So the cruise ship job is done.
I enjoyed the experience, for the most part, but have decided that it isn't the right path for me to take. Met a lot of amazing people and made some life-long friends, but it's back to my rock for now.
I have a new plan in play and if it works out then by next spring I will be off again.
My plan will be on hold until mid-July though due to the fact that I am currently volunteering in Costa Rica. I am down here for a month, assisting in a kindergarten and then working with a turtle rescue organization. So far it has been very hot and very humid, but I'm hoping I will adjust to it quickly....otherwise I am in for a very long month.
Update soon :)
Monday, June 9, 2014
Thursday, November 21, 2013
New Adventure!!
Today I left to start a new job in Tampa, Florida, working for Starboard Cruise Services onboard Royals Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas.
This is my new adventure!
After tearful goodbyes yesterday I managed to get myself to Vancouver without incident, and had a lovely dinner with some friends before going to my hotel room to re-pack my bag and prepare myself for the 5:00AM wake-up that was to come.
I did end up sleeping in but I was up and ready to go to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in time for my flight. Everything was going smoothly until I got into Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW). Due to my Seattle flight being so full I volunteered to check my luggage, thinking I'd be a nice person, not thinking about how it would affect my connecting flight, and that was when the issues started. Our flight was also re-routed in the air due to weather and therefore late arriving at DFW, the connecting flight's gate number changed three times, and my connecting flight out of DFW to Tampa was an hour and a half late.
To top it all off the airline lost the bag I offered to check to make it easier on everyone else. Hopefully the airline is able to get my bag here by tomorrow, otherwise I won't see it until next week...maybe.
Since we didn't arrive in Tampa until almost 1:00AM there was no shuttle service to my hotel so I had to pay for a taxi, a cost I was not planning on having.
So now I am sitting in my hotel room, about to turn off the light and get some shut eye before I have to check out tomorrow morning and move to a new hotel that the company is putting me up in. Yet another taxi for me to pay for, yeah!
This has been quite a day!
This is my new adventure!
After tearful goodbyes yesterday I managed to get myself to Vancouver without incident, and had a lovely dinner with some friends before going to my hotel room to re-pack my bag and prepare myself for the 5:00AM wake-up that was to come.
I did end up sleeping in but I was up and ready to go to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in time for my flight. Everything was going smoothly until I got into Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW). Due to my Seattle flight being so full I volunteered to check my luggage, thinking I'd be a nice person, not thinking about how it would affect my connecting flight, and that was when the issues started. Our flight was also re-routed in the air due to weather and therefore late arriving at DFW, the connecting flight's gate number changed three times, and my connecting flight out of DFW to Tampa was an hour and a half late.
To top it all off the airline lost the bag I offered to check to make it easier on everyone else. Hopefully the airline is able to get my bag here by tomorrow, otherwise I won't see it until next week...maybe.
Since we didn't arrive in Tampa until almost 1:00AM there was no shuttle service to my hotel so I had to pay for a taxi, a cost I was not planning on having.
So now I am sitting in my hotel room, about to turn off the light and get some shut eye before I have to check out tomorrow morning and move to a new hotel that the company is putting me up in. Yet another taxi for me to pay for, yeah!
This has been quite a day!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Ubud
So after eating some Pringles for dinner, since that was all that didn't upset my stomach, I spent the night with the shakes and once again threw up. I actually had to wake Mel up because I was feeling like I was going to pass out. She tried to go to the front desk and see if there was anyone around to point us to a doctor but everyone had gone to bed already. I have never felt like that before and I was really starting to freak out.
In the morning Mel went to the front desk and found out where a doctor was. Luckily there was one just up the road. He took some tests and two hours later he diagnosed me with Salmonella. When I first walked in and was waiting for the doctor, the nurse actually freaked me out more by telling me that I had blood poisoning without going into detail. He prescribed about 7 different pills that I had to take multiple times a day.
Our full day in Ubud was spent doing some shopping, sleeping, and getting treatments at a local spa. I got a sunburn treatment: they put crushed cucumber all over and let it sit and then you wash it off in a flower petal bath. I did not enjoy it. The cucumbers smelt like they were starting to go and felt very gritty, and the flowers in the bath had obviously not been cleaned because there was dirt in the bottom of the tub. All-in-all not the best experience.
