Tag: la travel host

My TV Show Premiere’s Tonight! How Did This Happen?!

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Tonight is the night! Vacation Chasers– formerly known as the #SuperSecretTravelTVShow on my social media- premieres tonight on HLN at 9PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific!

I’m currently in Atlanta promoting the show on HLN’s Morning Express with Robin Meade, The Daily Share, and Weekend Express. For years, I’ve been interviewing television personalilambshoesties and musicians, and now I’m in the celebrity’s shoes! Although, I bet mine are more comfortable…

Joking aside, this is a really surreal moment. Vacation Chasers is something I never thought would actually happen. Most people in the world want to host their own travel show. I’m sure there’s some poll out there saying it’s right next to astronaut, movie star, and President as dream jobs for kids. But, as what happens when you get older, reality starts to sink in. Everyone in their mother- from agents to casting directors to producers- said the same thing: if you’re not a male backpacker and a green beret, you’re not hosting your own travel show. So, I accepted this truth, and resigned myself to creating my own travel videos for YouTube– as a very time-intensive and expensive passion project, I might add. I did this for years, until I met Rachel Rudwall through our management. We decided, hey, two blondes are better than one, and re-launched my YouTube channel as How2Travelers. With 18 months of hard work, dedication, early onset of carpel tunnel, and possibly a few meltdowns, we were plucked out from YouTube and are the stars of HLN’s Vacation Chasers.

So what is this show all about?

If you like House Hunters, then you’re going to LOVE Vacation Chasers! And not just because I’m in it. 😉 Rachel and I are two travel experts who compete to create the best vacations for our clients. After stalking our clients (errr “researching”), Rachel and I each put together a dream itinerary for our clients. Using our imagination and pulling a lot of favors, we come up with 5 star itineraries on a usually 2 star budget. The client can only pick one vacation to go on, and if they’re smart, they will choose mine. 🙂

So, come join the adventure and please root for #TeamAndrea when Vacation Chasers airs tonight on HLN (9pm Easter/6pm Pacific, in case you forgot from three paragraphs ago). Feel free to live tweet me @AndreaFeczko.

10 Things I Did This Year

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1. I Sold Beer… in Japan

I was in a Suntory beer commercial!! Yes, like THE Suntory, made famous from Bill Murray’s character in Lost in Translation. If that wasn’t cool enough, I starred alongside Ken Watanabe!!! (Inception, The Last Samurai) I played a reporter- shocking, I know- and made some funny faces. If you’ve seen any of my Key of Awesome stuff, you can probably guess where I got those from.

This was one of those moments where I thought, “I can’t wait to tell my grandkids about this”… which is also the first time I ever thought about having grand kids. Go figure.

2. Media Makeover

I upgraded with new headshots, website, demo reel, and boobs. I’m just kidding about the last part. These B’s are real.

3. And We’re LIVE

This was the year of performing on Live TV, which is basically an adrenaline rush equivalent to sky diving, but without all the potential bodily injury and stuff. I had major live projects for Ultra, SOS Island, and covering the Thor: The Dark World red carpet for Yahoo! and Marvel. It’s fun and I can’t wait to do more. img_3577 fotor

4. Call Me Feczko-pova

I learned how to play tennis! I went to Mexico, and after finding the perfect margarita, I decided to start taking tennis lessons! As one naturally does in such circumstances. Now this is a tequila decision I don’t regret, because now I play tennis a couple times a month with friends. Did you know LA has free tennis courts?! One more reason why I love LA… and the Nike Outlet store. I don’t know which came first: the desire to play tennis or the desire to have a place to wear a tennis skirt.

5. The Launch of How 2 Travelers

Since creating my YouTube channel in 2010, I had a vision for it to be an edgy, inspired, travel-based channel. This year, I finally made that vision into a reality by teaming up with travel expert Rachel Rudwall and re-branding as How 2 Travelers. H2T is a how to guide for everything travel: from tips, to adventures, to reviews of places you want to go. The response has thus far been amazing, with Vagabondish regularly featuring our videos.

