Tinkerblue

Ouch - Yellow Fever Vaccination

During my next set of holidays in November/December/January I will be travelling to Canada, Peru, back to Canada, Australia, China, Canada and then to my next ship.

For working on ships I have a medical that is renewed every two years. that includes all vaccinations.  Somehow my typhoid vaccination expired in 2015 and I need a booster.  The bigger issuer is the yellow fever vaccination. I don't need it for the regions we will be travelling to in Peru or China.  

 

But, guess what?  Australia says that if I have been in a country where there is a risk of yellow fever (regardless of the regions we're travelling to) then I need a certificate of vaccination to enter Australia.

 

 

I don't need the yellow fever vaccination to enter Peru, but I do need proof of vaccination to enter Australia. So that means I need the vaccination.

So this afternoon I spent 90 minutes at the travel medical clinic, have a puncture wound in each arm, an achy left arm, a list of side effects to watch for and $245.00 less in my pocket.

 

 

In return I have a fancy yellow certificate that certifies that I have indeed received the yellow fever vaccination.  I like that the certificate is colour coded to match the name of the disease. That's about all I like about it. 

 

 

 

27 Hours Seattle to Orlando

I'm transferring ships. From Carnival Legend which is home ported in Seattle, WA to Carnival Sensation which is based out of Port Canaveral, FL.

Tuesday started early and ended late.

 

 

• 530am The alarm disturbs the peace
• 600am I have to be in the main theatre for crew immigration
• 630am back in the cabin I shower and then go for breakfast
• 800am return my cabin key to the MSA (staff admin)
• 815am drop my bags in the crew luggage cage in the marshalling area
• 900am be back in the theatre with all other crew signing off to be escorted off the ship
• 930am board crew shuttle to Seattle airport.
• 1015am arrive at airport, check in my luggage for my American Airlines flight, grab a Starbucks and catch up on some emails, texts, Facebook and banking
• 1145am catch the light rail link to downtown Seattle, transfer to the monorail which takes me to Seattle Centre
• 200pm spend a few hours at Chihuly Garden and Glass, and some window shopping at Nordstrom's

 

 

• 600pm head back to the airport
• 730pm use TSA precheck so I don't have to take out my laptop or liquids or take off my shoes and belt.
• 740pm I'm through security. First stop is for dinner.
• 800pm 30 minute chair massage. It felt good. There was a nice big knot near my left shoulder. I thought I was going to be sick when the RM was kneading it out. But my shoulder felt so much better after.
• 845pm settle in at my departure gate, charge my phone and iPad, download season 3 of Scandal.

 

 

• 1030pm priority boarding for my flight, get a seat with extra legroom. Yeah, I know, I'm short. But it's a perk of having MVP status on a partner airline.
• 1105pm flight departs on time.
• For the next 5 hours and 45 minutes I read, watch Scandal, get up every hour to stretch my legs, I also nap on and off but never really fall asleep.
• 450am Seattle time, which is now 750am Miami time arrive in Miami
• 515am/815am change terminals, change from PJs to regular clothes and grab coffee and a muffin.
• 545am/845am nap in the departure lounge
• 609am/909am board flight
• 645am/945am flight leaves a few minutes late

 

 

• 735am/1035am we arrive in Orlando ahead of schedule. Stop by the airport Disney Store because it's right there, can't resist a new luggage tag.

 

 

• 845am/1145am hotel shuttle finally arrives to collect myself and all my luggage.
• 900am/1200pm I check in, find my room and fall asleep. From 600am immigration yesterday to the noon time pass out in my hotel bed today was 27 hours. 27 hours!
• After a four hour nap the rest of the evening is spent walking to Chick-Fil-A for late lunch/early dinner, shopping at Walgreens for some toiletry refills and finding refuge in a Starbucks from a sudden downpour complete with thunder and lighting.

And now it's 336am and I'm wide awake. The alarm will sound in three hours so I can shower, have breakfast and be on the 730am shuttle to the port.

I should sleep well tonight.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Travelling with Two Passports - The Joys of Dual Citizenship

I'm in the process of getting all my paperwork work ready for my next ship.

 

Can you see how faded the cover of my Aussie passport is? The Coat of Arms has completely worn off!

