I'm not retired, but I live in West Palm Beach

I thought West Palm Beach was just where rich, retired people go to play golf. I was wrong - that’s Boca Raton. Ha ha ahh... that’s a Florida joke.

WPB is a pretty nice place to live actually. I see why people pack up their pleated chinos , throw their golf clubs in the porsche and migrate here for the chilly months of winter. 

Clematis Street is sort of the ‘main drag’ (to steal an expression from my dad) and ends up at City Place. Both are full of fun pubs/bars/restaurants/theaters, etc. Sometimes there are parades there. I like parades - everything is so EXTRA.

If your crew is into diving as well - the diving around West Palm is surprisingly awesome! The water is warm, the vis is good and there are lots of operators that will take you out for a reasonable price. My first mate Matt, his brother and I showed up to one of these on an improptu day off.

Best surprise of all - we got to see a baby and mama manatee! Manatees live in the intercoastal waters and are a protected species. They’re slow and hard to spot - so they get hit by boats often. ** Note, running fresh water near them isn’t really allowed... sorry to be such a rule breaker**

If you’re willing to drive inland a bit - equestrian sports are big around here. Dressage, Jumping, Polo - the whole bit. Get out your bow ties, people! Just kidding. But because of this there are lots of stables that will let you come and ride for a few hours if you want.

Sorry I don’t have much for specifics here! To find fun stuff in a new place I usually just sign up for Groupon or LivingSocial to see what kind of deals I come across. It also helps expose me to small business and local things to do :) 

Have you ever been to West Palm Beach? What was your favourite thing?

Yacht Life II: Daywork and Crew Agents

So, you've got your STCW and you can fold toilet paper like an expert. Now, you’ve probably spent all of your money on courses and crewhouses - here’s the real question: how do you get it all back???

Let’s get to work.

Step One: Get a Yacht Resume
Weird thing about yachting: Resumes are SO PERSONAL. They include things like

• photos
• marital status
• health/smoking status
• citizenship
• age

Pretty much every item that goes against every HR requirement in every job I’ve ever applied for. But, in this industry - you’re hiring a roommate and a worker all in one. 

      

Step Two: Get Daywork
This is a great way to get your feet onto a boat and start working. If you go around the boat show times, there will be lots of daywork. Fort Lauderdale Boat Show is usually around the end of October which is at the start of the Carribean season for many boats. Interior and exterior extra crew are usually needed to get the boats looking good! 

Dockwalking, talking to friends and daywork123.com are how we got this type of work.

Step Three: Crew Agents

Besides ‘networking’ (ugh, I hate that term. It’s so sleazy - but true) with your fellow yachties, crew agents are the way you’re probably going to get a job. Don’t worry - it’s free. The boats pay their fees to get matched with crew. Each agency works a little differently but in general: apply on their websites, get ‘interviewed’ by the agent, monitor the website/emails for jobs you’re interested and apply accordingly.

This is how we (spoiler alert!) got jobs.

Here are a couple of the ones we worked with in Ft Lauderdale,...

Northrop & Johnson ~ Elite Crew ~ Lux Yachts ~ Nautic Crew ~ Crew Unlimited

Every yachtie you meet will have a different story as to why and how they got into yachting, this is just us.

Yacht School II: Stew School + AEC

I can fold toilet paper into a little fan. 

I can set a table with 12 pieces of silverware - per person. I can create a lively flower arrangement with some grocery store flowers and crowns out of crisp linen napkins that would shame Martha Stewart into eating McDonalds take out for life.

I am the champion of fancy shit. 

Where did I learn these game changing skillz you ask? Stew School. Known officially as ‘MegaYacht Interior Operations Course’, Stew school is a yacht stewardess intro course. It teaches everything from cleaning and laundry to table settings and silver service. It’s a fun, but expensive (around $1000!) 5 day course that I took at the same school as my STCW. 

