Tanya's Blog

Chic Savvy Travels gets a hilarious shot of testosterone

TANYA ENBERG, Chic Savvy Travels

After returning from a trip to New Zealand, I was in a fair bit of pain.

Surprisingly my aches weren’t caused by being dangled off the Skytower in Auckland or being whipped around on some weird adventure concept in Rotorua called a Shweeb (which is kind of like bungee-ing toward the ground in a giant sleeping bag stuffed with three people).

My body snarls also weren’t inflamed by an afternoon of skydiving or hiking the Fox Glacier. It wasn’t even from indulging in too many local spirits … not even the wine!

Meet Chic Savvy Travels' latest addition, New York-based travel writer Mike Barish

No, no, no. It was much simpler than that and it goes by the name of Barish. As in Mike Barish. Travel writer, adventure seeker and general hilarity maker.
Barish is a New Yorker with an amazing ability to make Denny’s food actually taste good. Not great, but OK.

And this was before Denny’s made headlines when Tiger Woods’ famous string of scandalous affairs were made public, one of which included a Denny’s waitress, who apparently enjoyed serving up more than platefuls of runny eggs and greasy chips to her customers. Anyway, the point is, Barish is the reason for my aches and pains.

For two weeks, I laughed solidly, possibly even in my sleep. My belly hurt. My voiced thinned out and my tear ducts were worn from laughing so hard, I would cry.

Basically, Mike is the perfect bantering partner in crime. For all of the jokes non-banter types fail to pick up and run with, Mike is quick to the draw. Seriously, if he were an olden days cowboy gunslinger, we’d all be doomed. But, what I probably adore the most about Barish is that he makes me look funny. Now that’s talent.

So, when Chic Savvy Travels was a nugget of an idea without so much as a template or colour scheme, I dropped Barish a line telling him he had to — HAD TO — be our Token Guy. Of course it’s a tough sell when you don’t have a website yet and come armed full of airy, fairy promises about how absolutely cool it’s going to be, honestly, once it launches, eventually, soon …

Thankfully, cool, smart, funny heads prevailed and Barish is in the house, people.

Of course we don’t need to point out that he’s a dude appearing on a site called Chic Savvy Travels, which was designed with cheery splashes of hot pink and is full of lady writers. Yep, that’s how manly Barish is. Or maybe he’s just really, really smart, going where the gals are and all.

But, truly, he is the perfect fit. See, Barish also has a sensitive side. Don’t tell him I told you this but, between you and me, he’s got a big heart and is just an all-round great person, writer, comic and life explorer. That said, he did make me pull the rip cord on the Shweeb thing. Just saying.

Be sure to visit our latest section, Token Guy with Mike Barish. You’ll laugh and, while there are no guarantees, you might cry too!

For a great, hearty chuckle, get to know Mike and what he’ll be writing about in Token Guy by reading my Q&A with him: Who is Mike Barish? Meet our Token Guy

Happy travels!

Date Added: May 16, 2011 | Comments (0)