Spoof or Truth

The end of an Era

2010-05-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

Wow what a couple of months that was.

Runner Up as a STA WTI applicant. Not bad eh! I think the winners were well deserved, I personally feel more upset for others that didn't get it than me and that is the truth.

I hope to take it all as experience and be warned, I will be applying next year if I'm in the country. Haha!

All the best to everyone who made it through to the Top 50 and beyond. I think we should meet up and have a #wti BBQ or something!

I'm supper excited to follow the guys this summer and ill certainly have my eye on them. As for me, if your in Greece this summer, I shall be making my round the islands generally causing trouble.

Lots of Love! x x

Travel Q & A

2010-05-03T04:31:00.000-07:00

Firstly, what a weekend! Its been another eventful bank holiday to say the very least. Drinking with rock stars and meeting two girls adamant that I'd won Total Wipeout two immediate highlights. (For the record I've never been to Argentina).

However today's blog post is in response to a question I was asked today by a girl from the US (Georgia) via a mutual friend whom pointed her in my direction. She asks...

How do you finance your trips? and what do you aim to accomplish when you travel?

Two very feasible and sensible questions Liliana. Firstly you need to realise that financing a trip anywhere for a long period takes time, perhaps 3 months of hard work. It differs for us in England I'm sure because of pay rates etc, however I would say that if your prepared to graft you can achieve maximum saving with a little hard work and a life style change.

Now I like to drink and I like to party.The first thing you must do when you have paid for your flights is to change you life style. For cheap flights try Opodo.com, I paid £404 return to Singapore, that's about $700 dollars. I tend to go out once a week at the most and stick to bars that tend to offer you personal discounts or simply drink cheap crap before you go out.

Once you change your lifestyle you need to work hard! I worked at three bars in my home town to maximise income. Bar work in the UK is great, you get to drink, dance and eat for cheap! Working at more than one you get to change your scenery, meet more people and enjoy more discount. If you tell employers that you are planning to travel in a few months they tend to either reject you because they feel its a waste of time training you up, or, they love you because they know you want work loads of hours and will be motivated to work hard. Where ever you want to work bar or no bar, just suss out the management and give them your future plans in accordance, some times a white lie can get you that extra paid waitress job that can supply that much needed cash.

Once you secure work and your in saving mode you can settle down a bit and get into the swing of it. Working 6 days a week with the finish line of sun, sea, jungle, mountains, desert, what ever your destination holds, will spur you on. At this stage I would plan, plan, plan! I find that planning a trip is so much fun, doing it is up and down and then looking back is also a great part of travel. Having said that I wouldn't plan meticulously, leave some mystery and try to avoid reading Lonely Planet's cover to cover. If you are planning something crazy, perhaps biking the coast of Vietnam like I did last year then perhaps a little more background research would be necessary.

One reason I have been able to finance three big trips (all 3 - 4 months in length) as a student is thanks to my destinations. South East Asia is CHEAP! I budgeted £20 per day ($35) and I lived like a king each and every day.

Once your there you want to know what do I want to get out of my time traveling? This is an easy one. I travel like many because it allows you to broaden your understanding of the world around you. Culture is a word that becomes a reality, until you immerse yourself in a new one, it remains a word in your dialect. I like to travel because you get to meet people of the world. Some are nice, some are the best and some rob your passport when your asleep. People make the trip. I have traveled alone at times and you still even traveling solo find people along the way that shape your time away in ways that transform your preconceptions of a particular demographic and just enlighten your days

I travel because I like to become a viewer, a person with an eye for the strange and wonderful. When you travel you must keep your eyes open at all times and become a sponge to the smells, sights and sounds of the place your at. Not everywhere you go or everyone you meet will immediately amaze, but each encounter should be memorable in some way. I like to write a daily entry in a pad or book just to remind myself of the good and the bad days.

I think the number one thing I want to get from traveling is to have a good time. Being English we enjoy a hell of a lot of comforts on the the road. Most locals speak our language, the exchange rate is brilliant and we have an innate ability to make humour from most situations, so when it comes to going somewhere new and scary, we have a head start. My biggest tip is go with an open mind, try everything once and don't worry about taking you time, don't rush around like a headless chicken living 'life like its your last', just chill out and enjoy yourself.

Be a doer.

I hope this helps you out in your quest to create an internship program for financially challenged students.

Peace! x

Done and Dusted

2010-04-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

This last seven days has been hectic but by far the best week of the year so far. After I found out I had made the Top 10 of the STA World Traveller Internship much to mine and a few not so gracious contestants amazement, I got to work on my final video.

So the theme of my final video was to show how lush and delightfully English my little village of Headingley is. Once I established this I had a party. After that I take you to Cafe Lento aka pure bliss. I concentrated on the cafe for two reasons; firstly it is the only real place you ought to go if you are passing by and because Richard the gent who runs the place is a true legend and a star.

The video highlights my new found love of editing film and how cool my music taste is despite what other blog post's may have said.

The videos are 80% up, only my fellow Leeds Met student Chris and dark horse Tiffany to go. The Top 10 videos are all great and in so many different ways. The theme of most are quite similar and leaves me pondering whether my main concentration on Lento is a downfall. Having said that, I think my video is a roaring success and something that shows off my ability to tell a story and a good attempt of inspiring you all to come visit the quaint village of Headingley. Even if I do say so myself!

Gd Luck to you all!

Next week I shall be blogging about my work abroad so look out for that.

Peace! x x x

Oh and here is the video....Durr!!

Trailer Trash

2010-04-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

So during my filming today I thought why not quickly bash up a brief trailer for my final STA WTI?

So here it is......

Taken from the scene 'Wat U Sayin.....' it exposes a glimpse of what the final video might be like.

Hope you enjoy it.

Love Paddy

My head hurts.

2010-04-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Thursday 22nd - found out I made the top 10 sta wti.