While it’s not necessary to get a job, and redundant if you have one - I would recommend it for green stews who are looking to get their first job. Not necessarily for the specific skills (you’ll have chief stew who will tell you how she likes it, trust me) but for the confidence and connections. The instructors of this course have been stews, and they know the game. Here’s your chance to ask aaaaalllll the questions and meet other girls just starting out in the industry. It’s fun, and it was the first time that I actually got my head around the level of service required in this industry. 

StewFact: Did you know we clean the bathrooms EVERY SINGLE TIME their used? 
Yep. We do that. 

THE GUYS: Deckies and AEC

While I was off learning how to fold fitted sheets, Juliano was learning how engines work. This industry is still quite gender segregated. While there are notable exceptions of female deckhands and male stewards - it’s not the norm. 

Stews : girls. Deckies : guys. 

The career path for the exterior crew is also clearer - there is a long series of courses and qualifications available for Juliano to take as he moves forward in yachting. For the interior crew there are course you can take (ex wine tasting, bar tending, service, etc) but no specific certifications that pre-qualify you for advancement.

Back to the engines... Juliano took the AEC ‘Approved Engine Course’ which is an intro engineering course. It’s a 5 day course as well, also quite expensive ($1000). 

Not my picture of a yacht engine room:

While hands on learning is the best for this, it’s a good general overview of the mechanics of boats - including jet skis and tender, the items typically required to be cared for by the deck crew. Additional, taking extra courses like this can show a bit of commitment to the industry - and differentiate yourself from the backpackers that fall into it looking for a quick season of cash.

Yacht School I: STCW + RIB

Numero Uno question I get asked when strangers find out what I do: 

How did you get a job like that? Did you have to go to school?

Well my friends, I did. I fought fires, I practiced CPR, I swam into a life raft. 

Despite my usual glib-ness about yacht life, safety is a huge factor. Boats burn to the water line in minutes, storms happen, and people fall overboard. Yacht crew are a relatively small group people charged with the responsibility of the guests, other crew members and the boat itself - everyone on a crew list needs to be informed and able to perform in emergency situations.

THE BASICS: STCW ’95

This is a must have to work in the yachting industry. It’s a 5 day course and costs around $900 US. It’s a really fun and informative week, you learn lots about the industry, safety and firefighting.

International Crew Training - STCW 95 from ICT Fort Lauderdale on Vimeo.

THE BONUS: RIB Powerboat II

RIB is a Rigid Inflatable Boat... aka dinghy. Every yacht has (at least) one, and this course will give you the license to drive one. Note I said license, not necessarily skill. This is a quick, 2 day course that will teach you the basics of driving a simple tender. We didn’t really get enough time to be confident drivers, but.... it’s a rubber boat.

ICT Powerboat II from ICT Fort Lauderdale on Vimeo.

Where to go?

We took all of our courses at ICT in Ft Lauderdale. They were great there - friendly and helpful, especially going in a newbies. MPT is the other big school in town, and while we don’t have any personal experience there - we’ve heard good things as well. What ever school you choose, just make sure that its recognized by MCA, USCG and/or PYA.

Yacht Life I: Crew Houses are a way of Life

It feels like a hostel - but no one’s goal is just travel. 

Everyone seems to have money - but no one seems to have jobs. 

Fort Lauderdale, full of wanna-be yachties lurking around for the beginning of the season, is where we found ourselves early in this adventure. The secret underbelly population that neither travelers nor yachties will claim as their own; the crew housemates are the frat brothers you never had. 

The first house we stayed in had up to 32 people living, eating, drinking, partying and hustling for work at any one time. It was insane. It was overwhelming. It was great.

But, despite all the craziness, it was an amazing learning experience. Here are some things I learned...

How to cook Thanksgiving dinner for 32. Canadian thanksgiving, not that weirdly scheduled American version. With turkey and a teapot full of gravy. I had to call my mom for an apple pie recipe after Juliano made a fuss over the exclusivity of pumpkin. Moms are the best at pie recipes. And a rum punch helps everything.

How to do laundry in a sketchy laundromat. Answer: lots of quarters, bring friends, don’t talk to the guy who works there, don’t open the dryer before it’s finished. Bring your own soap.

