Remember the competition for the Best Job in the World? Well, elite travel company Mason Horvath is offering up the chance at the Next Best Job in the World and it’s pretty amazing.
Mason Horvath is, “a company that was created around people that want extra care and attention in their travel,” said Dean Horvath, COO when we met at the Shangri-La downtown. “More of our focus is on unique once-in-a-lifetime luxury travel experiences that you can’t just find walking into your average travel agency.”
They’re on the lookout for a new Elite Travel Correspondent and they’re hosting an online search for someone who will travel to the most exotic, exclusive and opulent travel destination around the globe.
Possible getaways include enjoying a private candlelight dinner on the Great Wall of China, racing Ferraris through the twisting back roads of Tuscany, and spending the afternoon picnicking in the middle of the Moroccan dessert — hence the Next Best Job in the World title.
Horvath noted that most people are usually very excited to hear about what they can do for their clients and they just wanted to find a better way to share what they do with the rest of the world.
The Elite Travel Correspondent will have a salary of $50,000 US and throughout their six-month adventure (August 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010) and will be required to provide online content such as blog posts, Twitter updates, and videos about their experiences. They will be able to record and report the fascinating things about the striking destinations.
However perhaps that largest part of the adventure is scoring the job itself. “Based on the submissions we’re going to narrow it down to five people and then we’re going to take those five people to a five-star resort and do a sort of playoff, ‘Survivor meets Apprentice style’ on the luxury experience at that resort,” said Horvath.
The final contestants will battle it out during a series of online episodes where each day someone will be eliminated until Mason Horvath has their winner.
“Basically we want somebody that is entertaining and engaging,” said Horvath. “The experiences themselves will be interesting, but we need to have somebody that’s watchable that’s likeable that’s funny, charismatic, that’s going to carry the tempo of it as well.” They will also definitely need someone who will be able to travel for six months straight.
The ultimate itinerary will be determined based on its compatibility with the winner and then the online reporting begins. The deadline for submissions to be considered for the job is May 27, 2009 and the “final five” will be whisked away to their playoff destination in June.
Local ethnic radio station, Red FM 93.1 will be broadcasting play-by-play of the Canucks playoff home games in Punjabi to their radio and internet audiences.
“TEAM 1040 is proud to help build and support this unique radio partnership with ReD FM,†said Robert Gray, Program Manager, TEAM 1040. “For the Punjabi community to now be able to enjoy all of the excitement of Canucks home playoff games in their own language speaks to how sports can bond cultures together.†[source: news release]
Starting with tonight’s game, Red FM will broadcast in Punjabi live from GM Place with a pregame show at 6:45pm as well as post-game analysis. Listeners will be welcome to call in with questions and comments. Red FM is based in Surrey, hometown of Canucks 2008 draft pick, Prab Rai. With such a great indo-Canadian community in Vancouver and the entire region, I think it’s fantastic that Canucks fans will be able to get this additional coverage. The CBC also did a few television broadcasts in Punjabi earlier this season.
Speaking of the CBC, and also starting with tonight’s game, the big 25-foot outdoor LED screen at Canada Place will be showing the CBC television broadcast of both home and away Canucks games.
This year’s Earth Day celebrations in Metro Vancouver aren’t just taking place April 22nd, but they’re spanning across a week and two full weekends. Here’s a quick rundown of events around the region.
Evergreen’s Earth Day
Kicking things off the weekend before Earth Day, Evergreen’s Earth Day will see the planting of 4,000 native trees and plants at Jericho Beach Park and the public are encouraged to come out and take part. Throughout the day on April 18th they will also have a First Nations drum group, strorytelling, a blessing ceremony, and dancers.
Earth Day at Metropolis at Metrotown
This takes place Saturday, April 18th from 11:00am until 3:00pm and will be located in the Grand Court of Metropolis at Metrotown shopping centre. It will be an interactive clothing recycling event as they hope to show you how to “reinvent last season’s jeans into a fab new backpack, transform old light bulbs into useful vases, and turn those old T-shirts into funky bags.”
Surrey’s Earth Day Celebration
The City of Surrey will also host Earth Day activities on Saturday April 18th over in Bear Creek Park from 11:00am until 3:00pm. This free event will include live music, story times, face painting, costume parades, and environmental displays. Queen Elizabeth High School will also have an Earth Day Fair on April 22nd.
Delta Earth Week
Delta is hosting an entire week of events from April 19 until April 24. They have photo contests, a fish release event, Earth Day at the Municipal Hall, and a Litterless Lunch challenge.
Earth Day in West Vancouver
Whole Foods at Park Royal is hosting an outdoor Earth Day celebration April 18th from noon until 4:00pm.
Earth Day at Everett Crowley Park
This will be the 9th annual Earth Day at the park and will take place April 25th from 10:30am until 4:00pm. They’ll have music, food, face painting, games for kids, displays, special guests and free souvenirs. They will also be planting 1,000 native trees and saw 5,000 people take part last year. More information about this event is available at EarthDayVancouver.org. I profiled Everett Crowley Park in my Metro Vancouver Park Series and it’s neat to see how the old landfill has shaped up.
