Life as a stewardess!

So it’s been 10 days since my first day of work on a superyacht! Last week I was introduced to the stewardess rotation schedule- either laundry, crew mess or interior. Laundry- self explanatory. Crew mess- crew kitchen/lounge cleaning and setting up for tea/lunch. Interior- cleaning interior areas of boat including Bridge, guest areas etc.  Some boats hire stewardesses for a specific role only (laundry or housekeeping or service) so it’s really nice to work on a boat where you are on rotation, as you get to do a bit of everything and it adds some variety to your week! 

The 78m superyacht I work on!

Laundry day duty is becoming my favourite though, as you can just stick on your ipod, pump your tunes and get on with it (right now my favourite music for laundry and cleaning is drum & bass. I kinda dance around with the mop). Doing laundry and ironing requires no physical activity and is pretty therapeutic (kinda like baking), whereas working the interior involves walking up and down 5 flights of stairs 8-12 times a day no jokes), lugging vacuum cleaners and buckets and mops around. After those days though, you at least feel as though you’ve done some exercise... The concern with weight gain is still top of mind, due to the endless buffet food and snack cupboards on the boat and what seems like endless drinking. 

Jen and I have been trying to get into a routine of running 6km each day, then stopping midway to do squats, lunges, push ups, abs etc. We tried a new route last week past the fort, towards Biot. The mountains in the distance are now covered with snow and the view is gorgeous. It’s pretty flipping freezing. The temperature has just plummeted this last week and the mornings and evenings have gone from being “fresh” to freezing with most days being pretty chilly too. Jackets and snoods are out in full force (and if you’re asking yourself wtf is a snood, then you need to pull your head out of the sand and join the 21^st century). 

Talking about snoods.... the other weekend my fabulous flatmates and I decided to go shopping in Nice for the day. The awful dreary weather and pissing rain didn't dampen our spirits as we sat on the train to Nice, rubbing our hands in glee, eyes wide and excited at the thought of the clothes that lay in store for us. Too many clothes, too little time..... We descended on H&M and Zara like mad women and after running around like kids in a toy store shouting things like “Oh my god did you SEE that?!” “What other colours did they have?” “Does it come with accessories?” “I want one of those, where did you find it?!” we finally left with bulging shopping bags and empty wallets. I sat on the train ride home, exhausted, but with that post retail therapy glow and fuzzy warm feeling that makes you smile (think post orgasm feeling...) and decided a nap was definitely in order.

But with the housemates that I have, that was never going to happen...... We get back to the house around 7pm, with the girls in full force, whipping out the espresso machine and vodka to make espresso martinis. 

Liz loves her cereal

Housemates!

A big night was definitely on the cards and I decided that I wanted to wear my new dress! To Dana’s disapproval, I had decided to also wear heels and earrings (far too dressed up for Antibes they all said). But I wanted to dress up and I was going to give it all or nothing. So as we do, we again ended up at Antibes most popular nightclub (it being the only place open after 12am...) “Equinox”.

 Well it wasn’t my proudest moment, but I was told (my memory is a bit fuzzy...) that I got thrown out the club. Twice. The first time for not wearing shoes (apparently I just idly left them near the dance floor and decided to walk around barefoot instead. Poor Jenny was traipsing around after me picking up my things). The second time for dancing on the DJ’s stool size speaker and then falling and doing a faceplant onto the floor. Fail. I woke up the next morning with a huge bruise on my left leg that ran from my ankle to my knee and an even bigger LC after getting a recap of the night.

Last week I just tried to put my head down and get into the swing of things at work. I still can’t get over the amount of detail and luxury that you see on superyachts- no expense is spared. Each room looks like the inside of a palace and each will have its own theme/colour scheme and everything (including the walls) is either silk or leather. All crew members have walkie talkies so we can communicate with each other across 5 floors. The main door to the boat has a palm reading scanner as security. There is also one at the passarail (the gangway thing) as the boat sets its alarm/beams from 10pm so if you get home later than that you have to scan in before you get on the passarail. It’s pretty frikkin cool if you ask me. And anything I could ever need or want is provided for the crew on the boat- medicine, every toiletry under the sun- shampoos, facewash, suntan lotion, lip balm, hand cream, razors, even tampons and condoms. And we have like 8 different crew uniforms.

