Well.. this week has flown by – I’m settling in, getting used to things and have actually found myself with a decent amount of free time- only I lent my internet card to james and he didn’t give it back til just then. I got to do some hosting in princess popstar as well - so hungry for the microphone
Today I was on Grand Turk – the capital of Turks and Caicos, a archipelligo of small islands that are actually under control of the UK. We arrived at 1pm, and I was lucky enough to have got the tour I booked! Kayaking and eco tour!
Basically, staff get free tours- but only if the tour you want is not filled up by passengers (passengers come first, obviously).
I was with a nice group of passengers today – some I had met during ceramics, two ladies who came to the ‘singles and solos get toghether I hosted and quite a few others I had met at various theme nights. I have pictures but the internet on the ship is TOOOO SLOWWW (i'll upload in fort lauderdale on sunday)
En route to our kayaking destination, we were given a quick tour of the island, which is home to 7000 people – 3000 permanent residents and 4000 people from other nations working on turks – mainly in the tourism industry.
Turks’ main claim to fame is that the first manned space flight by an American splashed down less than a kilometre from the island – and they have the actual module the astronaut was in as a statue on the island.
It is a very interesting island – it has no soil (100% sand) so vegetiation is tough and scrubby. What few trees they had were blown over in hurricane Ike two years ago. However, the island used to export salt to the whole Caribbean area – there are many disused salt pans dotted all over the place- and some of them smell pretty bad.
Our kayaks for the tour had clear bottoms, so we could see the floor of the inlet below us. We kayaked around the mangroves for about an hour – where we got to hold amazing “upside down” jelly fish, that eat algae and use them to provide a living, photosynthesising energy store, sea cucumbers (much uglier here than in Australia) an sea urchins.
As I was alone, I had to share a kayak with one of the guides (from the domenican republic). He was about 5ft tall and batshit insane. But it made for a fun trip. Near the coast, we disembarked and went for a nature walk. The island only got cars in the 1980’s – and before then horses and donkeys were used for transportation. Now that cars have arrived, the horses an donkeys now run free and are everywhere. Cute, but watch out for the poo.
We got to taste prickly pear and beach grapes (tasted like lilipilies) and comb the beach for conch shells.
I had a wonderful time – I was 5 minutes late for library duty but DJ dave covered for me, bless his cotton socks.
Tonight is western night and I’m just getting ready to go down to the officer’s mess for dinner- the boots they gave me are way too big… they are pulling up the anchor and as we live at the front of the ship, it is LOUDDD
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
(Dis) Embarkation
Well, I’m officially on my second week of cruising!
Yesterday we disembarked the old and embarked the new – 3000+ new passengers to get to know over the next 7 days.
Mark and I were on IPM yesterday (in port manning) meaning we were the suckers stuck on disembarkation and embarkation – the most painful process in the world.
The day begun at 6:20 am, when we started directing passenger traffic as the 700 or so passengers who chose to carry their massive suitcases down the gangway themselves started to assemble in the michaelangelo dining room. This was about 2 hours of non-stop pain – we docked on the port side (unusual) creating a massive bottleneck, seeing passengers lining up for ages to get in to the dining room- all the little old jewish ladies (originally from NY – but now of del boca vista, florida) got in a real tizzy.
The second part of disembarkation involved us mustering passengers with a variety of different coloured luggage tags in different areas of the ship that boast comfy chairs, then leading them one at a time down to deck 5 and the gang way. This is harder than youd think – with over 2000 passengers still on the boat and a massive organisational team of pursers and cruise staff on 2-way radios. I didn’t mind this part as I got to be on the microphone in the explorer’s lounge (love being on the microphone) and I got to make jokes and try and cheer up passengers that were totally zonked out from 7 days of drinking, partying and lying in the sun.
Mark and I then had to do sports check and ceramics restock before heading down to the deck 5 gang way to let the new lot of passengers on.