Friday 23rd - receive email saying we have until Wednesday 28th to make our video. Work 12 hour shift at Smokestack.

Saturday 24th - Work 12 hour shift and Sandanista's.

Sunday 25th - Go to rugby - 12 hour stint at uni.

Monday 26th - Film @ Lento. 10 hour stint at uni.

Tuesday 27th - Uni all day. Evening make film.

Wednesday 28th - Upload video. Curl into a ball and die.

Plan of action sorted......

Im going to need one of these by the end of the week..........

Love it really! xx

Back @ Ya!

2010-04-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

Yo yo yo!! Thanks to all those who tweeted & emailed saying 'hey paddy, where's you new blog post at?' Well here it is.

Apologies ladies and gents I have been mentally busy with uni work. Bloody deadlines and being a mere man I can only do a few things at once. So whats new in the life of Paddy?

Well if you care then check this little mo fo out!

So whats the good news? Well I made it to the final 10!

Who is joining me?

Well thankfully Rusja got through, I think I would have contacted suicide watch if she didn't get through, damn that girl is super hyped for this job. Hazza made it through, respect to you sir. Chris Cuzzy came through strong, let's here it 'Leeds Met! Leeds Met!' I think we could get some PR with this, Leeds Met representing big time. My girl Sparky made it through, enough said. Everyone else, I don't really know you that well yet, but congratulations and good luck for the next round.

Speaking of which. We have 5 days to make STA video 'gold'. All I can and will do is just do my best. I have no 'tricks' up ones sleeve but I have a new HD camera and bags of creative ideas. My distinct advantage is that I live in the north. Where the people are the best and that's a fact.

Been to the 'set' of my new video and talked all things jazz with Richard;

All I need now is a day off to film the bloody thing.

Peace! x x x

New Camera................Sweet

2010-04-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

Can't wait to start shooting again.

Understanding Taste

2010-04-15T11:44:00.001-07:00

When it comes to music, what is - having good taste? Because I think I have none.

Lets look at my most played songs on my iPod and YouTube favorites.

Top 10 in order of plays.

1. Oasis - (songs like Songbird (live version), Cast No Shadow (live version) and Who Feels Love (again live, this time at the old wembley)

2. Pink Floyd - Echoes (the greatest hits)

3. Lady GaGa - The Fame Monster

4. Beyonce - Being Sacha Fierce

5. The Beatles - (mostly The White Album)

6. Kings of Leon - (Because of the Times)

7. ABBA - Gold

8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium (which is weird because its not my favourite album)

9. The Strokes - Is this it

10. The Presets - (just one track 'This boys in love', live version, awesome performance and the crowd vibe of it so well)

So what does this mean? Well Oasis and Pink Floyd are up top which is respectable, but GaGa and Beyonce above The Beatles! Surely I should be shot. Abba higher than RHCP and The Strokes! This can be explained by me obsession with pop. I was rasied on pop, when my mates were listening to The Smiths and Limp Bizcuit, I was blasting the Destiny's Child and Ace of Base.

My old man stepped in at the age of 15, I think he was worried I may be batting for the other team.

Maybe he was too late? Hahaha (fancy dress party btw!)

He sat me down and played me Pink Floyd's Echoes and explained to me why it was so good. Anyone who has that collection will understand this too.

I love weird stuff too. I like Justin Bieber. I love the SugarBabes (old stuff, the new album....what are you doing guys???) I like Girls Aloud. I like Soul, Blues and Jazz. I go to a Jazz night once a month. I DJ the bar I work in early doors and thus need to know plenty about Northern Soul and Motown. So why the hell do I have such a wide pallet of musical taste.

Most people say they like most stuff, but I think I actually seem to have literally nothing I don't like. Except Drum & Base, Techno and that *&%^$. These types of music are above and beyond my capability of mind power. I'm sure the idea of listening to Usher's new tune would be the sound of hell to most people, but hey I like it.

What's my favorite tune right now I hear you ask. Well I stumbled across this. Check it out. Spanish covers ROCK!

Rant over. What do you think? Am I like you? Am I condemning my children to a life of hell? Should I jump off the nearest building for even mentioning Justin Beiber in a blog post?

Its Buisness Time

2010-04-13T04:42:00.000-07:00

After a day to take everything in, I think I can finally say, WAHOO!!

Now that Ive got that out my system I ought to say a few words. Firstly to those who have been tweeting, blogging, posting videos and pictures over the last month who didn't make it through, commiserations.

The biggest surprises for me that did not make it through were Amanda Jenkins and Sophie Collard, both great contestants who I thought had done enough to make it through. This begs the question, what the ruddy hell are STA looking for?

It was nice to see some inspiring words from some of the fallen, my favorite was from Elle, who has now responded by going on her own mission to travel the world regardless, this will no doubt help her no end if she fancies reapplying next year. Some guys took it personally and I saw someone delete their twitter accounts to go back to their 'real friends'. Good luck with that one.

For those of us who made it thought to the top 20, well done! Mixed bunch overall I feel. The male-female numbers seems to have been evened out which is nice to see. Certainly twitter followers, YouTube channel subscribers and the application forms have shown themselves to be an aiding factor to get us through to this point. As for the next round, the dreaded phone interview. I am actually quite looking forward to it. We get to talk to the STA guys for the first time, get a feel about who they are and what they have to say. I am currently knee deep in writing my dissertation, but as soon as that has been put to bed I shall get myself nicely prepared for next weeks antics.

I want to say thanks to all the other applicants throughout the process who have shown their support to me via blogs etc. It means a lot to see those comments, but to be honest this is business time, so good luck to all and let the best man and woman get the job.

If your looking for a laugh in these testing times -

Reviewing the Stuff

2010-04-12T08:25:00.001-07:00

Here is a review of this week's 'Stuff of the World'.

Day 1- Who said gardening wasn't cool?