 I am Australian born and raised.  I am an Australian Citizen by birth.  In 2009 I became a Canadian Citizen. So now I have dual Citizenship.  I have two passports.  An Australian passport and a Canadian passport. I am however not a resident of Australia, I am technically deemed a foreign resident.  I am a Canadian resident.  In every day life it doesn't really matter which Citizenship I hold.  

For travelling and working on cruise ships it does matter.

For the longest time I was a Australian Citizen with Canadian Permanent Residency. I didn't really see the need to become a Canadian Citizen. As a resident I could do everything but vote, run for public office or join the Defence Forces.  Given that I didn't want to run for office or join the Navy, Army or Airforce I was okay with being a resident not a citizen.  

But back when Dave and I were still married and flying to the US lots in our plane it was an issue.  I had an Aussie passport with a US visa but I couldn't enter the US in a private plane or private boat only on a commercial flight, a cruise or at the land borders. We wanted to fly to the States a lot.  The San Juan Islands, the Oregon Coast, Everett, Seattle etc.  So I became a Canadian Citizen.

As a dual citizen the requirements for travel are that I am required to leave and enter  Canada with my Canadian passport.  I am required to enter and leave Australia using my Australian passport.  When I travel from Vancouver to Hobart to visit my family I use both passports.  I leave Canada and arrive into the US with my Canadian passport.

I can't leave the US for Australia on my Canadian passport because it doesn't have the correct visas to enter Australia.  I can't get the correct visas in my Canadian passport because Australian Citizens cannot be be issued Australian visas.  Doesn't matter if they are travelling on a passport issued by another country. 

So when I leave the US and then arrive into Australia I use my Australian passport.  Because I am leaving the US with my Aussie passport it has to have a US tourist visa in it. 

 

 

Working  on the cruise ships I use my Canadian passport.  I leave Canada to enter the US on my Canadian passport.  As a Canadian Citizen who is transiting the US for other countries on the ship I don't require a US visa. 

So I spend a fortune on passports and visas.  I have a Canadian passport valid for 5 years.  An Australian passport valid for 10 years. A US visa in my Australian passport also valid for 10 years.  

 

The Consulate cut the cover, that shows the passport is expired.

 I will be joining my next ship in Seattle in the US.  We will cruise in Alaska and Hawaii.  I will do that with my Canadian passport.  But then the ship will reposition to the Pacific and home port in Sydney, Australia. I have to enter and leave Australia on my Australian passport.  My Australian passport just expired this year.  I just applied to renew it.  

 

 

Holy crap is it ever expensive.  I had to have three sets of passport photos taken. Not because I needed three sets but because the Australian Consulate in Vancouver is really picky:

• The first set was 1mm too small or too large. I don't remember, just that it was 1mm out (the pair on the top right).
• The second set my face was too shiny (the pair on the bottom left).
• The third set was good (the pair on the top right).
• The single photo was for my medical, I was allowed to smile for that one.

 

 

At $15.00 per set, I'm already at $45.00. The renewal fee is $250.00.  Plus for the privilege of renewing it outside Australian I get to pay an overseas processing fee of $100.00. That's just under $400.00 for my passport!!!!!!

And guess what the US visa in my old expired passport is still valid.  It doesn't expire until 2018.  It gets noted that my US visa is VIOPP.  (visa in other passport). When it does need renewing it's another $160.00.  Crap.  So I need to take all three passports with me.  

 

Good thing my Canadian passport doesn't expire for another three years.  A 10 year passport will only be $160.00 plus photos. Anyway it will be less than $200.00.  Half the cost of my Aussie passport.

But on a high note...I had my "interview" and submitted my application to the Australian Consulate on Monday August 10th. They said with 8-10 business days for processing, I would have it back by the 21st at the latest.  They phoned on Thursday August 13th that it was ready for pick up.  4 days! Awesome.

Gotta say I prefer my new passport.  Inside the pages are a pretty blue with gum leaves, Aussie animals and scenes from Aussie life.  The old one was brown pages with I'm not sure what.  

 

Also my new passport is the new (well new to me, it's been since October 2005) electronic passport. It's got a smart ass chip in it loaded with my biometrics. Or something. Kind a scary.

 

 

I will however miss all the stamps in my old passport.  I wish most countries still actually stamped my passport.

 

 

 

 

 

15 Funniest Travel Books Ever Written

I love to read.  I love to travel.  I'm not so keen on reading about other people's travel...only because I get jealous.

