Stupid queen...

So I haven't blogged in 6 months.....this is appalling behaviour. And it's not even because I was busy, it's pure laziness. But no more of that! 

So I spent the last 6 months working in Alaska and then the Panama Canal. Boring as fuck. 

That's all I really have to say about this past contract, not exciting in the least on my part. (I realise the job still seems very exotic and exciting to outsiders, believe me....it's not.)  I did very well at work but nothing interesting really happened. I made some friends, but no romance to speak of, no failings out, nothing. I was on the verge of doing something horrid just to have something to write about. By I thought I was better than that so here we are. 

So instead I thought I'd ramble a bit about recent life decisions that have come into play. 

I decided that ships were not really a viable career option when it comes to the long term so I now basically have to start getting more experience in performance and/or television. Since there's no point in rocking up to an agency, or writing to the BBC asking for a role when I have zero screen time! 

So I thought it was in idea to use my time on ships to work on my CV, pitch new ideas to the company and try and get a little more stage time at work, get a show reel together if I can and write and email casting directors etc while I'm away ready to audition when I get home. 

Now I'm Dubai at the moment and by some Devine stroke of luck I met a guy who is a big name is theatre production out here and happens to have a lot of connections in London. So I had a long conversation with him and he told me that I'm doing exactly the right thing, that my job is preparing me in precisely the right way to break into the biz. What I need to do is be truthful to directors and casting calls etc about my situation. Email them while I'm away and explain that I can't audition for anything until I get home but here are my details and let's chat. That way my name is already out there. My pictures and CV are circulating the theatres and the channels so when audition time comes its obvious that I have enthusiasm for it. Really nice guy that I met today, put me exactly where I want to be. Also, as I mentioned he has certain contacts that be is going to send in my direction to get things rolling, but it is still up to me to show them I can do it. 

I also have a drag persona, @MissGloriaWhole on twitter if your interested, not strictly speaking a career choice, just something else I'm good at. But you never know I suppose. 

And that brings me up to today, next contract is supposed to be heading Hawaii direction, but we will see if it actually happens. 

Bye bye 

Off I go again!

So...firstly I'm apparently crap at blogging frequently, apologies. I didn't even finish blogging about Singapore! So I'm gonna try and remember the goings on of the end of that little adventure. 

So towards the end of the trip I spent a lot of time in Sentosa. Just chillin out on the beach, only the the problem is, with Singapore, you get about 2 hours of sunshine before the heavens open. Plus travelling on a budget, there's not much to do! 

So I ended up tasting my very first Singapore sling on the roof of a building that I think had an indoor sky diving centre in it....you do find some random things. 

Then I decided I was going to stop being so pathetic and nervous about everything, get drunk and go find the gay life of Singapore. Which is exactly what I did. Now, from what I remember (which isn't much) I found a little bar called 'Tantric' it was nice enough, I got there early so it was quiet. Now one thing I've learnt, gay bars are the same no matter where in the world you go! Tantric actually kinda reminded me of the Liverpool Arms in Chester! Anyway, I found my way to the club over the road which wasn't particularly nice, had a hint of sleaze about it. But I had a good time, even met a nice American gentleman who funnily enough was going on a cruise the next day! 

So that's what I remember from Singapore, I had lunch with my family again on the day I left. Chilled out at their pool club until they had to drop me at the airport. Slept for most of the flight home since my uncle had boozed me up by the pool all afternoon. 

Anyway, I've been at home now for about 6 weeks and its almost time to head back to work. Just spent close to £400 on new suitcases, clothes, toiletries, shoes etc. Now, I know they're not exactly in fashion now but part of my uniform is white smart shoes. No shop on earth still sells these!! I eventually found some on Amazon, here they are: 

These will do the job, but its incredibly frustrating trying to find these things. You would think a company as international as the one I work for would have a uniform from a decade in the last 20 years! But no, we are stuck with same uniform we had in the 1970's! Just one of the perils of preparing for a new contract! 

Anyway, I'm heading to Vancouver in a few weeks, and then Central America after that! I will keep you informed of shenanigans! 

Tata xx

Singapore part 1

I LOVE SINGAPORE!

I know I say this about a lot of places but I'm having such a fabulous time I thought I'd say it again.

