about seeyousoon.ca

About the Site

SeeYouSoon Travel is a travel blog produced by Arienne Parzei with a niche in adventure activities and cultural experiences. Covering a 360o view through writing, videography and photography, you’ll find a diverse array of stories such as climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, foods to eat at a German Christmas Market, small town getaways in Ontario’s Southwest, and discovering a secret speakeasy bar in Halifax.

Launched in September 2011, SeeYouSoon Travel reaches audiences all over the world with the majority of readers found in the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It is read by adventurous travelers mainly aged 25-55 years looking for inspiration, tips, and advice for planning their own travels.

Arienne regularly works with Tourism Boards and Brands to showcase their destinations and products through video and written content. Past partnerships include Destination New Brunswick, Niagara Parks, Germany Tourism, The Bahamas, Parks Canada, and Nova Scotia Tourism. As a freelance videographer, writer and photographer, Arienne also creates content for the exclusive use of Tourism Boards and Brands, including Destination Toronto, Germany Tourism, and Air Canada Vacations.

On the pulse with social media coverage, Arienne brings her followers along for the ride on Instagram and TikTok. She also offers the ability to take over the social media accounts for partners she’s working with to help them reach a wider audience with her unique voice and style.

When I’m not on the road, I’m one of Destination Toronto’s Local Ambassadors, a partnership I’m thrilled to have had since 2016. You’ll find me taking over their social media accounts and sharing various things to do in the city and seasonal events, plus I contribute to their website and even create video content for their various departments.

For a copy of our Media Kit and Rate Sheet, feel free to contact us – [email protected]

Meet Arienne

My name is Arienne and I’m a travel writer, videographer and photographer from Toronto, Canada. I have an insatiable curiosity to learn about different cultures from the people themselves, by getting off the beaten path and seeing how others around the world live their lives. I live for the moment and try to seize every opportunity that comes my way. I’m always up for new experiences and meeting new people. The travel bug bit me from a young age and hasn’t shown any signs of going away.

My first travel experience was when I was 11 years old. I participated in an international camp, held in Chambery, France. I was a member of a 5-person delegation (2 girls, 2 boys, and one leader) that represented Canada at a camp that hosted delegations from 10 different countries from around the world (including Norway, Belgium, India, Lebanon, and Brazil). All the participants, save for the adult leaders, were the same age and for one-month we learned about each other, our countries, and our cultures. I didn’t know it at the time, but this event would impact the way I viewed and wanted to experience the world for the rest of my life.

My desire to have travel become a prominent part of my life started in January of 2008, when I took a 4-week trip to Peru. It was full of firsts for me; my first solo trip, my first backpacking trip, and my first time visiting South America. I was nervous, excited, anxious, and eager about what would lie ahead. I joined a tour group with G Adventures and had the time of my life. We flew over the Nazca Lines, stayed overnight with a family on Lake Titicaca, trekked through the Amazon Rainforest, and the highlight of the trip for me, hiking for 4 days in the rain to Machu Picchu. It was during this trip that I created two goals for myself; 1) at some point in my life, I wanted to live abroad so I could fully immerse myself in another culture and 2) that I wanted to backpack Southeast Asia for an extended period of time.

Well, only a year and a half later I made that a reality.

Tristan and I exploring one of the palaces in Seoul, South Korea.

From August 2009-2011, my husband and I moved to South Korea to teach English to middle school students. We originally only intended to stay for 1 year, but had such a fabulous experience we stayed for an additional year. We fell in love with the culture, the food, and the beautiful landscape of the country. Teaching was a challenge for us at first, as neither of us had ever taught before, but within a few months we got into our groove and came up with fun, creative ways to get our students to participate in our classes.

Once our contracts wrapped up, we were off on another adventure. Instead of heading directly back home to Canada, we decided to take an 8-month long detour through China, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand before finally stepping back on Canadian soil. It was at the beginning of this backpacking trip when this site was born with the goal of providing tips and advice for other travelers who would be traveling to the same destinations.

We returned back to Canada in the spring of 2012 and my husband turned his focus to teaching full-time while I struggled to figure out what my next steps would be. I knew I didn’t want to return to my career working in the Toronto television industry (with grueling 12-14hr work days) and yet I wasn’t quite sure how to continue this website now that I was back home. I gave myself one year to see how things would go – I rediscovered Toronto, explored the surrounding areas, and even got to work with some exciting tourism boards and companies including Germany Tourism, Quebec Tourism, Fort Myers & Sanibel Island, Tourism Malaysia, and Columbia Sportswear, to name a few.

In June 2015, I took on my greatest travel challenge – climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. I was invited to join a charity climb with World Vision Canada that included celebrity climbers Rick Campanelli (former co-host of Entertainment Tonight Canada), JD Scott (HGTV personality) and Cheryl Bernard (Silver Medal Winner in Women’s Curling at the 2010 Winter Olympics). The climb raised over $150,000 to help defeat child slavery – children doing dirty, dangerous, and degrading jobs. The entire group successfully summitted Mt Kilimanjaro and I covered our experience in an 9-part video series including a montage video that won Best in Travel at Buffer Festival in 2015!

Reaching the Peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro!

In the summer of 2016, it was time to see more of our own country. My husband and I set off on an 2-month roadtrip of Atlantic Canada, visiting all 4 provinces – New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. In our 14-year old Honda Civic, we covered close to 13,000kms. We visited National Parks and Historic Sites, slept in the Louisbourg of Fortress all by ourselves (!), hiked various trails, walked on the ocean floor and kayaked around the famous Hopewell Rocks, found a secret bar in Halifax, retraced our family heritage at Pier 21, drove the epic Cabot Trail, came face-to-face with moose, watched the sunrise at Cape Spear (the most easterly point in North America), and even got screeched in in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It was an incredible trip and showed us how beautiful Canada and its people truly are. We’re so proud to call Canada home.

Nova Scotia’s famous Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse

Fast forward to today and SeeYouSoon Travel shows no signs of slowing well. Well, maybe just a bit now that I’m a mom to two beautiful children! I’m excited to show them the world and give them a ‘global education’ in the years to come.

Some of our future travel plans include road-tripping the United States, exploring the different regions in Europe, and returning to Asia and Southeast Asia to visit parts we haven’t seen yet. My personal bucketlist includes exploring Patagonia, experiencing the different regions in Portugal, and stepping foot on my final continent – Antarctica!

In the mean time, I’ll continue to bring you exciting adventures and cultural experiences and hope you’ll join me for the ride!