A few more hours and we say goodbye to the last overnight port of the season. The early hours of this morning found all of us who were on duty (which, since Shadow is long gone, did include me) yawning and nursing extra strong coffees – if only because the overnight meant very little sleep. Yes, it was our choice, no one told us we had to go out, but it’s Barcelona, and we won’t be back here overnight again – the next time we’re here is a single day port and a turnaround day, which means no one will be able to get off the ship. So yes, most of us said goodbye in style. For my part, I am always too afraid of being random tested to truly party on an overnight, but I was out late, and my system is now punishing me for running on only a few hours of sleep, but I still say it was worth it. I’m more tired than anything, and my muscles may be protesting a bit (okay maybe a lot) from the amount of walking involved in my whirlwind birthday tour of the city yesterday.
But again, worth it.
So this morning we’re all muddling through an embarkation day with the clockwork wound and our smiles firmly in place, no matter how lousy you’re feeling (or how amazing a night you had 😉 ) you still have a job to do out here, and the you need to do it. Me, I just kick into performer mode, which I can still pull off for at least 24 hours before my body goes “nope, you’re going to sleep now.”
At the moment we’re all just running on the chaos of embark day. This is just a seven day run before start the crossing back to the states (shudder) so it’s yet another shift in clientele, though it’s a long way from the true oil’n’water crossing that usually comes at the end of my summer contracts (and yes I know this isn’t summer anymore, not anywhere near, but it’s the terms I think in, so there)
This is our last week in Europe, which is a shame, because it means that this contract is very nearly over – which kind of breaks my heart in a way because you never want the good ones to end. The ones that are hard, the ones that stress you out and make you want to tear out your hair those ones always drag, but the ones where pretty much every day is a good day? Those fly in the space of a the time between heartbeats…and you miss them when they’re over.