Meet "Kathryn"

If you will notice an improvement in the writing of some of my coming posts, that will be thanks to Kathryn.

Kathryn is my colleague at University of Toronto, we’re both taking the Foundations of Digital Communications Strategy and Social Media.

Through our instructor Eden, Kathryn volunteered to help me editing my posts, and to be fair till today I didn’t send her any as I’m writing them late every night and I don’t want to bother her, knowing that she has a lot to do as well, but I appreciated her gesture extremely and I will be definitely asking for her help from time to time.

Kathryn started her own blog as well: Tracing Travel.

It’s about the movement of travelers around the globe. Where she looks at where people go, when and why, and how they access the information they need. She looks at how travel has changed and what happened to the travel guide with the advent of the digital age..

Kathryn worked for over a decade on print travel guides in London before moving to Toronto where she is freelancing now as an Editor, and talking about her blog:

“…I’ve started this blog to help me hone-in on the areas that really spark my interest, and to get me writing regularly. I’m hoping that I can pass on the occasional compelling nugget and find a reader or two whose interests intersect with my own.

… I’ve travelled a fair amount over the years – mostly in Asia and Europe – and I’ll be drawing on my experiences of course, but since moving back to Toronto, the opportunities to travel have pretty much petered out.

You know it’s not so bad. Camping is the purist form of travel next to the walking pilgrimage, and here in Ontario it’s the best in the world. Plus, anticipating our first cross-continent road trip keeps me planning fantasy routes. If you’re not salivating about your next trip, no matter how remote, then you’re missing out on one of the key aspects of travel itself.”

Once again, I’m glad meeting Kathryn, learning from her tips about travel and about camping in Ontario (which I’m looking forward for Summer time to be able to go on a camping experience here), and I’m very grateful for her, offering to help me editing my posts.

Thank you Kathryn Lane. 

Meet "Yoti"

Habibi.. Habibi.. That was maybe the only word in Arabic that Yoti knew, but it's still interesting to see people trying to be closer by speak your language...

I met Yoti through our common friend Hadi, who lives in New York and put us in contact by sending an e mail to both of us asking us to meet so I can know more people in Toronto and I can start having more friends..

After couple of phone calls with Yoti we agreed to meet for a morning coffee, and we met at Summer Hill subway station.. half way from his place and mine and we walked to Terroni on Yonge St.. It was sunny outside but extremely cold.. So I couldn't wait to get in and order a hot drink..

Yoti is Canadian Greek, which was a good start for our discussion as I'm a big fan of Greece, and I have two Greek friends one lives in London and the second in Lausanne, and we have what became a tradition of meeting in Athens and the Greek islands every Summer, we've been doing this for 6 years and every year it's lots of fun.. So we talked about Greece and Canada a lot, and he gave me insights and tips from the gym to where going for grocery shopping, to where to go for a nice message (as he saw me stressed with the move and the change and some of the difficulties I was facing to settle in properly in my apartment)  and ended our discussion about London (UK) and his dream of moving there and finding a good job..

The grass is always greener on the other side.. We always wish to move to different places and believe that our life will be much better.. And that was one of the main motives that pushed me to move to Toronto.. so I wished Yoti the best of luck and we agreed that next time we re meeting for a drink.. time to get wasted..