Did Lexus just shake up the automotive market – we believe so! - Image credit Lexus

Did Lexus just shake up the automotive market – we believe so! - Image credit Lexus

When an automotive manufacturer takes a concept made popular by Steven Spielberg and develops it into reality. The mind will wonder further as to whether the creation of a time machine may be around the corner.

Taking it down a notch from time travel, Lexus, the Toyota subsidiary has brought out the aptly named SLIDE project. This project has generated the Lexus Hoverboard and the great thing is that it actually works!

"I consider myself as a chef who connects with other fields in theory and practice. My current interests lie in this combining of food and art" - German chef Felix Bröcker discusses his global culinary adventures.
 
The culinary originality of Felix Bröcker seen here with Rirkrit Tiravanija at Art Basel 2015 - image credit Tobias Roth
The culinary originality of Felix Bröcker seen here with Rirkrit Tiravanija at Art Basel 2015 - image credit Tobias Roth
 
You are chef but have studied philosophy and film as well. It is quiet a dynamic career mix, tell us more? After working for several years in Switzerland, Portugal, Australia and Germany I wanted to deepen my theoretical knowledge. This is why I attended the Hotel Management School in Heidelberg.
 
I knew there is a lot more to cooking than food which is what I wanted to discover.

Though the gap year has evolved with time, the end result is always more or less the same – and it boils down to the individual, the outcome and their reaction to the experience.

An original gap year! Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, Image courtesy of Penguin Random House
An original gap year! Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, Image courtesy of Penguin Random House
 
The concept of the Gap Year is said to have been ignited back in the 1960's, although Jules Verne would probably have argued otherwise.  He was dreaming up gap year adventures decades before and his epic novel "Around the World in Eighty Days" can be viewed as one big gap year type adventure.
 
It is difficult to define a gap year, after all in some countries it is referred to by a different name and often viewed differently. So while some call it a year out or year abroad, others may refer to it as a sabbatical whilst some consider sitting on their parents couch a “Gap Year”.

"In some way, shape or form you can relate everything back to that one simple cacao bean." - Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl CEO of BLYSS
 
Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl and the adventures in the business of chocolate
Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl and the adventures in the business of chocolate
 
Pure energy is probably the mildest description one can associate with Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl, who often is referred to as Lyss from Blyss. Blyss happens to be name of her chocolate company and is perhaps is a subtle interpretation of the magnitude of Alyssa's career, which oddly enough, can be simplified by a single cacao bean!

British national Liam Trinder speaks about his Rugby Gap Year adventure that took him from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern. Along with his global rugby ambitions!
 
My Rugby Gap Year - the Liam Trinder adventure
My Rugby Gap Year - the Liam Trinder adventure
 
Tell us about your rugby career and ambitions? I had been playing for my local club Henley Hawks since I the age of seven. I was playing for the Senior 2nd team before I arrived at Stellenbosch Rugby Academy. Previously I have played for my county (provisional) team for two years from ages of 14 to 16.
 
So is your focus entirely about rugby - eat, drink, sleep and live rugby or have you found a balance? Balanced! When I’m not playing rugby, I like to stay relaxed as much as possible and chill with my friends.