 

CNN recently posted a list of the 15 Funniest Travel Books Ever Written.

1. The Sex Lives of Cannibals by Peter Moore
2. The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson
3. Coasting by Dick Flinthart
4. Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman
5. Out of Sheer Rage by Geoff Dyer
6. Queenan Country by Joe Qeenan
7. Are You Experienced by William Sutcliffe
8. Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O'Hanlon
9. Westward Ha! by S.J. Perelman
10. The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux
11. The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
12. A Supposedly Fun Thin I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
13. Holidays in Hell by P.J. O'Rourke
14. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

How is it that I have only read 3 books on this list? I've read hundreds of travelogues but only three of these.  Of course there are many that I've read that are not on this list, starting with:

• The Ridiculous Race by Steve Hely
• In a Sunburnt/Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
• Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks

Any other recommendations for funny travel stories?

 

The Joys of Travel

I say that with a hefty dose of sarcasm.

In the last 9 weeks I've been on 12 commercial flights ranging from 1hr to 15 hrs. I've travelled in economy, business and first class. Of course the shortest flight were when I suffered in first class, and the long haul flights were when I enjoyed the comforts of economy class.

Despite some close connections I never lost a piece of luggage, something to be grateful for.

I did however have the pleasure of seeing one of my bags come round the luggage carousel with a handle torn off and a gaping hole where said handle had once been attached. Not entirely sure if anything was lost out the hole. But if it was, it obviously wasn't very important because I can't remember it.

On the flight from LA to Sydney the plane wasn't very full yet I was somehow seated in the only full row. In the window seat as well! I hate window seats on flights. I like to get up and walk the aisles otherwise my legs get restless. Stuck in a window seat for 15 hours is not my idea of fun. Every time I wanted to get out of the seat I had to wake up my row mates and the couple in the row in front of us. They had their seats reclined and I couldn't get by without them putting their seats upright. Yes, I was that annoying passenger.

My flight from Sydney to LA had to be diverted to Honolulu. Why? For a medical emergency that could have been avoided. The lady sitting in front of my was not well from the get go. Sweating, shaking, vomiting, the list goes on. Her and her husband hid if from the flight attendants until the first drink cart came round. I don't think they intentionally hid her illness, they were probably more embarrassed than anything else. The crew moved the lady and her husband to the back of the plane where they could treat her with more privacy. Turns out the lady was diabetic. Her insulin was in her checked bag, not her carry on, and she had not eaten all day (we were on a 230pm flight!). Shortly after the pilot requested any passengers who were medical practitioners or any passengers who had spare insulin to identify themselves the announcement was made that we were diverting to Hawaii for a medical emergency. We were an hour on the ground in Honolulu while the passenger was offloaded and the plane was refueled. And the diversion added an extra two hours of flight time meaning lots of missed connections in LA.

I do hope the passenger was okay, but seriously! If you need prescription medication why would you pack it in your checked luggage? Especially for a 13+ hour flight.

I have dual Australian and Canadian citizenship. You might think that sounds exciting, but it can cause some problems when traveling between Australia and Canada. Canadians need visas to enter Australia, and Australians need visas to enter the US. When I tried to check in for my flight to Sydney via LA in Vancouver the check in agent wouldn't check me in. I had given her my Canadian passport and it didn't have an Australian entry visa associated with it. So I gave her my Aussie passport but then she couldn't check me in with that either because it didn't have a entry visa for the US. She had to call a supervisor. I've held dual citizenship for 5 years now and it's never been an issue before. First world problems, I know. Some would consider me lucky to have such a problem.

Flights of 4 hours duration or more put me at risk for blood clots. How many of those 12 flights I've taken have been that long or more? 8!!!. Prevention, prevention, prevention. Get my ass out of my seat every hour or so and walk for a few minutes, which is why I hate window seats. Do those exercises they have in the inflight magazine. Drink lots of water, which has the added bonus of making me need to go to the bathroom lots, see why I hate window seats? Avoid alcohol and caffeine. Wear ugly compression socks. Except I have new ones... Pink argyle compressions socks. They're cute.

Saturday afternoon I flew from Vancouver to LA, later today I'll sign on to my next ship. The US immigration officer sent me inside for secondary processing. That's a whole lot of fun! My ship contract is from March 30th to September 28th. Immigration issued my B2 visa with an expiration date of September 20th. See a problem?

