Tag: andrea feczko

Flashback Friday: MLS Season Opener with the Portland Timbers

This week marks the start of the 2017 MLS (Major League Soccer) season. It is a special moment, because exactly this time last year I was in Portland for my first MLS game and my first time as host of MLSsoccer.com’s Get Me In There. And boy was I spoiled!

The Portland Timbers fans are heralded as some of the best in the league- and they did not disappoint! I helped prepare the tifo, which is a very large banner or cards that goes up over the crowd, I received a cheat sheet of all the cheers so I could use my off-tune vocal chords, and I got to meet the iconic Timber Joey, who chainsaws off a piece of log every time the Timbers score. Oh, and I got to hang out with Timbers star Nat Borchers who has to be the most down to earth person I’ve ever met. We grabbed a bunch of Heineken, which we had thanks to our sponsor, you know, Heineken, and gave them away to fans who were camped out waiting to get into the game that was still 24 hours away. Not sure if that’s exactly legal, but, uhhh, we “allegedly” did it- okay?

Cool dude. Cool town. Cool video. Check it out above!

Heli Skiing with TV Land

What is Heli Skiing?

It’s where you take a helicopter to the top of a mountain and go down its fresh powder. To put that into perspective, I was above where they let off the explosives for avalanches. Yep, 13,400 feet above the Rocky Mountains and I made it down in one piece. Above is the proof.

What You Won’t See In My TV Land Video:

You know the lyric in America, The Beautiful where it says “For Purple Mountain Majesties”? Well, now I get it. When I was on top of Potosi Peak, the mountains didn’t look white, they looked purple. I thought my perspective was so unique, until our guide politely called me out, saying, “Well, yeah, that’s why they call it purple mountains!” Duhhhhh. So, next time you’re above the Rockies, don’t be me, be the guide, and point out why America, The Beautiful has that lyric. You’re welcome. 😉

Pago Pago, American Samoa: Not Made For Tourists, Which Is Why I Can’t Wait To Go Back

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Would I recommend someone travel all the way to Pago Pago (pronounced Pahngo Pahngo) for some R & R? Absolutely not. Why? Let me list the reasons:FullSizeRender2Border

1. There are maybe three restaurants on the island. And one of the places the hotel concierge recommended had an inside joke about diarrhea associated with it. No thank you.

2. Speaking of threes, there are only three hotels on the island and Sadie’s By The Sea, where we stayed, was the best option. It had a beach, a great restaurant, a friendly conciergIMG_1504Bordere, but the rooms reminded me of our sterile Holiday Inn hotel rooms in the bad part of Mexico City. Oh, and one of the crew members had their cell phone stolen.

3. There’s not much to do. There’s no shopping, there are barely any restaurants, and the only beach side restaurant we came across- Tisa’s Barefoot Bar- was closed. With that said, when our Crown Princess cruise ship came into port, the whole island changed: shops came out of nowhere, our hotel suddenly had stand up paddle boarding and drink specials, and there were street side vendors with fruit! Whaaaaaaa???IMG_1553Border

So, with all these reasons, why do I find myself yearning for my time in Pago Pago, American Samoa? Well, it’s a classic example of the question: is it the destination or the people that make the experience?

When it comes to American Samoa, it was a little bit of both, but mostly the latter. The people I was with were amazing. We had the island to ourselves! It was unreal. We rented a cheap car from the hotel and let the one road takes us for as long as we could explore. Every single beach was deserted with these gorgeous huts. It’s an instagrammer’s dream and truly one of the most magical places I’ve been to in this world.

I want to go back, get away from it all, and, of course, bring my DSLR.

The episode where we filmed in Pago Pago airs this Saturday on Vacation Creation (ABC).

To see more of my pictures from Pago Pago, follow my instagram @AndreaFeczko

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Vacation Creation Premieres Tomorrow!

Well, this is crazy! I’ve been a bit quiet recently as I’ve been caught up in the whirlwind dream that is Vacation Creation. It’s a brand new travel show that premieres tomorrow – Saturday, October 1st – at 10:30am on The CW! Be there or be square!

The premise of the show is to give deserving families a dream vacation…and this is also a dream come true for me! If you’ve been following me, you know I’ve been working hard for years building a travel brand. Whenever someone asked me what the “dream job” was, I said, “Oh, to have a network travel show,” but I never actually thought it would actually happen. It was such a big dream and there just aren’t many travel shows on US television- let alone on a major network. Vacation Creation is all so surreal.

And what makes it even better is that my amazing co-host/living legend Tommy Davidson and I are giving truly deserving people a dream vacation. It’s been inspiring to be around people who have persevered through so much and so fulfilling to end each day of work- not only visiting beautiful places – but giving people an experience that would be extremely hard to replicate on their own.

I am so proud of this show and all the producers, crew, and families who have worked on Vacation Creation. I hope you enjoy the premiere!

How 2 Travelers 2.0!

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It’s a New Year and now it’s a New YouTube channel! Well, kind of..  Welcome to How 2 Travelers 2.0! I’m so excited to finally put up the brand new banner, icon, and moving graphics on my How 2 Travelers YouTube channel.

This is such a big moment for me as a Content Creator. Last year was a whirlwind year: I starred in my own travel icon-youtubesWebsiteshow on HLN called Vacation Chasers, I pulled double duty as Host and Senior Producer at The QYOU, and I tripled my social media outreach to over 300,000 people! This is in large part thanks to years of hard work on YouTube, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to give you guys beautiful new graphics to look at when you tune in.

Travel has been my passion- and my identity- since I was a teenager. It’s also one of the hardest genres to book as a host and producer. This is why YouTube is such a gift, because it allows those with the drive, skill, and determination to show the world what we can do! After years of creating content on my own, I teamed up with Rachel Rudwall and re-named my channel as How 2 Travelers. It has been such a success! We put together over 100 episodes and were plucked up from YouTube to star HLN’s Vacation Chasers. Now, due to these successes, Rachel has chosen to delve deeper into off YouTube opportunities (Go Rach!) and I wish her the best of luck. Not only am I continuing the channel solo, but it’s shinier and more professional than ever! I hope you love the new look and make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to get weekly travel tips!