Day 2 - BT men in Laos

Day 3 - Ever wondered what its like to bike the coast of Vietnam?

Day 4 - Got an infection in Saigon?

Day 5 - Ever been to Cambodia?

Day 6 - Wildlife of Malaysia? sure!

Day 7 - What's the best beach in S.East Asia?

What did y'all think?

Stuff of the World

2010-04-12T05:32:00.000-07:00

Day 7 -

What's the best beach in S.East Asia?

Answer. This place.

Forget Maya Bay (aka the set of 'The Beach') off the coast of Koh Phi Phi, tourism and sadly the tsunami have tainted this otherwise stunning beach. For me there is only one place you ought to see if your on the lookout for the best beach in the S.E Asia, if not the world. Here is the view from a top a rock on the east side, shot by my good friend Justin.

With no official name, the locals call it 'Romantic Beach' or 'Paradise Beach', which as you can see is not a bad attempt.. Accessible by taxi boat or canoe, this beach offers the chance to chill out in awe of the teal seas and the thick jungle.

To get here head to the Perhentains on the north east coast of Malaysia, and ask a local to take you here. You will be met by hovering eagles, and the odd snorkeler taking a well deserved rest. Go here at least once in your life, I order you to !

And once you have had enough of the idyllic surroundings, just head down and have a deserved rest.

The beach at dusk. Guess the tune playing on our ipod dock and win a prise!

Stuff of the World

2010-04-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

Day 6 -

Wildlife of Malaysia? sure!

Firstly, like any place hot and far away from home, yes there are spiders. Lots of them!

However these little devils don't linger round all day especially if you head towards to the beach. At which point you might be greeted by one of these bad boys living under your beach hut.

You will be occasionally treated to some unforgettable wildlife that won't have you running to the hills. Firstly, I saw a whale shark this year whilst diving the in the Perhentians. I also got to know Eddie the eagle quite well, a friendly 4 foot tall sea eagle with claws the size of pincher's. The poor blighter had lost the ability to fly, and the locals fed him rats and fish. He became very tame and I found great humor in walking up to tourists taking photos of the beastly looking bird from afar, strike up conversation about how stunning and wild the bird looked, only to waltz over and practically give Eddie a kiss on the beak, much to one American tourists complete amazement....... 'dude your crazy!'

If your lucky you also might get to meet one of these little guys.

Although don't try to eat them, apparently this is very naughty!

And one final tip if your lucky enough to stumble across one of these miniature works of art, they are very difficult to keep still.

Stuff of the World

2010-04-09T06:04:00.000-07:00

Day 5 -

Ever been to Cambodia?

Forget the temples, beaches, and the jungle. The people of Cambodia are the highlight!

After at $50 taxi from the boarder to Siem Reap, me and my buddy Dave were invited by our tuk tuk driver to his house party. With little rest and no real motivation to do anything else but sleep, we decided 'hey, whens the next time a friendly Cambodian guy is gonna invite you to his house party?'

So we headed off into the dark, hot Cambodian night. An hour through the jungle clinging for our lives to a moped welded with two extra forks of steal as make shift seats, we arrived at a his house, or should I say hut.

We drank the local brew for hours, feasting on chicken feet and deep fried beetles and sang endless amounts of Cambodian karaoke (which by the way is HILARIOUS). As you can see I had a great time with these guys.

And if you ever get yourself over there, make sure you hook up with the locals, there are super friendly and by far the most hospitable humans you could wish to meet. And hey, if you must go to the temples, get yourself down to Angkor Wat, my mate Dave can rustle you up some great cocktails.

Stuff of the World

2010-04-09T03:05:00.000-07:00

Day 4 -

Got an infection in Saigon?

Firstly don't panic.

Find a local who doesn't speak English but understands you need to get to hospital pronto!

Bring a trusty friend and jump aboard.

Wait in the holding area surrounded by injured locals and think about how great the NHS is.

Fancy a fag in the hospital? No problem.

Get four or five not so skilled hands to fix you up.

And then get back to business.

Want to see our short journey to the hospital?

Stuff of the World

2010-04-08T03:23:00.001-07:00

Day 3 -

Ever wondered what its like to bike the coast of Vietnam?

There are some amazing roads.

If you break down, there are worse places to do so.

And you just look damn cool. Nothing better than riding into a new town as a troop, on looking backpackers who took the train or bus staring in awe! The best feeling in the world!

Stuff of the World

2010-04-07T04:56:00.000-07:00

Day 2 -

BT men in Laos.

Woke up in Vientiane to this lovely gentleman outside my hotel room tweaking the phone lines. Looks safe.

Stuff of the World

2010-04-06T05:43:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Lindsay's photo of the day posts, I thought I'd start a series of photo's of people, places and things Ive seen along my travels that I love and admire.

Day 1.

Who said gardening wasn't cool?

This guy is 67 years old, cuts grass and picks up rubbish on the smaller island of the Perhentians (Kecil) in Malaysia. I met him every night for a month in 2008, and on my return in June 2009 he welcomed me back and although unable to speak a word of English, made it very clear he was grateful I returned to his patch. What a character.

One Last Push!

2010-04-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

With five or so days until the deadline for the STA WTI hopefuls to finish their application forms, I sat and pondered.

2,500 or so people applied and now we are left with 50 great potential world travelers.

I was surprised to see the form to be so short. I suppose STA at this point are looking for any reason to scrap 30 of us. Lack of PC software experience, travel history and alike all huge obstacles for us to tackle. How can I stand out?

After pondering this question for about an hour over a few martini's in Skippy's, I came up with an idea.

A CV to support my application. 50 down to 20. Desperate measures.

x x

Top 50 Baby!

2010-03-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Firstly congrats to all the other 49 guys and girls (mostly girls) for reaching the top 50 STA WTI. So what do we know.

