I’m Baaack!!!

Well, I’ve made it safely back to the ship and I’m already one cruise into my contract. I spent all day on Friday, July 2nd traveling to get back to Newark, NJ so I could meet the ship on Saturday. I left my house at 7:45 AM and headed to Pittsburgh. After seeing a few friends, I got to the airport around 10:30 AM. I checked my bags, said a prayer that they would make it to my final destination, and spent a long time crying and hugging my parents goodbye before boarding my plane for Detroit. Yes, you read that right. I was trying to get to Newark, NJ, but my travel was set up by my company and they found it necessary to send me 3 states west although I only needed to go one state east. I finally checked into my hotel at 7:45 PM. It would take about 6 hours to drive from my house to the hotel, but it took me 12 hours to fly there. Fantastic.

After a sleepless night in the hotel, I was off to the pier at 9:30 AM. Through all of this I was sad to be leaving my family and friends on land for the rest of 2010, but I was also excited to see my ship friends, get back to work, and travel again. So it was with nervous excitement that I got onboard by 11:00 on Saturday morning. I was fortunate enough to have been given an easy first day by my boss. I wasn’t scheduled to work the Welcome Aboard Show at all, but I went into the office anyway to watch my colleague direct it as I refresher for me. Then it was off to a fancy dinner with my friends- the normal crowd I went to dinner with all last contract. It was so good to see everyone! After that I met the rest of my division on the Promenade to decorate for the 4th of July. Here I got to see all of my friends that I hadn’t seen during the day. Due to the time change on the way to Bermuda, it was 2:30 AM by the time I got to bed. I was exhausted!

The next day was full of training and more work. Technically it was the 4th of July, but it didn’t really feel like it- no barbecues, fireworks, or sparklers. But, it was a beautiful day and it was good to be back to work.

We were in Bermuda the next day. I left the ship a little after noon and grabbed lunch in the dockyard before boarding a ferry for St. George. I had heard a lot about St. George, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get there so I never went. I got on the 2:00 ferry and loved the 45 minute ride. I could just ride the ferry back and forth all day and be happy! Once docking in St. George we checked out the town square before walking a few blocks uphill to check out the Unfinished Church. This church was begun in 1874, but was never finished due to hurricane damage and a diversion of funds. Although there is no roof and some parts of the church have fallen down, the structure is still beautiful!

We wandered down a side street and happened upon the Bermuda Perfumery. Here they make a variety of perfumes and scented lotions in house. They have a beautiful garden containing many flowers used in their perfumes. They also have an above ground water tank. I found out that the entire island system of Bermuda has no fresh water- their only source of fresh water is rain. The slate roofs are dipped in a lime based concrete and as the water runs over the shingles and into the gutter it is purified by the lime and then the water flows from the gutters into the water storage tanks.

After a quick stop at St. Peter’s Church it was time for a break so we found a cafe on the water and sat down for a cold drink. The cafe was right beside a marine gas station. A large sailboat pulled in and began filling up while we were there. I would guess that they were filling their tanks for 45 minutes. I can’t imagine what their bill was!

By this time we had to get in line for the ferry. After a beautiful ferry ride back to the dockyard I enjoyed some fish and chips at an authentic English pub and watched a beautiful sunset over the ocean before I had to go back to work.

After more training the next day, I was off the ship again for lunch and a walk. Then it was time to get back on board to take a glorious nap and head off to work.

It was so nice to see everyone again! Everybody greeted me with a hug and a “How was vacation?”. I’ve been asked dozens of times if I was only gone for a couple cruises. It seems like I just left, but it was a nice long vacation I suppose. My favorite welcome back greeting was from the Lounge Tech who announced a welcome back to me on the Royal Promenade while he was doing a mic check. My least favorite was from a bar server who asked me if I had gained weight on vacation. Boo.

So far I’ve only been training, working, eating, sleeping, and of course enjoying my port time, but I haven’t had a lot of socializing. That’s okay, I have 200 more days for that. During my last contract I viewed life as the time when I was home in Pennsylvania and being out here was work (good work, but still work). I was living for vacation like many people live for the weekend. I’m hoping to change that view this time around. Yes, being home was great and I look forward to it, but being out here is nice too. I miss everyone back home, but I’m happy to be with my friends here. I am blessed with an amazing job and unbelievable opportunities and I don’t want to waste a moment of it!