It’s been a long and exciting journey and after seven weeks of travelling, blogging and crossing Europe we have reached the conclusion of the Alienware Backpacking Challenge. The time has come to announce the winner. Who will walk away with $5,000 and an Alienware M11x?
MEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
I’m so fucking happy!
But to get to the real reason i’m posting this blog, it’s not to post news that I won (since most of you probably saw the spam on facebook anyway) but because I have been reading the comments on the other websites about it. People don’t seem to be very happy for me.
Just to let you all know, I actually came THIRD in the public poll. So to everyone who says that people just voted for me because i’m a girl (followed by “I don’t understand why because she’s so ugly anyway”), they actually didn’t vote as much as you think.
While people were all saying that I had an unfair advantage to start with (by being female) I actually felt like I was at a disadvantage. People were rooting against me to start off with BECAUSE I was female. I only had the support of my close friends in the beginning and I feel like I had to work TWICE as hard to win over the general public just to show that I am capable of being more than just… a female face.
I am happy that I still won even if I did come third in the final poll because it shows that Alienware was happy with my performance. This means that there was some kind of judgement and moderation of all the work done over the past 8 weeks and I was found to be the best. That’s the bottom line!
]]>I travelled a total of around 12,000+km! I also visited 2 continents as I went over to the Asia side of Turkey. Darn, I should have taken the boat from Sicily to Tunisia (Africa) and made it 3!
My route map involved travelling from Rotterdam -> Antwerp -> Paris -> London -> Rotterdam -> Amsterdam -> Sicily -> Bologna -> Rotterdam -> Istanbul.
Thank you all so much for following my journey with the Alienware Backpacking Challenge. Now my site can return to normal 
Week one is over and the submissions for each challenge is in. My stories of interest were the interview I made with Justin Wong, plus I have also interviewed Hawr1x, an incredibly passionate Czech gamer. Check it out below:
If you liked what i’ve done and think that it’s good enough to win, please take 2 minutes of your day to vote for me. You go into the draw to win the Alienware M11x. I’ve been using it for the past week and once I got over the disco lights, I actually realized its a beastly machine! It’s better than my desktop 
Anyway, to vote for me, click here (psst, I’m Livia!).
On a side note, i’m really sorry but i’ve had to make it so that you must register to post comments on my website. The spam is currently overwhelming and I can not deal with it when I am on the road.
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So just to write something a little more personal since I haven’t in a while, i’ll just tell you a little bit about moving. Everyone basically wonders why we moved since we were working very hard at a company in Germany which was in the eSports industry. Unfortunately the company and us decided to go in separate directions and while we both loved Germany Köln, it was too difficult to get work without being fluent in German. So we went to the Netherlands for me to study and PURRI to work.
Moving was a lot of work as usual but now PURRI and I feel comfortable in our new home. We had a lot of help from a local Quake player (drk), it’s really nice how through gaming we’ve been able to get to know people from all over the world. Our flat is almost complete now, we had to do a lot of work like installing new floors, sterilization of the bathroom and painting over the imaginary shotgun stains (just joking).
It’s perfect timing just before the world cup. Things look really festive with orange flags everywhere. It’s a little bit of an assault on the eyes as soon as you enter any supermarket I always like to remind PURRI that NZ are qualified but not Sweden, hehe. But of course we must cheer for Holland. With all the promotions going on, it’s almost impossible that you don’t have a little bit of orange somewhere from something 
So far it’s been a lot of fun and I look forward to spending the summer here! This is a dog sniping from a 3rd floor window:
These wetsuits aren’t just for avid cosplayers either, they are fully functional and apparently totally awesome. For $469 they better be!
Each wetsuit will be tailor made for the wearer so you’ll get that perfect snug fit to keep out the cold waters. I’m a little confused though, who wants to wear a space uniform underwater? I’d rather have a wetsuit that disguises me as a mermaid or something.
If you’re interested in more pictures or in ordering one, go to the Roddenberry website.
As for me, scuba-Liefje will stick to regular wetsuits thanks!
This weekend is the Intel Extreme Masters Edmonton event which is the finals for the North American players, to find out who will make it to the IEM World finals in CeBit early next year. So far since Blicharz has been behind the wheel, we’ve seen Quake Live at:
IEM Gamescom (August 2009)
IEM Dubai (October 2009)
IEM Edmonton (On now)
Here is a short introduction to the action:
These are just the offline events which ESL has been able to bring us some Quake Live action. Of course they are having a plethora of online events which is how we saw the final 8 players qualify for the IEM American championships. But I think this additional coverage can not only be credited to Carmac but also since they have hired James “2gd” Harding and Joe Miller they have been able to bring a lot more English coverage instead of the usual German which we see from Turtle Entertainment.
Here 2gd and 2gd take us through the highlights of the Dubai Quake Live tournament:
Unlike the Dubai event, we see the casters staying put in their studio in Köln. This means that while there won’t be on-the-spot interviews with the players directly before / after matches. Carmac has thought about that though and provides us all with interviews with the players anyway, even if they are pre-recorded before the matches. He’s also been nice enough to give us artsy little “b-rolls” of players getting ready for their matches.
vo0 interview:
vo0 had a strong and promising start to this tournament but got totally fisted by Tim “DaHang” Fogarty in the semis. vo0 got a total of 6 frags over 3 maps (in a best of 5 setting) and if he plays like this today against Chance “Chance” Lacina he will be stomped.
dkt interview:
dkt came out looking really strong at Quakecon this year taking 4th place and showing he isn’t a dude to be messed with. But since shitty performances at DreamHack Winter and not even making it through the group stage in Edmonton, people are wondering WTF happened to the dkt they knew. Get back into form!