1. Our videos were awesome.

2. Our blogging has been great.

3. Tweeting hasn't been a waste of time.

4. Those twenty five minutes while the site was down sure was an interesting passage of my life!

&

5. We now must await the application form.

I count 16 lads, and 34 girls. I think this goes to show that girls really are better at juggling two things at once. Or perhaps girls are just drawn to this job more than guys. For what ever reason the ladies really did show their skills off in a big way so well done girls.

50 will very shortly become 20, and I think this round is for sure, THE MOST IMPORTANT ROUND, underestimated by anyone sure to be a perilous decision.

I think its sad that some guys video applications didn't make it through when they had clearly made way more effort than some of the guys who did go through, but hey, votes certainly did count for something.

I think the voting side to this competition is by far the most unsettling part of the whole internship. Its caused the competition to become a REAL competition, resulting in major competitiveness from even the most uncompetitive people (me for one). Its put people through to the top 50 and its caused rivalry (mostly friendly). Our votes have been sheared and I presume at this point we must grasp as many more as we can get. Which is going to be hard. Another challenge is something I'm looking forward too.

What does everyone think now the top 50 are up? Are we feeling good? Nervous? Sad?

My birthday today too, so thanks STA for a great early birthday present.

//discuss

Travel Blogs & Travel Boars

2010-03-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Reading travel blogs of mutual friends, acquaintances and even family, can be a tad tasking at times. Travel blogs on the whole, essentially detail people's day to day goings on during their travels. I Googled myself today and found I appear in travel blogs from people from the US, Canada, Denmark and Norway, mostly referring to when I ran a bar on the Perhentians in Malaysia called 'Bellends Bar', opening cans and skinny dipping every night - aka best time of my life.

But my point is, on the whole travel blogs suck!!

That was until I came across a few good ones. What makes a great travel blog? I believe it is the ability to show off your experiences without patronizing, confusing, over detailing and blurring those experiences.

We know where you are, and if we don't then please don't detail every brick and tile in the style of an Edwardian novelist, we just don't need to know. Don't tell us everything, keep it relatively short and capture our imagination with a funny story, or a tale of adventure. The key is to use all the mediums you can. Carefully selected words, perfect photos to accompany the mood and atmosphere of the location, and certainly include fantastic video. This final medium of video captures for me, the ultimate 'inspiring' hook than any other format can possibly deliver. If a picture tells a thousand words, then how many does a video tell?

A gazillion, that's how many. nomadderwhere.com has caught my attention over the past month for obvious reasons, and I hope you enjoy Lyndsay's blend of clever & educational posts, coupled with stunning photography and the best use of videography with regards to amateur travel footage known on the face of the cyber planet. Cuddo's to you as they say in the US of A cuddo's.

//discuss

A silver fox asks.....

2010-03-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

How you been preparing for the next stage if you get through?

It may come as presumptuous and certainly exposing to embarrassment to admit this, but Ive been thinking about the next rounds since I heard about the selection process. I have been studying the STA WTI inside and out, and to be perfectly honest, I'm prepared for rounds 2, 3 and the final if it were to arise already. Yes I have talked to myself on the walk home going through phone interview questions!! (oh dear, first sign of madness).

How you ask? Well without giving it all away, I have sourced locations, key people, and equipment to help me through the next stage and I cant wait (fingers crossed) to finally have the excuse to start replicating magic!!!HAHAHA joking guys.

Any views about the competition so far?

So far its been an amazing ride, if not a ridiculously distracting one. I made my STA WTI video pretty much straight away, which looking back was a great idea. STA travel buzz were first to mention me on their site, and I had the chance to get my hands dirty straight away with a follow up video detailing my day out, which helped me in my video making skills no end. Social networking has been fun, and Ive met a few cool people.

There has been moments when it has caused some stress. Abusive wall post's made to me, and from people pretending to be me. I kinda expected some stick, after all my application video is awesome, who wouldn't be jealous!! haha, don't miss quote me people!! x x

The ride has been up and down, but certainly unforgettable. Strange to think it will be over soon.

Have you been impressed by the other applicants?

Overall I would say the other applicants applications are so varied its impossible to generalise. On the whole, they are AWESOME! Which is of course a bad thing :(. Two clear finalists in my eyes are Sparky and Hazza!!.

I'm glad votes aren't really the main thing anymore too. Slide shows aren't really that cool.

All the best guys. Good luck with Top 50 and beyond.

Peace!

Traval Literature Debate

2010-03-19T05:29:00.000-07:00

So we all read travel literature of some description. Before, during or after an expedition of any kind. I have been rather skeptical towards travel books that elaborate the travel 'mindset'. I don't really understand this. What is the travel 'mindset', and should we bother to read these tales of travel in search for inspiration.

I have been really interested recently why we read about other people's experiences. For me, I can barely bring myself to look through people's photo's of their travels let alone read their online blogs or via any other medium.

Since Rusja Foster's STA WTI application video in which she mentions books by Alexander Supertramp and alike which have really inspired her to get out there and experience new and exciting things and really get out of her comfort zone. I wondered if a book or blog has ever inspired me in this way. I like to think its better to do something first. Jump before you look if you will.

My first trip two years ago to S.E.Asia I had cuttings from half a dozen Lonely Planet guide books all carefully cut out and placed in order according to my itinerary, so that every town and country I visited I could read up on and be ready for where ever the next destination may be. Looking back I can only cringe at this mindset, but hey, I was young, naive and a bit scared.

When planning a trip nowadays I just book the flight, talk to a few people and try and get the gist of a place before I go. That way, everything will be a surprise, and hopefully even the bad times will be just as memorable. After all, planning a trip is fun, doing it is up and down, and reflecting and remembering is just as good.

What I want to try and achieve, is to spark off a little debate which will hopefully educate me in what people think to travel literature. Can it really inspire you? Am I missing out on something great? And the traveler 'mindset', what is this?

Cheers x

Why Do We Travel?

