Algeciras, Spain...Refuel for 2!

Hello everyone! Still no internet on the ship as of yet, but we are now in Algeciras, Spain for a few hours refuelling so I thought I would recharge and refuel myself by hitting up an internet cafe and supermarket. I was going nuts without contact from the other world... and its only been a few days haha I have to get back into the schedule again. I had some nice emails from people saying they miss me and wish me luck across the might Atlantic...almost as if its ME who is driving the ship lol. All I can say is 'i will try to do my best'.

Its relatively boring here...but the cool thing is this:

one side of the ship has Spain.... behind us is Jabralta .... and to the other side in the distance is Morocco!!! Africa!!!

All these places, amazing as they are however.... Grit I miss ya so much, we gotta come back here haha! and THEN everyone else can come.... heehee

If internet comes up on the ship on the crossing, I will update y'all, but if not...talk to you in one week in New Yawk lol

Oh, Finally saw the movie Crash last night on the Movies under the Stars... god what a good movie...

anyways, see ya soon!

ciao!

M

Update to schedule

One more thing to add before I go drown my newly received cold with tea.....(got it 5 hours ago by the way...cant stop coughing)....

As we are leaving for New York tomorrow, and there still isn't any word of internet on the ship... I am unsure as to when I can talk with anyone next. The good news is that there is wireless internet pumped into each cabin and therefore I will have 100% usage of my own laptop on the internet while I am far and away..... translation: you want photos, you can have photos. you want msn, you can have msn.... Dad: you want Skype? you can Skype the shit outta me (haha).

So, to recap my schedule... tomorrow (27th) we sail for the first time at 4pm, at sea for about 4 days and then we refuel in Spain... still not sure as to whether or not we will be able to get off the ship in spain but nevertheless: I will be in Spain in a few days. After that we sail across the Atlantic and no word of a lie, as we are taking the same voyage as the Titanic did (around this time of year even), we will be passing within a short distance of the flippin' thing as well.

Then we get to New York I think June 8th or 9th, and land in Brooklyn haha no kidding. We are there for 5 days or so doing odd jobs here and there, and then on the 14th we go crazy to the Caribbean for the rest of my contract.... good times.

hope to talk to everyone soon, keep those emails a comin' in the mean time!

arrivederci!

M

Arrivederci l'Italia!

31 hours left until we leave Italy, and its no surprise that nobody wants to go. Its too kozy here. Every night has consisted of not one, but usually two different patios with gelatto's and cappucino's as far as the eye could see.... and every time you walk down the street and you hear folks speaking italian, or smell the bakeries and restaurants and coffee shops, or hear the music playing (usually Live and involving accordians) in local pubs....you are instantly transformed into this person that quite simply doesn't give a shit about anything negative in the world. You cant help but feel .....content. Not just content....but like 'just got out of a 45min soak in a hot bath with candles and bubbles and Jack Johnson playing softly and...oh and all my bills are paid' type of Content.

ya. I'm taking Italy with me.

Go Rocky. Go.

M

Photos from Venice!

Woke up this morning with an itch to explore...

Hey everyone, I can't talk for too long, but I just had to mention this because I am about to explode...

I had a day off today in Trieste, Italy...so I woke up, and decided at the spur of the moment to go siteseeing...so i walked around, decided to hop a train... and two hours later:

I am in Venice Italy.

Right now.

I have 7 hours before my train leaves for the ship, its 1pm, i have TWO cameras on the go, about 3 cappucinos in my system (going on 4 in about 5 minutes), and I can't wait to go exploring.

In fact, I'm outta here! I'll be back in a few hours!

Ciao!

M

Crowned in Italy!

I have arrived! Trieste, Italy.... damn. I never thought I would see the day where I would be Michael Wachniak: World Traveller.

Ok so a quick note to bring everyone up to speed. I flew from Vancouver to Frankfurt, Germany yesterday, then to Milan, Italy. In Milan there was a 9 hour wait, so I hopped on the internet, ate at Burger King (ya.. i know), and slept for a few hours. When I finally took off to Trieste, it was all starting to sink in. I am in Italy...

I arrived in Trieste airport at about 11pm, and by 1115pmI was at the ship. The ship....the CROWN PRINCESS... is .... the biggest fucking thing I have ever seen in my life. The gangway is on 4, so when you stand there, you have this white...WALL standing another 15 stories above you. The Pacific Sky had 11 decks... The Crown has 19. Do the math. You cant help but just stand there with your jaw gaped wide open. Anyways when I got there, there was about 20 people outside drinking beer, smoking, sitting on crates. I walked inside and immediately smelled 'new ship'. The guys gave me my cabin cardkey and then said 'ok talk to you later'... nothing about when i start working, nothing about what i should do, i still dont even know if there are any other photographers on the ship haha. So, I went to my cabin 4209 (deck 4 baby ya!) and its simply amazing. Clean, new, has a TV and a DVD player... oh ya, and no electricity. So, i had to run over again to tell someone.. and today its still Powerless (just like Nelly Furtado).

