3 First-Time Vlogger Mistakes To Avoid | Best Leica Vlogging Tips

The very first video I shot as a travel vlogger was in India in August 2011. Back then I was simply a blogger and travel writer and I had no idea the part that YouTube would play in my life to be honest. Nor that vlogging would turn into one of my favorite past times in life. YouTube has honestly changed my life for the better. Who knew that doing something I love to do, just filming my life, could earn me money and give me an influencer status! However, there’s no denying that YouTube isn’t always easy to grow on, and takes an immense amount of effort and dedication. For some, the only way to get their channel off the ground and moving is to Buy YouTube Likes, which is a great way to bring in new subscribers. Back when I first started I shot video only for important hotel reviews with brands like Taj, Sheraton, and Alila and it was such good fun! Now I go live when I leave the cinema or find an amazing new street food vendor to share with the world! (more…)

Expat Life: Reality of Raising My Child in USA, Spain & India

You know how sometimes we can’t see what’s right under our noses? And as parents we don’t realise how quickly time passes until it’s too late? Well that was me. My little angel was the best thing to ever happen to me. She was my greatest joy and my deepest frustration, sometimes in quite equal doses! Her father and I divorced when she was just 1 year old and anyone who has done it can attest that being a single parent isn’t easy. Yet she made that life we shared a true joy and she always made me proud to be a single mom. (more…)

#1 Thing I Hated About Living in India

Anyone who has visited or lived in India knows that there is one truth that must be embraced above all others >> that India is a land of contrasts. I lived there for about three years … and was subsequently blacklisted from the country like a terrorist or criminal for the next five years over a paperwork issue that they refused to correct. I’m on year four if they stick to the five year blacklisting and I’m looking forward to returning next year for a visit to see my friends and explore the country as a tourist for the first time. (more…)

Top 5 Things Ex-Barcelona Expats Miss Most About Spain

I moved to Barcelona the first time by accident. It was 1993, the year after their summer Olympic games and I had bought the cheapest one-way ticket from Los Angeles to Europe I could find, which happened to be Amsterdam. It was May and I had not packed well for Northern Europe so I was freezing my ass off! After two days of smoking everything possible in the cool cafes near the Red Light District, I took a train to Paris. Paris was too expensive, San Sebastian and Pamplona weren’t what I was looking for, and I ultimately ended up in a seaside village 25 minutes south of Barcelona called Sitges. (more…)

Why I Chose Expat Life in Malaysia

The last time I remember being this light, this joyfully happy, this optimistic, and this positive was the summer of 2013. I can pinpoint triggers in my mind and there are precisely two to be exact. The first was in July when my daughter and I went on a very fun weeklong road trip in India before she moved away to head to uni in the UK. We drove the chauffer (not Shiva!) mad for hours-on-end singing our favourite songs from the 60s to 2000s, had wonderfully long talks that touched my heart, and shared special and dodgy moments adventuring around South India. The second was the next month when I flew back to the U.S. to renew my India visa and had a wild weekend with my brother and sister in San Francisco. It was indulgent, hilarious, and a bit naughty … everything you want from a reunion, right? (more…)

I’m Now Location Independent! Here Are 3 Truths I’ve Learned

I’ve been an expat most of my adult life, moving from country to country and along life’s path as it opened up to me. However, until this year I never identified as a Digital Nomad or being Location Independent. Pretty much because I wasn’t, even though most people in my life saw me that way. I’m a Californian and have worked in digital comms in Spain, India, China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia for local start-ups. Never on assignment as a foreign worker for a large company and rarely working freelance. So sure, the past couple of decades I’ve lived a nomadic existence but I wasn’t location-independent. (more…)

Best Leica Camera for Vlogging | V-Lux Buy & Test in Malaysia at YL Camera

I fell in love with Leica last year when I saw a review from one of my favourite travel vloggers Jon Olsson using one of their cams. The 4k video quality was off-the-charts and looked nothing like even the BEST the videos I was producing. So when I decided that it was time to upgrade from the iPhone + DSLR setup I was using, it was a Leica that I wanted. I did my research and chatted with the guys at YL Camera, Malaysia’s largest camera retailer, for advice and decided on the Leica V-Lux for its video features and all-in-one 25-400mm zoom lens capabilities. It has been less than a week since I brought my new baby home and the quality of what it shoots is already so amazing … come check it out. (more…)

Single Mom Diaries: Tips On Living An Extraordinary Life

Today is Mother’s Day back home in the USA, here in Malaysia where I now call home, and in lots of countries around the globe. First and foremost it is the day to acknowledge our moms and be grateful for the person they’ve helped us become. But for single moms (or single dads), it’s also the perfect day to celebrate the adventure and the beauty that our extraordinary ‘single parent’ life holds.

Although my daughter left for university in the UK a few years ago, she’s still the brightest glowing light in my life. Her father was from Spain and he and I divorced when she was a baby, just one year old. (more…)

Woohoo! On the Cover of Expatriate Lifestyle Magazine

Just like Spain felt like home, and India after a couple of years, Malaysia is finally, truly feeling like home to me. It is full of possibilities, and new friendships, and blissful happiness. Bloggers will understand that my (blog) babies are a part of me, or at least an extension of me …. so it’s amazing to have them showcased in a magazine here for the 1st time for contributing to the positive image of Malaysia to the outside world (and probably for making Malaysians laugh as I eat spicy and exotic food!). (more…)

I’ve Already Lived the Best Years of My Life … Now What?

Ageing is a serious bummer, and a funny twist of fate. I am 46 but in my heart and my day-to-day self, I still feel mid 30s at best. I bounce when music comes on. I see triggers that remind me of my younger days and think …. ‘ahhhh if only!’. All the time!!!

When I was in my 20s I remember wanting to be perceived as grown up and mature. (more…)

Just Unfriended 1st Person Over Trump

It’s bound to happen to anyone with strong feelings against Trump and his platform of hate, sexism, racism, and xenophobia. But I promise you I never thought that the first person I would unfriend on Facebook would be a deeply religious family member. Someone I assumed cared about every life, about truth, and about championing someone who walked an admirable path. Yet here I am, taking pen to paper (well, clicking away on my MacBook) and wondering … what the hell is going on in our world? (more…)

I’ve never been more embarrassed to be American | by California Expat Living in Muslim Country

After struggling all week to organise my thoughts and feelings over this Trump win, I’ve resorted to stealing. Partly because I’m so very angry and confused, partly because I refuse to write a piece penned out of anger that I will regret for years to come, but mostly because my fabulously eloquent brother Nick has shared his thoughts and they mirror mine to a ‘T’ … albeit missing some of the expat perspective I can offer as I’m currently residing in Malaysia — a predominantly Muslim country that is more progressive in many ways that the U.S. right now.

OpEd by Nick Fuentes

I’ve never been more embarrassed to be American.
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OpEd by Nick Fuentes

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