The Story of “How I Got Here”

Ten years ago, I watched the first season of “The Amazing Race Canada,” and it became my dream to apply and be part of the show. Over the years, I watched season after season, taking notes and applying four times — once with a friend who shares my name, once with my older son, once with a coworker, and the last time with my youngest son. During the “President’s Breakfast” event, Jon Montgomery was invited as a speaker, and I made sure to be fully involved in the event, taking notes on the stories he shared. I even took the opportunity to take a picture with him and asked about the group combination that had the least number of applicants. He answered, but since I’m still applying, I’ll keep his response to myself!

I believe I have mastered the skill of manifesting wishes and intentions, and many aspects of my life demonstrate this. While some may call it “manifesting,” the label is not as important as the feeling that the wish has already come true. Despite not being selected for the “Amazing Race Canada” after ten years of applying, I remain determined to keep trying as long as the show runs. However, my intention to be on a show did come true when I was selected to be on a PrimeTV show called “How I Got Here” two years ago.

Premiering in October 2022, “HOW I GOT HERE” is a new TV series featuring North American-born Gen Z’s. They embark on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure as they travel with their immigrant parent back to their country of origin. During their journey, they immerse themselves in local customs and activities and reunite with important people from their parents’ past. In essence, the show is about parents taking their kids back to where their family roots began.

As we all know, the pandemic and lockdown gave us more time to stay at home and surf the internet. The algorithms of the internet know our preferences. Therefore, during the pandemic, I discovered a show that was looking for second-generation Canadian-born teens/young adults to go on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure and travel with their parents (or grandparents) back to their country of origin. In 2020, my only Canadian-born was not 18, and as much as I wanted to represent Romanian stories in the first season, that was not possible because I would not qualify.

Season One features stories from Slovakia, Zambia, Mexico, Serbia, Israel, and Zimbabwe.

I referred previously to 2022 as, “22 My lucky year.” Then, I applied with my youngest son, Aleck (born in Canada), for a casting call. We had to submit a picture of us together, as well as a 15-20 minute recording where both of us answered specific questions. Our application was sent in during the summer for the Season 2 casting. After Season 2 launched, I shared our experience of being on the show with “Omni TV,” “Cinemagia,” “TVR International,” and “Prima TV.” Unfortunately, all the recordings are in my native language. Since the experience is a once-in-a-lifetime story that I will always cherish, I thought it was worth sharing in a post.

Everything started on November 2022 when Aleck got the first email:

I will say Aleck did well during the interview because a month later, we got another email:

Another month passed by and after the 40 minutes Zoom call, in December 2022 we got another email:

We left Ontario and celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Eve in British Columbia in 2022. We went skiing and spent the winter celebrations with a large group of other families. We had three weeks of fun and didn’t think about the application at all. When we came back, we were preparing for our vacation trip to Japan and Vietnam. However, a few days before we left Canada, we got the good news:

At the end of February, when this email arrived and we browsed the contract, we realized that the dream had become a reality. We will be part of a reality show!

I won’t go into all the details, but the contract was over 50 pages long. It included information releases and required comprehensive criminal and vulnerable sector checks for all the countries I’ve worked in. We agreed to have three weeks of continuous availability for filming between April and October. We decided on June and July because that’s when Aleck was available after finishing his university exams and going on vacation. The screening went well, and we chose June as our three-week filming period. In April, we met Andreea, our story producer, who is of Romanian descent and migrated to Canada with her family when she was a child.

Andreea and I discussed how the story would unfold, our first steps in planning our Romanian trip, and what I wanted to show Aleck about his parents’ family and culture. We had frequent discussions about the next steps, and Andreea was my go-to person for any questions. As we approached the filming weeks, we received emails almost weekly, and other team members were introduced.

In the weeks leading up to the filming, things started getting more serious. There were rules about what to wear and what we were not allowed to wear. I had to pick out what I would wear for each day of filming from my wardrobe, which was one of the most difficult parts for me. I have to admit that after spending hours in front of three team members who approved or disapproved of my outfit, I had a breakdown. But at that time, I didn’t fully realize the enormity of the project. It was during this process that I met B., our Field Producer, and J.M., our Director, who I have to say is responsible (in a nice way) for all my crying moments.

During the process, I was asked what I wanted to reconnect with in Romania. I had to decide which friends or relatives I wanted Aleck to meet, and explain why it was important. I chose to include my mom and dad as part of my family, but unfortunately, Aleck doesn’t have any living grandparents on his father’s side, and my sister no longer lives in Romania. Despite it being difficult, we also discussed the importance of family genealogy and touched on places, culture, and other aspects that I wasn’t able to show Aleck.

Although Aleck had visited Romania many times before, he had never been there with me in the 20 years we’ve known each other. He had always gone alone or with my mom when he was a child. As he said during his reflection, “That was a trip of our life together.”

During the three weeks of filming, I observed an entire team come into our house, rearrange things, and shadow us (or vice versa) every hour of the day. I was pleasantly surprised by Lufthansa, as they treated us not just as a large team (the initial team from Canada consisted of 12 people, and 4 more team members joined us in Romania), but as a group of superstars. At Pearson, they assigned a team member to assist us, set up a special booth, and to our surprise, upgraded all of us to business class at the gate.

We arrived feeling fresh and happy, ready to start an amazing time filming in my home country, Romania. The Romanian crew welcomed us at the airport, and Aleck and I had a designated car full of cameras that would transport us during the trip (which was another surprise). The shocking part was that the car was identical in color and model to the one we had at home. It was a Jeep Cherokee, which was not a common car in Europe, let alone in Romania. I called it a coincidence!

Thank you to the Forte Entertainment team for adding the picture and the message at the end of the “Romania – a secret departure” on such short notice.

Our episode was dedicated to my MOM.

I won’t share any spoilers about the episode, but if you have Prime Amazon in Canada, BYUTv, or Supper Channel in the USA or Mexico, you can watch Season 2—Episode 7. The filming took close to 100 hours, with countless hours of crying and an amazing journey. Despite each episode being around 60 minutes long, we had a fantastic team who made us feel comfortable and natural at all times. During a torrid summer, the team’s “MAKE IT MAGIC” attitude kept me going when I was out of tears and energy. Also, J.M. patiently conducted night interviews and made me cry again by asking questions about the day, always ready with the Kleenex box.

I want to express a BIG THANK YOU to the team that became like family to me! The experience was not only unique, but also something that I will always cherish. I could never have imagined what life would be like, despite the warning from the product manager before the trip, when I became the main character in a story about the country of my birth. To the entire team that took care of me back home, and to all 15 people who traveled with me and worked tirelessly from 7 AM to 10 PM – THANK YOU!

Life so far has been filled with loss, lessons, and triumphs. It has involved doubts, second guesses, and exploring the unknown. However, our biggest challenge was moving to Canada – leaving behind family, friends, and our homeland to build a new life from almost nothing here in Canada. Raised in a communist country, we were always very competitive. Once we set our minds on a goal, nothing could stop us. We strive to be the best and to raise our kids to be the best. With both good and bad experiences, we are not perfect, but we are certainly different!

Learn to wish for the moon and bring it down yourself, which is the best way to ensure happiness!