Portugal Pt. 1: What to Do in Lisbon

Portugal is amazing! My trip with Aeroplan this month was great and if you were following on social you’ll know because I posted heaps of photos!  The air was hot, the food was good, and I found inspiration in the bright colours and kind people. I took over 2,000 photos and kept notes during the trip. I did a bunch of research before I left and have been asked heaps about recommendations, so, I’ve broken down my trip into 5 posts based on things I did, which is only a fraction of what there is to do. Next trip I’ll rent a car and drive around to see the Algarve, Braga, Cascais, Coimbra, Aveiro (the Venice of Portugal), and the historic town of Óbidos. I’d like to take a second to thank Telus for keeping me connected. I have an Easy Roam package on my plan where for the cost of a coffee & snack each day I could use the data of my Canadian plan without having to worry about roaming. It’s great to disconnect but for me, being able to still share my experience as it happens is part of the fun! Links to other Portugal Posts are at the bottom and I’ll update as each is published! Obrigada! What to Do In Lisbon I arrived in Lisbon with a loose plan of what to do for the next 10 days. It was my first visiting and I’d been building a Pinterest board of the things to see and do for weeks. The city is so beautiful, bright coloured buildings fill the streets and the hills make it so picturesque. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to walk a lot. When you arrive from the airport it can be a bit confusing, if you don’t want to Uber or taxi, there’s a…

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San Francisco: 5 Great Things to Do

There’s no shortage of things to do in San Francisco, you have the water, the Wharf, the city, parks the hills, and over 3,500 restaurants. The key is finding a few ways to see the city with enough time to explore. If I’m on a short trip to a new city, I like to pick 3-5 things I really want to see and give myself lots of time to do it. That way I can leave early in the day and take the scenic route, enjoy meals, take streets without a map, and follow the sunshine. In this list, you’ll find five great things to do in San Francisco if you’re on a short trip but want to see a lot. I’ve also included my runner-up for street art and FOOD.  Fisherman’s Wharf & The Grotto  There is no shortage of great food in SF but if you’re looking for fresh (and sustainably served) seafood, you’ll want to book a table here. The Grotto was first opened in 1935 and the first sit down restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s recently been renovated, restoring many of the original features, giving a modern touch to the 1930’s decor. Here you’ll find great views of the bay, the bridge, and boats while taking in the incredible menu by Executive Chef Paul Bruno. Make sure you check out the new beehive on the roof as you walk in the dining area, it’s not be missed! Golden Gate Bridge & Alcatraz Tour I was keen on getting to Alcatraz and biking across the bridge but found myself a bit short on time. I found the perfect way to get some sun and see the sighs from the water with Blue & Gold Boat Tour. Over the course of an hour, you’ll get a great view of the city from the bay, get up close to the bridge…

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HAPPY FRIDAY!

I’m back in TO and what a great week I had. I love California and especially San Francisco. I have over 2,000 photos and so many stories to share. If you were following me you’ll know I was pretty busy. On my last day I went to the famous Museum of Ice Cream (more photos coming!), then a boat tour, and a bus tour. It was so fun but today I’m exhausted. I’ve been switching back and forth from EST to PST for two weeks with being in Vancouver and SF and I think it’s catching up with me. Plus, we have Daylight Saving this weekend. This weekend I’m looking forward to some quality time at home with my computer writing about my adventures. I’m sticking around the city for a couple weeks before I visit Montreal and Paris.  I’m really looking forward to opening the cottage soon. Sending you some California sunshine, I tried to bring back as much as I could! 