How to party. I though I knew, I was wrong.

How to party in costume. Everything is better in costume. Especially drinking.

How to not have a job. Here’s a weird one. I’ve had a job steadily since I was 14 and worked in a Korean Bakery. Most of my life I’ve had two jobs. I’ve never had zero jobs. Turns out: It’s fun in the short term. Go to the beach in the middle of the day on a Tuesday? Of course I will.

How easy it is to sneak into fancy hotels and use their pools. From Ft Lauderdale to Miami.... just wear your bikini under your clothes, and order a drink if there’s a bar. Enjoy acting fancy.

How to do shit for free. When you’re broke, free shit is the best. 
Work out in a park. Go to free drinking days at restaurants (they exist!). Go to the beach. Download movies from the internet. Rent a SUP with a whole group of people, they all take a turn. Ride a crappy bike.

How to make awesome friends. 

1. Do something life changing that is hard to relate to.
2. Meet other people that can relate to that/you and live with them.
3. Get drunk with them, better if in costume.
4. New friends!

Okay, so thats not exactly the golden rule for making new friends. Nor do I really recommend jobless binge drinking as a long term choice.  But, when you put yourself out there, when you’re open to new experiences in life - you attract new people and new experiences. It’s amazing how many people are really out there, disrupting their lives for new goals and adventures. 

Meet them, learn from them, befriend them. Soak in their luminosity and lust for life - it can fuel yours.

One Year In.

One year ago today, I picked up a tiny bag. I flew away from my home, my family, my things (not much left) to go and try something new. 

Let’s live on a boat, we thought. Let’s travel for living.

Holy Shit, friends. We did it. 

We live on a boat. We travel for a living.

Where are we today you wonder? Today, we’re in Brazil - on holiday. Yep, on holiday from living on a boat and traveling for work. Craziness! Here are the places that we’ve been since stepping onboard this adventure...

Pretty good for a season and a half, and we’re just getting started. How about this then... I’ve had a couple of very flattering commenters ask if what we’re up to. So let’s catch up. Grab a cup of coffee, and take a seat in the galley - it’s a bit of a long story, but it’s a fun one...

Side Note: I’ll be throwing down my version of "how to be a yachtie" advice. It’s only based on our experiences getting into the industry from Florida. Feel free to disregard if you disagree!

Long Term Travel Insurance for Albertans

The mixture of being Canadian residents and full-time employees with additional health insurance has afforded us the luxury of never really thinking about our health in terms of money. Everything has always been free. We pay nominal fees for some prescriptions and travel immunizations, but not much.

To be honest, I can't even really relate to having to pay for healthcare. You have to pay if you get hit by a car? You have to pay to have a baby in a hospital? This doesn't make any sense to me. I'll keep my politics to myself, but my views are based on my experiences with this system of healthcare.

Venturing out into the world, we had to consider our health coverage internationally. We're both certified SCUBA divers and plan on continuing to dive - so that was a concern as well. Luckily, through the power of the interwebs, most of the research was already done for me.

Yeay to blog friends! Yeay to being lazy!

Steph over at 20 Years Hence, wrote an amazingly detailed post Better Safe than Sorry about her experience with Canadian, American, and International health insurance. I won't even try to recap what she has to say, because most of my posts are rambling diatribes about drinking too much, not information packed learning experiences.

Point is: I agree with all of it, and have had many of the same experiences looking into insurance.

There are only a few differences we have as Albertans. AHCIP requires that you be in Alberta for 183 days out of 12 months to maintain coverage. Since we will be gone for longer than that, we can call to extend it out. But even that will only bring us up to 12 months of coverage for AHCIP basics {this is free coverage that all Albertans get}. If we lose this coverage, we will have to insure all of our coverage independently, and not just the additional insurance that we would get with most plans.

World Nomads and Bon Voyage are two companies that provide international insurance. After some comparisons, World Nomads looked more like the insurance that we would need, as it included more extended diving and 'adventure travel' coverage.

