High Exposure
Warning: This entry retells an experience at a nudist/swinger event where I had to play solo piano/sing. For the simple sake of making sure that I don’t forget the details myself over time, I’m going to make this post as accurate as possible. There is adult material here, so if you’re under 18, don’t read this post. Likewise, if you don’t want to hear me talk about male and female genitalia, don’t read this post. If you don’t want to read about sexual acts, don’t read this post. But if you want some real vivid details about what the nudist/swinger underground society is like…enjoy!
It all begins with a phone call Sunday offering directions to the location. No address, just step by step instructions on how best to get there. So I follow the directions and arrive at the designated location not knowing what to expect. I pull into a fairly long, heavily wooded circular driveway, packed with cars on all sides. There must have been 50-70 cars at the house, including Corvettes, a Prowler, motorcycles, and other newer looking vehicles, which was a bit of a relief because now I’m pretty sure I’m not at some raunchy hillbilly sex fest. There’s no one around, but I can definitely hear voices on the other side of the house, so I approach the locked front door and ring the doorbell. A heavy set woman answers the door in nothing more than a long shirt (I’m thankful for the length). Going into this, I received a few warnings that nudists are not especially attractive people, if not downright hideous, and I hate to say she fit the bill. Seeing this woman caused a bit of concern about the upcoming parade of “ugly stick” beatings I was expecting to see when I ventured towards the main event. Regardless, I introduced myself and asked to talk to the owner, who we’ll name “Bob” for the sake of privacy. The woman walks me through the house, where I see clothed people cooking or watching TV, and out onto the patio…
Before I get onto the patio I see my first view of what’s to come, a middle aged woman, topless, relaxing with a cigarette and a pair of gigantic breasts. I’d describe her as being on the good side of ugly. But hey, I’ve been to Europe, I’ve seen topless beaches, no worries here, just keep walking and don’t remove the sunglasses I’ve purposely kept on. The house is actually quite large and has a great piece of property behind it. The patio I stepped out onto was on the second floor of the house in relation to the back yard, so I was able to get a pretty good view of the lay of the land, among other things. I saw in front of me a huge pool with an enclosure built around it, like a large tent. To it’s left, a patio with lawn chairs and a Jacuzzi, on the far side was sand volley ball, and to it’s right another Jacuzzi, showers, and a two tiered brick patio that opened up into the yard. It’s really a nice place to have a party…just not a great place to view one.
So my escort walks me onto the patio and starts looking for “Bob”, yelling out his name, trying to alert him to my arrival. It’s at that point a man in his mid fifties walks up the stairs on to the patio and introduces himself as the man I’ve been speaking with on the phone. He’s wearing a hat and…nothing else. I don’t shake his hand. I’m taken at this point to my eventual location, which is on the higher of the two-tiered brick patios and am introduced to “Bill”, the resident DJ and caretaker of the house. “Bill” helps me work out the logistics, runs power, and found an umbrella to offer some shade seeing as I was placed in direct sunlight, and is thankfully fully clothed. He’s a super laid back guy, really accommodating, and seemed excited that I was there, so it was nice to have a bit of a roadie for a while.
As I continue to assess my situation and take inventory of my surroundings, behind me there are three things. First, a photo booth on the patio I just came from, a room that I avoided at all costs. Second, a Jacuzzi. And third, for who knows what reason, two baby goats. Don’t ask me why, but there were literally two baby goats screaming behind me, I was told they were 4 days old. So I’m seeing people bringing bottles from the house to feed the goats with which is weird enough in itself. But I got my first true taste of what I was in for when a naked woman, who had just been feeding the goats, approached Bill the roadie and complained about getting the goat milk on her chest. Bill then began to lick the unwelcome liquid from her breast…I continued to set up on my own.
Walking in and out of the house as I brought my gear to the patio, I noticed telling sign posted to the front door, which read “Thanks for cumming, please cum again”. Yeah, so this definitely isn’t my usual gig. I successfully move all my gear through the house without brushing against any appendages and get set up and ready to play. Bill kills the music that he’s been playing from his DJ booth and introduces me as the “Amazing Mike on Piano” (a name that Bob came up with for me while he was sitting naked feeding the goats). Show time.
I originally told Bob my show can be any number of things, we can do jazz and make it background music, pop music, or try to get people singing along, which is generally my goal for private entertaining. I had another microphone set up for people to sing into, along with my lyric books set out on a table in front of me. My first request was from a naked old man who wanted to sing “Night and Day”, but then he couldn’t remember the lyrics and decided not to go for it. So I figured I’d gauge the audience and see what did and didn’t work. In looking around, to be honest, I was surprised by the people I saw, most of which were decent looking people ranging from late twenties to mid forties, and then your smattering of old naked guys - not even close to the warnings everyone had given me (granted, there were still certainly a few who fit the bill). Maybe half are fully naked, while others ranged from fully clothed to bathing suits. Some suits however, were only designed to accentuate what should otherwise be covered up…so I saw some styles I wasn’t previously aware existed. Anyway, I’m playing some tunes on the first set, and I’d say my role turned more towards background music. There wasn’t much involvement, but I think that’s because people were busy doing other things…
…namely, eachother. Yes, there was no doubt, I saw people having sex out in the yard. There was a group of people on the lower tier patio, amongst whom one couple decided oral sex was a good idea. And when the BJ started, the surrounding people make a joke about it, quick laugh, and then the woman gets back to business. But that wasn’t too bad compared to her turning around and then letting him go for the rim job, followed by some slow motion fingering. I was wishing for darker sunglasses as they seemed to approach their own Arabian goggles. Over the course of the evening I’m sure I saw no less than four different BJs, a healty collection of general groping, along with the less frequent full on intercourse for the couples who just didn’t bother with investing the time into finding an area out of view. Meanwhile, there’s a table set up next to me selling different novelty items…I wonder if there was a refund policy?
Set one finishes and the pig roast is ready, dinner time. I venture down into the yard where they just finished roasting the pig and I ask where the plates are. One guy pulling the pork apart says everything is being served in the pool area, but then tells me “don’t be shy” and shoves a piece of pork in my face (which in all honesty, might have been the best way for me to receive the pork). So I turn and walk towards the pool (pork in hand), which brings me along side the volleyball area, where I notice that the volleyball “ready position” is extremely unfortunate to view from behind. I was thankful that my piano setup had me at an angle where I couldn’t see this “balls out” game. While walking into the pool area, I quickly become aware of how difficult it is to negotiate a path through the party. Although it wasn’t packed, there was a constant fear of someone turning around at the wrong time and accidentally (maybe) slapping you with their schlong. I got in line behind three fully naked men, which brought me to the realization that they’d probably touched themselves multiple times before getting in line for food, so I’m guessing the spoon handles weren’t exactly sanitary. But hey, the utensils looked clean, so I grabbed some food and tried not to think, then washed my hands.
But even washing my hands was an issue. I asked Bill the DJ where the restroom was, so he walked me inside and showed me his DJ booth, the dance floor (complete with poles for dancing), and pointed me towards a closed door. Not wanting to walk in on something, I asked Bill if the bathroom was occupied, who then went through a series of knocks and verbal questions trying to get an answer out of someone. Apparently, people just hang in the bathroom waiting for someone to come in…I was glad to avoid any such ambush. The bathroom was a little dirty, not as bad as you might think (I’ve seen worse in gas stations), and had a paper towel dispenser like you’d see at a usual business. At least they’re trying to be somewhat sanitary.
Set two begins and I have a couple people sitting across from me half dressed, which is a welcomed audience. A few tunes into the set, some lady that I don’t recognize sit’s down next to me letting me know that the house is between parties and Bob was hoping I could take a long break and then play till 9. Apparently, there were two party shifts, afternoon and late night. Curious to see how rowdy the late night group would get, I agreed to 8:30 and took another break. At this point, the girl running the sex toy booth next to me had come over and implied something about me staying afterwards and partying. There was little question as to what she meant by “partying”, and my small audience who overheard the comment had to crack some joke about this chick “having her hands on all the guys at this party.” I shrugged off the invitation, which I was thankful for after I saw what she had to offer, which she inadvertently displayed in my direction while apparently trying to explain some product to a client at her sex toy table…I’m guessing some sort of piercing, but I guess I’ll never know. Bill the DJ did say she had a nice ass, however.
So I take another break, which I spend sitting at my keyboard due to a lack of desire to explore other areas of the property. I see a new group of people starting to enter the party and start playing again when Bill turns off the music in his DJ booth. This is my third set and really my only one with a decent, interactive audience. At this point, people are coming by and grabbing the microphone and singing some tunes karaoke style. Now I’ve had my patch cables go through a lot in my gigging career, but I never thought I’d see a heavy set girl trying to sing “Proud to be an American” with one of my cables getting buried into her chest. The majority of my crowd though was clothed, which surprised me considering this was the late night crowd (though there were no fewer than four fully nude people in the hot tub behind me). I then started to have a little fun with the crowd, changing certain lyrics to reflect the nudist situation, and cracking jokes about the random naked men that might cross in front of my keyboard from time to time. But it’s great when you can do “Sweet Caroline” and at the part that says “Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you”, I have the opportunity to get people to literally touch each other. Meanwhile, who knows what the hot tub crew was doing behind me, and I can only hope that the lyric book I gave them to look through didn’t get molested too terribly, and don’t forget the two random goats that are still hopping around. 8:30 came and went and it wasn’t till 8:45 that I noticed what time it was, at which point I decided to continue till 9 and finish the set out. I thanked everyone, said goodnight, and began packing up. I moved my equipment out of my area while two people got it on in the hot tub behind me, which was amusing because there was a different position with every trip I made back and forth to the car.
I’m fully packed up, ready to go, and after turning down a few invitations to stay and party that night, I try to find another restroom before departing. This restroom was not empty however, so just to serve as one last reminder of where I was before I left, the bathroom door opened as a woman stepped out and the man behind her adjusted his pants, complaining to me “what’s the big rush?”. I find Bob, get paid, exchange some chitchat about the event, and successfully leave the party.
