fair winds and following seas

  So I've worked a few contracts for different companies and on different sizes of ships, here's a few things that seem universally helpful to bring with you, and at the end of the post is a cabin tour to show the kind of place you might be staying in. Pack magnets … everything's magnetic, the easiest way to decorate your room, print some pictures from home or a scratch off map and you'll be feeling at home in no time. Magnetic baskets and door hooks etc are really useful for space saving. Bring shampoo and conditioner , and bathroom products from home. In your first few weeks you'll be stuck on the ship getting caught up on safety training, so you don't want to be stuck without these things, also the products out there (depending on where out there is) are going to be alien to you and it's hard to decide what to buy or to get hold of familiar brands. If you use them up before your contract ends you'll have more space to take things home afterwards. A re...

My cruise ship makes stops at a few working ports not usually home to passenger cruise lines, they're far more practical and  industrial  and not at all g lammed  up for visitors like the cruise terminals are. At most of the working ports you'll see shipping containers stacked high in primary colours with speckled rust across the obnoxious corperate branding. There's a constant hum of machinery and giant cranes moving overhead that feel unsettling to walk beneath. Not the most pleasant start for  visiting  a new place. Here in New Zealand the working ports are mostly used for timber transportation and the first view sets the scene for these ports perfectly. Without stepping off the ship you can already smell the newly chopped wood and fresh mountain air, as you walk down the ramp to the dock you start to see logs stacked high at an impressive scale and variety, but still completely dwarfed by a backdrop of mountains that stretch the horizon. Trees, mountains a...

My last flight landed late at night in Nouméa, new Caledonia to meet the ship the following day. In New Caledonia there's virtually no light pollution so I arrive to a panoramic view of the stars spreading the full width of the skyline, glowing bright and clear. You can see way into the distance, it feels very open and everything is bordered by mountainous silhouette's. Far in the distance on one mountain there stands a luminous cross which looks very dramatic glowing alone in the dark and I can see what motivated them to stand it in this environment, it's a very striking and powerful image.  The soundscape is pretty special too, so many insects chirping in unison it creates a soft white noise effect and is very relaxing, I used to find the same thing at night in Bali and would take time every evening to sit outside and soak it in. I later learned these insects are called cicadoidea, the males create a constant sound while the females are responsible for the sort of click ...

I wasn't completely certain I would be let out of the airport during my 8 hour stop over in Hong Kong, so I was winging it all the way but trying to stay hopeful, airports really aren't that much fun regardless of how highly recommend they come. I filled out a landing card, they let me through and I headed to an ATM. From what I've heard card payment isn't widely used everywhere here, no idea of the currency exchange rate, I just put my card in and withdrew the second lowest amount it offered me, didn't want to waste time looking it up and didn't want to ask a random because I expect that's asking for trouble. Once I had some cash I headed to the ticket counter and bought a same day return to Kowloon for 105 Hong Kong dollars. This area is basically the image of Hong Kong we see in movies and postcards so it made sense to head here and tick it off. Luckily “feel at home” from my UK network works here so I have access to Google maps. I also met a lovely ...

This place is beautiful, every building is diversely shaped and creative in design and colour, for a historically conquered people i suppose it makes a lot of sense to see so much variety in influence but it's fascinating for me to see. The people living here seem to take a lot of pride in the history of the city, everyone seems to know the date the buildings come from as well as the purpose and sometimes even the date of restoration, which I don't think you'd come across so easily at home in London. This is another place that embraces botanical beauty, there's roses growing all over the place and the current major seems very keen on fountains as there's loads here and allegedly they have only just been installed, definitely gives the place extra elegance. The city is made up of a lot of open squares which reminds me of Spain and has the same laid back vibe, food and drinks served at outdoor seating well into the night and often a accompanied by a lone guitar pl...

We have salt in our blood in our sweat and in our tears, and so when we go back to the sea, we are returning to ourselves.  Having sufficiently gorged myself on all the things I'd been missing, namely Domino's Pizza, Galaxy chocolate and Ben and Jerry's ice cream (seriously if you haven't tried the birthday cake flavour you NEED to) I suppose it's about time I head out to another ship, checked in today to see my flights are ready, so now its official. I've had a long break and I'm lucky they didn't summon me back after only a month, but I'm still a little glum to be leaving, I'll be missing Christmas, New year's and my second birthday in a row. The good thing is I'll be back for my summer festivals which are a huge part of who I am and I was sad to miss that this year.  Being that it's winter right now, which is not my season at all I haven't been super social, I tend to hibernate a little bit so I haven't caught up with a...

I've mentioned before that time flows differently on ships. The venue I was first assigned to here was time travel themed which I now find very fitting, I truly believe in ship years as a concept, it feels like I've been here forever...Now that we are part way through July, September feels just round the corner. I wouldn't normally wish away my summer, back home summer is what I live for, with tech fest and all the other great festivals I get to be a part of, I tend to want it to last forever. Here the summer is going to be spent assisting 3 day cruisers which means packing everything our ship can do into a shorter space of time. We have enough activities and shows to fill a 7 day cruise so it's pretty tiring cramming it all into 3 and a lot of the set ups are in the sun, either out on the beach or on the top deck. It's funny, I managed to go through asia still pale as a ghost because I was very respectful of the dress code and being covered up, here I'm going...