I'm taking a shuttle from the LAX hotel I'm staying at to the cruise ship terminal in Long Beach. The company sent me a travel info sheet with a phone number to call to book the shuttle. Great, except the 1-800 number they provided is for "LA's hottest chat line"! Awesome!

I love traveling to LA. Security screening is such fun. Both in Vancouver and in Sydney I had to almost strip naked before they'd let me through security. In addition to removing my jacket, belt, and shoes, and emptying my pockets, I also had to remove my watch, my rings, my bracelet and my earrings. Oh and the hair elastic that was around my wrist. I still set off the metal detector. It was the underwire in my bra.

Inconvenient? Yes. But just a small price to pay to be able to enjoy the travel that I do. Besides the joys of travel make for good stories, no?

Shore Excursion from Cozumel to Tulum

 

Our ship docks in Cozumel every second week. So far I have been to Cozumel 4 times, each time I've gotten off the boat and just wandered around near the port, gone for lunch downtown, or gone to a local hotel for internet access.

 

Yesterday I finally got myself organised enough to do something further afield and more exciting. Victoria and I booked one of the ship's shore excursions to the Mayan ruins of Tulum. Sure we probably could have done it cheaper ourselves but it involves getting a ferry and a bus there and back and we didn't want to risk missing the last ferry and thereby miss the ship. So we paid the big bucks to do the official excursion.

 

The excursion itself was okay. There wasn't much communication. We got off the ship and went to the meeting point on the pier. The person standing there with the Tulum signed just waved us on, said keep going to the ferry. At the ferry they took our excursion ticket but didn't give us any further information. I had heard horror stories about the ferry - that it's long and rough and everyone gets sick. But it was okay. I napped. When we got to Playa del Carmen finally someone asked us if we were on the Tulum tour and directed us to a coach. Our tour guide for the day was Angel del Jesus or Angel for short. He was very friendly, very funny and way too talkative. Would have been nice if he had shut up for 5 minutes. (says me!)

 

We stopped at a craft cooperative between the ferry and the ruins so we could do the obligatory shopping, Victoria bought an obsidian pendant and I bought a christmas decoration. For the tree I wont have this year, in the home I don't have. Not very practical I know.

 

This is what I learnt from the tour guide:

• Tulum means stinky land in Mayan, Cancun means snakes nest and Yucatan means "Listen how they talk".
• It was a major port for the Mayans
• The Mayans never said the world would end last December
• Most non-Mexicans confuse the Mayan calendar with the Aztec Calendar. They are not the same.
• Tulum was one of the last cities built by the Mayans
• They Mayans were short, averaging 4 feet tall. So most of their entrances ways are only 5 feet tall. Which means even I have to bend down to get through the gateways.
• Mayan women give birth standing up.
• Tulum is located right next to the ocean. The salt and wind are part of the reason it has disintegrated faster than the non coastal ruins ruins.
• The Mayans were very smart. They built whole cities with functioning sewer systems, supplies of fresh water, drainage for storm water etc. Compare that to some of the towns we build now in the 21st century.
• The temples are built based on the Mayan calendar, 91 steps on each of 4 sides = 364 steps plus the platform at the top = 365, which corresponds with 365 days in a Mayan year.
• You can tell a building is a temple because the doors face East and West, in non temple buildings the doors face North and South. (I think it was that way round!)
• The doors also line up so that on the spring and autumn equinox the sun streams through an exact spot each time. Thousands and thousands of visitors will show up to the Mayan sites on the equinoxes. The next one is the 21st of this month.

 

 

After touring the ruins we climbed down the stairs to the beach below.  It was right out of a tourist brochure... white sand, turquoise water.  My life is a tourist brochure right now. I am so lucky.

 

 

How cool is it that I get to go swimming here before I go to work?

 

 

And drink a local Yucatan beer and eat some of the hottest Pico De Gallo I have ever had. They warned us that the locals call it Ay Ay Ay sauce.

 

From Vancouver to The Caribbean

Well that happened a lot faster than expected.

Way back last year sometime I applied to work on cruise ships as either guest services or retail sales. In May I was "hired". But then I waited. And waited. And waited. I was told I had to wait for a position to open up on a ship. In May their best guesstimate was I would probably get a contract for September or October 2013 or possibly January 2014.

