Sitting in Starbucks in Miami at a shopping area (tourist trap) about 15 minutes from the ship. This is my "usual" hangout on Saturdays, as it's a quick getaway and has internet, which is usually all I'm looking for.
I had a surreal moment last night (this morning) as I was going to bed-- glanced out the window and saw lights and buildings and trees outside... and other ships! Crazy. Sort of unexpected at 4:00 in the morning. I would have sat in the window and watched everything until we docked, but I figured it was probably time for sleep. Eh. Don't worry, the 4am thing is super unusual for me. Some people can do it all the time but I might keel over dead if I tried-- my work days start early and end late, not leaving a ton of time for other things, but oh well, such is the life.
I'm at a point in my world where I'm trying to figure out how to deal with taxes for last year... apparently when you freelance in different states and different countries things get complicated really fast. And then when you're on a ship with limited/slow interwebs for 98% of the week, that makes finding/accessing forms and such kind of tricky. Oh well. I can't possibly be the first person in the history of cruise ships to be dealing with this. It's just a pain in the butt. And as I've learned thru my numerous dealings with the payroll office on board, money and numbers are NOT my forte. Every time I drop by with an important form that I've spent days gathering signatures for, he takes one look and shows me what is wrong and makes me do it again. Talk about frustrating.
Anyway. It's another typical crazy Saturday around here. Still waiting for some "normal" type of day. Today I have to drop off/pick up things at head office AND take care of two new cast members when they get on board. Last Saturday we had FULL CREW immigration where all 1200 of us had to be processed by 3 immigration guys before anyone could leave the ship. And then the weekend before I had another new cast member. There's always something. Miami is an important day because it's a turnaround day-- one shipload of people leaves, another comes on board, and we don't have to entertain them until the evening, so there's a bit more time to do other things during the day... like to go Starbucks!
Eventually I will post more pictures I suppose. I just don't have my camera with me! Eventually I want to find time to do more island exploring, because being stuck in tourist land is not my idea of paradise. Hopefully some cool photos will come of that. Will keep y'all posted.
And that's my "quickie" from Miami. Not much new. Just busy. Always busy. Looking forward to my vacation already!
D
when I read your posts I picture you in your formal uniform smoking a cigar and swigging a martini while you stare out the porthole, dictating into a tape player (old school). This is fun.
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