But all in all, despite everything I’ve recounted here, I actually really enjoyed the party. As one of my listeners commented while I was packing up, after you party there, no other party will ever really compare. As soon as you let go of the strangeness of what was going on and accepted the fully nude people that are walking past the keyboard as part of the scenery, everything just became humorous. Everywhere you looked there was a joke to be made, and everyone knew it. And because of the nature of the event, the people were really friendly and laid back (not to be confused with getting laid), creating a welcoming environment. After the initial shock of seeing the nudists, the first BJ, first intercourse, first anything, I just accepted it for what it was and did my best to enjoy the show (within reason). People were having a great time, and that energy is infectious. In talking to Bob at the end, I told him I came in not knowing what to expect, but actually enjoyed myself as I got settled in and would even be interested in doing other gigs there. Turns out these parties are thrown every week, however music is brought in maybe twice a year. I don’t know that the opportunity will present itself again (I was a last minute solution to a band who bailed on the gig), but I truthfully enjoyed the gig if for nothing more than the challenge of finding the humor in the situation. I certainly saw things I could have lived without, and that night I had crazy messed up dreams, but it all adds to the experience and the thrill that goes along with diving head first into a situation completely alone.
Thanks for reading this unusual post and following my facebook posts. And if you’re throwing a nudist/swinger party, please don’t hesitate to contact me for bookings. Cheers!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Southampton
April 20th
Southampton
Still here, with still little sign of returning home soon. Today started with breakfast, followed by a walk to the mall where we wasted some time walking around clothing stores looking at everything we can’t buy due to weight restrictions on our baggage. So after we were amply depressed, we went to our usual café to get online. I discovered two things this afternoon online: First was that a train pass to London costs way more than I’d expected, about 60 pounds, or $100 for a roundtrip pass. This will probably kill all hopes of going to London. And second, I found out that one of my friends from an older ship, Igor (who I called James because I thought he looked like James Bond), was stuck in Gatwick, an airport south of London. He can get a train pass to get to Southampton for just 10 pounds, so hopefully I can hang out with him one of these days.
We returned to the hotel for lunch, which the company is now providing for us, so that’s nice. And lunch was followed by the highlight of my day, some good old-fashioned busking.
For those of you not familiar with the term, busking, in my case, is playing my sax somewhere in the city. I decided to try it out in a park near the hotel that
And that’s where my post stopped when I picked it up again in May 19th. So I guess I’m a month late in finishing this up, but I’m going to do my best.
The busking went fine and it was an interesting experience. Oddly enough, the majority of people who gave me money looked like they had the least to give, and the business people in suits and ties never stopped once. I played for about 90 minutes or so that afternoon, and then again on the next day, to make about 30 pounds, or around $50. Not bad for being able to stand out in a park on a nice sunny day and practice.
Both evenings consisted of dinner at the hotel and internet late at night after that at some pub, the only place we knew of that had internet and was open till midnight. So the days weren’t too eventful, slightly dull with a bit of sax mixed in, but we did have gorgeous days to walk around, so that was great!
I think one of those nights had a jam session going on in town. It was held at a bar and ran like the usual jams I go to in the states. I grabbed my sax to go play, and after all the egomaniacal guitarists got done trying to impress everyone, someone who cared about music finally invited me up where the sax became an instant hit. One guy brought a keyboard, dressed like a hippy on LSD, and had me play with him on some strange almost funky grooves. He was a nice guy despite the description, and gave me one of his pins after we were done, which reads “Cosmic Troubadour” and has a rainbow on it. Strange night.
The 22nd consisted of John and I going to London (Thanks John for buying that train ticket for me!), where we basically walked around a lot. We saw the important sites while making our way through the city and then back again to our train station. The highlight, however, was finding a great saxophone store, where we were able to just play great, new horns. The guy who was helping us gave me a reed to use, a $600 mouthpiece to play, and their most expensive horns. It was a super nice place and a really fun way to spend part of our day. I ended up buying a t-shirt and book just to show my appreciation.
We thought about hitting a jazz club, but it’d mean that we’d miss dinner at the hotel and have to spend tons more money in London, so we made our way back to the train and returned to Southampton in good time.
The next day was our flight home, a Friday, which we didn’t get the details for till Wednesday. So 5 days later John and I were both on our planes back to Chicago, where he then continued to St Louis. And there ends another ship adventure, one with a strange volcanic twist on the end. As always, thanks for reading the blog, and sorry for any delay that caused concern for me being still stranded in England! Take care, Cheers, and till we meet again!
Southampton
Still here, with still little sign of returning home soon. Today started with breakfast, followed by a walk to the mall where we wasted some time walking around clothing stores looking at everything we can’t buy due to weight restrictions on our baggage. So after we were amply depressed, we went to our usual café to get online. I discovered two things this afternoon online: First was that a train pass to London costs way more than I’d expected, about 60 pounds, or $100 for a roundtrip pass. This will probably kill all hopes of going to London. And second, I found out that one of my friends from an older ship, Igor (who I called James because I thought he looked like James Bond), was stuck in Gatwick, an airport south of London. He can get a train pass to get to Southampton for just 10 pounds, so hopefully I can hang out with him one of these days.
We returned to the hotel for lunch, which the company is now providing for us, so that’s nice. And lunch was followed by the highlight of my day, some good old-fashioned busking.
For those of you not familiar with the term, busking, in my case, is playing my sax somewhere in the city. I decided to try it out in a park near the hotel that
And that’s where my post stopped when I picked it up again in May 19th. So I guess I’m a month late in finishing this up, but I’m going to do my best.
The busking went fine and it was an interesting experience. Oddly enough, the majority of people who gave me money looked like they had the least to give, and the business people in suits and ties never stopped once. I played for about 90 minutes or so that afternoon, and then again on the next day, to make about 30 pounds, or around $50. Not bad for being able to stand out in a park on a nice sunny day and practice.
Both evenings consisted of dinner at the hotel and internet late at night after that at some pub, the only place we knew of that had internet and was open till midnight. So the days weren’t too eventful, slightly dull with a bit of sax mixed in, but we did have gorgeous days to walk around, so that was great!
I think one of those nights had a jam session going on in town. It was held at a bar and ran like the usual jams I go to in the states. I grabbed my sax to go play, and after all the egomaniacal guitarists got done trying to impress everyone, someone who cared about music finally invited me up where the sax became an instant hit. One guy brought a keyboard, dressed like a hippy on LSD, and had me play with him on some strange almost funky grooves. He was a nice guy despite the description, and gave me one of his pins after we were done, which reads “Cosmic Troubadour” and has a rainbow on it. Strange night.
The 22nd consisted of John and I going to London (Thanks John for buying that train ticket for me!), where we basically walked around a lot. We saw the important sites while making our way through the city and then back again to our train station. The highlight, however, was finding a great saxophone store, where we were able to just play great, new horns. The guy who was helping us gave me a reed to use, a $600 mouthpiece to play, and their most expensive horns. It was a super nice place and a really fun way to spend part of our day. I ended up buying a t-shirt and book just to show my appreciation.
We thought about hitting a jazz club, but it’d mean that we’d miss dinner at the hotel and have to spend tons more money in London, so we made our way back to the train and returned to Southampton in good time.
The next day was our flight home, a Friday, which we didn’t get the details for till Wednesday. So 5 days later John and I were both on our planes back to Chicago, where he then continued to St Louis. And there ends another ship adventure, one with a strange volcanic twist on the end. As always, thanks for reading the blog, and sorry for any delay that caused concern for me being still stranded in England! Take care, Cheers, and till we meet again!
I did make it home
Just in case anyone is still wondering, I did in fact make it home, I just haven't finished posting those blogs I've written.
Anyway, my current project is starting to teach music lessons online live, using webcams and lots of cool software. I'm posting a link to my site here because I think it helps my rankings on Google. Check it out if you get a chance!
http://www.playwhatyouwant.com
Thanks!
Anyway, my current project is starting to teach music lessons online live, using webcams and lots of cool software. I'm posting a link to my site here because I think it helps my rankings on Google. Check it out if you get a chance!
http://www.playwhatyouwant.com
Thanks!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Southampton
April 19th
Southampton
Today was my first full day sitting in England with nothing to do, so John and I have been trying to think of how to pass our days. The morning was started by going into the city for internet access, followed by a quick lunch bought from a grocery store. We had found a jazz saxophone concert listing in a brochure that was scheduled to take place at the University of Southampton, which after being told it was about 2 miles away, we decided to walk there. We set out around noon and after a lot of wandering around the campus, we arrived at the concert hall at 1:00, just in time for the start.
It was a free concert that the university was putting on, but it was supposed to feature an American saxophonist, someone who’s in the opposite problem of mine: he couldn’t fly to England. Instead, we listened to the saxophone professor do the concert instead, which was still very good. That lasted about an hour, after which we decided to wander through the music school. This culminated in us wandering into a saxophone class with the same rhythm section that we’d just seen at the concert, and we sat in on the lesson, listening to the students go up one at a time to play with the guest artists. We were thus able to kill another 90 minutes of our day, and followed by the walk back to the hotel, it was now almost time for dinner. Dinner was followed by going to a pub that we knew had free internet, and being the only place open at night and the best time to get in contact with the states, we stayed there till about 11:00 before making our way back to the hotel.
And with that, we’ve successfully killed our first day here. Tomorrow is going to be a little harder, and we’re debating a trip to London, but we’ll see where the day takes us. Thanks for reading and I hope to be able to stop writing this blog soon!!!!! Seeya!
Southampton
Today was my first full day sitting in England with nothing to do, so John and I have been trying to think of how to pass our days. The morning was started by going into the city for internet access, followed by a quick lunch bought from a grocery store. We had found a jazz saxophone concert listing in a brochure that was scheduled to take place at the University of Southampton, which after being told it was about 2 miles away, we decided to walk there. We set out around noon and after a lot of wandering around the campus, we arrived at the concert hall at 1:00, just in time for the start.