So this is whats gone down so far..

Day 1 - I leave the ship and after an evening of drunken tears and then a lot of teary goodbyes on the gangway I get casually abandoned by the friend I was supposed to be sharing a hotel with, turns out his friends had suprised him with a hotel booking in a posh resort in Sentosa. Not the best start to the holiday but I was still in high spirits. I grab a cab to the hotel, the driver was very interested as to why I had chosen Geylang to stay in. With it being the red light district and general party zone of the local malaysians they dont get a lot of westerners staying there. But I told him exacly why, that I'm poor and the hotels there are cheap.
  I find the hotel, and its much better than I had expected, the staff are lovely and the MRT station is only a few minutes walk away. I decide to go and explore rather than sitting in the hotel, so I jump on the train and find my way to orchard road. Its crazy busy with tourists and shoppers so I gave that a miss for the time being and head to the gardens by the bay. Basically the gardens of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, it was pleseant enough but gardens aren't really my scene, the hotel is very impressive though. Its one of those hotels that has a mall attatched to it, a mall with a canal in the middle of it where you can get boat rides to the other side of the shopping complex....just to give you an idea of the scale of things over here. Heres a picture of the hotel and the gardens.

Marina Bay Sand Hotel, sun was setting behind it but can't really tell here.

These are what they call 'Super Trees' in the Gardens by the bay, basically mad made structures that have plants growing all over them. You can see them from accross the city.

So I'm pretty tired by this point and still a little hungover from the crew bar the night before, back to the hotel, dinner by the roadside and then sleep. Oh heres a picture of the hotel and the area around it......not exactly high class but its comfy enough.

Geylang is deffinately for the locals, not a lot of tourists here!

 Day 2 - I didn't have much of a plan or that day so I just kinda found myself in little India, had some lunch in a curry house and managed to get in contact with some family that live here in Singapore. Got myself to vivo city at the harbour front, basically another massive shopping complex, where I met them for a quick sushi sessions. Good restaraunt actually, with an awesome view of sentosa. They took me to see 'The Great Gatsby' at the 'gold service' cinema at vivo city, very similar to the one in Dubai only a little smaller. They then took me to see their house on Paradise Island. Very impressive, you can tell my uncle has been a banker since the 1970's, he must be minted to live in that place. Bascially its a bunch of chinese mansions that no-one lives in, the owners live in china and buy them, dont live in them but keep them to make money on the interest. So its a very quiet area since no-one lives in the houses. Its a shame really, all these amazing, huge houses that are just sittin there, empty. Could always give one to me.....:P They drop me back at the station where I head to china town for some food, everything was closed by the time I got there at around 10pm so I ate my food and headed back to Geylang. Chinatown is going to be one for another night I think.

Little India, basically a tiny are with so much 'india' packed in you would know you were actually in south east asia.

Every street in Little India basically looks like this, only some with veg stalls on the road....

Day 3 (today) - So it started off as usual, didnt really have anything planned so I just decided to get off the train somewhere I hadnt been before and see where I ended up, and I'm glad I did. I found my way to Merlion park, I dont really know the history behind it but its pretty at least.

 I had a coffee and admired the view of the Marina Bay Sands hotel once more, this time with the Merlion in the foreground. Heres a pic..

I then decided to try and find Fort Canning, its apparantly had some significance in the second world war so I thought I'd enjoy the history of it....pity I couldnt find it because there apparantly arent any maps in Singapore. Oh well, I found ochard road again, this time more up market end. Lots of Gucci, Prada etc. H&M beconed me and suddenly I was shopping, bad Toby!! Oh well I like my new clothes so it was worth it. Back to the hotel quickly to drop off the bags and get ready for the evening (bare in mind it takes me half an hour to get back to the hotel, Geylang isnt exactly city central)

