, drama, intrigue, lightening and thunder.

There’s also spirit, fantastic layout grabs, huge defensive moves, big hucks, aggressive foul calls, sore muscles, and for some broken legs, fractured elbows, stitches, concussion and more.

Don’t discount the partying – which that said was mainly at the final night’s party this year and that was totally awesome at a great open venue by the river with beach volleyball courts, lounge areas, grassy knolls, the option to go on a cruise boat, restaurants, cafes and dancing on tables.

I won’t go into all the details but suffice to say Zephyr had some fantastic opportunities to make it into the top 16 power pool and to achieve our team goal. Sadly a couple of universe point games that we lost denied us this result, but we still beat seed.

That is something that no loss or win can take away from any team. That stays with you forever because championships come and go but friendships last …well much longer.

Here’s some photos to prove we played in Prague, and that thousands of others did too. Congrats to the USA on their domination of all the god damn divisions – Open, Mixed and Womens.

I’m getting itchy feet. Any time I have a trip planned it seems to bring out this wanderlust in me that makes me rethink where I want to be living.

In less than two weeks I’ll be heading to Prague where I’ll be playing with team Zephyr at the World Club Championships. I can’t wait. I feel it’s been way too long since I’ve last been in Europe and seen my dear friends.

After the tournament I have almost five weeks to myself to just explore Eastern Europe and my plan is to hit up Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia plus Slovenia if there’s an opportunity.

It’s also going to be my first test of working and travelling, a lifestyle I am working towards having with my recently launched WomanzWorld.com business.

I can write my blog from there, I can produce valuable products and programs to launch to my awesome audience of women entrepreneurs, and I can work on my Social Media personal training plans for my clients. In fact I’m going to relish being away from the life I’ve set up here in Vancouver to see how I handle it.

I’m often surprised that I’ve been living in Vancouver for almost two years. I first came here to compete at the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships with the NZ women’s team late July 2008, and because I got my work permit.

In that time I’ve become an entrepreneur, co-founded a tech company, started a blog, left the first company to turn my blog into a business that I’m truly passionate about.

I’ve travelled mainly across North America but also to Costa Rica. I’ve thrown myself into various sports and played some fantastic Ultimate tournaments with great teams. I’ve had several adventures and cultural experiences. I’ve moved 3 times, nope make that 4 and now live in an awesome house in a great location with two fab roomies.

I’ve had a decent amount of money and more recently had no money. I guess that’s what you get for not paying yourself for over 5 months. I’d like to thank my recent tax refund for making what’s been a pretty tough period seem that much better and just in the nick of time!

That being said I’ve become adept at not spending money, it’s amazing how easy it is to plan your spending when you don’t have a disposable income –  you recognise what’s necessary and what’s not. I recommend it to anyone (but preferably not long term as it’s really not much fun).

Vancouver itself is not an inexpensive city, the cost of housing is ludicrous and dining out is about to become more expensive with the HST tax they’re bringing in July 1st.

What I love about Vancouver is it’s just a beautiful city, you can see the mountains in the distance with snow on them when you’re sitting on the beach in the warm sunshine – that’s pretty rare.

You can be skiing in 40 minutes, on the water sailing, kayaking, windsurfing or more at the drop of a hat. There’s numerous outdoor activities to occupy your time including incredible hikes and unlimited number of great coffee shops.

People are friendly, fit, healthy and fairly relaxed and I’ve met some incredible friends here who I’m honoured to have in my life.

What Vancouver could work on though is it’s pace of life. Don’t get me wrong relaxed is great, but then the busy people seem too busy to turn up to events, to commit to a meeting and it seems harder and harder to catch up with friends – yet this isn’t London!

I get it because I’m falling into this trap too. It’s too easy to be flaky in this city and it’s not something I like. A classic example was at a recent Linchpin event put on as a giant meet up of all meetups by my hero Seth Godin, marketing guru and thought leader in NYC.

Vancouver was in the top 5 meetups scheduled with over 100 people coming, I’d say 45 turned up. I mean really? A Monday night – what else do you have to do? You’re coming to a Linchpin event and you can’t even muster your Linchpin-ness and show up? How many events did you sign up to and not make? Was it easier to just go to yoga?

I sound frustrated and I am. My first reflection on arriving in this city was scheduling a business meeting and the person emailed 30 minutes before saying they had some other things come up and wouldn’t make it. No reschedule, no apology, no real reason.

Coming from London where you set up purposeful meetings, honoured them, turned up on time (ok so not my forte) I find this lax attitude gets on my wick.

Local `Sociable’ Vancouverite, professional speaker and author Shane Gibson summed it up well in this post on the 10 tips to doing business in Vancouver – they are spot on. It’s a quick read and gives you greater insights.

Perhaps it’s because more and more my dealings in Vancouver have been business ones, although I often look to make a meaningful connection with those I meet, I aim to offer advice, value, support, guidance or at least a laugh and I think most people in return genuinely want to do the same.

I like this video below because it’s the first video of Vancouver that is more gritty, it’s real. It showcases the beauty but also the less pretty side of this city.  The things Vancouverites love about it.

Perhaps what I wish Vancouver to be – more vibrant, more cultural, more alive and less quiet, conservative and guarded, is actually what I need to accept as it’s charm. There are a ton of benefits for living here, I think you have to be at a certain time in your life to enjoy it all, it’s great for young people, for families and for the retired.

If you’re ambitious, single and adventurous then perhaps it’s not for you. I may change my mind if my permanent residency ever comes through. That said my new NZ passport is busy winging it’s way to me with a whole lot of new pages to be stamped and 56 countries to be visited to make my goal of seeing half the world……

PS this is a new look blog theme I’m still working on. Suggestions welcomed as I’m just starting to play with it.

Beach Bike Sun = Fun

I’m not entirely sure why I’m so excited about 2010. But I am. It seems I’m not alone. From the people I’ve talked to and the articles, blogs, emails and tweets I’ve read recently, it’s fairly evident that people are very optimistic about this year.

I know that a tough 2009 has made everyone want even more from this new year. There’s a belief that things must change because we’re not prepared to put up with what we went through in 2009.

Outside of that, people who had a great year last year are wanting to naturally build on that and make this year even more successful.

I’d say on reflection 2009 was one of the most challenging I’ve had, but also one of the best. Anything that causes you to learn, to grow, to fail, to get back up and succeed – then repeat often, can only be a wonderful thing. If I weren’t growing I’d be stagnating and what’s the point of being on this earth if that’s your intention?

I’ve started the year off with a bang but in a particularly relaxed manner for me. I’m all about simplicity this year. Focusing on a few key areas and decluttering the rest.

Venice Beach Beauty

It helps that I’ve just come off two of the most chillaxin weeks of holiday in LA where I had a great time and did quite

a lot of nothing – that’s helped me gain some valuable R&R, some space in my mind to reflect, to pontificate and at times to just think of nothing. I know – rare indeed.

In just two weeks I’ve met an amazing man who’s made me believe in romance and falling in love again. I’ve been an LA girl and enjoyed the relaxed living, oceanside lifestyle and copious amounts of sunshine. Now, back in Vancouver, I get to move into my new home tomorrow with Megan and Craig. All this on just the 3rd day of the year!

I did so much work on goal setting back in August last year and have kept updating them that there was no work to do come January 1st.

Not that I ever set goals on such a day, when you know you’re going to be tired from celebrating the night before, especially one that started with a limo ride with 18 people to a Hollywood party. I woke up with a hangover, a huge grin on my face and sore feet from dancing and being stepped on. Pretty perfect really. Brunch on the deck with new friends, Frisbee golf, time with my boy and a flight back to Vancouver were all I was in need of on January 1st.

I’m also not in a rush to achieve mammoth feats in the next few days. I’m on a slow and steady path to achieving my personal goals as well as those for FundRazr and WomanzWorld.

2010 is all about having fun whilst achieving.

I wish all my friends the best year yet. Make it happen.

Oh how the months have flown by with September and October being two of the busiest in my life.

They’ve brought with them some key learnings, interesting challenges, a launch of one great Closed Beta product FundRazr and a launch of an online resource WomanzWorld.

Some people might think it silly to attempt such a thing, and I’d say they’d be right.

But my god it’s one way to live life and push yourself, stretch your boundaries, challenge your limits, reach out to your friends, find new ones, meet loads of new people and discover a whole bunch of things you never knew you knew – if that makes sense.

So what has this girl learned?

The business world has certainly taken over my life. It’s taken away from my travel time (oh no wait that was the lack of a valid permit!), Ultimate Frisbee, looking after myself, general sleep patterns and a regular routine of just about anything.

I’ve become accustomed to waking between 2-4am on a regular basis and have decided to embrace it and put my stimulated mind to work. I mean who said we needed to sleep between midnight and 6am? Just because it’s conventional doesn’t mean it’s always practical.

In it’s place, I’ve gained being involved in a kick ass startup that’s changing the face of fundraising and payments. This can be described as nothing short of a never-ending adventure, sometimes brilliant, other times overwhelming, often stressful but never dull. And I love our team.

To add to that I decided that leaving my beautiful suite, the first place I’ve felt at home in since leaving home in 2006,

Suite 6 - a place in my heart

was just another step I had to take. Despite comments from friends on how lovely the place is (I’ve held a spate of last minute dinner parties in order to use my dining room table) I see it as a positive step.

Zara moved in with her lovely boyfriend Si and I simply couldn’t find a replacement. So rather than take my time to do that over the month of October, the action woman in me made the decision to hand in my notice to become `Natalie the Nomad’.

Yes I could have found a new place, but nothing quite jumped out at me when looking, so I figured, just let it be and go free.

It’s a role I’m very comfortable with. I am grateful for not having accumulated much junk, if any in a year of being here, and it’s satisfying to pack that up and live out of a suitcase again.

Luckily I’ve accumulated great friends instead, ones who help me move, provide a storage space and give up their apartment for me in November, or let me sublet their apartment in December. Big ups to them!

Come January I’ll be looking for a new place. I figure that’s either a brilliant move – as all the people attempting to rent out their place for extortionate prices during the Olympics will realise there was an over supply and so will happily rent it out to me.

Or, my bold and incorrect assumption will see me with no place to go and living out of my suitcase until March.

Either way, it’s yet another adventure. Perhaps I’m getting a little too old for this, perhaps it’s what keeps me young!