It was a free concert that the university was putting on, but it was supposed to feature an American saxophonist, someone who’s in the opposite problem of mine: he couldn’t fly to England. Instead, we listened to the saxophone professor do the concert instead, which was still very good. That lasted about an hour, after which we decided to wander through the music school. This culminated in us wandering into a saxophone class with the same rhythm section that we’d just seen at the concert, and we sat in on the lesson, listening to the students go up one at a time to play with the guest artists. We were thus able to kill another 90 minutes of our day, and followed by the walk back to the hotel, it was now almost time for dinner. Dinner was followed by going to a pub that we knew had free internet, and being the only place open at night and the best time to get in contact with the states, we stayed there till about 11:00 before making our way back to the hotel.
And with that, we’ve successfully killed our first day here. Tomorrow is going to be a little harder, and we’re debating a trip to London, but we’ll see where the day takes us. Thanks for reading and I hope to be able to stop writing this blog soon!!!!! Seeya!
Southampton
April 18th
Southampton
I woke up this morning, finished getting my stuff sorted and began the check out process. The first flaw of what I’m expecting to be many, was the mixed messages I was getting about how I’m going to my hotel. I was supposed to get my stuff off the ship by 10, but I couldn’t check into the hotel till 2. I was supposed to provide my own transportation to the hotel, but John (the other sax player who’s in the exact same situation as me) had a taxi arranged for him by the company. Everything was confused and changing every time I asked someone, so I got off the ship with all my stuff at 10 hoping for the best, and got it. I was planning on just taking the shuttle into the city and walking the rest of the way, but I ran into one of my friends who was rejoining the ship, and he had his car with him because he lived in the area, so he drove me to my hotel, nice!
At the hotel, they couldn’t find my reservation, problem two. He found John’s, but I didn’t have a reservation to check in for that day. After 10 minutes we figured out why…I had a reservation for checking in yesterday (while I was sailing out of France). Luckily though, this mistake was in my favor, so I could move all my stuff into my room right then, grab my continental breakfast, and then walk back to the city at my leisure. And the reservation was for two days, so I knew I was covered for tonight. So I returned to the city, found my band, hung out at a café, and then returned to the ship with John on the shuttle to get one last free lunch and grab his bags for his taxi ride to the hotel.
I decided not to hop in the taxi with him and the other 2 guys that he was sharing with, so I went back to the city on the shuttle and walked to the hotel where I waited for John to get settled in before we started trying to figure out what we were going to do during our extended stay on Southampton.
I started out with a trip to a café to make some phone calls and take care of online stuff, hung out till they kicked me out 15 minutes after closing time, and returned to my room to take an amazing bath! Having my own hotel room has some killer advantages over the cabins I’ve been in for the past 2 months. This was followed by dinner with John, and then we headed into the city to find Neil, the drummer in our band, who had also signed off the ship that day to take care of some family things back at home.
Neil was at a different hotel, so we walked in that direction, and in the tradition of any good band member, we knew the best place to find him was at the closest bar to the hotel. Bingo! We sat down for a drink, some last goodbyes, and then he headed to bed so that he could catch an early train.
By the time John and I had left the bar, we noticed a huge line of college kids outside of a night club, something that was too out of character for this city at night to not check out for ourselves. There were literally hundreds of college kids lined up to get into this place, and apparently they’d all just returned from vacation and were about to start a new semester at school. We eventually started talking to one of the bouncers at the door and asked about the club. It was an “American sports bar” aimed at college kids, though I’ve never heard a sports bar blasting dance music in the states quite like that. We told the guy our story, that we were stuck in the city, and I jokingly asked if we could get in free since we’re Americans. And amazingly enough, he was going to let us walk right in, in front of the hundreds of people, so that we could have a beer and check it out. The best part though was the condition that John needed to “lose” his bright yellow, “authentic island wear” baseball cap. Apparently he just wasn’t cool enough for the bar with it on. We thanked the guy for the offer, but not wanted to blow out our eardrums, we made our way back to the hotel joking about how many ways John’s yellow hat was the antithesis of cool.
Anyway, that’s day one of who knows how many. We are set up in the hotel for as long as needed, but I’m hoping this ash cloud problem gets sorted out quickly enough that I can make it home this week. Till then, I’m stuck in a city that I’ve never been in for more than a few hours, living in a hotel, provided with 2 meals a day. But hey, I’ll just try to use this time to relax, cool down after the ship, and get excited about seeing people back at home. And at least I’m not stuck in some third world country, or somewhere that doesn’t speak English, so the situation could definitely be worse. I’ll make the most of it while I await word from P&O for a plane ticket home. So till then, fingers crossed that this ash cloud dissipates quickly and that I’m back in my own country. Thanks!
Southampton
I woke up this morning, finished getting my stuff sorted and began the check out process. The first flaw of what I’m expecting to be many, was the mixed messages I was getting about how I’m going to my hotel. I was supposed to get my stuff off the ship by 10, but I couldn’t check into the hotel till 2. I was supposed to provide my own transportation to the hotel, but John (the other sax player who’s in the exact same situation as me) had a taxi arranged for him by the company. Everything was confused and changing every time I asked someone, so I got off the ship with all my stuff at 10 hoping for the best, and got it. I was planning on just taking the shuttle into the city and walking the rest of the way, but I ran into one of my friends who was rejoining the ship, and he had his car with him because he lived in the area, so he drove me to my hotel, nice!
At the hotel, they couldn’t find my reservation, problem two. He found John’s, but I didn’t have a reservation to check in for that day. After 10 minutes we figured out why…I had a reservation for checking in yesterday (while I was sailing out of France). Luckily though, this mistake was in my favor, so I could move all my stuff into my room right then, grab my continental breakfast, and then walk back to the city at my leisure. And the reservation was for two days, so I knew I was covered for tonight. So I returned to the city, found my band, hung out at a café, and then returned to the ship with John on the shuttle to get one last free lunch and grab his bags for his taxi ride to the hotel.
I decided not to hop in the taxi with him and the other 2 guys that he was sharing with, so I went back to the city on the shuttle and walked to the hotel where I waited for John to get settled in before we started trying to figure out what we were going to do during our extended stay on Southampton.
I started out with a trip to a café to make some phone calls and take care of online stuff, hung out till they kicked me out 15 minutes after closing time, and returned to my room to take an amazing bath! Having my own hotel room has some killer advantages over the cabins I’ve been in for the past 2 months. This was followed by dinner with John, and then we headed into the city to find Neil, the drummer in our band, who had also signed off the ship that day to take care of some family things back at home.
Neil was at a different hotel, so we walked in that direction, and in the tradition of any good band member, we knew the best place to find him was at the closest bar to the hotel. Bingo! We sat down for a drink, some last goodbyes, and then he headed to bed so that he could catch an early train.
By the time John and I had left the bar, we noticed a huge line of college kids outside of a night club, something that was too out of character for this city at night to not check out for ourselves. There were literally hundreds of college kids lined up to get into this place, and apparently they’d all just returned from vacation and were about to start a new semester at school. We eventually started talking to one of the bouncers at the door and asked about the club. It was an “American sports bar” aimed at college kids, though I’ve never heard a sports bar blasting dance music in the states quite like that. We told the guy our story, that we were stuck in the city, and I jokingly asked if we could get in free since we’re Americans. And amazingly enough, he was going to let us walk right in, in front of the hundreds of people, so that we could have a beer and check it out. The best part though was the condition that John needed to “lose” his bright yellow, “authentic island wear” baseball cap. Apparently he just wasn’t cool enough for the bar with it on. We thanked the guy for the offer, but not wanted to blow out our eardrums, we made our way back to the hotel joking about how many ways John’s yellow hat was the antithesis of cool.
Anyway, that’s day one of who knows how many. We are set up in the hotel for as long as needed, but I’m hoping this ash cloud problem gets sorted out quickly enough that I can make it home this week. Till then, I’m stuck in a city that I’ve never been in for more than a few hours, living in a hotel, provided with 2 meals a day. But hey, I’ll just try to use this time to relax, cool down after the ship, and get excited about seeing people back at home. And at least I’m not stuck in some third world country, or somewhere that doesn’t speak English, so the situation could definitely be worse. I’ll make the most of it while I await word from P&O for a plane ticket home. So till then, fingers crossed that this ash cloud dissipates quickly and that I’m back in my own country. Thanks!
Brest
April 17th
Brest, France
Today is the beginning of what I’m sure is going to be an interesting end to my contract. I’m scheduled to return home tomorrow, but thanks to a certain volcano that doesn’t want to stop erupting in my general direction, it doesn’t look like I’m going to fly home any time soon. That in mind, and me not knowing what the ship was going to do about it, I decided to skip my tour that day and go into the city of Brest and find an internet connection to ascertain what my next few days would consist of. I was afraid the ship was going to drive me to the airport and say good luck…the airport every news channel says to stay away from because everything’s cancelled. And when the people on the ship gave me no assurance of being looked after once I signed off, I didn’t have a choice but to find out my options.
So I took my shuttle into the city and walked along the main street till I got to the first café with wireless. One problem though, I don’t speak French to ask about the wireless, ask if it’s free, or what stipulations there are. Actually, I can’t even pronounce the word right: I walked up to the lady behind the counter to ask about Wi-Fi. So, I said Wi-Fi in a question tone. She looked confused. I said it again, same response. I pointed at the sticker on the door and again said Wi-Fi, blank stare. I then went to the window and tapped on the sticker. Well, it’s not pronounced Wi-Fi in France, it somehow became “wee-fee”. Now that she understood what I wanted, she went off in French about it, meaning it was my turn to return those same blank stares. Usually, if I’m trying to talk to someone who doesn’t speak English, I use single words and a lot of hand gestures…she tried to handle my French deficiencies by speaking in really long sentences really quickly. I ended up with a little brochure about how to sign on, which I didn’t need, all I wanted to know was whether it was free. Well, it was, so I sat down, ordered the most amazing croissant and most expensive fruit smoothie ever, and proceeded to figure out my future. I figured a good step one would be to call the emergency travel number the ship gave me, so I did, and found out that they were planning on putting me in a hotel till I could leave. Mission accomplished! Why the ship didn’t know this is beyond me, but I spent a little more time online before packing up and returning to the ship with the confidence that I wouldn’t be thrown off the ship the following day with a cancelled plane ticket and a “good luck”.