2010-03-16T10:21:00.001-07:00

Many of us have traveled. I mean backpacked that type of thing. And for those who haven't, they ask me, 'Whats the best thing about traveling?' or 'Is it not really scary?'. And I find I tend to answer completely differently depending on my mood, or the type of people who ask me.

So bare with me as I wright down why I think you should travel if you haven't already and maybe answer the question 'is it scary?'.

I travel because England is not very inspiring in the summer. We attract millions of tourists and that's cool, but they dont have to live here all year. I love England. Literally I cant imagine being away from it too long. I miss the culture, accent's, the little sayings we have, the little things in life we as Brits can only understand etc etc. But when you go far far away your mind opens up. When your on the move from A to B your mind is constantly busy with meeting new people, thinking what to do, where to go, who to talk to, what to eat, what to drink, who to chat up, who to ask if their up for a game of UNO etc etc.

When you travel 3 months go in like 3 weeks. Boom you land, you have fun, you do a hell of a lot, meet people you never forget, see things you'll never forget, do things you'll never forget, and Boom your home. I travel because its the best way to kill time while you figure stuff out. Whether what to do with your life, or what to eat for breakfast when you get back.

Just do it and get out there. There are a few lame excuses that you hear from time to time. I suppose if you want to do something you just do it. You make it happen. Those who go year to year saying 'Oooh I will travel but I just need to save money', trust me, just go and stop wasting our time.

When I got back from Asia I had no job, no money, nowhere to live. Guess what. I got a new house with my best two mates. I got offered three jobs at once, and money wise, I got it sorted!

Things will work out in the end, as long as you have family and friends who can help you out with a floor to sleep on for a while, or a couple of hundred quid stashed away for a rainy day.

Is it scary?

Hell Ya!!

I won't go into it, but my first 24hours in Bangkok, my first ever trip away backpacking. I was in tears and wanted to go home. If it wasn't for that first traumatic experience that grew a thick layer of skin, I don't think I could have made it through all the tough situations you can find yourself in. The world is a dangerous place sometimes. But even paradise has hazards. The garden of Eden had an evil talking snake for god's sake. Is England any safer?

Back your bags. Get out there. Go with a mate if it helps. Take your camera and enjoy.

Nail biting stuff

2010-03-15T05:43:00.001-07:00

Is anyone else getting a little excited that in eight days the application deadline for STA World Traveler Internship is coming to an end?

Its been an interesting 6 weeks.

love x

A Day In My Life.....................

2010-03-10T07:11:00.000-08:00

OK so it still might not meet the demands of the BAFTA committee, but my skills of filming and editing are developing. A day in my life was made entirely for my own film making development. It is not intended to be part of my WTI application, it is meant to be evidence of my improvement in my abilities with a camera.

There is still clear improvement to be made and with some more time and effort, I think I could become quite the little film buff. Hope you enjoy it, apologies about the little rant at the start towards Royal Mail, we love you really!!!

Pro-active response = happy times.

Feedback welcomed.

love & peace! x

A Month Goes By

2010-03-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

A month has past since I uploaded my final STA WTI application video and its certainly been a rollercoaster ride. Since the day I uploaded the final version I have been involved in joyful laughter with friends, been spotted around town (hey your that guy off the STA thing right?), delved into the exciting world that is scandal, visited strange and expensive places (£4.70 a pint down in the big smoke), and met some brilliant people.

1,387 views and 5456 votes later, I now feel involved with this role. I think my video still carries charm, but I am now looking at the floods of other videos that are finally hitting the net. Good luck to everyone who applies. My vote goes to the lovely Sparky! I love her humour, I hope that everyone else gets it.

People have been talking to me about their ideas of making new videos to strengthen their applications. My advice would be do it, but try and be original. STA know what they want, you can't force it, just be yourself, try not to fail UNI by doing all this work on it, and enjoy yourself. After all, in the words of Chris Danner 2009 WTI winner 'be yourself because everyone else is taken.'

Peace!

Buzz About Town

2010-02-26T05:13:00.000-08:00

So whats the crack I hear you ask. Well since my video has now miraculously achieved 5000+ votes things started to go back to normal and my life ensued with horrendous normality. That was until Francisco (a silver fox from STA Travel Buzz) invited me to attend a travel event, meet the team, other travelers and WTI hopefuls.

Before I jumped on the next megabus I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. Why not take this opportunity to meet some really cool guys as well as practice my video making skills?! So that's what I did. I pulled myself out of bed and started shooting. If I have to make videos of my experiences this summer I'd better start practicing right? After all I'm no Spielberg yet. So any who here is the fruit of my labour. (don't know why YouTube cut the last 3 secs!)

It didn't take long to make, and I think ill be making some more soon.

Thanks again to STA Travel Buzz and the team, great hospitality, thanks for the beers and it was awesome to mingle down in sunny London! ha! x

STA Intern Blues

2010-02-12T06:20:00.000-08:00

Having uploaded my video, achieved 400 votes (amazing!!), and now having to crack on with life. I feel a little blue. I have nothing to do now except wait and dream.

check out my application profile.

Voting begins!

2010-02-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

I have 123 votes already people!

Thanks to all those who voted.

Good luck to everyone.

Internship video blues....

2010-02-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

My eagerness to create my internship application video for the 2010 STA Travel Internship, is certainly not being match by the termoil world that is IT.

Terms like DV, firewire, and USB compatible connections, have become words a that are steadily becoming linked to suicidal tendencies!!

Ok maybe not that bad, but by hell the world of video shooting, uploading, and editing is slowly becoming a true test of my patience.

My experience in this type of activity is small, but I think steadily im starting to get the hang of this.

I am really trying my best to get my video up first to beat the crowds, but I have a feeling I will fail. Ive been spending hours looking at other videos from the US version of this programme with great interest. Some of the videos are truly fantastic, the majority however wont be as good as mine. I just hope those high budget films shot by film students won't over shadow mine too much. I suppose the only thing I can do, is do my best, and hope my personality can push me forward into the top 20.....!!!