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On The Road Again: Palmerston North to Lake Taupo

I spent most of today in the car on a 3hr road trip from Palmerston North to Taupo. Woke up feeling a bit groggy from loud singing Adele with mum after an amazing dinner and few bottles of wine with my cousins. We had so much fun together last night. I love having my family close, getting to know them, making jokes together, them making fun of me, and laughing. This trip has been so exciting. I went to say my last goodbye to nana at the home this morning. She was doing better than yesterday but she’s had quite a decline from the first day I saw her over a week ago. Getting old is sad. Next, we visited my cousin Lisa and gave gifts to her three darling little daughters. It was nice. Lisa came to visit us in Canada when she was 9. Her and my sister used to look so much alike. Lisa is 1/2 Maori and beautiful. Mum is staying in Palmy this week to spend more time with her mum and I’m on the road alone. The best parts of my trip today were stopping at least 10 times to take photos and post things on the internet. A long drive on the open road is nice but I like to take photos so luckily for me, New Zealand has a lot of rest stops. Aside from driving on the other side of the road, it’s pretty challenging because the roads are narrow and twist and wind all over the place. You really have to concentrate. I had my GoPro along for the drive and haven’t even checked the card for that yet. I’m planning to do some data backup and management on the long, nearly 24-hour journey back to Canada. I stopped to take some…

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Best Buy Life and Tech Show 2017

Earlier this month I attended the Best Buy #LifeandTech event at YD Square. This is my second year attending and honestly, it feels like Christmas for tech lovers! I got to test out and bring home some of the coolest tech around. You can find everything mentioned in this post at BestBuy.ca. I’ve been working with Best Buy Canada for the last couple years and it makes ME SO HAPPY. I love being invited to test out the latest wearable tech, smart home gadgets, and overall life-enhancing products. Here’s a few of my favourite things from the Best Buy Life and Tech show! SMART HOME SECURITY: One of my ultimate favs is this Ring Wi-Fi Video Doorbell Pro. I haven’t set it up yet but I can’t wait to creep anyone who comes to my door or walks past. Since moving into a house with a front door (from a high-rise condo) I get so freaked out when I’m home alone and someone knocks on the door. Who does that! Unexpected! Gah! I get all packages delivered to the office so it’s extra weird if someone sends something to the house. I feel that this new burglar alarm will give me peace of mind and make me feel much safer. I like that I can see everything in real-time too, so if there was a burglar, I would be able to have an instant description of them! With the new Ring, you are able to monitor hour home with audio and video from anywhere. The rep I chatted with was from Minnesota and he showed me his backyard while we were chatting in YD Square. He’s able to record video, sound an alarm, or say something to an intruder if he see’s someone suspicious around. So cool! Imagine yelling ‘HEY…

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2017 Tech Trends from from @WeAreWearables & #CES2017

Last week I was on a panel at We Are Wearbles TO Meetup. Five journalists took the stage on a panel to talk tech trends from CES 2017 earlier this month. I was at the conference in Vegas and there was definitely lots to see.  If you’ve not been to CES, IT IS HUGE.  Imagine Toronto’s MTCC x 10 with other demo areas set up in massive hotels (ex. Aria). During the panel we talked about trends and products we saw on the CES floor. Mostly sensors, wearables, VR/AR, fashion, hearables, & smartwatches. A really cool sensor I saw at CES was the Corning ‘Glassie’  a smart mirror class that has a camera in it and can take your photo. Perfect for those OOTS amirite?! Next evolution of the selfie is GLASSIE. @Corning Glass just took a video selfie of me and it was so cool. NEED FOR HOME ASAP. #CES2017 pic.twitter.com/RoBw8ueAMn — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) January 5, 2017 I learned about the Nex Band that has 5 customizable buttons unlike any other smart watch wearable. The Nex band is ‘a smart band that lets you create custom hacks in seconds, with no coding required!”. Very cool, like to try one of these out.  [?? waves hiiiiii!] Lowdown Focus is the latest from Interaxion, makers of the Muse Headband. I wrote about using the Muse here. The glasses are packed with sensors including EEG, EOG and EMG technology, they also have a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyro, 3-axis magnetometer, UV sensor (UVA and UVB), temperature gauge and a pressure sensor. Pretty incredible considering they look like a totally normal pair of glasses. The Lowdown Focus is the brain-child of Safilo, the Italian eyewear giant that produces sunglasses, sports eyewear, and helmets under its five house brands, including Smith Optics and 22 licensed brands like Dior and…