I walked back to the shuttle drop off, passing some music stores that I briefly visited, again with my French being the downfall in my plan. And before getting on my shuttle, I came across what seemed to be some sort of fair for kids, but a super active fair. One in which kids were learning how to ride unicycles, fencing, row machines, balance on yoga balls, play basketball, jump on trampolines, and more. It was amazing to see so many people out being that active, and just creepy to see 10 kids trying to ride unicycles. I don’t know if the French culture just trains everyone to be in the circus just for the fun of it or if I just stumbled on a collection of kids who’ve all inspired a strange affinity in their community for trampoline back flips, but regardless, it was neat to see.
And that’s it, I played my final two shows the night, packed my stuff up, and I was done with my contract. Now I get to sit back and see how long I end up being stranded in England, woohoo! Seeya
Brest, France
Today is the beginning of what I’m sure is going to be an interesting end to my contract. I’m scheduled to return home tomorrow, but thanks to a certain volcano that doesn’t want to stop erupting in my general direction, it doesn’t look like I’m going to fly home any time soon. That in mind, and me not knowing what the ship was going to do about it, I decided to skip my tour that day and go into the city of Brest and find an internet connection to ascertain what my next few days would consist of. I was afraid the ship was going to drive me to the airport and say good luck…the airport every news channel says to stay away from because everything’s cancelled. And when the people on the ship gave me no assurance of being looked after once I signed off, I didn’t have a choice but to find out my options.
So I took my shuttle into the city and walked along the main street till I got to the first café with wireless. One problem though, I don’t speak French to ask about the wireless, ask if it’s free, or what stipulations there are. Actually, I can’t even pronounce the word right: I walked up to the lady behind the counter to ask about Wi-Fi. So, I said Wi-Fi in a question tone. She looked confused. I said it again, same response. I pointed at the sticker on the door and again said Wi-Fi, blank stare. I then went to the window and tapped on the sticker. Well, it’s not pronounced Wi-Fi in France, it somehow became “wee-fee”. Now that she understood what I wanted, she went off in French about it, meaning it was my turn to return those same blank stares. Usually, if I’m trying to talk to someone who doesn’t speak English, I use single words and a lot of hand gestures…she tried to handle my French deficiencies by speaking in really long sentences really quickly. I ended up with a little brochure about how to sign on, which I didn’t need, all I wanted to know was whether it was free. Well, it was, so I sat down, ordered the most amazing croissant and most expensive fruit smoothie ever, and proceeded to figure out my future. I figured a good step one would be to call the emergency travel number the ship gave me, so I did, and found out that they were planning on putting me in a hotel till I could leave. Mission accomplished! Why the ship didn’t know this is beyond me, but I spent a little more time online before packing up and returning to the ship with the confidence that I wouldn’t be thrown off the ship the following day with a cancelled plane ticket and a “good luck”.
I walked back to the shuttle drop off, passing some music stores that I briefly visited, again with my French being the downfall in my plan. And before getting on my shuttle, I came across what seemed to be some sort of fair for kids, but a super active fair. One in which kids were learning how to ride unicycles, fencing, row machines, balance on yoga balls, play basketball, jump on trampolines, and more. It was amazing to see so many people out being that active, and just creepy to see 10 kids trying to ride unicycles. I don’t know if the French culture just trains everyone to be in the circus just for the fun of it or if I just stumbled on a collection of kids who’ve all inspired a strange affinity in their community for trampoline back flips, but regardless, it was neat to see.
And that’s it, I played my final two shows the night, packed my stuff up, and I was done with my contract. Now I get to sit back and see how long I end up being stranded in England, woohoo! Seeya
At Sea, Bilbao
April 15th-16th
At Sea/Bilbao, Spain
I have nothing special to report for the sea day.
The 16th was my first trip to Bilbao, something I was excited for seeing as I’ve never been to the port before. The plan for the day was to escort a tour that took my into the historic district of the main city, and then brought my group to a town on the coast, a one time fishing village, now overrun with vacation houses.
The actual city of Bilbao was surprisingly nice. Apparently, it used to be an extremely industrial city, a place no one was interested in visiting, but it’s transformed into a gorgeous city, with lovely parks, sculptures, bridges, and museums. It’s most famous for the Guggenheim Museum, the tour I really wanted to get on, but was for what ever reason unable to. But for a city that most people are completely unfamiliar with, it blew me away with how nice everything was. The tour simply walked through the older district so that we could see the architecture and have a couple different historical sights explained to us. It was nice, nothing too exciting, but the city was so pleasant that it made for a great walking tour.
For whatever reason, people who can’t walk always like to sign up for walking tours. I don’t know what the issue is, whether they’re in denial of their condition, think they’ll like the challenge, or if they’re just simply illiterate and can’t read the warnings in the brochure, but there are always one or two people that really put a burden on the tour by shuffling through the streets with their canes. Please, if you ever go on a tour and think you may have mobility difficulties, please fully consider what you’re getting yourself into. Not only will you terribly annoy the entire group, but you’ll hate the tour because you can’t keep up. And, most importantly, you’ll annoy me, the tour escort, who spends the tour running back and forth between the main group and you stragglers who can’t keep up, just so that you’ll know the group turned left 3 blocks ahead. I’d love to just stay with the main group while you’re slowly consumed by the winding roads we walk through, but I’m afraid that I’d never escort again if I left you in Spain. And not that anyone will probably read my rant and take head, but if it can save one tour escort from an old lady with a cane who just signed up to walk 2 ½ hours, I’ll be happy.
Anyway, the next stop was in a city called Castro…something. We saw a really old church that dated back to 1280, and some other old things…yeah, there’s not really much to describe. The city did have some unbelievably nice cafes, all of which I couldn’t stop in due to time restraints.
The tour was OK, I got to see what I wanted to see, it was just that nothing was really exciting. We then returned to the ship and I didn’t have enough time to get back to the city to see the museum, so I just hung out on the ship and waited to play my show for the night. Thanks for reading!
At Sea/Bilbao, Spain
I have nothing special to report for the sea day.
The 16th was my first trip to Bilbao, something I was excited for seeing as I’ve never been to the port before. The plan for the day was to escort a tour that took my into the historic district of the main city, and then brought my group to a town on the coast, a one time fishing village, now overrun with vacation houses.
The actual city of Bilbao was surprisingly nice. Apparently, it used to be an extremely industrial city, a place no one was interested in visiting, but it’s transformed into a gorgeous city, with lovely parks, sculptures, bridges, and museums. It’s most famous for the Guggenheim Museum, the tour I really wanted to get on, but was for what ever reason unable to. But for a city that most people are completely unfamiliar with, it blew me away with how nice everything was. The tour simply walked through the older district so that we could see the architecture and have a couple different historical sights explained to us. It was nice, nothing too exciting, but the city was so pleasant that it made for a great walking tour.
For whatever reason, people who can’t walk always like to sign up for walking tours. I don’t know what the issue is, whether they’re in denial of their condition, think they’ll like the challenge, or if they’re just simply illiterate and can’t read the warnings in the brochure, but there are always one or two people that really put a burden on the tour by shuffling through the streets with their canes. Please, if you ever go on a tour and think you may have mobility difficulties, please fully consider what you’re getting yourself into. Not only will you terribly annoy the entire group, but you’ll hate the tour because you can’t keep up. And, most importantly, you’ll annoy me, the tour escort, who spends the tour running back and forth between the main group and you stragglers who can’t keep up, just so that you’ll know the group turned left 3 blocks ahead. I’d love to just stay with the main group while you’re slowly consumed by the winding roads we walk through, but I’m afraid that I’d never escort again if I left you in Spain. And not that anyone will probably read my rant and take head, but if it can save one tour escort from an old lady with a cane who just signed up to walk 2 ½ hours, I’ll be happy.
Anyway, the next stop was in a city called Castro…something. We saw a really old church that dated back to 1280, and some other old things…yeah, there’s not really much to describe. The city did have some unbelievably nice cafes, all of which I couldn’t stop in due to time restraints.
The tour was OK, I got to see what I wanted to see, it was just that nothing was really exciting. We then returned to the ship and I didn’t have enough time to get back to the city to see the museum, so I just hung out on the ship and waited to play my show for the night. Thanks for reading!
Cobh
April 14th
Cobh
Another Irish port today, the same one I’d visited a few years ago to visit Blarney Castle. I couldn’t get on the tour I wanted, so after sleeping in a bit in the morning, I got off the ship just to have a walk around the sea side village on my own. It was cold today, which wasn’t all that bad after you got used to it. And there’s something really charming about these Irish towns that you don’t get other places, so I walked as far as I felt I needed and returned 2 hours later to run into some friends on the street.
There’s nothing much to do in the small town of Cobh, so we ducked into a local pub and passed the rest of the day there. We had a night off tonight, so no one was too worried about having an extra pint of whichever Irish Stout we were drinking (I had Beamish). My only complaint about the city was that I couldn’t buy anything! There were literally no stores, pubs, cafes, or anything that would take my visa, apparently because of the processing costs. I wanted lunch, and after people had been buying me some drinks, I couldn’t let them buy my lunch too, but I ran into the same problem. My friends hung out at the bar while I roamed the streets trying to find someone who would accept my credit card, which ended up being a grocery store where I was able to buy some Chicken cutlets and a bag of chips (called Hunky Dorys). But even there I ran into a problem as they didn’t want to run any cards for less than 10 euro…my bill was 4. I explained my situation, that I had no euro, and the cashier made an exception and I was finally allowed to eat.
But that aside, it was a nice day where I was just able to relax on my walk and then hang out with my friends at a small, quiet pub in town. I guess that was really what the Irish experience should have been, hanging out at a pub and getting food from a “chippy”, as my Irish friend called the fast food place he ordered from. So nothing too exciting, but a nice day to kind of relax before the whole stress of packing up to go home hits. Thanks for reading!