I am getting VERY excitied.

STA Travel Internship = A job for me!

2010-01-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Ok so I was flicking through STA Travels website recently when I came acorss a link to the STA Travel Internship 2010. It's basically a huge PR stunt, but by far and away, the best PR stunt ever!

It entails a trip round the world and back for free! The coolest thing apart from having the trip of your life time is that you get to share it with a stranger who also shares a passion for travel.

The requirements are you have to be passionate about travelling, a good writer, excellent verbal skills, photography and camera skills, and a sense of adventure.

Where do I sign up?

Can't wait to apply!

April 25th draws near!!

2008-04-07T08:19:00.001-07:00

We PR students must now put together all our hard work from the year and cleverly, aesthetically and creatively mount it.

Unfortunately this is becoming the most tasking part of the whole deal.

I'm bloody useless at this sort of thing, who thought cutting card would be so demanding.

Fly me away!

2008-03-03T04:25:00.000-08:00

I was flicking through the latest issue of PR Week, and it seems Virgin Atlantic are now regarding Blogger's and other Internet writers in the same light as other journalists when it come to reviews and other comms related issues.

Luckily this works out fantastically for me, the summer holidays are soon approaching and I'm free as of 16Th of May guys so I look forward to hearing from you.

What The Bloody Hell Is Web 3.0?

2008-02-04T10:50:00.000-08:00

I finally understood what Web 2.0 was, and now people are already talking about Web 3.0.

Eric Schmidt CEO of Google has said -

"Web 2.0 is a marketing term, and I think you've just invented Web 3.0"

I think what he is saying is that we the public, expect natural progression, the next best thing. If we stop thinking about the future we become in danger of losing our sense of reality, we miss opportunities and become naive.

The rich and famous predict future, who will be the next Mark Zuckerberg?

Is Web 3.0 a reality or are we just being ridiculous?

My money is on 3D graphics, some sort of AI interface that we design ourselves and talk to in order to access our internet.

All I need is a billion pounds to develop the idea and I’ll be a millionaire by Christmas.

2008-02-04T05:40:00.001-08:00

With the New York Giants winning the superbowl last night they have now become "World Champions". Strange for a team to become world champs when the competition is only held in the US with American teams. A one hour game lasted just under four hours, with fireworks, pre-match entertainment, half-time show, and a finale of parades of mascots and celebrities.

Each advert between plays cost's £1.5 million pounds and the game was watched by over a billion people in 232 countries.

It seems as though America do everything to deflect away from the actual sport itself, which seems to lack any real excitement.

I'm not really sure what this has to do with anything related to PR, or anything at all really, it just makes me cross. I think America is quite odd, I must go back again soon to really make my mind up.

Honesty Is The Best Policy

2008-01-30T05:14:00.000-08:00

I'm learning that when it comes to major problems that occur instantly to an organisation, and PR steps in to help, the ability to "Spin" isn't always the best course of action.

Crisis Management is an area of Public Relations that I have yet to study, however I have read around the subject and come across some basic principals. There seems to be a lot of reference to the ability to "Spin", which I decoded as mostly being very well trained in lying. (Most of the time).

For example the Virgin Rail crash which I mentioned as my highlight of the PR year was one such example of PR crisis management.The crash wasn't the story, the heroic driver was the story. Similarly the recent BA crash at Heathrow imprinted the vision of an amazing pilot gliding an underpowered 200 ton aircraft to a relatively safe landing, rather than a plane crash!

Another thing I've picked up on these types of crisis, is that with the BA crash for example, BA were advised to show exactly what went wrong. Initially I thought this was a disaster move by BA, allowing the public to know which engine failed at which particular moment. Passengers don't want to know what can go wrong.

Or do they? Because say for example they did not provide any information at all. People would become more sceptical about aircraft, they may think up their own ideas of what went wrong and why. They also might think that the pilot was just poor quality raising questions about the person flying the planes in the first place.

So by stripping away the spin and spaff that comes with crisis management they may have saved their business.

The PR Year

2007-12-17T05:36:00.000-08:00

While I wait for my washing at the laundrette to finish I thought I'd pop over to my local internet cafe and quickly jot down some thoughts on this year.

Briefly.

I think it's been surreal this year. The number one stories dominating the news this year were either about a missing girl in Portugal, or a man missing in a canoe. We like drama, sex, drugs and rock' n roll and that's why Amy Winehouse has had such a fantastic year, although tragically she seems weeks away from the publicity killing her.

We watched as Facebook dominated the world even though it still continues to grow, if I were Mark Zuckerberg I would sell up fast before it becomes the next Myspace.

PR struggled this year in my opinion. Bite PR got the Facebook account, successfully proving that something that has become so successful without PR, is now preparing for a dark era where expert help will be needed to keep the advertisers interested.

My favorite PR this year has to be - Richard Branson flying in at the scene of the Virgin train crash. Pure genus and pure Branson. I remember watching it live and he stood there and defended his trains, the heroic driver and Virgin. I distinctly remember thinking that I had no quarrels getting on a train of any description afterwards, and that certainly Virgin was still safe.

My PR low was the amount of coverage the Simpson's Movie got. The PR stunt was to draw a picture of Homer in a cliff edge, not very moving, didn't get me thinking about the movie, and it just left me thinking how much money wasted, and the limits the PR team imagination stretched too when offered such a large scale budget.

What next? Google will retain the crown, no doubt with the demand for mobile media to go global. The iPhone was slick, but I see Google doing something truly different and far superior. Too sum up, which I don't think could have been done better than Jeff Jarvis - "This may have been Facebook's year. But so far, it is still Google's century."

Marketing debate

2007-12-14T05:38:00.000-08:00

I found myself in a very interesting conversation the other day whilst manning my bar that I work in. A man called Simon Filler who is a freelancer who's roles include, Head of Marketing for Arc Inspirations and a few other companies based in London. He sat down on his own, I recommended him with a drink and he sat down at the bar and we started to chat. Soon after we were in that typical debate about PR being part of the marketing mix and the limits with PR according to the greater scheme of things.

I was surprised to the level to which I was standing up for PR, maybe I'm really getting stuck into it. I even silenced him once or twice with points about product placement being advertising, to which he thought was PR. Then his friend arrived sat down cottoned on to what we were talking about and laughed. Simon looked at him at they both started to laugh, seems they were surprised to be going out to a bar and finding a bar tender who new a thing or two about their profession. The other guy, forgive me I didn't get his name, was high up in marketing for the NHS.

The debate thickened mostly around product placement, the wider marketing mix and the role PR has in the modern world. Apparently PR is dying. Anyway there isn't any real ending to this post, except to say that I finally feel like I've grown up a bit, and that these academics and practitioners aren't as scary as first thought. We all have views that have validity and it doesn't matter how much experience someone has there is always something to learn from another.

Fizzy and new, or old and Flat

2007-12-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

Pepsi have now joined facebook. They pay to advertise their product on a profile where others can become "fans" of the product. This then shows up on the profile of the "fan" showing the world that they are indeed a little bit partial to a bit of cola.

Along with a few thousand companies so far, Pepsi have decided that there is just cause to pay for this honour to be on facebook. I don’t see why.

I was brought to this by an article in Broadcast magazine which I was flicking through whilst at a music video the other day, and even became a "fan" of Pepsi just so I could officially write on the wall, which went a little something like.....

"Using facebook as some sort of advertising platform is very silly. People don’t really care about these pages, they aren't secure, impossible to monitor its effects and are open to criticism. You spend millions elsewhere and for the person who set this up, I would advise you think carefully how you use this particular media."

Am I right? Is this the cheapest if not tackiest form of product placement?

What ever the components of this equation of advertising or however you wish to classify this form of communication are, the answer will always be the same.

COMPANY (Pepsi) pay £?,???’s to have facebook profile.

TIMES the amount of companies who think this media is worth communicating through ?,???,???'s

EQUALS - Mark's early retirement comes even earlier, and the next 1.6 percent goes for twice as much.

PR Credibility

2007-12-05T08:55:00.000-08:00

I happened to stumble across a very interesting poster at uni the other day advertising a guest lecture featuring Anne Gregory entitled "PR ands its struggle for credibility".

Interesting as PR students we weren't told about this directly, personally I would have loved to have gone. Maybe we are not been invited in case we would not enjoy the content, it seems to me that we spend a lot of time listening to why advertising is "dying" and marketing is similar but not as "dependable" or "efficient" as PR, we should be able to view all aspects of what we study otherwise we will become even more naive and ill mannered in our ways towards "rival" disciplines.

Fight night PR vs Marketing vs Advertising now that sounds like a plan. I can already imagine the mayhem. HA!

We communicate, but do we really communicate?

2007-11-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

I'm sure there are some very respectable people out there that are paid plenty to advise others on how the future generations will communicate. Well I am one number that will not be following fashion trends in communication like all the other sheep out there.

I'm sick and tired of people using these forms of "communication" on university computers. Professional agencies have made these sites unattainable, I spoke to a friend at Freud Communications and his office has banned these sites. Why cant we do the same at university?

I have lived a very social life thus far and I seem to be getting further enraged by the day. Why must we bog up time and energy talking to people who we may not really care about. If you use facebook or any other "social" networking site, I challenge you today to answer this question - have you used these forms of media away from your personal PC and/or have you used these media to talk to someone who you do not rank as a loved one or a good friend?

If you have your hacking me off and wasting other people's time, space and energy. Sorry.

Souper Men!

2007-11-14T04:34:00.000-08:00

My first news release aimed at regional coverage has made print
(Yorkshire Evening Post). I feel like a freelance practitioner, very cool.

P.S any male freelance PR practitioners out there please contact me, I'm writing a feature on a related topic and would love the opportunity to ask you some questions.

New Ideas Please........

2007-11-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

TV channels are feeding us with nothing but old crap. Re-runs of Top Gear, Who's Line is it anyway?, Family Fortunes, and Wheel of Fortune to name just a few are clogging up telly. New channels such as "Dave", "Dave+1", "Challenge" etc are just plowing out old tripe, and we are watching it. There is simply not anything else being made that is good enough anymore, so we turn to old classics.

Music? Well lets look at the charts. Spice Girls and TakeThat number one and number two. Boyzone are getting back together, Westlife have just released "Home" their third cover in a row and All Saints are also coming back soon.

We are in a drought of new and exciting entertainment. Can anyone change this? Not even Simon Cowell's best efforts this year look like raising a single eyebrow.

Beginners Luck?

2007-11-05T05:28:00.000-08:00

My first ever news release for my first client has attracted some great coverage. Katie Baldwin at Yorkshire Post has agreed to run the story and everyone at Soupa seems very excited. The new company approached me in aid of some exposure for their company, and hopefully The Yorkshire Post will do just the job.

Soupa deliver a range of products and are worth checking out if you are in need of a new healthily outlook on life. Look out for related coverage to follow shortly this week.

Fight Night - Agency or In House

2007-10-30T04:46:00.000-07:00

Last nights CIPR Fight Night saw "In House" vs "Agency" battle it out. The reason behind this I though was quiet clever, behind all the friendly antics was a sort of pitch. The lecture hall was two thirds full of potential employee's. As students we are too inexperienced to go straight into freelancing, and so it’s in house or agency when we finish.

Although we didn't have that promised vote at the end of the discussion I thought agency seemed to win over the majority. The students I spoke to after all said they preferred the idea of a busy office packed with plenty of staff, safety in numbers. In house seemed to me to be represented by a slightly older crowd, apologies!