Basically passengers come down the gangway, and we meet them (with extreme cheer), get them to stand and look into a camera mounted in this little unit, insert their cruise card and get them to smile (or try to make them laugh)… their photo is then loaded onto the cruise card for security purposes. If the passenger has a blue card (meaning this is their first cruise with us) we say “welcome aboard” and if their card is gold, sliver or black we say “welcome back”. This is all well and good for the first 10 passengers.. but try doing it for 2 hours straight without a break!!!
The nice thing about disembarks/embarks is that you get to say a proper farewell to your favourite passengers, and you get to meet a lot of the passengers straight away- I already made some new friends on the gang plank.
IN all, my first week was great – now I’m familiar with everything and know what has to be done, I can start to relax a bit and have fun- hpefully do some tours this week (especially the stingray tour on st turk)
Yesterday we disembarked the old and embarked the new – 3000+ new passengers to get to know over the next 7 days.
Mark and I were on IPM yesterday (in port manning) meaning we were the suckers stuck on disembarkation and embarkation – the most painful process in the world.
The day begun at 6:20 am, when we started directing passenger traffic as the 700 or so passengers who chose to carry their massive suitcases down the gangway themselves started to assemble in the michaelangelo dining room. This was about 2 hours of non-stop pain – we docked on the port side (unusual) creating a massive bottleneck, seeing passengers lining up for ages to get in to the dining room- all the little old jewish ladies (originally from NY – but now of del boca vista, florida) got in a real tizzy.
The second part of disembarkation involved us mustering passengers with a variety of different coloured luggage tags in different areas of the ship that boast comfy chairs, then leading them one at a time down to deck 5 and the gang way. This is harder than youd think – with over 2000 passengers still on the boat and a massive organisational team of pursers and cruise staff on 2-way radios. I didn’t mind this part as I got to be on the microphone in the explorer’s lounge (love being on the microphone) and I got to make jokes and try and cheer up passengers that were totally zonked out from 7 days of drinking, partying and lying in the sun.
Mark and I then had to do sports check and ceramics restock before heading down to the deck 5 gang way to let the new lot of passengers on.
Basically passengers come down the gangway, and we meet them (with extreme cheer), get them to stand and look into a camera mounted in this little unit, insert their cruise card and get them to smile (or try to make them laugh)… their photo is then loaded onto the cruise card for security purposes. If the passenger has a blue card (meaning this is their first cruise with us) we say “welcome aboard” and if their card is gold, sliver or black we say “welcome back”. This is all well and good for the first 10 passengers.. but try doing it for 2 hours straight without a break!!!
The nice thing about disembarks/embarks is that you get to say a proper farewell to your favourite passengers, and you get to meet a lot of the passengers straight away- I already made some new friends on the gang plank.
IN all, my first week was great – now I’m familiar with everything and know what has to be done, I can start to relax a bit and have fun- hpefully do some tours this week (especially the stingray tour on st turk)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
a little bit sick
So, I did end up getting sick today. Nasty nasty cold. I went to the medical centre and they wanted to quarantine me (you have to go into quarantine if your temperature is over 37 – and mine was 37.4) but somehow I got out of it. Fortunately today was a port day and I am on “pull back” meaning I had most of the day off. So I slept all day rather than going ashore, and I feel much better now.
Tonight we have the captains circle party – so we are in formalwear (again), then I have the newlyweds gameshow, and finally It is pub night.
For pub night, I am inexplicably required to dress up as lorena bobbit (aka woman who cut off her husband’s penis) and carry a giant pair of scissors! Mark and I spent a good 45 minutes this afternoon blowing up 24 balloons three times each (to make them strecchy) and then tieing them off really close to the end – these are prank balloons, which passengers will be told to sit on to burst tonight- and of course, will not burst because we made them stretchy.
Pub night is a BIG night for us – and apparently I wont get to sleep until 1:30
Tonight we have the captains circle party – so we are in formalwear (again), then I have the newlyweds gameshow, and finally It is pub night.