Cobh
Another Irish port today, the same one I’d visited a few years ago to visit Blarney Castle. I couldn’t get on the tour I wanted, so after sleeping in a bit in the morning, I got off the ship just to have a walk around the sea side village on my own. It was cold today, which wasn’t all that bad after you got used to it. And there’s something really charming about these Irish towns that you don’t get other places, so I walked as far as I felt I needed and returned 2 hours later to run into some friends on the street.
There’s nothing much to do in the small town of Cobh, so we ducked into a local pub and passed the rest of the day there. We had a night off tonight, so no one was too worried about having an extra pint of whichever Irish Stout we were drinking (I had Beamish). My only complaint about the city was that I couldn’t buy anything! There were literally no stores, pubs, cafes, or anything that would take my visa, apparently because of the processing costs. I wanted lunch, and after people had been buying me some drinks, I couldn’t let them buy my lunch too, but I ran into the same problem. My friends hung out at the bar while I roamed the streets trying to find someone who would accept my credit card, which ended up being a grocery store where I was able to buy some Chicken cutlets and a bag of chips (called Hunky Dorys). But even there I ran into a problem as they didn’t want to run any cards for less than 10 euro…my bill was 4. I explained my situation, that I had no euro, and the cashier made an exception and I was finally allowed to eat.
But that aside, it was a nice day where I was just able to relax on my walk and then hang out with my friends at a small, quiet pub in town. I guess that was really what the Irish experience should have been, hanging out at a pub and getting food from a “chippy”, as my Irish friend called the fast food place he ordered from. So nothing too exciting, but a nice day to kind of relax before the whole stress of packing up to go home hits. Thanks for reading!
Dublin
April 13th
Dublin
I was scheduled for a tour today, but after finding out that we had a late sail from Dublin, my rehearsal got moved to the morning so that I couldn’t go on my tour to the Guinness Factory, something I was really looking forward to. So the day started with a morning rehearsal, and after a light lunch, I got off the ship with John to go look around Dublin.
After catching our shuttle into town, there was a certain area of town that John wanted to check out because of a Handel Celebration that was going on. Apparantly, we happened to show up on the 278th anniversary of Handel’s Messiah, which was first performed in Dublin on April 13th. It was kind of a strange coincidence, and honestly, a strange holiday to celebrate, but they had music in the streets in certain areas of town with some events being free. So our first stop was at an outdoor concert, which we stayed for 10 minutes before deciding to move on.
The next stop was the one place I actually wanted to see, the Guinness Factory! We walked across the city to get there, I bought a student ticket with my old college ID, and we entered an unbelievable museum dedicated to Guinness Beer. And it really was a well put together museum, spread over 7 floors, including everything from the production to the advertisement of the product, and a pint of “the black stuff” at the end.
I learned three things today. First, I had no idea Guinness Beer and the Guinness Book of Records were one in the same, the latter being started by the former sparked on by a conversation about the fasted game bird. Second, I wanted to figure out why all the old Guinness ads use a toucan, which seems like a strange spokesperson for beer. Guinness had a saying, “Guinness is good for you”, so if one pint is good, imagine what “two-can” do! And third, I learned how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness out of a tap, and was given a certificate to prove it. There is a technique to it, and after learning it, I feel I’m well on my way to becoming a bar tender…or not.
John and I hung out there for a while just taking our time, which in the end would have been a lot better than going on a tour, where I would have been rushed through the place and wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much. So after ample time spent, we left to make our way back towards the main street of the city that we’d missed earlier in the day, planning on stopping at the first bar we found that started with an “O”. We grabbed a Cornish pastry on the way, which was quite good, and just kind of walked through the city. The main street was nothing but shopping, so that didn’t interest us too much. We eventually ended up at a shopping mall where John could by an infant sized shirt for his granddaughter, and where I used my phone to get online. For whatever reason, this shopping center had signs everywhere advertising its free WiFi, yet they made you pay to use their bathrooms…I guess that’s just Ireland for you.
We eventually started running out of time, and after somehow avoiding every bar that started with an “O”, we returned to the shuttle without ever stopping for another drink. But after the amount of walking we did and our upcoming show that night, we didn’t mind, happily returned to the ship with a good feeling for the city, and finished out the night as usual. It was a nice day and nice to be back in Ireland after about 3 years elsewhere in the world. Thanks for reading, your next pint of Guinness is on me!
Dublin
I was scheduled for a tour today, but after finding out that we had a late sail from Dublin, my rehearsal got moved to the morning so that I couldn’t go on my tour to the Guinness Factory, something I was really looking forward to. So the day started with a morning rehearsal, and after a light lunch, I got off the ship with John to go look around Dublin.
After catching our shuttle into town, there was a certain area of town that John wanted to check out because of a Handel Celebration that was going on. Apparantly, we happened to show up on the 278th anniversary of Handel’s Messiah, which was first performed in Dublin on April 13th. It was kind of a strange coincidence, and honestly, a strange holiday to celebrate, but they had music in the streets in certain areas of town with some events being free. So our first stop was at an outdoor concert, which we stayed for 10 minutes before deciding to move on.
The next stop was the one place I actually wanted to see, the Guinness Factory! We walked across the city to get there, I bought a student ticket with my old college ID, and we entered an unbelievable museum dedicated to Guinness Beer. And it really was a well put together museum, spread over 7 floors, including everything from the production to the advertisement of the product, and a pint of “the black stuff” at the end.
I learned three things today. First, I had no idea Guinness Beer and the Guinness Book of Records were one in the same, the latter being started by the former sparked on by a conversation about the fasted game bird. Second, I wanted to figure out why all the old Guinness ads use a toucan, which seems like a strange spokesperson for beer. Guinness had a saying, “Guinness is good for you”, so if one pint is good, imagine what “two-can” do! And third, I learned how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness out of a tap, and was given a certificate to prove it. There is a technique to it, and after learning it, I feel I’m well on my way to becoming a bar tender…or not.
John and I hung out there for a while just taking our time, which in the end would have been a lot better than going on a tour, where I would have been rushed through the place and wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much. So after ample time spent, we left to make our way back towards the main street of the city that we’d missed earlier in the day, planning on stopping at the first bar we found that started with an “O”. We grabbed a Cornish pastry on the way, which was quite good, and just kind of walked through the city. The main street was nothing but shopping, so that didn’t interest us too much. We eventually ended up at a shopping mall where John could by an infant sized shirt for his granddaughter, and where I used my phone to get online. For whatever reason, this shopping center had signs everywhere advertising its free WiFi, yet they made you pay to use their bathrooms…I guess that’s just Ireland for you.
We eventually started running out of time, and after somehow avoiding every bar that started with an “O”, we returned to the shuttle without ever stopping for another drink. But after the amount of walking we did and our upcoming show that night, we didn’t mind, happily returned to the ship with a good feeling for the city, and finished out the night as usual. It was a nice day and nice to be back in Ireland after about 3 years elsewhere in the world. Thanks for reading, your next pint of Guinness is on me!
At Sea
April 12th
At Sea
Just a sea day on our way to Dublin. In regards to the singer situation, the guy who had to leave due to the death in his family was in fact fired, which is too bad because the entire cast supported his decision and he did his best to handle everything responsibly, the ship simply said no. And then by leaving in spite of the decision made by the company, they just wouldn’t stand for it. It’s ridiculous though that these things can’t be avoided, which would take little more than some paperwork from the company. Instead, they now have more paperwork, have to find a replacement, have to train the replacement, and have to inconvenience the entire cast on the ship for their last couple months aboard. The other singer who was late to the ship has not been fired, so she’ll be meeting up with us in Dublin.
At Sea
Just a sea day on our way to Dublin. In regards to the singer situation, the guy who had to leave due to the death in his family was in fact fired, which is too bad because the entire cast supported his decision and he did his best to handle everything responsibly, the ship simply said no. And then by leaving in spite of the decision made by the company, they just wouldn’t stand for it. It’s ridiculous though that these things can’t be avoided, which would take little more than some paperwork from the company. Instead, they now have more paperwork, have to find a replacement, have to train the replacement, and have to inconvenience the entire cast on the ship for their last couple months aboard. The other singer who was late to the ship has not been fired, so she’ll be meeting up with us in Dublin.
Southampton
April 11th
Southampton
Turn around day today, which only means one thing to me…internet! I had a late breakfast on the ship, got off around noon, and made my way into the city to a café, ordered my cappuccino, and sat down till it was time to catch the last shuttle to the ship at 3:00. Yet as I sit here writing this blog the evening of the 11th, I’m realizing that I neither posted any of my past blogs today nor checked half the things I meant to check online. It’s amazing how you forget about everything you’ve planned to do after you’ve sifted through 10 days worth of garbage emails that serve no purpose.
Interestingly enough, two things happened today that don’t usually happen. First, one of the singers had a death in the family (a grandfather), and even though the ship wouldn’t let him off to go to the funeral, he decided to just jump ship anyway with the intention of rejoining in Cobh Ireland, 3 days later. And on top of that, another singer just happened to miss the ship entirely. Apparently she was on the pier just as the ship started moving away and the captain didn’t want to extend the gangways for her. I have no idea when she gets back on, though there are roomers that she was taken out to the ship in a pilot boat this evening, though I have no idea if that’s true or not. But what this means is that our cast, who have to constantly reschedule shows when someone’s throat hurts, is now missing 2 of the 5 singers that lead the shows, something I’ve never seen happen. And probably what will be the most interesting thing is what the punishment will be. Had this been me, I would probably be fired and sent home as soon as I was able to rejoin the ship, but since these are singers who have been taught the shows by the company and are mini-stars on the ship, they’ll probably both get away with it. Anyway, it’ll be something interesting to watch for in the next couple days.
I’m now one week from home, setting off on my last cruise on this ship, and excited to be nearing the end of the contract! Thanks for reading!
Southampton
Turn around day today, which only means one thing to me…internet! I had a late breakfast on the ship, got off around noon, and made my way into the city to a café, ordered my cappuccino, and sat down till it was time to catch the last shuttle to the ship at 3:00. Yet as I sit here writing this blog the evening of the 11th, I’m realizing that I neither posted any of my past blogs today nor checked half the things I meant to check online. It’s amazing how you forget about everything you’ve planned to do after you’ve sifted through 10 days worth of garbage emails that serve no purpose.