Then the nightime adventure began, I got a taxi to the Night safari park. It was fantastic!!! If you enjoy nature and wildlife then this is deffinately worth a visit, even if your not into it much I would still reccomend it! It starts with a show of nocurnal animals, wolves, snakes, hyenas, crazy animals that youve never heard of and look weeeird!! Lots of fun, then off to the tram ride around the park. Its a bit creepy riding around the place in the dark, theyve kept the park as wild as possible so your pretty much in the thick rainforest for most of it, and at night its more alive than you can imagine, noise everywhere! So you get your typical animals, elephants, lions, tigers etc. But when you get off the tram and start expoloring on foot, thats when it kicks in. Its a bit spooky, particularly if youre by yourself, I mean its dark and the animals pens consist of you...a ditch...and the animals, plus its dark except for a night light for the animals. And you dont realise just how free roaming some of the animals are until a giant fruit bat flys past your face....scared the crap out of me! I dont know if youve ever seen one, those things are not small!! Then on the way out theres a fire eating show....not bad for less than £20 for the whole thing!!! Couldnt take a lot of pics since it was dark and youre not allowed to use a flash since it screws up the animals but heres a few of what i got.

Then once I'm back in Geylang, the taxi driver dropped me off right in the wrong spot. Right on the corner of my hotels street and the main road.....complete with about 50 teenage girls who bascially saw I wasnt asian and all but chased me down the road. Prostitutes of course, I swear if I get asked if i'd like some 'company' again I might do something drastic. Its all very funny to me though, I just giggle at them. Almost burst out in hysterics tonight though when one of them yelled 'whats the matter? you gay?'....haha if only they knew. 

 So anyway, now I'm chilling out in my charming hotel room, gonna hit the hay. Wonder what the next few days will bring....

ciow x

Lombok, Indonesia

So Lombok was interesting.  

 Firstly picture this, its swelteringly hot, the sort of hot that hits you like walking into a wall when you get through the door, and then it’s all you can think about the entire time you’re out.

Then the moment I step off the tender boat and finally into Indonesia. The inevitable, about 20 guys on motorbikes all yelling ‘you need lift?’ ‘You want to go somewhere?’ ‘Come with me, very good price’ etc. And it doesn’t matter how many times you tell them no, that’s not good enough. To them all tourists are walking cash machines. Eventually they leave me alone and I’m free to walk around.

Now Lombok is a huge island and where we dock isn’t particularly happening, but it’s all I’ve got time to do so I just walk. Then I start hearing giggling and footsteps behind me, so I turn around and there must have been at least 30 Indonesian kids following me. Of course they all burst into laughter when I catch them and run away.  Lots of fun for me!

Then I bump into a colleague and we decided to get off the main road which basically had nothing but petrol stations and convenience stores. We ended up down some side path, a little winding dust path through the palm and papaya tree’s and come across a little residential area.

 There must have been a school because there was a multitude of children, who demanded money if we took a picture of them so I had to be sneaky.  There were these 3 little girls who were being walked home by who I assume is a parent, they were very keen to practice their English with me.

So then on the way back, I decided to get a drink. Then I made the mistake if keeping the change in my hand when I walked out of the shop. A bunch of kids saw the coins and pounced on me; one literally snatched the money out of my hand and ran off. Only a few coins, it just made me laugh. 

So that was my little adventure today, now back to the grind...

Australia!

We’re almost finished with this uber-long cruise around Australia. I haven’t done a long cruise in so long that I forgot how insane you get by the end of it. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome to finally see some new ports, but most ships have a high turnover of passengers and when you have the same people on board for a month it can drive the crew a little crazy.

    For two reasons, you’ve got the passengers who instantly take a dislike to the crew and then complain about every little detail for a month solid, as you can imagine this is no fun at all because no matter how you try to help them, they’ve already decided that nothing is good enough. On the upside, at least we know who to avoid after a week or so if we don’t want to get yelled at.

Then there are the nice people, who yes are a much more pleasant problem, and usually I don’t have issues with them at all. But around these people we have to be happy and chirpy every hour of the day, which is exhausting. Now on a 28 day cruise they get to know us a lot better than on shorter cruises so eventually certain people start ‘stalking’ me in a way. They will come to an activity that they know I am on simply to chat about what they did that day, which I know is lovely but when you’re trying to do your job and this sweet little old lady is telling you about what pattern she knitted that morning it can be a little frustrating.

Now the exception and this is rare, are the people who genuinely want to be your friend. Usually the passengers who are a little younger than the majority, and I have actually made some friends out of these ones, however they can never really be real friends since, even on a long cruise, they will leave and will probably never see me again. They seem to struggle with that concept. 