For pub night, I am inexplicably required to dress up as lorena bobbit (aka woman who cut off her husband’s penis) and carry a giant pair of scissors! Mark and I spent a good 45 minutes this afternoon blowing up 24 balloons three times each (to make them strecchy) and then tieing them off really close to the end – these are prank balloons, which passengers will be told to sit on to burst tonight- and of course, will not burst because we made them stretchy.
Pub night is a BIG night for us – and apparently I wont get to sleep until 1:30
the emerald princess
So, I’m finally on board my final home for the next six month – the Emerald Princess- doing seven day cruising in the eastern carribean.
I’m loving life on board (although I miss my fabulous friends from the sapphire) and starting to get used to the extremely long hours.
It’s only my third night on board, but I feel like I’ve been here for aaages. I have a great team of cruise staff to work with and a whole lot of crazy and super-excitable passengers to play with.
Days on board are pretty frenetic. This morning I was up early getting my laminex (id card) made up, then I was off to the library until 12 (where I wrote trivia questions), had a quick break, ran to pool games, (where I jumped in to secure victory for the mighty sharks), and then ceramics for 2 hours (where i got smashed by a million passengers wanting to paint ceramic fish) and then back to the library. After that, it was formal evening / 80’s –where there was trivia, gameshows, drinking, game shows, drinking. More drinking.
I’m actually a bit sick – a cold has struck me down
Hope I get better soon!
I’m loving life on board (although I miss my fabulous friends from the sapphire) and starting to get used to the extremely long hours.
It’s only my third night on board, but I feel like I’ve been here for aaages. I have a great team of cruise staff to work with and a whole lot of crazy and super-excitable passengers to play with.
Days on board are pretty frenetic. This morning I was up early getting my laminex (id card) made up, then I was off to the library until 12 (where I wrote trivia questions), had a quick break, ran to pool games, (where I jumped in to secure victory for the mighty sharks), and then ceramics for 2 hours (where i got smashed by a million passengers wanting to paint ceramic fish) and then back to the library. After that, it was formal evening / 80’s –where there was trivia, gameshows, drinking, game shows, drinking. More drinking.
I’m actually a bit sick – a cold has struck me down
Hope I get better soon!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
backdated 15-4
The trip so far.
Well I’m just about completed my training week in the Mexican riviera. It’s been 13 hour days and intense surroundings – but let’s face it – Im currently lying on the aft of deck 14, baking in the Mexican sunshine.
This is pretty much the best job ever. In fact, for me, I’d hazard to say “best ever”.
There are 8 of us training this week as JACDs.. 4 from England, 2 from Canada and then me. There’s also another Australian who has been transhipped to train with us.
Our training up to this point has pretty much consisted of immersion in ship life – we’v e been doing a lot of observation and a lot of learning about safety on board.- for example, I now know that the sound you really don’t want to hear is 7 short blasts of the ship’s horn followed by one long blast. Uh oh.
Alongside observing, we’ve also been participating in many activities as well.
The cruise staff are your hosts for activities- from board games sessions, single passenger meet and greets, quizzes trivia and gameshows (includging blanketty blanks and jeprody), running hilarious pool games (where one guy ended up with a watermelon in his bathers), hosting arts and crafts (ceramics, journaling, paper crafts, napkin folding, photo frame making- SO MUCH FUN), running sports tournaments (ping pong, shuffleboard (which I can now play), bball and mini golf If something is happening on the ship, the cruise staff are involved. There are also shifts called “swanning” where you wander around talking to guests, asking questions and making introductions. Of coure, theres also Bingo (which is for heaps of cash) and plenty of other things that have currently escaped my mind.
Its also in our job description to teach Line dancing (which is my new love – it is GLORIOUS) and to dance at the skywalker’s disco every night for 1-2 hours. When we start on our own ships, our job will be 8:30-midninght with breaks between activities throughout the day. But its just so much fun – we’re chatting and fooling around all day long.
We got to practice on mic for karaoke introductions and got to go on stage in the 800 seat theatre to practice our welcome aboard introductions, which we will be making at the beginning of every cruise.