Interestingly enough, two things happened today that don’t usually happen. First, one of the singers had a death in the family (a grandfather), and even though the ship wouldn’t let him off to go to the funeral, he decided to just jump ship anyway with the intention of rejoining in Cobh Ireland, 3 days later. And on top of that, another singer just happened to miss the ship entirely. Apparently she was on the pier just as the ship started moving away and the captain didn’t want to extend the gangways for her. I have no idea when she gets back on, though there are roomers that she was taken out to the ship in a pilot boat this evening, though I have no idea if that’s true or not. But what this means is that our cast, who have to constantly reschedule shows when someone’s throat hurts, is now missing 2 of the 5 singers that lead the shows, something I’ve never seen happen. And probably what will be the most interesting thing is what the punishment will be. Had this been me, I would probably be fired and sent home as soon as I was able to rejoin the ship, but since these are singers who have been taught the shows by the company and are mini-stars on the ship, they’ll probably both get away with it. Anyway, it’ll be something interesting to watch for in the next couple days.
I’m now one week from home, setting off on my last cruise on this ship, and excited to be nearing the end of the contract! Thanks for reading!
Sea Days
April 8th-10th
At Sea
About the same as the previous five sea days, nothing really to report. We have been lucky with days off though, which is really nice. We’ve had 3 days off, 1 every other day, during the last week, which is surprising when on the first 35 day cruise we didn’t have 3 days off the entire cruise. John and I threw the party for the tour ladies, which was a simple wine and cheese night in a cabin, and there’s really not too much more.
There has been one other development, something that has resulted in me taking up a position again the company in order to stand for a principle. I don’t want to say much more than that simply because at this point nothing’s been resolved and I don’t want to tell this story in pieces, but trust me, by the time it’s done, it’ll be an interesting one to read. I guess you’ll just have to keep checking back! Bye!
At Sea
About the same as the previous five sea days, nothing really to report. We have been lucky with days off though, which is really nice. We’ve had 3 days off, 1 every other day, during the last week, which is surprising when on the first 35 day cruise we didn’t have 3 days off the entire cruise. John and I threw the party for the tour ladies, which was a simple wine and cheese night in a cabin, and there’s really not too much more.
There has been one other development, something that has resulted in me taking up a position again the company in order to stand for a principle. I don’t want to say much more than that simply because at this point nothing’s been resolved and I don’t want to tell this story in pieces, but trust me, by the time it’s done, it’ll be an interesting one to read. I guess you’ll just have to keep checking back! Bye!
Madeira
April 7th
Madeira
Well, today didn’t go quite as planned. We ended up getting into the port an hour later than scheduled do to some mix up with the port authorities, meaning early morning tours like the one I was on get rescheduled on the fly. Seeing as I’d woken up really early for the tour, only to find we weren’t actually in port yet, I ate a quick breakfast only to return to my room and lay back down while I waited for my tour. I waited a half hour till 9:00am, and we hadn’t yet docked, so I went back to the room. I waited another half hour and went up again, however we still weren’t being allowed off the ship. I went back down stairs for what was another 20 minutes, returned to find the gangway open, and went outside to find my tour bus. The first thing I like to do is check in with the tour ladies, make sure everything is OK, especially on a confusing day like this. So I tried to do so, and the one I tried to talk to was running around like mad, with good reason, and while I stood their waiting for her to free up for a moment, my bus had decided to leave. It was literally driving away next to me when she came back to ask what I wanted and it was too late to stop them. So unfortunately, no tour for today. And what’s even worse is that this was the tobogganing tour where you descend the mountain by being slid down the roads on a wicker bench on wood skis. It’s unique to the island, I’ve tried to get on the tour ever since my first visit there a couple years ago, and it looks as if I’ll have to wait another indefinite amount of time to take go on the tour that just hasn’t been meant to be.
So I returned to the ship and took part in the training session I wasn’t supposed to be missing. That was followed by some practicing as I waited for one of my friend to come back from tour, when I figured we’d get off the ship again.
A few hours later and I was off the ship with John and Jukka (the bassist) getting lunch at some restaurant along side the marina, the Portuguese specialty, pizza. Then we made our way into the city to find the flower and fruit market, something that I vividly remember from past visits to the city, and a place that I really wanted to revisit. The end result was me buying a few bottles of wine from a specialty shop in the market, two bottles of cheap stuff for a wine and cheese party John and I were going to throw for the tour ladies (as a sort of bribe to get better tours), and then one more expensive bottle for me to do who knows what with at a later date. Wine in hand, we all made our way back through the city looking to a shopping center for some food, stopped for a quick coffee, and then went back to the ship for dinner.
I was excited for tonight though because not only did I have the night off, but we had a late sail from Madeira, meaning we didn’t have to be back on the ship till 11:30! So after dinner, my trio got off the ship again in search for a decent bar to hang out at and in search of the band. We had an idea where the band would be eating, so we walked in that direction, only to serendipitously wander by the restaurant where they were at where they were just paying for the bill, perfect. We let them finish up, and after discussing that there didn’t appear to be much open on the walk over, we decided to go to the tiny bar next to the restaurant where they had the football (soccer in the states) game playing. It was apparently a big match going on for the champions cup, which is huge in Europe, unheard of in the US. And that was it, we stayed at this tiny bar the entire time, six of us in total, and there was barely enough room for any one else. But it was the perfect place to hang, no one was really there, it was local and intimate, and a round of drinks cost 6 euro…or about 8 dollars. That’s for 6 people! So apparently, all the drinks were a euro, including my house wine, which you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere in the states for about a dollar (yeah mom, I’m sure you’re jealous).
We left when it was getting close to our departure time and caught the shuttle back to the ship, and that was about it for the night. It was a nice night in the city, nothing to exciting or wild, maybe not entirely what I had in mind, but we happened to find a decent place and stick with it, something that experience has shown me doesn’t always happen. So all in all, a nice day despite the confusion at the start. Now it’s three sea days to England and the beginning of my final cruise, thanks!
Madeira
Well, today didn’t go quite as planned. We ended up getting into the port an hour later than scheduled do to some mix up with the port authorities, meaning early morning tours like the one I was on get rescheduled on the fly. Seeing as I’d woken up really early for the tour, only to find we weren’t actually in port yet, I ate a quick breakfast only to return to my room and lay back down while I waited for my tour. I waited a half hour till 9:00am, and we hadn’t yet docked, so I went back to the room. I waited another half hour and went up again, however we still weren’t being allowed off the ship. I went back down stairs for what was another 20 minutes, returned to find the gangway open, and went outside to find my tour bus. The first thing I like to do is check in with the tour ladies, make sure everything is OK, especially on a confusing day like this. So I tried to do so, and the one I tried to talk to was running around like mad, with good reason, and while I stood their waiting for her to free up for a moment, my bus had decided to leave. It was literally driving away next to me when she came back to ask what I wanted and it was too late to stop them. So unfortunately, no tour for today. And what’s even worse is that this was the tobogganing tour where you descend the mountain by being slid down the roads on a wicker bench on wood skis. It’s unique to the island, I’ve tried to get on the tour ever since my first visit there a couple years ago, and it looks as if I’ll have to wait another indefinite amount of time to take go on the tour that just hasn’t been meant to be.
So I returned to the ship and took part in the training session I wasn’t supposed to be missing. That was followed by some practicing as I waited for one of my friend to come back from tour, when I figured we’d get off the ship again.
A few hours later and I was off the ship with John and Jukka (the bassist) getting lunch at some restaurant along side the marina, the Portuguese specialty, pizza. Then we made our way into the city to find the flower and fruit market, something that I vividly remember from past visits to the city, and a place that I really wanted to revisit. The end result was me buying a few bottles of wine from a specialty shop in the market, two bottles of cheap stuff for a wine and cheese party John and I were going to throw for the tour ladies (as a sort of bribe to get better tours), and then one more expensive bottle for me to do who knows what with at a later date. Wine in hand, we all made our way back through the city looking to a shopping center for some food, stopped for a quick coffee, and then went back to the ship for dinner.
I was excited for tonight though because not only did I have the night off, but we had a late sail from Madeira, meaning we didn’t have to be back on the ship till 11:30! So after dinner, my trio got off the ship again in search for a decent bar to hang out at and in search of the band. We had an idea where the band would be eating, so we walked in that direction, only to serendipitously wander by the restaurant where they were at where they were just paying for the bill, perfect. We let them finish up, and after discussing that there didn’t appear to be much open on the walk over, we decided to go to the tiny bar next to the restaurant where they had the football (soccer in the states) game playing. It was apparently a big match going on for the champions cup, which is huge in Europe, unheard of in the US. And that was it, we stayed at this tiny bar the entire time, six of us in total, and there was barely enough room for any one else. But it was the perfect place to hang, no one was really there, it was local and intimate, and a round of drinks cost 6 euro…or about 8 dollars. That’s for 6 people! So apparently, all the drinks were a euro, including my house wine, which you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere in the states for about a dollar (yeah mom, I’m sure you’re jealous).
We left when it was getting close to our departure time and caught the shuttle back to the ship, and that was about it for the night. It was a nice night in the city, nothing to exciting or wild, maybe not entirely what I had in mind, but we happened to find a decent place and stick with it, something that experience has shown me doesn’t always happen. So all in all, a nice day despite the confusion at the start. Now it’s three sea days to England and the beginning of my final cruise, thanks!
Sea Days
April 2nd-6th
Sea Days
Five straight sea days stood between Barbados and our next port of Madeira. Here’s what I did every day:
9:30 – Wake up, shower, breakfast
12:00 – Practice till Lunch
4:00 – Lunch
5:00 – Rehearsal
6:30 – Gym (every other day)
8:00 – Dinner
8:30/10:30 – Shows
11:30 – Go online, and then back to the room for the rest of the night
The schedule didn’t really change, nothing really exciting happened, and I don’t have anything else to tell you about these 5 days. It’ll be nice to be on land tomorrow, I’m scheduled for the one tour I never had the opportunity to do on my other visits, so I’m hoping to have more to tell you than an hour by hour schedule of my day – thanks!