6. We Broke Twitter… and some Records

We all knew Ultra Miami was going to be big for its 15th anniversary, but at UMF TV we didn’t realize just how much of an impact our livestream has on artists and the fans. Due to a 10 minute interview that was completely spontaneous thanks to technical difficulties (hey, it’s live TV!), we broke Goldfish Live’s website. Hardwell’s mainstage performance that aired on UMF TV was so insane that Twitter shut down his account, because, according to Robbert, his name was taking up 30% of the bandwidth! And, our finale, Swedish House Mafia’s last set as a group, brought in over 200,000 concurrent viewers, which is the most amount of viewers for a livestream of a North American music festival. I feel so blessed to be part of this awesome team. I must say, the Dutch do it better… with an American host. 😉

7. I’m Gold!

My frequent flyer status is officially 14K on both American and Delta airlines, which makes all the difference when it comes to flying: short lines for security AND customs, random upgrades, and your luggage is always the first to come down the carousel. Basically, I travel like a 45-year old male businessman. And if I must say so, I look good for a dude.

This is a huge thanks to Ultra, which has me traveling all over Asia, South America and Europe hosting the livestream of their music festivals. In 2014 we’ll be adding South Africa, Tokyo, and maybe other locations that haven’t been announced yet. Stay tuned…

8. Close Calls

2013 was the year of getting on the proverbial podium. I tested for a network game show for Freemantle (aka my dream job) and a Discovery travel series, made it to the top three for an NBC travel show, and was the runner-up in the nationwide search for FX’s DVD on TV replacement. In Hollywood, it’s usually considered a big accomplishment just to get a call back, but luckily for me, I was cast in other shows based on these auditions: SOS Island with Survivorman’s Les Stroud and FX’s Hershey’s Sweet Cinema.

9. I’m Home Alone

I put my big girl pants on this year and am now living in total freedom with my own place in the heart of Hollywood. You don’t want to know what goes down when a girl has a place to herself… or maybe you’re going to find out. My princess pad was decorated by Frugal but Fabulous‘ Georgie Smith. The Webisode on the Feczko photo(14)Residence Makeover will arrive early 2014.

10. I fell more in love with Ibiza

I mean look at it! I went there for the second year in a row, which means this could just be the start of a serious relationship. And seriously, why can’t Ibiza be man? Because then he’d be blue and perfect… and things just got weird.

 

 

Can’t wait for what’s ahead in 2014. Looking forward to seeing your sexy selves in the new year!

And the Winner of SOS Island is…

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GRAHAM HUGHES!!!

Congratulations! Graham is already a seasoned survivalist, going down in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the first person to go to all the United Nations countries without flying.

And now.. he is the winner of Samsung’s SOS Island: Survival of the Smartest and has $100,000 in the bank toward his very own private island!

What was interesting about Graham’s win was that he was an excellent source of knowledge for contestants on the island, building fires without knives or flint, but had a difficult time translating those skills into challenge wins. He finished his time on the island with a modest two coconuts (wins), but then put his social media efforts into high drive. With a well received TED Talks speech and articles in the highly respected The Guardian, Graham was able to garner an incredible amount of votes, which made up 40% of the overall score, that ultimately made him the winner.

I am so proud of all the contestants and crew on SOS Island. Everyone pushed their physical limits on what could be done on a deserted island, and the results were outstanding. I won’t be cheesy and say we all walked away winners, but we definitely all walked away with a once-in-a-lifetime experience we will never forget.

Here’s a look back at my favorite episodes from SOS Island:


“Down with the Ship” – This is my favorite challenge. It was the most fun to participate in- as well as the most fun to watch!

 


“Food Forager” – Graham’s first, and very impressive, win on the island.

 


“Survival of the Smartest” – This challenge caused many injuries, greatly effecting the rest of the time on the island.

 


“Fish Food” – Graham’s second win. Do you sense a theme with the challenges he won?

 


“SOS” – This was the most difficult challenge both physically and mentally. The ending was a surprise!

 


“Gift From Above” – This was inspired by the Hunger Games: Catching Fire. As a huge fan of the book, it was fun to let my inner Katniss out for a day.

How Two Travelers on Vagabondish

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This year I went for my passion: travel.

I partnered up with seasoned travel expert Rachel Rudwall and re-branded my YouTube channel from my namesake to How Two Travelers (H2T). It’s been really fun working with a fellow female traveler who is as passionate as I am about seeing new places- and most importantly, making it fun for everyone!

 

So here’s what you can expect to see on H2T:

A Travel Tip is uploaded on the first Monday of the month.

A Food and Drink is on the second Monday of the month.

A Bucket List Adventure is shown on the third Monday of the month.

And a Go or No Travel Review is uploaded on the fourth Monday of the month. It’s basically a movie review, but for travel destinations. I especially like these videos!

 

We launched in October, and thankfully have had a great response. Fodor’s and the New York Observer are following us on twitter, and Vagabondish, one of the most popular travel websites, is now featuring our travel tip videos!

Check out the featured tips below: