Category Archives: Writing samples
This is where you’ll find all my latest work.
Cover story for Hitched: The Peak of Perfection
Read the story in the Hitched digital edition
Cover story for North Shore Living: Subtle Awesomeness
My story on homebuilder Erik Jensen’s Georgie finalist home is on the cover of the current issue of North Shore Living Magazine. 
Read the story online in the North Shore Living digital edition
For PAX News West: Busabout hits the lanes with Vancouver agents
Busabout welcomed 50 travel agents, media, and social influencers to Grandview Lanes in Vancouver last week for a night of glow-in-the-dark bowling to celebrate the launch of their 2017 Europe brochure.
Why bowling?
“It’s a bit of fun to get everybody involved,” Damien Bennett, Busabout’s sales director for North America, told PAX. “One of the great things about Busabout is that many people travel as individuals, but they meet new friends and end up travelling together. This captures that same spirit.”
Continue reading For PAX News West: Busabout hits the lanes with Vancouver agents
For PAXnewsWest.com: YVR unveils new west coast dining experience at Lift Bar & Grill
The international terminal of Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has launched a new full-service West Coast dining experience in the form of Lift Bar & Grill, a sister location to the iconic Lift Bar & Grill in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour.
With windows onto the airport’s 114,000-litre aquarium and extensive use of wood finishes, Lift Bar & Grill highlights West Coast design – and executive chef Soojin Park’s menu selections showcase West Coast seafood certified by the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program.
“We try to support local suppliers,” Park said at the restaurant’s media launch yesterday. “People have a wonderful time in Vancouver, and we want them to have one last great meal before they leave.”
Park trained as a chef in Toronto and has appeared on the Food Network series Made to Order. She was sous chef at Vancouver’s La Brasserie before becoming executive chef at Lift Bar & Grill in 2010.
In addition to entrée-sized dishes, the Lift Bar & Grill menu offers an extensive share plates section, allowing passengers to share with the other travellers in their party and customize the size of their meal.
“People don’t want to have a big, heavy meal before they get on a flight,” said Bob Lindsay, owner of Lift Bar & Grill. “People seem to be really enjoying the shared concept.”
Lift Bar & Grill is part of an extensive expansion of the food and beverage options at YVR in partnership with SSP Canada. Five additional restaurants occupying a total of more than 14,000 square feet are planned through 2019, with Pajos’ Fish & Chips, Bánh Shop and Freshii slated to open by the end of this year.
“Last year, 22.3 million passengers came through this airport,” said Scott Norriss, vice-president, commercial development, Vancouver Airport Authority, noting the figure is a two million passenger increase over 2015. “We need to offer them the variety and quality of food that Lift offers.”
Sixty-two per cent of passengers purchase food and beverage at YVR, and the airport has the top concession sales per enplaned passenger in North America according to Airport Revenue News.
Like all restaurants at YVR, Lift Bar & Grill participates in the Food on the Fly program, so passengers can order meals to go in special packaging to take onboard their flight.
Lift Bar & Grill is located past security in the international departures terminal. For more information, visit YVR.ca.
This post originally appeared on PAXNewsWest.com in 2017.
For North Shore Living: Bali Without Bounds
Bali is a land of contrasts: mountains and valleys, beach clubs and rice paddies, local noodle shops and upscale modern restaurants. Here, we look at three prime areas for those who want to discover Bali without bounds.
Read the rest in the digital issue of North Shore Living
For PAX News: On the Trudeaus’ trail in Ise-Shima, Japan
Ise-Shima, in Japan's Mie Prefecture, is enjoying a boost in tourism after hosting the G7 summit in May, as visitors flock to the area to follow in world leaders' footsteps. Shima Kanko Hotel, where world leaders stayed for the summit, was at 85 per cent occupancy throughout November, normally the low season…
For PAXnewsWest.com: Karuizawa: A year-round resort town one hour from Tokyo
Just an hour away from Tokyo by bullet train lies a charming mountain town you've probably never heard of. But Karuizawa, a popular summer home location for Tokyo residents looking to escape the city heat, welcomes approximately eight million visitors per year, according to Mari Kashiwagi, secretary of the Karuizawa Tourist Association. For several summers in the 1970s, John Lennon and his family were among those visitors, regularly staying at the Mampei Hotel…
For PAXnewsWest.com: Visit Japan Project 2016: Looking toward 40 million annual visitors by 2020
Early Tuesday morning local time, an earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima in the northeast of Japan. The 7.4 magnitude earthquake also shook buildings in Tokyo, where PAX is on location for the Visit Japan Project 2016, but there was no danger in Japan’s capital.
Following that unexpected wake-up call, we explored the Asakusa area, the location of the Senso-ji Temple and Nakamise shopping street, and enjoyed a multi-course Japanese set lunch at the Asakusa View Hotel, so named because of its impressive outlook over Tokyo and the Tokyo Skytree. After an afternoon strolling through the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, we headed to the Visit Japan Project networking reception at Akasaka Palace, marking the first time the State Guest House has been opened for a public event.
“This site until now was used only to welcome state guests,” said Akihiko Tamura, commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, noting that the agency plans to increase the use of Japan’s historic buildings to “create renewed interest in Japan’s cultural sites.”
That opening up of “unique venues” for tourism is among the efforts to “transform Japan into a tourism-oriented country,” said Ryoichi Matsuyama, president of the Japan National Tourism Organization. It’s one of the “strong government initiatives to make full use of local tourism resources to enhance the competitiveness of Japanese tourism.”
“As we look toward the future, we will generate innovation at all levels of the travel and tourism industry,” Matsuyama said.
That will involve “more cooperation between regions, industries, and the public and private sectors to expand tourism even further,” said Norio Yamaguchi, chairman of the Japan Travel and Tourism Association.
Japan welcomed 19.74 million tourists in 2015, said Keiichi Ishii, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. As of October, the number of visitors for 2016 had reached 20.11 million, marking the first time more than 20 million visitors have come to the country in one year and an increase of 23.3 per cent over last year. With those increasing numbers, Japan is targeting 40 million visitors annually by 2020, Ishii said.
More than 80 international travel agents are in Japan as part of the Visit Japan Project. Stay tuned this week for more updates from Japan as PAX explores Karuizawa and Ise-Shima, both sites of G7 meetings in 2016.
This post originally appeared on PAXNewsWest.com in 2016.
For REW.ca: Five Great Thing About Living in … Richmond
Located just south of the Fraser River, Richmond is literally minutes from Vancouver by car or transit. The city's large Asian community (65 per cent of residents) makes it an important hub of Asian culture in the Lower Mainland.
It's also a culturally significant site of Metro Vancouver's maritime history, with National Historic Sites at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery and Britannia Shipyards.