Sea Days
Five straight sea days stood between Barbados and our next port of Madeira. Here’s what I did every day:
9:30 – Wake up, shower, breakfast
12:00 – Practice till Lunch
4:00 – Lunch
5:00 – Rehearsal
6:30 – Gym (every other day)
8:00 – Dinner
8:30/10:30 – Shows
11:30 – Go online, and then back to the room for the rest of the night
The schedule didn’t really change, nothing really exciting happened, and I don’t have anything else to tell you about these 5 days. It’ll be nice to be on land tomorrow, I’m scheduled for the one tour I never had the opportunity to do on my other visits, so I’m hoping to have more to tell you than an hour by hour schedule of my day – thanks!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Late in posting
Hey Everyone
I've been a little lazy in getting these online, so I'll just update till April. My last post was April 19th, so this gives you about 2 weeks to catch up with, and I'll post the other ones in a few days while I'm stuck in england waiting for a volcano to shut it's pie hole. Seeya!!
I've been a little lazy in getting these online, so I'll just update till April. My last post was April 19th, so this gives you about 2 weeks to catch up with, and I'll post the other ones in a few days while I'm stuck in england waiting for a volcano to shut it's pie hole. Seeya!!
Barbados
April 1st
Barbados
Much better day today! I started out the morning with a quick walk into town and back, nothing really bit a time waster. I was able to stop by a fish market where the local fisherman and merchants were selling/cleaning their catch, which was pretty cool to see in the setting it was in. There was just so much fish everywhere, it’s amazing that there’s such a demand for it. But after 90 minutes or so, I was back at the ship getting ready for my tour where I was scheduled to swim with the turtles!
The tour left around 1, where myself and about 40-50 others were driven to a large catamaran sailboat. We left the pier and made our way along the shore to our first stop, about 100 yards off the coast, where the crew started throwing pieces of fish into the water to bring out the turtles. After a quick explanation of how the snorkel gear worked and how to get on and off the ship, I was in the water pretending I was in Finding Nemo!
There were maybe 3 or 4 turtles swimming around that the crew were able to lure over with their bate. They were all unbelievable to see swimming in their natural environment. And the best part of it all was that no one in my group was actually a strong swimmer, so while they all floated at the top with their required inflatable life jackets, I squeezed all the air out of mine and was able to dive down and actually swim along side the turtles, grab the shell, and not have to wait for them to come to me. My only concern was to make sure that when I needed to go up for air, that I didn’t find myself surfacing directly under one of the many over-inflated fleshy balloons that were splashing around on the surface. We weren’t in the water too long, maybe 20 minutes, before we had to get back on the boat and sail to the next point, but I wished I could have stayed all day.
The next stop just had a lot of fish, a wrecked barge, and a small reef to look at. Again, people managed to just swim along the surface, while I was the only one able to free dive down the 15-20 feet to actually check out what they had brought us to see. And despite there being no turtles here, it was still a nice stop that I can’t imagine any passenger could be upset about.
Then it was back to the ship to sail back to the port, at which time the rum was opened and I had one too many rum punches (making a whopping total of 2 rum punches). It was a gorgeous sail back, the sun was out the entire time and it was a perfect temperature, exactly what you’d hope the Caribbean would be.
Back at the ship I went to rehearsal a little happier than usual, and then played the usual two shows that night.
All in all, one of my favorite days ever in the Caribbean, a great tour, and it made the entire 5 days worth it, even if I wasn’t able to take advantage of every island. And I managed to not get sun burnt too badly, it wasn’t until later that night that I noticed the clearly defined red patches on my back that were just barely out of reach when I was putting on sun block…where’s Mom when you really need her? Now it’s 5 days to Madeira, which I’m sure are going to be little more than a lot of water and a lot of practicing. As always, thanks for reading, and I’m looking forward to being home in just over 2 weeks!
Barbados
Much better day today! I started out the morning with a quick walk into town and back, nothing really bit a time waster. I was able to stop by a fish market where the local fisherman and merchants were selling/cleaning their catch, which was pretty cool to see in the setting it was in. There was just so much fish everywhere, it’s amazing that there’s such a demand for it. But after 90 minutes or so, I was back at the ship getting ready for my tour where I was scheduled to swim with the turtles!
The tour left around 1, where myself and about 40-50 others were driven to a large catamaran sailboat. We left the pier and made our way along the shore to our first stop, about 100 yards off the coast, where the crew started throwing pieces of fish into the water to bring out the turtles. After a quick explanation of how the snorkel gear worked and how to get on and off the ship, I was in the water pretending I was in Finding Nemo!
There were maybe 3 or 4 turtles swimming around that the crew were able to lure over with their bate. They were all unbelievable to see swimming in their natural environment. And the best part of it all was that no one in my group was actually a strong swimmer, so while they all floated at the top with their required inflatable life jackets, I squeezed all the air out of mine and was able to dive down and actually swim along side the turtles, grab the shell, and not have to wait for them to come to me. My only concern was to make sure that when I needed to go up for air, that I didn’t find myself surfacing directly under one of the many over-inflated fleshy balloons that were splashing around on the surface. We weren’t in the water too long, maybe 20 minutes, before we had to get back on the boat and sail to the next point, but I wished I could have stayed all day.
The next stop just had a lot of fish, a wrecked barge, and a small reef to look at. Again, people managed to just swim along the surface, while I was the only one able to free dive down the 15-20 feet to actually check out what they had brought us to see. And despite there being no turtles here, it was still a nice stop that I can’t imagine any passenger could be upset about.
Then it was back to the ship to sail back to the port, at which time the rum was opened and I had one too many rum punches (making a whopping total of 2 rum punches). It was a gorgeous sail back, the sun was out the entire time and it was a perfect temperature, exactly what you’d hope the Caribbean would be.
Back at the ship I went to rehearsal a little happier than usual, and then played the usual two shows that night.
All in all, one of my favorite days ever in the Caribbean, a great tour, and it made the entire 5 days worth it, even if I wasn’t able to take advantage of every island. And I managed to not get sun burnt too badly, it wasn’t until later that night that I noticed the clearly defined red patches on my back that were just barely out of reach when I was putting on sun block…where’s Mom when you really need her? Now it’s 5 days to Madeira, which I’m sure are going to be little more than a lot of water and a lot of practicing. As always, thanks for reading, and I’m looking forward to being home in just over 2 weeks!
St Vincent
March 31st
St. Vincent
Unfortunately, I don’t have all that much to write about today. I was signed up for a nature hike tour, but failed to get excused from the boat drill that was scheduled for today, meaning I couldn’t go on the tour because I was preoccupied standing outside an elevator with a life jacket on. Honestly, I have no one to blame but myself for not trying to get excused earlier, but missing something that seemed really fun for something that is the opposite of fun and exciting has it’s way of bringing the entire day down.
When I was able, I got off the ship for a quick walk around the town, looking at some of the street markets where everyone seemed to be selling the exact same collection of produce. It was just another Caribbean city though, dirty, nothing really to do, and always making you feel just a little more on-guard than usual. There’s really nothing to do in most of the cities unless you go on a tour or go exploring with friends, and with me being in a bad mood from the morning, after 90 minutes of walking I was back on the ship with no further desire to see the city.
But at least I had a fun show that night with a few good jazz sax solos to play. The singer, however, had been given the wrong name and continued to introduce me not as Mike Potts, but as Mike Cotton, which all things considered, is a pretty good jazz saxophonist name. So if anything, I at least picked up a new stage name today! And that’s about it, thanks!
St. Vincent
Unfortunately, I don’t have all that much to write about today. I was signed up for a nature hike tour, but failed to get excused from the boat drill that was scheduled for today, meaning I couldn’t go on the tour because I was preoccupied standing outside an elevator with a life jacket on. Honestly, I have no one to blame but myself for not trying to get excused earlier, but missing something that seemed really fun for something that is the opposite of fun and exciting has it’s way of bringing the entire day down.
When I was able, I got off the ship for a quick walk around the town, looking at some of the street markets where everyone seemed to be selling the exact same collection of produce. It was just another Caribbean city though, dirty, nothing really to do, and always making you feel just a little more on-guard than usual. There’s really nothing to do in most of the cities unless you go on a tour or go exploring with friends, and with me being in a bad mood from the morning, after 90 minutes of walking I was back on the ship with no further desire to see the city.
But at least I had a fun show that night with a few good jazz sax solos to play. The singer, however, had been given the wrong name and continued to introduce me not as Mike Potts, but as Mike Cotton, which all things considered, is a pretty good jazz saxophonist name. So if anything, I at least picked up a new stage name today! And that’s about it, thanks!
Grenada
March 30th
Grenada
We were actually scheduled to be in Grenada for the 31st, but due to a double booking for the pier, we switched this stop with St Vincent, where we’ll be tomorrow. The original plan for Grenada was to go SCUBA diving, but our organizer had some emergency come up and our trip didn’t happen, which was a drag, and seeing as I didn’t sign up for a tour because of the planned dive, I was out of luck for the day. So instead, I just got off the ship and walked around the city, half heartedly looking for internet.
At one point, I was approached by a local who was curious as to where I was walking, mentioned a fort, and then suddenly became my tour guide as he walked me towards a fort. I knew from the beginning it was his way of trying to get a tip, and he was actually doing a decent job of pointing out historical markers, so I just went along with it for a while. But he took me into the fort, showed me the tunnels (which was slightly risky…me and some local alone in a dark tunnel…yeah, great idea), and he explained the history. As we went on I did decide that I’d give him some money, something I usually don’t do for these people who force tours upon you, but after finding two 20’s and a single in my wallet, I gave him a buck, apologized for not having smaller bills, and took a different route back into the city so that I wouldn’t run into him again and have him ask me to break my larger bills.