Rapha interview: (current World Champ – but for how long?)
Rapha had pretty much predicted that he would make it through his group, which he did but actually lost 2 – 0 to DaHang, but beat Chance yesterday in a thrilling 5 map battle to be rewarded a spot in the final. As he mentions in this interview, he’s the kind of guy who grows each game in a tournament and I wouldn’t be surprised if this time he beats DaHang to win the thousands of $$ first place prize.
DaHang interview:
Despite being widely considered as the 2nd best player in North America, this is the first time since QuakeCon 2007 (the Quad damage tournament where he came 3rd remember?) that DaHang has really made a blip on my radar again. He’s come into this tournament looking very strong and it seems like he has quickly adapted to this new patch. He’s never taken a world title and to win the North American championships would be his biggest achievement to date.
The one person who has really surprised me in this tournament whom Carmac hasn’t interviewed yet is Chance. He played so tightly against vo0 and even took home the group win when vo0 fucked it up by losing to Griffin. He went on to play Rapha and as I mentioned took it to a nail-biting 5th map (there was 1 – 2 frags difference each map before) but seemed to fall apart in the 5th and final map, ztn. If he can keep the form he had for the first 4 maps against Rapha, he could able to beat vo0. But there is one big difference between vo0 and Chance – Chance has never been a “champion”. Vo0 has years of tournament experience plus has proven to the world that he IS champion material, which is something that really separates players on the mental playing field.
If you’d like to follow the IEM events more closely, go to the IEM website. At 20.20 CET the match for 3rd place will take place followed by Rapha vs DaHang in the final, don’t miss it!!
Also the European championships will take place here in Köln (YAAAY) very early next year, can’t wait!
]]>I found out that in 2005, a Taiwan based airline called EVA Air has created 2 Hello Kitty jets. They took them off international routes in 2008 though, but if you are a huge kitty fan, you can still catch the planes with inter-continental flights in asia.
Not only do you get Hello Kitty stewardesses, seats, meals, cups, sugar packets… you even get Hello Kitty lotions in the bathroom! Click here for more pics.
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Mount Cook
The only way to really see the South Island of New Zealand is by car, foot and helicopter. Destinations such as Milford Sound are only really accessible by foot and there is no other way to see it. Cameras and photographs are one way to capture the beauty but nothing compares with being there – the sights, the weather, the smells and the rewarding feeling that you get knowing that only a handful of people around the world are able to see and be where you are.
Bluff
Just taking a glance at a map of the South Island, you could spend a couple of weeks snaking your way down the country and always see something new. If you are plotting a trip down south, in order of how you could drive, I would recommend the following places:
• Kaikoura – famous for whale watching
• Hanmer springs
• Ross – you can pan for gold here
• Christchurch – the biggest city in the South Island
• Athurs Pass
• Franz Josef Glacier
• Mount Cook
• Lake Pukaki
• Wanaka – great if you love skiing
• Queenstown – also another great skiing destination
• Milford Sound – bring your hiking boots!
If you wish to go even further south to really feel like you’re at the edge of the world then you would need to go to Invercargill. It’s the biggest city that far south and you’d be a bit far-fetched to even call it big. From there it’s worthwhile to get to Bluff, the furthest town south (without going to Stuart Island). Bluff is world famous for their oysters. As a matter of fact, any fresh seafood you can eat when you are there will be delicious.
I took this trip when I was just the young age of 17 and when a teenager can compliment and appreciate the true beauty of a country, it speaks volumes. For anyone who likes any form of outdoor activity or who wants to just see a small untouched piece of what the world has to offer, the South Island of New Zealand is definitely a place to add to your list.
Haast
I was in Düsseldorf, Germany earlier this year and I found something funny in the bar hehe.
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We then went down a hill and at the bottom of the hill there was a speeding camera and we got a speeding ticket!! We were going about 60km when the speed limit was 50. Then there was a bottle of water on the floor and it had leaked and spilled all over my bag and my bag was ruined. hahahha, the night couldn’t have got any worse?
We found the guys house and got the monitor, it was a nice one and I was really happy. So we put it in the back and started to drive back. The roads were very dark and winding and Mickey had not belted in the monitor so we decided to pull over to belt it in. When we pulled over, Mike went to turn on the emergency blinkers so that cars could see that we were stopped (they dont have streetlights in Germany basically).
THEN the button for the emergency lights BROKE and got sucked into the dashboard, stuck on!! We were supposed to also go and pick up a wardrobe but it was already 2100 and it was late so I had to call the guy and cancel, while we stayed in the cold trying to fish out the switch, but it had fallen really deep down into the dashboard. So then we tried to find which fuse to disconnect to turn them off. If we disconnected the fuse, we would not have lights or blinkers so we had to drive 40km back with the emergency blinkers on, HAHA!!!
So that the car wouldn’t run out of battery during the night, we disconnected the battery in order to be able to get to work in the morning and find someone who could fix the car. Luckily there was a SAAB place about 1km from my apartment and they fixed it in about 5 minutes. They didnt charge anything too!
What a hilarious evening! =)
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