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TRAVEL | Vegas, Baby! #CES2017

First trip of 2017 starts bright and early tomorrow morning. I’m heading to LAS VEGAS! I’ll be joining a bunch of journalists + influencers from North America for CES and my trip is sponsored by Harman Kardon (JBL, Bang & Olufsen etc). They’re hosting us at the Hard Rock Hotel and on Friday night they’ve got STING playing a concert in the hotel bar. I AM SO EXCITED.  Aside from my set itinerary, I’ll be exploring the conference floor, attending talks, and rounding up all the hottest tech trends. ▶︎ Later this month I’m speaking on a panel at WeAreWearables Toronto about tech trends from CES. Get a ticket for it here! I’m also checking out VR stuff for Sean’s company Occupied VR. I can’t wait. CES is so freaking exciting. I went a couple years ago, tech heaven! It’s also a bit warmer there than Toronto. I’m also hoping to check out the Neon Sign Museum and maybe do a helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon. After Vegas, I’m driving to LA with a friend and staying in Venice Beach for the week. I can’t wait to document this trip.

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NEW YEAR, NEW YOU! 

Did you have a nice time over the holidays? I did! I took a break from blogging and IG to recharge my batteries and I feel so alive! It might help that yesterday I went for a b12 shot and IV of vitamins at REVIV. In 2017 I am excited to focus on doing great work, telling stories about tech, and helping others. As I was driving yesterday the sun was going down and it was so bright and beautiful I stopped to catch it lighting up my face. Over the holidays I did a couple volunteer shifts for different charities including cooking & serving lunch at Evangel Hall on New Years Eve w/ the #GivingBackVibes crew. [We did this last month too, see here.] I fulfilled my dream of wrapping presents at the mall before christmas w/ Nneka Elliot at TD centre in support of StepStones For Youth. The day before I volunteered to help sort clothes with the NuScreen Digital team at Brands for Canada. I feel so good that I was able to give some of my time to help others. You’re going to see more of this in 2017. Volunteering w/ @nuscreeninc at @BrandsForCanada! ?✌?? pic.twitter.com/b3C10jtwHK — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) December 21, 2016 I went home between Christmas and New Years to spend some quality time with my parents. Set both mum and dad up with new tech gadgets and had lots of laughs over great food. They’re only an hour away so this year I want to spend more time hanging out. Today was a really fun day. ❤ pic.twitter.com/P10zek09Nv — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) December 30, 2016 On New Years Eve, Sean and I went to Ikea to get some organizing stuff and things for Em’s room.  We watched the Minimalism doc on Netflix a couple…

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Best Buy Life & Tech Show @ YD Square

Last week I went to two wearables events sponsored by Best Buy Canada. Fashion and tech are two of my fav things so being part of, and covering events like this is so much fun. On Wednesday night was the We Are Wearables event at MaRS where I took the runway as a model. Ya, me! Took me back to my teenage years!  The following night I attended the Best By Life & Tech event at Yonge Dundas Square. In this post, I’m sharing some of my fav tech and moments from the show. ???

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TIFF | Nikki Beach Instabrunch @ The Spoke Club

On Saturday Lauren, Roxy, and I joined bloggers, influencers, and cool peeps alike for Instabrunch at Nikki Beach inside the Spoke Club. It was fun. We really should brunch more. We laughed our heads off over mimosas before the fashion show. I was so distracted by the girls I didn’t snap a photo of the actual brunch. Here’s one from another bruncher. When we were done I went home to sleep off Friday night’s Producer’s Ball that I attended with Sean & Brock at The Royal Ontario Museum the night before. A photo posted by isabelle (@chew.this) on Sep 12, 2015 at 11:14am PDT Today I’m off to the races at Woodbine with Dawn. This evening Sean and I are heading to Mongrel House on Queen for the Beeba Boys after party. Never a dull moment! Follow my adventures on Twitter & Snapchat! Hope weekend is good. 🙂 CASIE

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