Getting around this massive ship is a bit of amission, Im constantly llost in crew areas- I ended up in the bouson’s workshop yesterday.
Alcohol is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP I the cruise bar, however we’ve been banned from there so far this cruise as we have 13 hour days every day and hagovers are probably not recommended.
Well I’m just about completed my training week in the Mexican riviera. It’s been 13 hour days and intense surroundings – but let’s face it – Im currently lying on the aft of deck 14, baking in the Mexican sunshine.
This is pretty much the best job ever. In fact, for me, I’d hazard to say “best ever”.
There are 8 of us training this week as JACDs.. 4 from England, 2 from Canada and then me. There’s also another Australian who has been transhipped to train with us.
Our training up to this point has pretty much consisted of immersion in ship life – we’v e been doing a lot of observation and a lot of learning about safety on board.- for example, I now know that the sound you really don’t want to hear is 7 short blasts of the ship’s horn followed by one long blast. Uh oh.
Alongside observing, we’ve also been participating in many activities as well.
The cruise staff are your hosts for activities- from board games sessions, single passenger meet and greets, quizzes trivia and gameshows (includging blanketty blanks and jeprody), running hilarious pool games (where one guy ended up with a watermelon in his bathers), hosting arts and crafts (ceramics, journaling, paper crafts, napkin folding, photo frame making- SO MUCH FUN), running sports tournaments (ping pong, shuffleboard (which I can now play), bball and mini golf If something is happening on the ship, the cruise staff are involved. There are also shifts called “swanning” where you wander around talking to guests, asking questions and making introductions. Of coure, theres also Bingo (which is for heaps of cash) and plenty of other things that have currently escaped my mind.
Its also in our job description to teach Line dancing (which is my new love – it is GLORIOUS) and to dance at the skywalker’s disco every night for 1-2 hours. When we start on our own ships, our job will be 8:30-midninght with breaks between activities throughout the day. But its just so much fun – we’re chatting and fooling around all day long.
We got to practice on mic for karaoke introductions and got to go on stage in the 800 seat theatre to practice our welcome aboard introductions, which we will be making at the beginning of every cruise.
Getting around this massive ship is a bit of amission, Im constantly llost in crew areas- I ended up in the bouson’s workshop yesterday.
Alcohol is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP I the cruise bar, however we’ve been banned from there so far this cruise as we have 13 hour days every day and hagovers are probably not recommended.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
I HAVE NO INTERNET TIME TIL NEXT WEEK
I HAVE NO INTERNET TIME BUT AM HAVING AN AWESOME REAL LIFE TIME.
updates soon. i went to mexico today, i ate mexican food and drank mexican beer.
WOOOOO
updates soon. i went to mexico today, i ate mexican food and drank mexican beer.
WOOOOO
Friday, April 9, 2010
welcome to LA
I'm sitting in the Starbucks on the corner of La Brea and Sunset sipping a latte (tastes worse in the US). IN front of me there is a hassidic jew attempting to log in to his WiFi and having problems... A little mexican lady is helping him.
I think I love LA.. it's such a strange place, but it doesn't feel as strange as I thought it would. It is all mexican style dwellings (from shack to villa), wide open spaces, McDonald's-s and palm trees. Honestly, palm trees are EVERYWHERE... giant tall ones punctuating the extremely flat skyline.
I left Brisbane at 11am this morning. Mum and Alison came to the airport to see me off. I must admit I got a little misty eyed as I walked into customs- it's a long time before I'll see everyone again. However, the girl walking through behind me into the security check was bawling her eyes out- so i felt like less of a wuss in comparison.
I got chosen for a random explosive test, where I was taken into a small room, scanned with a scanner by a man and the patted down by a woman. I know they got the woman in there to pat me down as, you know, it's appropriate. However, the woman was a big lesbian lady, so it really seemed unneccesary to have her in there.. but they were both very cheerful about the whole thing.