However, we had two more factors to consider:
{1} We wanted to add onto our current AHCIP coverage, not double it up
{2} If we do end up working soon, many boats will include medical insurance as a part of their package, and we don't want to pay for something that could be offered for free!

We went to check out AMA Travel Insurance options, and they provide some shorter term extended coverage. This is what we went with in the end. We bought insurance until December, which is 71 travel days and cost us $486 for both of us. Not the cheapest, but it's what works best for us.

**Side Note: All of these policies are health insurance that we carry on top of a personal life insurance policy that we pay monthly. Look how grown up we are! Multiple levels of insurance!**

When our AMA coverage runs out, we'll most likely purchase the World Nomads package if we still need it. What about you fellow travellers? Did you purchase any insurance? Have you had any experiences making claims worldwide?

If you have any specific questions about Alberta/Travel insurance - let me know!

Do Not Lose your Safety Deposit Box Keys.

As I write this, I have a countdown clock open and ticking down in front of me. 40 hours until departure. We've been busy having drinks with friends, and fussing about our packing list - as expected.

Buut... every plan has kinks doesn't it?

Here's ours: I lost the keys to our safety deposit box. Yep. With all this moving around and packing, they're gone. I do not suggest this.

Turns out that the bank can't just please let you into the box, even if you ask. You must pay. You must book a locksmith - who usually books out up to a week in advance. But if you beg and plead and let them know you are moving out of the country at the end of the week!! you can get in. For $200 we had a lovely visit with Wayne the locksmith who literally DRILLED our box open today.

Less that one day to go and we're chasing our tails and running all over town in cars we're borrowing from friends and family while trying to solve problems that shouldn't even exist.

Silver lining: we got to move our box to a bank branch thats more convenient to us now. 39.5 Hours. Losing my bananas.

Have a good day and don't lose your stuff! ha ha...

What a Ride!

Hey Friends, guess what?

We got rid of our car! Yep, our much beloved VW Golf is gone. It took care of us for 4 years, and brought us to lots of amazing adventures. But, the lease was up the same day as our house possession.. so it was a busy day for us!

** financial disclosure: The Golf was leased for 4 years, and cost us $979 to return for some minor repairs and admin fees, ouch **

In the meantime - we’ve been driving our van. And while suuuper handy, it’s been a bit of a weird adjustment. Excuse me while I go all ‘first world problems’ on you here: Driving a nice car like the golf was quite reflective of our lifestyle and status in this city. Now, cruising around in a sketchy van - it’s a tactile adjustment and our first taste of ‘less possessions’. We knew it was going to happen, but having to let go of your ego in even the smallest of ways is an interesting shift in view. Just trying to be honest with you.

We’ve been staying with family in the ‘burbs for a couple of weeks, but next weekend we’re heading back downtown to stay with friends in an apartment. It’s going to be great to get our commute down to just a few minutes, but now we don’t want to deal with the expense of parking - so we’re selling the van (yeay money!) and signed up for an awesome new car sharing program to get us through the next couple of months!

Car2Go is a great program that we heard about on twitter (@danadebrito).We get to rent smart cars by the minute to use whenever/wherever we want! It’s all app based for finding the cars, parking and gas is all included, and it’s charged automatically to our credit cards. We signed up at an event so our registration was free (yeay free!) but I think it’s usually about $35/year.

Ps. I wasn't paid/sponsored by car2go in any way for this. It's just a sweet idea that I paid for with my own money.

Another check off our Champagne List! Cheers!

Imma Back!

Hello Bloggy Friends!

It's been a while since I've made an appearance around here - and while I'm not going to grovel and apologize (it's my blog! I'll neglect it if I want to!) I will say this: All you other bloggers who keep up regular content while traveling, you get a a huge digital HIGH FIVE! from me. Seriously.

I hear you saying 'this is a job' and 'blogging takes lot of time and effort'... what I actually heard was 'sunshine! traveling! writing about stuff! beer!'. Soo.... excuse my rude awakening while I tip my hat to your awesomeness.