In the morning Mel went to the front desk and found out where a doctor was. Luckily there was one just up the road. He took some tests and two hours later he diagnosed me with Salmonella. When I first walked in and was waiting for the doctor, the nurse actually freaked me out more by telling me that I had blood poisoning without going into detail. He prescribed about 7 different pills that I had to take multiple times a day.
Our full day in Ubud was spent doing some shopping, sleeping, and getting treatments at a local spa. I got a sunburn treatment: they put crushed cucumber all over and let it sit and then you wash it off in a flower petal bath. I did not enjoy it. The cucumbers smelt like they were starting to go and felt very gritty, and the flowers in the bath had obviously not been cleaned because there was dirt in the bottom of the tub. All-in-all not the best experience.
Beginning of the End
Mel wasn't feeling up to eating dinner so I decided to just eat some Mr. Noodle like soup and got the hotel to boil me water. Unfortunately I dont think they boiled the water long enough because I ended my eight year streak and threw it all up that night.
With both of us now feeling sick we stayed in bed pretty much all day. We rotated between napping and watching tv shows. My parents were able to get a hold of us through Skype and we filled them in on what was going on. Being sick really sucked, my entire body hurt, I was really weak, and nausea was a constant state. I think so far I have had two days where I actually felt good and didn't suffer from any nausea.
This is the point where I decided I was going to go home with Mel at the end of January. We both agreed that we gave ourselves too much time for this trip and were ready to just see what we really wanted to and then go home on January 29th. We tried taking some of the antibiotics that we got back home but those didn't help very much.
With both of us now feeling sick we stayed in bed pretty much all day. We rotated between napping and watching tv shows. My parents were able to get a hold of us through Skype and we filled them in on what was going on. Being sick really sucked, my entire body hurt, I was really weak, and nausea was a constant state. I think so far I have had two days where I actually felt good and didn't suffer from any nausea.
This is the point where I decided I was going to go home with Mel at the end of January. We both agreed that we gave ourselves too much time for this trip and were ready to just see what we really wanted to and then go home on January 29th. We tried taking some of the antibiotics that we got back home but those didn't help very much.
Padang Padang & Ubud
We ate breakfast with Rhys, Savanah, and a couple they were traveling with and then spent a few hours at the beach. I turned lobster red on the front of my body and pretty much stayed white on the back. We had some trouble with getting cash out both on my VISA and Mel's debit card but I think it's more the ATM we were trying to use and not our cards. I was finally able to get a hold of RBC and cancel my debit card just to be on the safe side.
Mel has started to fell pretty sick and today is our day to check out and head to Ubud. We waited until noon to check out so she would have time to rest and I could find us some places to look at in Ubud. Luckily for us Are has friends in Ubud who own Sagittarius Bungalows and we were able to get a room there. Unfortunately for us it is at the top of our budget but I don't think either of us were wanting to look around. We went for a walk to the supermarket and it started to pour down rain and by the time we got back I looked like I had taken a shower, rather than just a 5 minute walk. On our walk we had to pass through the monkey jungle and I had one come up to me and grab my grocery bag, but I just gave it a little shake and told him "No, thats mine" and he backed off. It was cute but Mel thought it was creepy.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Island Tour
The next day we were up at 7:15AM so that we could do our island tour with Are. He was really great and was able to tell us a lot of stuff about the island. We started with Nusa Dua and were going to go over to Turtle Island but we decided it was too expensive to do the excursion and moved on. The beach at Nusa Dua though looked really nice.
Are drove us up through Sanur to Goa Gajah (The Elephant Cave) which was very neat and beautiful. We had to wear sarongs to cover our legs and women who are menstruating are not allowed to enter the temple. There was a man waiting at the bottom of the stairs who said he would be our guide and I thought he was priest/monk of the temple but it turned out he was just someone there to make money as a guide. I decided to wash my face with the temple's water, which was a neat experience.
Next we went to Tampak Siring (The Holy Water Temple). This place was very beautiful. There was a long pool that you could bathe yourself in for good luck and because we were there on a holiday all of the temples were filled with offerings. There was another pool where the "Holy Water" came up from an underground spring, that was neat to see. Unfortunately both of the temples had booths where people were trying to sell you something and you had to walk through them to get out.
Are drove us up through Sanur to Goa Gajah (The Elephant Cave) which was very neat and beautiful. We had to wear sarongs to cover our legs and women who are menstruating are not allowed to enter the temple. There was a man waiting at the bottom of the stairs who said he would be our guide and I thought he was priest/monk of the temple but it turned out he was just someone there to make money as a guide. I decided to wash my face with the temple's water, which was a neat experience.