The flight was pretty sweet - the 13 hours passed fairly uneventfully - although without any sleep. I think V Australia is great! I recommend it to everyone- the in flight entertainment was awesome. I watched "the men who stare at goats", "Fight Club" and seemingly endless episodes of 'the office', '30 Rock', 'Better off Ted' and 'Family Guy'. Was pretty sweet.
I was seated behind a girl who was also in transit for a job with the same cruise line as me - she's a Registered Nurse. So it was good to have a chat to someone in the same boat as me (see what I did there?) and also to have someone to lament about the 'stylish' uniforms with.
From then- I Got off the plane, checked in to my hotel (which is a smoking room and absolutely REEKS) had french toat + bacon +maple syrup for breakfast and made my way into Hollywood, where my giant latte is currently almost finished.
I bought a 580ml coke zero, hair spray and a packet of reeses' pieces for $4.10... Food here is extremely cheap - especially the sugary stuff!
I'm about to wander off down sunset boulevard and see what I can find- I really have no idea what I even want to see and I forgot to set my phone so I have no idea what the time is either.
Tomorrow I sail. SO EXCITED!!
I think I love LA.. it's such a strange place, but it doesn't feel as strange as I thought it would. It is all mexican style dwellings (from shack to villa), wide open spaces, McDonald's-s and palm trees. Honestly, palm trees are EVERYWHERE... giant tall ones punctuating the extremely flat skyline.
I left Brisbane at 11am this morning. Mum and Alison came to the airport to see me off. I must admit I got a little misty eyed as I walked into customs- it's a long time before I'll see everyone again. However, the girl walking through behind me into the security check was bawling her eyes out- so i felt like less of a wuss in comparison.
I got chosen for a random explosive test, where I was taken into a small room, scanned with a scanner by a man and the patted down by a woman. I know they got the woman in there to pat me down as, you know, it's appropriate. However, the woman was a big lesbian lady, so it really seemed unneccesary to have her in there.. but they were both very cheerful about the whole thing.
The flight was pretty sweet - the 13 hours passed fairly uneventfully - although without any sleep. I think V Australia is great! I recommend it to everyone- the in flight entertainment was awesome. I watched "the men who stare at goats", "Fight Club" and seemingly endless episodes of 'the office', '30 Rock', 'Better off Ted' and 'Family Guy'. Was pretty sweet.
I was seated behind a girl who was also in transit for a job with the same cruise line as me - she's a Registered Nurse. So it was good to have a chat to someone in the same boat as me (see what I did there?) and also to have someone to lament about the 'stylish' uniforms with.
From then- I Got off the plane, checked in to my hotel (which is a smoking room and absolutely REEKS) had french toat + bacon +maple syrup for breakfast and made my way into Hollywood, where my giant latte is currently almost finished.
I bought a 580ml coke zero, hair spray and a packet of reeses' pieces for $4.10... Food here is extremely cheap - especially the sugary stuff!
I'm about to wander off down sunset boulevard and see what I can find- I really have no idea what I even want to see and I forgot to set my phone so I have no idea what the time is either.
Tomorrow I sail. SO EXCITED!!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Packed and Ready
It's 1.40 AM on April 9th 2010 - henceforth to be known as the longest day of my life. This day has 41 hours.. and I still have over 39 of them to enjoy :)
I depart Brisbane International Airport at 11am, so with a 3 hour check-in requirement and a 1 hour travel allowance, this means I'll be leaving home at 7am this morning. Mum and my sister are coming with me to the airport - dad can't make it. I'm not a very sentimental person but i must admit my eyes will probably get a little bit misty as I go down that fateful escalator into customs. But then... DUTY FREE SHOPPING!
After sitting around for months doing nothing waiting for my leaving date to arrive, now that it's finally here I seem to have a million things to do.