Earth Day Rally
Join the Green Party of BC on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery on Earth Day from noon until 1:00pm. Speakers include Elizabeth May, Jane Sterk, Green Party of BC Leader, Emily Jubenvill, “Greenest Canadian†contest winner and Sacha Husband, “Invent the Future†contest winner. Find out more on the Facebook event listing.
Earth Day Tofino
A special treat for those on the Island or who would like to get away. I received a bulletin stating that “Every day is Earth Day at the Wickaninnish Inn” although they’ll also take part in Tofino’s Earth Day celebrations that will run from April 22nd until the 26th.
Earth Weekend at the Aquarium
Earth Weekend at the Vancouver Aquarium is April 25-26 and they’ve partnered with Fresh Start Recycling who will be on-site to take your goods for recycling. I had the chance to profile Fresh Start last summer but check out their site for details about what they can accept.
Wildlife Rescue Association’s Earth Fest
The WRA will host an event at the Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavillion on April 26th from 10:00am to 3:00pm. They will have community exhibits, wildlife releases, you can build nest boxes, and take part in other family-friendly activities.
I also received information from the Earth Day organizers including their “Top 10 Actions“, widgets for bloggers and the Earth Day 2009 video. More events across the province and country can be found listed on the Earth Day Canada site.
Update Here’s another event happening at the Vancouver Art Gallery – thanks to Paul for his comment. It will be a “Meat Free” celebration on April 22nd from noon until 2:00pm as Liberation BC, Earthsave, and the Vancouver Humane Society spread the word about the impacts of meat consumption. They will also be handing out free vegan food.
With the Canada Line nearing completion it’s about time the businesses and shops along Cambie Street see the return of some much-needed foot traffic.
To celebrate the re-opening of the street that felt the pains of the “cut and cover” construction there will be a street party April 25th and everyone is invited to participate in this free event.
When Saturday April 25th from 11:00am to 5:00pm
What Free concert with 54-40
Where Outside of Best Buy (at 6th and Cambie) and up to Broadway
More info Rock 101 will be there and you can learn more on the Best Buy website.
Rumour has it Fin from the Vancouver Canucks will stop by, 54-40 will sign autographs, there will be video game tents and fun activities for the entire family. Save-on-Foods will supply the hotdogs and businesses from Canadian Tire to Original Joes will have swag, product demos, and live music.
The Vancouver Public Spaces Network was formed in 2006 and its goal is to, “preserve and celebrate public space as an essential part of a vibrant, inclusive city.” The VPSN has campaigns regarding public vs privatized spaces, public art, security, democratic spaces, green spaces, and the corporatization of public spaces.
The network holds monthly meetings and over the last few months they’ve been running a contest called Where’s the Square — a challenge to design and propose the next big public space for all to enjoy within the city of Vancouver urging participants to help find Vancouver’s missing plaza.
Public squares form the heart of many great cities around the world. When well-designed, they provide a central location for accessible, year-round activity – whether these be as straightforward as eating a bite of lunch, catching some sun, or playing a game of chess, or as elaborate as community celebrations, concerts and political rallies. Public squares are engines of cultural and local economy, as well as the spatial realization of democratic principles.
Submissions were accepted until March 20th, 2009 and the winner will be announced in May. “The VPSN is pitching it as an ideas competition: to bring out some good public square ideas into Vancouver’s consciousness,” said Dustin Quasar who designed a public space for the competition along with Julie Miller and Darcie Frederick. Their idea was Lantern Park — a new concept for Thornton Park at Main Street between National and Terminal.
“I was inspired to enter by the fact that Vancouver is missing a big urban public square,” noted Dustin. “We chose the park at Main St Skytrain because of it’s large size and central location. In spite of these, it’s vastly under-utilized. It was a fun project imagining the varied features that could re-vitalize this space for all of Vancouver.”
Some may argue that Vancouver already has quite few public spaces such as Victory Square, Robson Square, or even the stone plaza adjacent to the new convention centre (although it is seriously lacking foliage). However, VPSN believes we need something much larger and many agree — you can see from Vancouver’s lack of inclusion on this list of “city squares by size” around the globe that something is obviously missing. (Link via The Weekly Gumboot). Even our neighbouring cities are building squares and public gathering spaces such as the revitalized Holland Park in Surrey.
Dustin says, “The art gallery area is what we use, but it wasn’t designed for that purpose, and it’s just too small to fit large gatherings. I’ve been to rallies there where people were squished in like bugs. Vancouver’s still a relatively young city, we still have opportunities to create a large urban gathering space.”
The same kind of idea was brought up at Interesting Vancouver last summer where Roy Yen noted that we are starving for community gathering places – in the public realm (not just on Facebook).
As for the Where’s the Square entries, there’s no guarantee that the VPSN winning design or concept will come to be but Dustin said he’s hopeful that even if their public spaces plan is not chosen or put into place immediately, that it can be realized and implemented in phases. “The area right by Main St Skytrain is badly in need of some touch-ups. Even simple things like better wayfinding signs at the skytrain exit would improve the area considerably. The larger aspects of our plan (amphitheater and roof over much of the park) are the real juice, but would require more investment.”
Short-listed designs will be revealed at a public event April 28th, check out the VPSN site for more information about the network, and the Where’s the Square competition.