Now the best part of this cruise is by far the port time. Australia isn’t as interesting as New Zealand in my opinion, but I’ve only actually seen 5 towns which I suppose isn’t even 1% of the country. Queensland was fine, pretty much all jungle, very hot! Then we headed up to the Northern Territories and docked in Darwin, which was even hotter still. This is crocodile territory, very dangerous. Tourists are not allowed on the beach for fear of the huge 20ft salt water crocodiles, which is just fine by me. 

 Then we actually went up to Lombok, Indonesia but I was working so didn’t actually see much. Then down to Western Australia to Freemantle where we had an unexpected overnight stay, a whole bunch of crew chartered a catamaran which a LOT of fun, much debauchery! Then down to Albany where we were invited to a barbeque by a friend of a friend, nice barbeque and some time on the beach. It was nice to get some normality, a bit of family life. All be it someone else’s family but still. And now were heading down to Adelaide before going back to Melbourne which is the end.

So that’s that....the crew bar is calling me.

Ciao xx 

Dunedin, New Zealand

So today I'm in Dunedin, this is probably my favourite city that we visit on this itinerary.

There is free wifi in the octagon, which is basically the city centre, plus it's a student town so the shopping is amazing, there are a ton of little coffee shops and cafe's sprinkled around serving the famous New Zealand coffee, which to be perfectly honest I do not know how I will survive without it once I get home.

I am incredibly hungover due to the antics in the crew bar last night, it was the traffic light party which I think I mentioned in a previous blog post. All kinds of craziness went down, I wore green to advertise my newly single status, nothing came of it but I was celebrating so, 5 double vodka, soda and limes later I was making very bad decisions. I overheard one of the casino guys speaking to his friend and he had an English accent, I basically ambushed him, I saw him on the bus a few minutes ago and had to hide my face in shame. Aah ship life!

So anyway, Dunedin. There is a cadburys factory here, I actually have never visited but it seems to be the main tourist attraction, I will visit one day. Right now my coffee is far more important. This a very ornate train station, it is beautiful, but seriously people...it's a train station. Other than that the building are pretty new, there was a series of earthquakes so buildings tend to be fairly new since they tend to collapse from time to time when a big one hits. Like you've probably heard about Christchurch in 2011 it pretty much flattened the city.

So that's Dunedin, I'm going back to my coffee and my hangover now.

Ciow xx

Wellington, NZ

So I'm sat in Starbucks, a welcome escape from the heat outside. It's un-usually hot today, Wellington is famed for being cold and rainy, but the last 2 times we've been here its been scorching! So you'll usually find all of the crew who have the day off in Starbucks, in the A/C with a frappucino. It's some un-written rule, your can only order a frappucino and you will not talk to each other, you will sit and make the most of your 30 mins free Internet!

So what's been going on, the usual partying. Ended up getting to bed around 4am this morning, which isn't so bad since I'm not working today until 7pm. This is the norm usually. Not working the next day? Get pished up and go 'hangover shopping'.

I'm trying to come up with costume ideas for the upcoming crew party, it's an 'out of Africa' party so costume ideas are a little difficult. And to top it off the costume shop here on Wellington has moved to a different city, helpful!

We've got a new team member joining today, she's a new hire which should be interesting. Not that I mind of course, they've sent another girl so I get to keep my own room, awesomeness! The team is going to be changing a lot soon, lots of people leaving, and then new people coming. Big changes!

We've not got 3 more New Zealand cruises, and then we start a 28 day Australia cruise, cannot wait!! And then after that Asia!!! I've also applied for local leave in Bangkok, I'm supposed to be flying home from the anyway and if it gets approved e company will just book my flights later on so I can stay in Thailand for like 10 days before coming home. I have to pay for hotels etc of course but in Thailand it's not exactly expensive to find a bed.


So Wellington, it's just a big city really. Famously where the weta studios are that created the lord of the rings trilogy and more recently the hobbit, but also things like avatar, the life of pi etc, we also done here. But other than that it's the same as any other city, shops and restaurants everywhere, people, traffic, the usual! Oh and there's a small beach. Which today is completely heaving!

Working tomorrow and then I'm going on a shore excursion to the set of hobbiton, from The Lord of the rings movies. Should be fun.

Ciow ciow
Xxxx