Spain

View from Apartment

Our Apartment

I have finally made it to Spain. Well, I've been here for one week. I'm not sure how to explain the experience so far. I love it!!

My flights over were great. I didn't have anyone sitting next to me on the long flight, so I was able to stretch out. I took a half a sleeping pill, watched a movie, ate the disgusting food, and slept the entire time. I woke up 20 mins before we landed. I then slept in the Zurich airport for 3 hours during my layover. I then slept on the 2 hour flight to Palma. I'd say everything went just great. I even got all 4 of my bags.

Mike picked me up from the airport. It was awesome to see him! He took me to our apartment; which we share with 6 other crew members. It is a 7 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment. We are on the top floor. It is really indicative of Spain. The tile floors and the ceiling to floor windows that open to a community square are great aspects. The only down side is having to walk up 10 flights of stairs to get to it!!!

Everyone that I live and work with are so great. We all get along wonderfully. Mike and I are going to come home with weird accents, because everyone we are around has a different accent. We are working with people from all over the world. In our "flat" (apartment) there is Carl from New Zealand, Collin from the US, Tak and Sushie from Asia, Michel from Australia, and Fred from a small French island. My boss, the Chief Stewardess is Polish. She is great! Her husband is the Chief Engineer and he is Danish. Everyone is so much fun. I really enjoy hearing their stories.

The boat is "in the yard" or "in a yard period", which means it is out of the water getting work done to it. I'm not sure exactly all of the work being done. There is a million dollar (yes million dollar) audio/video upgrade being done. The boat is currently in shambles, as one would expect during a renovation. The boat is huge in my standards. Of course I am so new to this industry, it seems really large to my standards. I have worked on the boat for 4 days and still haven't seen the whole thing. You can literally get lost on it. I has 4 guest cabins all with bathrooms, 1 master cabin with 2 bathrooms (his and hers). The master is huge, very much like my Kiawah houses. There is a main salon with a large aft deck, a sky lounge with a large deck, a pantry, a galley, Captains quarters, and of course the crew quarters. There are 6 crew rooms that sleep 2 each. Ours is a pretty good size...I think it is going to fit all of my stuff and all of my shoes!! Some of the quarters are smaller, so I can't complain about our room. We are also getting a TV in our cabin (So happy Mike is the first mate)!! We have our own bathroom which is a decent size. There is also a crew mess area, where we eat and can watch TV.

I will take pictures of the boat; however there isn't much to see at the moment.

The weather here is great, very mild for winter. It has been extremely windy- hurricane force winds but with no rain.

It is very difficult to go out to eat because we can't read the menus. We went to the grocery store so we can cook our own foods and that was quite an experience!! We can't read anything in there either. Some things are obvious and other things (like sheets and pillow cases) are not.

I hope all is well with everyone. I was sad my first day here because I had such a great visit with my family, friends, and animals. It is difficult to think of the length of time that will probably go by before I see everyone, but the experience is well worth it. Being around the other crew that are world travelers and have experienced so much makes me realize what a small town girl I really am.