Everything Else

So I just looked at my blog and realized I left out the entire last week I was on the ship, not to mention I had about 3 weeks of posts saved as word docs that never made it onto the site...oops. Well, it's all updated now, except for the final week, which I'll let you in about now.
Basically, nothing happened, or at least nothing that has stuck with me for the 2 months since it happened. After Caymen would have came a Sea day, Lauderdale, and another sea day, all of which were usually uneventful. It was just nice though to start my final cruise, which includes my final passenger drill, welcome aboard show, and most importantly, last parade! That aside, most of my time was spent in preparation for going home, yay!
Cozumel would have been the next day, of which I do remember. Brandon and I, after working it out with Pia (shore-ex), got on a ferry to cross to the mainland - Playa del Carmen. After leaving early, we got to the other side with hours at our disposal to explore and just enjoy my last port day before leaving the ship. We walked North through the city for aways, until eventually turning towards the beach where we'd spend an hour enjoying a perfect Mexican day. We left to walk back towards the pier via the seamless white sand beach which was just gorgeous. We eventually turned off the beach into a vacation resort where we probably weren't allowed to be walking around in, but after hanging in the lobby for a while using their pool table, I'm sure we convinced most everyone we had paid thousands to stay at the resort. Following that, we began the search for lunch, of which we were determined to find the most authentic restaurant possible. After a coffee break at a cafe, we continued on till we found just what we'd hoped for. Inside this local restaurant you could see old wooden chairs at cheap looking tables, a small dining area, and the counter top at which the old Mexican woman did all her cooking. It was strange seeing the counter right there in the dining area completely exposed, but thats the local "look" we were searching for. The lady came over and I asked for a menu, to which I believe she said (and it was in spanish) that there's only the "meal of the day", something that she then proceeded to display to us by uncovering the giant steel pots on her stove to reveal rices, sausage patties, chicken, and whatever else should be included when a local makes the meals she's likely been making 50+ years. We were served some strange juice, which I still can't figure out what it was (looked like lemonade), but was really good, and the meal was absolutely great, not to mention really cheap. So we left to make our way back to the ferry by walking back through the city. We made it back no problem, but it turned out we bought twice as many tickets as we needed for the way back. When we had gotten to Carmen, we had bought tickets for the trip back so we knew we'd have them when we needed them. But, by asking for two tickets, the booth operator thought we wanted round trip, meaning $20 as opposed to $10. The tickets didn't really say anything to that extent, so we both thought everything was fine, till we got to the ferry and found out we both had extra tickets we couldn't use. But hey, I'd rather err on the side of caution than not be able to get back to the island where the ship was. We made it back to cozumel and walked back to the ship, making a couple stops here and there before leaving the island for what would be my last time.
The next day was a sea day, and one that was spent packing. I got my stuff together all day and even had to stay up all night making sure that I had everything before I left. I took breaks of course to hang with friends and say farewells, but I didn't even try to lay down and go to sleep that night. The next morning I went through the sign off process which wasn't bad because I was leaving during the Christmas Blackout period, meaning very few people sign on or off the ship. From there, I was piked up by my Grandparents who live in Florida (Jan 14th), who took me back to there house for a few days before flying home on the 17th.
And here ends the blog of my first ship contract! It's odd though, because even though I'm writing this in march, just before I leave for my next ship, finishing this blog is offering a strange sense of closing to the entire adventure. It's as if these last sentences truly conclude the 6 months I spent away from home and prepare me to enter into this next adventure on the other side of the world. Thank you to all who have read these blogs, be it a couple posts here and there or those trying to keep up with it on a daily basis (or at least when my posting schedule allowed for it). I really hope you'll continue to read as I go to China March 15th for a completely new set of experiences and hope you keep in touch as I spend 2 months traveling on the Rhapsody of the Seas!

Sincerely,
-Mike