Anyways, I've been up to LOTS of fun stuff, that I'm super-excited to tell you about so hold onto your hats. Here's a recap of what I've been up to and what's coming up soon:

• I went to Houston, Texas - that place is f*cking hilarious and awesome, it was all crawfish and two-steppin' for me
• Traveling solo + carry on only makes me feel like a badass super traveler
• I went on a Pacific NW road trip. Road Trips are CRAZY - you see so much stuff! 
• Portland is weird, lots of beer
• Seattle is cool, lots of coffee
• Vancouver is fancy
•  I ate/drank my face off - and my work pants juuuuustbarelyfit this morning. Problematic.
• We have some exciting house news brewing on the horizon - will keep you posted.
• I definitely want to travel forever and ever

Have a great day - I'll be blog stalking all my friends and catching up with you too!

Cheers!

Who Travels with you??

There’s so many ways and combination of groups that people travel in – how do you travel??

Where we went: Work travel only! I’ve never extended a work trip, or really tried to enjoy the city I’m working in. Work travel is rare for both of us{yearly?}I'm not the expert, but I'd like to explore my independent solo-traveling side a bit more!

Just the two of us! This is my favorite way to travel! Juliano is a great travel partner, he never gets lost and picks great places to eat. I find the best stuff to do, and am way better at bartering.

Where we went: Cuba, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles, Seattle, Montreal, lots more!

Pros: Sharing a bed saves money, less compromise on what to do, being together

Cons: Not meeting many new people, being with your spouse 24hrs a day can make you crazy, hard to get pictures together.

 Couples travel! This is really fun if you go with a couple who has similar interests as you and you get along. Bonus points for being able to split up into guys/gals… hello shopping and spas!

Where we went: Las Vegas, Baby!

Pros: Sharing bottles of wine means you get to taste more, shopping and spas (as above), great ideas/suggestions from another perspective

Cons: What if the other couple is horrible?? Or wants to eat MacDonald’s EVERY day? Are they swingers? You should know this.

Ahh… the most ‘local’ way to travel – and you get to visit your family! Staying with family is (a) almost free and (b) fun in the short term. Depending on your family – this arrangement has a serious expiry date, stay within it and all is fresh… even a day over and you’ve got sour milk.

Where we went: Ottawa, Brazil

Pros: Free food, free lodging, free showers, free local guide, free car to use, seeing your family!, living like a ‘local’

Cons: Do NOT overstay your welcome, family can be crazy, sometime you never get to leave the house because it’s like herding cats {I mean that in a very loving way}

This differs for Family Travel, because everyone is traveling! This was our first year traveling with family – and we went the ‘holiday’ route.  Highly recommended. Most families have a variety of people that like different things…. And that shouldn’t stop you from doing what you want most days. Picking dinner plans should not be a HUGE fiasco.

Where we went: Cozumel, Mexico

Pros: family bonding time, vacation, mom probably pays for stuff

Cons: these photos will be on your mom’s wall forever – don’t get a bad haircut, family can be crazy

Pretty much vacation + friends + wedding = super-fun-drunky times. You get to meet people on the fringes of your social circle, and go on a holiday with a bunch of other people that you like! And a wedding – it’s a party within a party!

Where we went:  Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, Seattle/Oak Harbor, WA

Pros: lots of drinking buddies, vacation, wedding events, usually nice locations

Cons: no choice of time/location for your holiday, maybe you have a black heart and don’t like weddings, family will be there – family can be crazy {other people's families included}

Pretty much destination wedding times a zillion, minus the tuxedos and grandparents. This is the spring-break style travel with lots of pictures and slightly less memories. It’s all about group dynamics… so good luck with that. I recommend lots of extra food, extra booze, easy bathroom access and no couples with drama.

Where we went: Houseboating on the Shushwap Lakes, BC

Pros: so much party, lots of fun people to meet/hang out with, probably very little responsibility

Cons: holy crap – can all these people co-exist? Who had to organize this??

Soo..That's how we've traveled in the past! Our future travel includes road trip travel, staying with strangers, living on a boat... and who knows what! How about work-stay or study travel?  Let me know what your favorite travel group/style is!