Already thinking of direction for after my degree I see myself in agency, with six months previous experience in Freud's the draw to agency is strong. I will find in house work eventually to broaden my experience and insight; however I can see myself ultimately working freelance.

Feature Fantastic

2007-10-25T01:41:00.000-07:00

I finally got talking to the editor of The Met, the lovely Kat Baldwin. I went through three potential ideas for stories hoping that at least one would get the go ahead for production. After I finished telling her my thoughts, I closed my eyes and prayed.

"There all excellent! Can you do all three?" She replied.

Looks like I'm going to be a busy little bee for the next few days. If any one needs help being pointed in her direction just let me know.

Disclaimer

2007-10-24T06:23:00.001-07:00

This is my blog, the views expressed by me are 100% my own and do not reflect views from colleagues, my university, or other blogs/web pages linked through my blog.

I strive for accuracy, but any mistakes will be altered as soon they are brought to my attention. Any comments/complaints please e-mail me.

Network to Getwork!

2007-10-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

OK one more student blogger added…. Who wants to be next?

I think we can become quite a formidable pack online. Hopefully we can start a little movement where others can admire our willingness to promote ourselves. We don't have to write about our course worries all the time, sure we can discuss things and help each other out, but there is only a certain number of people complaining about models and theories that I can take.

Let’s get stuck in and see where we go. Before we can go anywhere, we need numbers!

Tattoo removal !

2007-10-23T03:38:00.000-07:00

Just quickly.

Ive been branded for what seemed to be for eternity with a terrible Google rating.

Turns out thanks to the recent interest, my blog has jumped to number 1.

"Paddy Doyle PR" search it and see. Fuss for nothing I'm sure.

Facebook brainwash

2007-10-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

After pacing up and down the library Ive finally succeeded in jumping on a PC, not like I should be complaining, its great to see so many people working so hard.

But wait, at second glance I can see that more than half are logged into facebook. There are numerous laptops to be seen, I can see four screens from where I am and yes there all on facebook.

Ive just spotted my friend sitting with a laptop with some colleague's planning a presentation, and yes once again they are working alongside the social networking masterpiece.

Is this going to plague our lives forever?......... Should we not ban facebook on uni PCs?

Rant over.

Just need to tag those photo's of last night and then I'm off home.

Is there anyone out there?

2007-10-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

Due to the recent observations that student PR blogs are on the demise, I thought I'd invite people to come and voice on here to help raise awareness to any blogger currently in the dark.

Got my letter !

2007-10-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

So I go my first ever letter published this morning and I felt surprisingly giddy. I felt like id won a tenner on the lottery, however they did print a spelling mistake which slightly put a downer on it. Never the less I'm one step closer to end of the dreaded ten items for my portfolio, and im chuffed.

Public Relations Hoodies.....?

2007-10-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

Who's proud to be on their course at their university?

I'm going to look into the opportunity of getting some funds for my course BA (Hons) Public Relations, to get some branded hoodies so that we can show off where we are and what we do.

Who's with me........anyone?

New age of the internet - my first burn!

2007-10-13T05:06:00.000-07:00

As I write this I am experiencing my first new age disaster! Blogging is great because its easy and fun, facebook and myspace are a little less demanding, yet it still gives you the feeling you've created something from scratch in the world of the Internet.

I wont say who because its not clever but someone has ruined my day.

They supply a web template and then you go ahead and edit it as you deem fit. Well its not that easy.......

Maybe its my naive outlook on life, but if something sounds easy then it normally is. £30 down the drain. Brilliant!

Whats the 411 about the 606? Because i'm all 6's and 7's!

2007-10-10T03:20:00.000-07:00

BBC Sport's website which sits happily at front row on my favorites list, has a section named 606. This is where people who visit the site can write anything they wish about anything sports related. Then anyone can read it and comment on it, and good articles get recommended and linked to on other pages.

I'm thinking maybe something similar would be cool for the Leeds Met Home page, how about a link called "Your Met" or "The 411!". Students could write anything they wished about their university, and other students, staff and visitors could comment on whats written.

Students could post links to thier blogs, and wiki's, also what about having a survey on there too . How do we rate the Public Relations of the University towards us the people that matter, the students?

That way meetings that happen once a blue moon can get answers more readily and things can get rolling. What do people think about this? Can anyone point me in the direction of anyone who could help me with this?

Soupa Size ME!

2007-10-05T04:11:00.000-07:00

New business's of any size will find it difficult to promote their products at first, that's no secret, but the one's that really succeed are the one's that makes us think how did we ever live without them.

iPOD's to Cillet Bang, my life surely did not function untill they arrived in my life, how can other companies succeed in achieving this.

Three brave young men are attempting this as we speak right here in Headingley. Silvano, Jake and Joe have stepped into the brave world and are enticing us with healthy and convenient foods such as soup, salads and yoghurt!

Soupa have cleverly attracted attention already from The Yorkshire Post and Barclay's Bank no less. They have performed a trial to prove that their products are not just extremely healthy but indeed life changing.

The subject who works here in Leeds with Barclay's Bank performed the Soupa Size Me challenge, a parody on Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me. She ate only Soupa's products provided by a daily food pack delivered to her office each working day.

Where Spurlock found his body mass index rose from ‘healthy’ to ‘overweight’ as well as experiencing mood swings, sexual dysfunction and serious liver damage, the subject of Soupa Size Me cut unhealthy snacks from her diet, found she had more energy in an afternoon and perhaps most significantly, lost 5% points of body fat through no change in exercise or diet outside of working hours!

The article due to be published in the upcoming week will soon deem the fate of this young and prosperous company...... The question is, if the outcome is positive will the public think this is Spoof or Truth?

Spoof?

2007-10-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Spoof: (aka spoofing - slang phrase)

1. To lie, spin the truth, or any other means of using forms of communicating to encourage a certain desired behaviour of the recipients. Basically a really good PR tool.