Revisiting Malaysia with the help of Skyscanner and Toronto Travel Massive

Where would you go if you could travel to anywhere in the world? That’s the question that Arienne Parzei had to ask after attending a Toronto Travel Massive last year and winning a flight voucher with Skyscanner.

Arienne Parzei is a videographer, writer and photographer and creator of travel blog See You Soon Travel. At a recent event at Toronto Travel Massive with Skyscanner she won a $1,000 flight voucher to go anywhere in the world.

How did you win the prize?

I always make a point to attend Travel Massive in Toronto if I’m in town. It’s always a fun evening in a new part of the city. Our November 2016 meetup was hosted by Skyscanner. They made a special point to travel up from Miami – where they’re headquartered – to meet with the Toronto Travel Massive community.

Skyscanner presented some really interesting travel trends for 2017 based on the search data from their website. This was invaluable information for those wanting to get a head start on upcoming travel trends.

They hosted hosted a giveaway for a travel voucher valued at $1,000 – which I won!

Why did you decide to travel to Malaysia?

My husband and I had actually just been talking the night before about making a return trip to Southeast Asia. We had just learned that we were expecting our first child and I really wanted to travel back to the region while it was still just the two of us.

With the winnings we booked 2 flights out to one of our favourite countries during our 8-month backpacking trip – Malaysia.

We spent a total of 2 weeks in Malaysia, a week on Penang eating our way through the island and another week on Langkawi rotating between being beach bums and exploring the island by motorbike.

We loved our time in Malaysia back in 2011 and the return trip just solidified our love for the country and the people.

How did you get into travel blogging and photography?

In 2009, my husband and I set off for South Korea to teach English for a year. I had always wanted to live abroad for a period of time and my husband was interested in becoming a teacher.

We had started a small blog while living in South Korea to keep our family and friends up to date with our time in the country. But once we set off for our backpacking trip, the blog became more of a focus and turned into a place for travel tips and advice about the places we were visiting.

Coming back to Toronto after being away for nearly 3-years was an adjustment. Reverse culture shock is definitely a thing and it hit me hard. I also didn’t know what I wanted to be doing upon my return.

After a few months back in Toronto, I was introduced to Travel Massive. I knew only one other person there but by the end of the evening I had met dozens of people and shared many travel stories. I left thinking, wow there’s so many other people like me, blogging and writing about travel, and who could totally relate to me!

It’s been incredible seeing the Toronto chapter grow into one of the largest Travel Massive communities. I’ve met inspiring people, collaborated with Tourism Boards and brands, and made some amazing personal and professional connections. I credit Travel Massive and the Toronto chapter with showing me that a life and even career in travel is possible.

I’m still running my blog to this day and it has now snowballed into an exciting career of freelance video production, writing, and social media management.

Arienne, is a travel writer, videographer, and photographer from Toronto, Canada. She produces a travel blog called seeyousoon.ca with a niche in adventure activities and cultural experiences. If you would like to keep in touch with Arienne, feel free to follow her on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!