My pack is overfull. That is the honest truth- it's bursting at the seams and feels waaay over 20kg. You know that when you have to repack several times in order to find a combination of items that allows zipping, you are in trouble. However, I still maintain that I need 5 skirts, 2 pairs of shorts, 4 dresses, 2 pairs of jeans and 10 tops to survive. Plus, I love these clothing items like children (or maybe pets - perhaps equal to the love one could have for a hermit crab or mouse)- how could I leave them behind to mold and decay in my wardrobe?
I'm going to have a snooze now - alarm is set to 5am so I have plenty of time to shower, clean up my stuff, pay my phone & singing lesson bill, call Grandma Ross (she's an early riser) and lavish attention upon the pets before leaving.
I will miss the pets the most - you can skype your mum but you can't skype a kitty - it has no concept of mobile telecommunications.
I can't wait for the alarm to ring and for my adventure to begin
I depart Brisbane International Airport at 11am, so with a 3 hour check-in requirement and a 1 hour travel allowance, this means I'll be leaving home at 7am this morning. Mum and my sister are coming with me to the airport - dad can't make it. I'm not a very sentimental person but i must admit my eyes will probably get a little bit misty as I go down that fateful escalator into customs. But then... DUTY FREE SHOPPING!
After sitting around for months doing nothing waiting for my leaving date to arrive, now that it's finally here I seem to have a million things to do.
My pack is overfull. That is the honest truth- it's bursting at the seams and feels waaay over 20kg. You know that when you have to repack several times in order to find a combination of items that allows zipping, you are in trouble. However, I still maintain that I need 5 skirts, 2 pairs of shorts, 4 dresses, 2 pairs of jeans and 10 tops to survive. Plus, I love these clothing items like children (or maybe pets - perhaps equal to the love one could have for a hermit crab or mouse)- how could I leave them behind to mold and decay in my wardrobe?
I'm going to have a snooze now - alarm is set to 5am so I have plenty of time to shower, clean up my stuff, pay my phone & singing lesson bill, call Grandma Ross (she's an early riser) and lavish attention upon the pets before leaving.
I will miss the pets the most - you can skype your mum but you can't skype a kitty - it has no concept of mobile telecommunications.
I can't wait for the alarm to ring and for my adventure to begin
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Position Description
I found a position description!! I searched and I found!
I didnt know any of this stuff before I applied! However, it appears that this job was designed for me. I tick every box on the list :)
I am really looking forward to planning and hosting my own events - I hope that is something I get to do!
Cruise Staff are the first people onboard to meet and greet our passengers and the last ones to bid them farewell. Cruise Staff make a dramatic impact on each passenger’s cruise experience by conducting a variety of onboard entertainment and social activities including trivia, pool games and contests, theme nights, karaoke, dance lessons, arts and crafts, and much more.
Cruise Staff candidates must have a minimum of two years work experience in the entertainment and hospitality field, including direct experience in hosting large groups. Previous experience may include coordination of activities at resorts or camps shoreside, experience serving as Master of Ceremonies, coordinating and hosting of large scale events with prior shipboard and entertainment experience preferred. Confident/strong microphone experience is required. Entertainment talents such as dancing, singing, stage performance, hosting sports events, and arts and crafts are a plus, but candidates must be willing to participate in any / all such activities onboard as part of a team environment.
I didnt know any of this stuff before I applied! However, it appears that this job was designed for me. I tick every box on the list :)
I am really looking forward to planning and hosting my own events - I hope that is something I get to do!
Phone Call From LA
Today the phone rang. To my surprise it was the Cruise Company!
More precisely it was Chris, the man taking my Junior Assistant Cruise Director (henceforth JACD) training on the ship next week. We had a great old chat at the company's international-phone-call expense and I finally got (a little bit) more information about what I'm going to be doing for the next 10 days.
I'm undertaking my training (which is specific to JACD) with six other recruits - there'll be four from the UK, two from Canada... and me.
Apparently the week is going to be "incredibly intense" and will "wipe us out". So looking forward to it!
I asked for information about which ship I was likely to be sent to after training, but the other end was very coy about answering this question. If it's because I'm being sent to P&O I'll stab my face off.. But I don't think that will happen- they promised they wouldn't!