Next we went to Tampak Siring (The Holy Water Temple). This place was very beautiful. There was a long pool that you could bathe yourself in for good luck and because we were there on a holiday all of the temples were filled with offerings. There was another pool where the "Holy Water" came up from an underground spring, that was neat to see. Unfortunately both of the temples had booths where people were trying to sell you something and you had to walk through them to get out.
We also went to see the oldest house on Bali, which to me looked like the one on "Eat, Pray, Love". We met the family that lives there and saw the different rooms, the family temple, and how they lived their day-to-day lives. It was an interesting experience and made me appreciate our house back home.
On our way to Ubud, Are took us to a spice farm that he liked to go to. Here we got to see how they make Luwak coffee and try some, as well as other teas and coffees made there. While we were enjoying our samples it started to pour down rain and by the time we were ready to leave the path to the car had been flooded. It was a very wet walk back.
When we got to Ubud we stopped to have lunch and Are drove us around the shopping area and took us to the Ubud Market. A little tip: shop the inside stalls at large markets like these, the vendors on the outside edges charge more because not all tourists are willing to go inside. We bough sarongs for Rp. 40,000 from an inside stall and the outer stalls wanted Rp. 120,000.
Mel was starting to come down with a migraine so we decided to skip the last two stops on the tour and just head back to Padang Padang. It was at this point that I discovered I had left my bank card in a machine yesterday so I now had to rely on my VISA for everything. I was a little worried about that at first because I hadn't changed my PIN to 4 digits, but luckily it worked fine.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Padang Padang (Day 2)
Today was my journal and blog catch up day. We didn’t really get up until about 9:00 and went for breakfast a couple doors down. It was pancakes and fruit for breaky and it was very tasty. The pancakes were more like crepes: Mel had them with chunks of banana cooked in them and then peanut butter on top, and I had pineapple in mine with chocolate on top. I think we will probably go there tomorrow for breakfast as well. We then came back to the room and got some Internet time in before hailing a driver and heading to a grocery store to get some supplies. The drive there and back cost us Rp. 120,000 and the driver waited for us while we shopped. We got some fruit, cookies, water, a knife, mosquito repellent, and some Strepsils (which taste like Halls and I hate Halls) because my throat has been bothering me a little bit. The driver’s name is Are (Ah-Ree) and we arranged with him to take us on a tour of the island tomorrow for Rp. 500,000. After relaxing in the room for a little bit we decided to head down to the beach and get some sun. It was so hot out! At the beach we rented an umbrella and with the slight breeze off the water it became the perfect temperature in the shade. Mel did a bit of tanning outside of the umbrella’s shade but I think I will burn if I try so I’m going to avoid tanning. I have already gained quite a few freckles since being here; well my already there freckles are getting darker. The tide was starting to come in when we got there and at one point when we went swimming a larger wave soaked our towels. Thankfully my backpack seems to be waterproof because nothing in there got wet. We got back to the Inn and there was someone in our room trying to fix the TV, unfortunately they were unsuccessful. Not too long after Rhys, Mel’s friend from Australia showed up and chatted for a while. We’re going to go to a restaurant called the Shark Fin with him tonight for dinner.
Well for now that is as caught up as I can get. Other than telling you that we currently have a guy who is not a mechanic but is trying to fix the light bulb above my bed, we’ll see how he does.
We went for dinner with Rhys and his sister Savanah but instead of going to the Shark Fin in Uluwatu, we stopped at a place called YeYe's. The restaurant had a open concept with the building part having no walls but a roof and then there was a patio that you could sit at as well. We sat on the patio to start but it started to sprinkle and the waiters asked us to move inside. They can tell when its about to pour down rain and this was one of those times. Dinner went really well, Rhys and Savanah were a lot of fun, and the prices were decent.
We went for dinner with Rhys and his sister Savanah but instead of going to the Shark Fin in Uluwatu, we stopped at a place called YeYe's. The restaurant had a open concept with the building part having no walls but a roof and then there was a patio that you could sit at as well. We sat on the patio to start but it started to sprinkle and the waiters asked us to move inside. They can tell when its about to pour down rain and this was one of those times. Dinner went really well, Rhys and Savanah were a lot of fun, and the prices were decent.
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