I went back to the terminal, went online for the next couple hours, and then returned to the ship. The show that night was for Jan Lesley, a jazz/big band type singer who has a nice show for the band to play. The charts are fun, a lot of features, and lucky for me, a couple sax solos! The highlight of the show though, was that the name she had for me was wrong, so instead of being Mike Potts playing the sax solos, I was suddenly Mike Cotton on Tenor Sax, which all things considered, is a pretty good jazz sax stage name. No one knows where Cotton came from, but I now have a legitimate stage name. But the shows went well, Jan bought the band drinks afterwards, and we had a good laugh over my new surname. And that’s all, thanks for reading!
Grenada
We were actually scheduled to be in Grenada for the 31st, but due to a double booking for the pier, we switched this stop with St Vincent, where we’ll be tomorrow. The original plan for Grenada was to go SCUBA diving, but our organizer had some emergency come up and our trip didn’t happen, which was a drag, and seeing as I didn’t sign up for a tour because of the planned dive, I was out of luck for the day. So instead, I just got off the ship and walked around the city, half heartedly looking for internet.
At one point, I was approached by a local who was curious as to where I was walking, mentioned a fort, and then suddenly became my tour guide as he walked me towards a fort. I knew from the beginning it was his way of trying to get a tip, and he was actually doing a decent job of pointing out historical markers, so I just went along with it for a while. But he took me into the fort, showed me the tunnels (which was slightly risky…me and some local alone in a dark tunnel…yeah, great idea), and he explained the history. As we went on I did decide that I’d give him some money, something I usually don’t do for these people who force tours upon you, but after finding two 20’s and a single in my wallet, I gave him a buck, apologized for not having smaller bills, and took a different route back into the city so that I wouldn’t run into him again and have him ask me to break my larger bills.
I went back to the terminal, went online for the next couple hours, and then returned to the ship. The show that night was for Jan Lesley, a jazz/big band type singer who has a nice show for the band to play. The charts are fun, a lot of features, and lucky for me, a couple sax solos! The highlight of the show though, was that the name she had for me was wrong, so instead of being Mike Potts playing the sax solos, I was suddenly Mike Cotton on Tenor Sax, which all things considered, is a pretty good jazz sax stage name. No one knows where Cotton came from, but I now have a legitimate stage name. But the shows went well, Jan bought the band drinks afterwards, and we had a good laugh over my new surname. And that’s all, thanks for reading!
St Lucia
March 29th
St. Lucia
Another tour today, however it was not one that I had originally requested. I like to go for the fun active ones, like bike riding, but supposedly those had all been filled and I was left with a run tasting tour…whatever – I’ll take it!
I left the ship early that morning and we made our way to a distillery where we were shown where and how the island makes their world famous rum. I didn’t really get a lot out of the how’s of the process, but I did try to take advantage of the sampling after the presentation, where they had 20 different types of rum products for us to try. I had their usual rum, along with a great peanut flavored rum, and a 160 proof rum! And in case you were unaware, 160 proof is equal to 80% alcohol…which trust me, is hard to swallow. So I “cultured” myself there for a while before returning to the bus to go to all our other destinations, which paled in comparison. There were some lookouts and art studios we went to, but I don’t think half the passengers could be bothered with it after the rum stop. It really wasn’t a strong tour, and the island doesn’t have a ton to offer, but I did get to try something new today. And just for the record, I did not get drunk…though I did need to lay down for a minute as soon as I got back to the ship…oops. And the show that night went fine, despite some of the passengers concerns for my playing as we left the distillery.
And that’s it for the day, 2 islands down, 3 to go, thanks!
St. Lucia
Another tour today, however it was not one that I had originally requested. I like to go for the fun active ones, like bike riding, but supposedly those had all been filled and I was left with a run tasting tour…whatever – I’ll take it!
I left the ship early that morning and we made our way to a distillery where we were shown where and how the island makes their world famous rum. I didn’t really get a lot out of the how’s of the process, but I did try to take advantage of the sampling after the presentation, where they had 20 different types of rum products for us to try. I had their usual rum, along with a great peanut flavored rum, and a 160 proof rum! And in case you were unaware, 160 proof is equal to 80% alcohol…which trust me, is hard to swallow. So I “cultured” myself there for a while before returning to the bus to go to all our other destinations, which paled in comparison. There were some lookouts and art studios we went to, but I don’t think half the passengers could be bothered with it after the rum stop. It really wasn’t a strong tour, and the island doesn’t have a ton to offer, but I did get to try something new today. And just for the record, I did not get drunk…though I did need to lay down for a minute as soon as I got back to the ship…oops. And the show that night went fine, despite some of the passengers concerns for my playing as we left the distillery.
And that’s it for the day, 2 islands down, 3 to go, thanks!
St. Kitts
March 28th
St. Kitts
I was excited for today, not only because it was our first Caribbean port after a lot of sea days, but because I was signed up for a tour. I’d gotten on good terms with the tour people and was on the escorting list, and had been set up with a bike tour of the island today, which went really well!
The tour escorting works the same as all the other ships, I simply hang out with the tour and make sure nothing bad happens, and in return get to do expensive tours totally free. This was a mountain biking tour that covered about 12 miles over the course of 3-4 hours, which considering the age group of the passengers on the ship, I was curious to see who actually was brave enough to sign up, of which there were six, five of which were in good condition for a bike tour. I can’t say the same about the 60 year old obese man that tried to keep up.
The bikes we were given were proper mountain bikes, the nicest I’ve ever seen on this type of tour, which was a nice surprise. We rode around the island with a guide on a bike and a chase truck incase anything happened and to help control traffic at intersections. The highlights of the tour for me were probably the old sugar factories we saw and riding through the sugar cane fields. The guide was great at explaining the history of the island and how sugar cane was key in that role, and being able to bike from place to place was great (for the majority of us). The bigger gentleman was able to keep up, but at the slow pace we were going, it’d be hard not to. I was slightly worried about whether or not he’d actually be able to complete the tour, but the guide really didn’t take us up any terrible hills, except one...
We were given an option half way through the tour of either climbing a really steep, long hill on our bikes, or getting a ride in the truck to the top to see the lookout planned on the itinerary. 5 of the 6 people thought they could take on the hill despite the warnings from our guide. Maybe one of the 5 made it half way, and even myself, who’s been on an exercise routine this contract, failed to reach the top without getting off the bike (however, I did get within 50 yards, then my legs failed and I basically fell of the bike). But after a couple hours of excruciatingly slow bike riding, it was nice to get a challenge thrown at me, despite the hit to my pride at not making it all the way without dismounting once. The lookout was nice, and after a brief recovery period, the group rode back down the hill, which put into perspective what we’d just tried to accomplish, and we made our way to a beach where we were given local fruits, a guava drink, real sugar cane, and time to go swimming. The sugar cane was great, and being a cane, you simply crush the cane between your teeth and drink the juices without actually eating the cane. It was one of those local cultural things I really like about getting on a good tour. We hung out there for a while before riding back to the ship, where we were each given a beer by the tour guide, which was really nice after a hot day on the bikes.
All in all, it was a great tour, the overweight man somehow managed to not die and ruin my day as tour escort, and we all had a great time. I finished up the day in port by walking through the city and trying to find some internet, where I did manage to get a weak signal and attempt a skype call back into the states. Then it was back to the ship for the usual couple shows that night.
But it’s great to be back on land doing tours! I’m hoping for a few more great ones this cruise! Thanks for reading!
St. Kitts
I was excited for today, not only because it was our first Caribbean port after a lot of sea days, but because I was signed up for a tour. I’d gotten on good terms with the tour people and was on the escorting list, and had been set up with a bike tour of the island today, which went really well!
The tour escorting works the same as all the other ships, I simply hang out with the tour and make sure nothing bad happens, and in return get to do expensive tours totally free. This was a mountain biking tour that covered about 12 miles over the course of 3-4 hours, which considering the age group of the passengers on the ship, I was curious to see who actually was brave enough to sign up, of which there were six, five of which were in good condition for a bike tour. I can’t say the same about the 60 year old obese man that tried to keep up.
The bikes we were given were proper mountain bikes, the nicest I’ve ever seen on this type of tour, which was a nice surprise. We rode around the island with a guide on a bike and a chase truck incase anything happened and to help control traffic at intersections. The highlights of the tour for me were probably the old sugar factories we saw and riding through the sugar cane fields. The guide was great at explaining the history of the island and how sugar cane was key in that role, and being able to bike from place to place was great (for the majority of us). The bigger gentleman was able to keep up, but at the slow pace we were going, it’d be hard not to. I was slightly worried about whether or not he’d actually be able to complete the tour, but the guide really didn’t take us up any terrible hills, except one...
We were given an option half way through the tour of either climbing a really steep, long hill on our bikes, or getting a ride in the truck to the top to see the lookout planned on the itinerary. 5 of the 6 people thought they could take on the hill despite the warnings from our guide. Maybe one of the 5 made it half way, and even myself, who’s been on an exercise routine this contract, failed to reach the top without getting off the bike (however, I did get within 50 yards, then my legs failed and I basically fell of the bike). But after a couple hours of excruciatingly slow bike riding, it was nice to get a challenge thrown at me, despite the hit to my pride at not making it all the way without dismounting once. The lookout was nice, and after a brief recovery period, the group rode back down the hill, which put into perspective what we’d just tried to accomplish, and we made our way to a beach where we were given local fruits, a guava drink, real sugar cane, and time to go swimming. The sugar cane was great, and being a cane, you simply crush the cane between your teeth and drink the juices without actually eating the cane. It was one of those local cultural things I really like about getting on a good tour. We hung out there for a while before riding back to the ship, where we were each given a beer by the tour guide, which was really nice after a hot day on the bikes.
All in all, it was a great tour, the overweight man somehow managed to not die and ruin my day as tour escort, and we all had a great time. I finished up the day in port by walking through the city and trying to find some internet, where I did manage to get a weak signal and attempt a skype call back into the states. Then it was back to the ship for the usual couple shows that night.
But it’s great to be back on land doing tours! I’m hoping for a few more great ones this cruise! Thanks for reading!
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