Last Wed was Halloween so we dressed all in black with devil horns and tails (all we could find sadly) and dotted on some red lipstick and headed out to a restaurant/bar called the Blue Lady. Everyone was dressed up so I was pretty impressed, even the hot kiwi who was rocking a ghostbusters outfit and the backpack was was full of wine. My kinda guy! The night was pretty messy (no great amount of detail needed, but we ended up at that dodgy hole again, Equinox. And no I didn't faceplant off a speaker this time or get kicked out but I did leave with the hot kiwi again). 

I was keen to have a little chill on Thurs but it was Jen’s last night in Antibes so we HAD to go out (obviously). I was exhausted (I think I only had 2hrs sleep from the night before and then I had to work an 8hr day). Well Equinox was pretty quiet and I was getting slightly bored as I didn't feel like drinking, but then we met some saffa guys and the one called “steak” (no jokes) who was pretty hammered, was adamant that he could do the “Gangnam Style” dance and then proceeded to demonstrate this on the middle of the dancefloor which was so flipping funny! 

"steak"

On Friday we were told that the boat is going to the UK this week and we are due to stay there for the next 1-3 months in Portsmouth. Well I heard Portsmouth is a bit of a dodgy hole and I’ve really grown to love Antibes and it’s started to feel like home, so I’m a tad bleak. I’ve made some awesome friends here and will also be leaving the hot kiwi behind, who I'd started growing a soft spot for. Nevermind the fact that I’m concerned about the crossing- apparently its 10 days and pretty rough- and I get really seasick (yes I know what you are thinking). But other than that I’m pretty stoked! We’ll be 1.5hrs train ride from London and at least we are near a big shopping centre that has a Primark and H&M and everyone speaks English!!

I was keen to celebrate what I thought was going to be my last weekend in Antibes... Saturday night it was the birthday of the bar owner (Mika) of the local yachtie hangout bar “Le Happy Face”. Mika was having a party there and then hired buses to take everyone to a club in Juan le Pins where he booked out a room and had some bottles. Dana, Liz, Louise and I ended up in the back of a dodgy panel van with about 30 other people that made its way to an even dodgier club in JLP. 

Mika

Me and Dana

Luke- one of the boys from another boat

Louise the crazy swede

Trent- another boy from one of the other superyachts

Louise is my crazy Swede friend who works on the boat next to me (I have the hot kiwi on one side and Louise’s boat on the other). She is like a walking encyclopaedia and I swear sometimes she has turrets, but she is loads of fun and has that typical Swedish look that all boys go gaga over- blonde hair and blue eyes. Sunday eve we met up with the hot kiwi and the guys from his boat who are also really kiff, and had a few beers. I then had to pack and leave our little home (the apartment) and move onto the boat. Excitement!

My cabin is huge as crew cabin sizes go- usually they are pretty tight, like the photo in my 14 October blog. This one is bigger than the entire apartment Dana, Liz, Jenny and I were sharing! I have the top bunk with the porthole which is pretty shweet and then we each have a TV and the bathroom is as big as my one back home. The only thing is its short on is cupboard space! 

This week as flown by with nothing all that eventful happening, except dinner with the girls and a dinner last night with my new crew. We leave for Portsmouth tomorrow at 10am, although we are stopping at Gibraltar to refuel, which is 2 days away. We might then be held up at Gib for a few days due to bad weather on the other side in the Bay of Briscay. The chief engineer says to me today "Tiff i don't mean this to scare you but the Bay of Briscay has some of the worst weather I have ever experienced in all my years at sea". Fuck. I’m kinding kakking myself.... but I started taking my seasickness tablets and ginger tablets 4 days ago, so I’m just hoping I’m going to be okay and not spending the next 10 days curled up in the foetal position, hugging the toilet bowl. I have told myself even if that is the case, I won’t actually die (hopefully) and best case scenario is at least I’ll lose a few kg’s!

See you all on the other side!