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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s been a long time since I wrote anything that was specifically geared for public consumption, so if anyone chooses to read this, I ask you to bear with me, and also to be patient. I have no idea when I will be able to update this, because, as you will soon learn, my job takes me to rather exotic and strange locations (both wonderful and\u2026unusual [in every sense]) some of which lack running water, let alone internet services.<\/p>\n
A bit of information by way of introduction:<\/p>\n
I first \u201cwent to ships\u201d\u00a0 in April of 2010. I\u2019ll be celebrating my year anniversary as a shipboard gypsy this coming April, at which point I will also be completing my first Grand World Voyage, and will have circumnavigated the globe 1.5 times.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve ridden a camel, touched the pyramids, stared into the eyes of King Tut\u2019s mask and had my picture taken with the sphinx. I\u2019ve ridden a donkey up the steps of Santorini, waded in the shallows of Turkey, visited the library at Ephesus, swum in the Med, and watched the sunset over Tahiti. I\u2019ve visited the Hippodrome, meditated under the dome of the Parthenon, and been reduced to tears by Bernini\u2019s canopy in St Peter\u2019s Basilica. I\u2019ve eaten crocodile, kangaroo and emu, swum in the Amazon, and rung in the New Year at sea. I\u2019ve zip-lined over the trees of Alaska, and stood under a waterfall in that was pure glacier run off. I\u2019ve even sat pool side in Margaretaville. I\u2019ve had dinner, drinks, and countless laughs, with some of the best jugglers, musicians, magicians, and entertainers the business has to offer. Some of them even remember my name <\/p>\n
All in less than a year.<\/p>\n
Yes, the job has its perks.<\/p>\n
If anyone had told me a year ago, when I was struggling to make ends meet after coming home from a years\u2019 stay in Britain to complete a long sought after master\u2019s degree, that I would be sitting behind a desk in a floating palace, being paid to travel to places that for so many people remain just so many names on a map, I would have laughed. Then I probably would have cried. I did a lot of crying back then.<\/p>\n
A word of warning for anyone who may be thinking of \u201crunning away to join the circus\u201d: Shipboard life is not for everyone. It can be very trying, and very lonely, we spend long months separated from those we love, we miss birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmases. Every time we come home, our families are that much older, and we\u2019re that much more distant from them.\u00a0 While we meet and make friends with some of the most amazing people that the world has to offer, we are often separated from them just as quickly. We live our lives out of two suitcases and a carry-on, and when people ask us where we\u2019re from, sometimes we have to think about it before we answer. Truly, we are gypsies.<\/p>\n
The hours are long and the duties extensive, but the rewards and the freedom one gains from living below the waterline often outbalance the downsides.<\/p>\n
I have no idea what these pages will end up containing, if they in fact end up containing anything.<\/p>\n
Until such time as I\u2019m able to come up with something more interesting to say,<\/p>\n
Fair winds and following seas,<\/p>\n
Shaughnessy<\/p>\n
PLEASE NOTE: THE OPINIONS CONTAINED HERE IN DO NOT BELONG TO , NOR REFLECT ON, THE COMPANY BY WHICH I AM EMPLOYED<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been a long time since I wrote anything that was specifically geared for public consumption, so if anyone chooses to read this, I ask you to bear with me, and also to be patient. I have no idea when … Continue reading