Tonight also marked my last giant freestyle sundae of the year - it was supposed to also be a chance for me to catch up with some of my instructor friends before I left... but due to multiple illnesses (and a few unexplained absences) it ended up being an excellent chance to catch up with my wonderful friend Julie, who gave me the raddest ever passport holder - which looks stunning inside my (also excellently gifted) travel wallet.
I also got the chance to see an excellent-good friend of mine that I havnt seen for a while - and recieved the most excellent birthday gift of a Freestyle gift voucher - muuuch appreciated!
2 full days left in Brisbane... yeah como
More precisely it was Chris, the man taking my Junior Assistant Cruise Director (henceforth JACD) training on the ship next week. We had a great old chat at the company's international-phone-call expense and I finally got (a little bit) more information about what I'm going to be doing for the next 10 days.
I'm undertaking my training (which is specific to JACD) with six other recruits - there'll be four from the UK, two from Canada... and me.
Apparently the week is going to be "incredibly intense" and will "wipe us out". So looking forward to it!
I asked for information about which ship I was likely to be sent to after training, but the other end was very coy about answering this question. If it's because I'm being sent to P&O I'll stab my face off.. But I don't think that will happen- they promised they wouldn't!
Tonight also marked my last giant freestyle sundae of the year - it was supposed to also be a chance for me to catch up with some of my instructor friends before I left... but due to multiple illnesses (and a few unexplained absences) it ended up being an excellent chance to catch up with my wonderful friend Julie, who gave me the raddest ever passport holder - which looks stunning inside my (also excellently gifted) travel wallet.
I also got the chance to see an excellent-good friend of mine that I havnt seen for a while - and recieved the most excellent birthday gift of a Freestyle gift voucher - muuuch appreciated!
2 full days left in Brisbane... yeah como
Friday, April 2, 2010
Travel Purchases #1 : The Travel Pack
When it came time to buy my pack, beauty bag, locks, power plugs and special magic soap, I'm the first to admit I went a little crazy with my internet purchases.
For a whole week, there was a steady line of couriers at my door, each bringing some type of magical travel accessory for me to posess. I'm not gonna lie, it was an exciting week.
While I'm not going to do an itemised list of all the crazy crap I bought- for Show & Tell over the next few days I'd like to talk about the favourite travel items I've bought in the last month.
Today, I'm going to talk about buying my pack - which any traveller knows is quite an arduous task and that hurt my brain.
I spent several days trawling the net for information on backpacks. There are an almost unlimited array of brands, designs, colours and functions and the headache-inducing confusion of reading pack review after pack review drained me to the core. Pretty much the only thing that was clear to me was that, as much as I'm a fan of not spending too much, I'm of the opinion (which I stole from several travel blogs) that it's worth spending money on your pack.
From my web searching, I also developed the following criteria for purchasing a pack -
For this reason -I looked at the travel pack option from the following brands.
I looked at the following brands (Caribee, Black Wolf and a few other cheaper brands) but when I saw them, I realised that quality is relfected in price and while these packs would last one trip.
After much deliberation and internet-time-wasting, I decided on the Osperey Waypoint 65.
The pack matches all my criteria and I got it for $350 at Paddy Pallin. When I spoke to the guy at Paddy Pallin, he told me that they are the main importers of Osprey into Australia, so can get stock quickest and at the best price. This pack is the brand new 2010 model, the previous model is only $300, but the look and feel of this pack are second to none (including the Lowe Alpine travel trekker II, which I think looks a bit weird).
As a travel pack, the harness zips away for easy transportation. It has a huge number of spots to attach gear (especially important as I'm taking a sleeping bag for couch surfing) and it has an excellent harness suspension system. Although fairly tall, I fit the women's size perfectly as I have a "short back" (apparently).
Anyway, I simply love this pack. Ive packed and unpacked it a few times now, working out how much stuff I can take (most of which will be sent home when I disembark the cruise ship). It's currently filled with all the other random travel crap I've bought - which will be the subject of tomorrow's Show and Tell.