Umm yeah. On Wednesday July 10th I received and email that said,

"Hi Rachael,

I have just received an emergency Starboard opening. I am not sure the ship, but I believe it is Carnival. It leaves from Miami on July 13. Let me know what you think (as soon as possible please!)

Best Regards,

XXXXX"

See those dates? I received the email Wednesday July 10th. The ship was leaving Miami Saturday July 13th. That was three days!!!!!!!!!!

There was a bit of a panic. Firstly, could I even say yes. I had a job, if I said yes to the cruise ship job it meant leaving the B&B immediately. Not even a days notice. I needed to start packing up and cleaning my room in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast. I spent most of that afternoon and evening in a panic. There was paperwork to deal with, flights to book, stuff to pack - what was going with me, what was going to storage and what was going to the thrift store.

I took a break Wednesday night to go kayaking to Pasley Island with my regular Wednesday Evening Paddle Group. I'm glad I went. I got to say goodbye to a few people - Naomi, Pat, Ian, Bill, Cam, Shannon and Jennifer. I missed Rose, Lauri, Judith, Sonja and Virginia and the rest of the group. Then there was the matter of my kayak, where was I going to store that?

Thursday morning I ran errands in Sechelt before getting the ferry to Vancouver. It was about lunch time on Thursday that I realized no way I was going to be ready to fly to Miami on Friday and meet the ship the next day.

I just couldn't make those dates work. Luckily for me they were able to change the start date. Instead of flying to Miami to join the ship on day 1 of a 7 night cruise I flew to Belize and signed on there on day 3.

I spent the extra few days in Vancouver with my friends Paul and Erin. They kept me sane while I dealt with packing, finding storage for my car, adding my gear from Sechelt to my storage locker, renewing my locker, insurance, getting vaccinations, shopping for black or navy shoes and a navy skirt etc etc etc

By the time Paul drove me to the airport on Sunday evening for my red eye flight from Vancouver to Belize City I was exhausted and ready to cry.

The flight was uneventful, although I was on the mail route - Vancouver to Salt Lake City to Atlanta to Belize City. All the flights were on time, my luggage made it to Belize on the same flight as me etc etc.

I spent Monday night in a dodgy hotel in a dodgy area of Belize City, not a hotel I would use again or recommend to anyone else. Finally on Tuesday morning I got a taxi to the port in Belize City and then the tender out to the ship, and I have been here ever since.

I am on the Carnival Liberty
I am a sales associate in the retail shops
I'm here for 6 months - July '13 to Jan '14

The ship departs from Miami every Saturday afternoon and docks back in Miami the following Saturday morning.

We cruise for 7 nights each time.

Either the Eastern Caribbean - Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, St Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk.

Or the Western Caribbean - Cozumel, Belize City, Isla Roatan and Grand Cayman.

Reliving the Early 90's

Spending the evening with Jo.

Drinking wine.

Eating cheezels, BBQ Shapes, lamingtons and vanilla slices.

Reminiscing and laughing about life in London and elsewhere in the early 90's.

- Getting drunk on fermenting wine in Strasbourg.
- Jo and the pretzel man at Oktoberfest I Munich
- lots of beer at Oktoberfest
- New Years Eve in London
- concentrating hard at work in London

Leah, Jo, Rachael, Sara and Robin

Home

A quick flight from Melbourne, (seriously quick, our one hour flight arrived 15 mins early) above the clouds and I'm home.

In my childhood home, sleeping in my childhood bedroom. Although the room has been through a few changes since I left. The wallpaper and the bookshelf remain the same.

Between jet lag and insomnia I didn't sleep all that well in Melbourne, but it must be something about the comfort of home - I've had two relatively good nights sleep.

No exciting touristy stories to tell, this trip is not about that. Yesterday I spent the day with my Mum and Nan. Today I'm home doing laundry and re-reading some of those books on my bookshelf.

The weekend will be all about hanging out with childhood friends.

Still in Vancouver

We should be starting our descent into LAX about now. Instead I'm still on the floor of the departure gate at YVR.

It's grey and wet outside, but look. Our plane just arrived. So we'll be leaving soon. Better late than never. And it means I won't be hanging out at LAX for 7 and 1/2 hours.