For a whole week, there was a steady line of couriers at my door, each bringing some type of magical travel accessory for me to posess. I'm not gonna lie, it was an exciting week.
While I'm not going to do an itemised list of all the crazy crap I bought- for Show & Tell over the next few days I'd like to talk about the favourite travel items I've bought in the last month.
Today, I'm going to talk about buying my pack - which any traveller knows is quite an arduous task and that hurt my brain.
- My Pack
I spent several days trawling the net for information on backpacks. There are an almost unlimited array of brands, designs, colours and functions and the headache-inducing confusion of reading pack review after pack review drained me to the core. Pretty much the only thing that was clear to me was that, as much as I'm a fan of not spending too much, I'm of the opinion (which I stole from several travel blogs) that it's worth spending money on your pack.
From my web searching, I also developed the following criteria for purchasing a pack -
- Front Opening for easy access and not having to go through all your crap constantly (as I ALWAYS seem to pack something I need in transit right at the bottom of my bag)
- Multiple internal storage compartments - to keep my crap organised and necessitate the purchase of fewer travel cubes
- Detachable day pack - not so much for actually carrying around (way to look like a tourist backpacker and become a target for theives and tricksters.. and also just look retarded) but for extra storage when necessary
- Harness design custom for women. Many brands offer a custom harness for the female form (we're built a little differently, I hear) and apparently it significantly reduces strain from traipsing around with a pack on
- 60-70L in volume. It took me a long time to come to that figure, but after talking to people in adventure shops, they really recommended sticking with one of the smaller packs. I'm a big offender in the "taking too much crap with you" category, so setting my carrying capacity low will most likely reduce the size of this offence.
- Needs to be available for purchase IN BRISBANE, as an important part of buying a pack that is right for you is getting it fitted by a trained professional - also the guys down at Paddy Pallin and K2 Base Camp are so helpful with planning other areas of your trip and travel advice. So, no internet purchae on this one (the price of postage is just too much on a pack).
- Cool Aesthetic. Yeah, I want my pack to look cool.. is that a crime? I'm going to be living out of it for 4 months once I get off the boat, and you're not happy living in an ugly house, right? In terms of colour, as usual, I have a strong preference for green.. but that's just a preference.
- Price Range $250-$350. While I would love an arc'teryx pack (the ultimate), I couldn't really justify spending $500-$750 for a pack. However, after going and looking at the $100-$200 price range packs, I realised that you do what you get what you pay for in terms of quality- and I want a pack that can last.. I want to find "the one".. of packs. THis pricerange includes the lesser packs offered by truly large pack brands (lowe alpine/mont/macpac) and the best packs from Osprey and Eagle Creek- all of which are great packs.
For this reason -I looked at the travel pack option from the following brands.
I looked at the following brands (Caribee, Black Wolf and a few other cheaper brands) but when I saw them, I realised that quality is relfected in price and while these packs would last one trip.
After much deliberation and internet-time-wasting, I decided on the Osperey Waypoint 65.
The pack matches all my criteria and I got it for $350 at Paddy Pallin. When I spoke to the guy at Paddy Pallin, he told me that they are the main importers of Osprey into Australia, so can get stock quickest and at the best price. This pack is the brand new 2010 model, the previous model is only $300, but the look and feel of this pack are second to none (including the Lowe Alpine travel trekker II, which I think looks a bit weird).
As a travel pack, the harness zips away for easy transportation. It has a huge number of spots to attach gear (especially important as I'm taking a sleeping bag for couch surfing) and it has an excellent harness suspension system. Although fairly tall, I fit the women's size perfectly as I have a "short back" (apparently).
Anyway, I simply love this pack. Ive packed and unpacked it a few times now, working out how much stuff I can take (most of which will be sent home when I disembark the cruise ship). It's currently filled with all the other random travel crap I've bought - which will be the subject of tomorrow's Show and Tell.
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