Today I woke up at 1pm, went to a safety induction, went back to bed, and now Matt and I are walking around Italy and going to find food...

I will keep everyone posted, but I just wanted to tell everyone I am ok.

Miss you tons!

see you all in the next cartoon,

M

Update: www.michaelwachniak.com

I am pleased to announce that I have finally added all my new photos to my site. Australia, New Caledonia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia... its all there. I strongly encourage you to visit it and please let me know what you think. I want everyone to see what I saw, as it was a very big part in my life.

www.michaelwachniak.com

(photo above: sunset on my last day in Langkawi, Malaysia)

 

Bon Voyage, Amber!

I took the bus down to Port of Vancouver today, in hopes I would see a buddy of mine from The Sky. I didnt get a chance to see her but I did see my first sail-away FROM LAND lol

have a good trip Amber! Be nice to the guys, aight!?

Ah, The Island Princess


Oh God I hope he read the sign!


Look at that ASS! (Although I musts admit, the Pacific Sky's was better lol)

 

Ahhh, vacation at last...

Well... it was fun while it lasted, but today (day 6 of my vacation) i got a call from Princess Cruises head office... Turns out I am NOT off for 1 month lol... I knew I wasn't going on the Diamond to Alaska when I got here to Vancouver, and after a few days of fighting to get onto Grit's ship (Star Princess in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, etc.) I knew that was a NO-GO as well....then came the "but you might go to the Grand Princess in the Mediterranean Sea June 21st".... TODAY I found out (in fact 4 hours ago)...."Mike, pack your stuff, you are heading to Italy in 3 days onto the Crown Princess for its maiden voyage!"....

What...The....Fuck....

hey its all good, I am just totally surprised. In a perfect world I would have jumped onto Grit's ship, but hey... I'm not going anywhere anytime soon (well...except for Italy).

So.. Dry-docked in Italy for a week or 2.. then a big swim across the Atlantic to New York, and from there we do 9-day roundtrip cruises from NewYork to the Caribbean and back. (check www.princess.com for proper itinerary)

Go Flames.

M

Reincarnation

Just before I went to bed tonight, I thought I would see if there was any information on the world wide web about The Pacific Sky's new identity: "Sky Wonder". So, onto Google I went.

http://www.pullmanturcruises.com/sky.html

There she is folks. Sky Wonder. A new change of clothes and voila!

If you have a few minutes, click on "ver video" on the bottom left corner. Its dull at times, but you get a few good shots of the interior and what they plan on doing with the exterior. After that there are a few nice pans of the ports she will be visiting. Not too bad, looks like the white lady still has it!

M

Back Home

Well, I am home now, and I finally remember how to breathe.

White Rock looks just like it should. I saw 2 of the 10 puppies today (Avah, and Reuben), and tomorrow I am going to see the rest...10 puppies......wow!

I really miss everyone from The Pacific Sky. It was a real heartbreaker to be walking alongside the ship 6am Tuesday (Singapore time) with all my luggage and looking up to see all the logos painted over, and "Sky Wonder" in big white letters in their place. When I got home I showed my mom the photos and the DVDs....and just to watch The Mighty Sky alive again with all the crew and all the places she's been.....damn I am gonna miss her....we all are.

Grit isn't coming to the Diamond. She is starting on the Star Princess (emailed me 1 hour ago to tell me she is at the airport in London). We're working on a plan, but for now she is LITERALLY on the otherside of the planet. She will do just fine, I know it. We will see each other again, I know that as well.

Feels good to be back....but for today at least....its hard to feel 100% completely at home. Thats normal I suppose, that was a hell of a ride.

I'll be in Calgary in a week or so if anyone is interested. We should hook up for a coffee at the very least. I have so many stories.

Man, what a hell of a ride indeed.

One last thing...

This is what I have to go home to:

I'm gonna miss this place!

Hey all, this is my final internet entry from the Singapore Terminal. I am really gonna miss this place. The Pacific Sky was always sitting out the window next to me, as I would eat my cheesy wedges and blog the day away....and right now the white lady is being repainted. Its kinda depressing, but at the same time, her legacy will continue on forever. I was sitting on Shoppie Street last night with the remaining gang, and we were talking about the amount character that the Pacific Sky has. (Shoppie Street is just the name of the hallway that all the Shop Crew live on...Shoppie Street....). The other ships are so much more extravagent than her, but as you walk around the decks late at night, with no passengers, you get a sense of a living, breathing being. Its almost the feeling of a mother to her child, (i can only imagine). You get this feeling as though you are being nurtured and taken well care of, and then your mind goes "hey, its a ship man....ease off the sauce ok?" but before you agree to that, your mind goes "...but it DOES feel comfortable in here...."

Today Ben, Will and I are going to Sentosa beach for one final day of sand and surf.... then its back to the ship for the final night. I expected huge parties these past few days, but all we had instead were the couples locking themselves in their cabins for one final night of intimacy, and the rest of them sitting around with bags under their eyes, playing scrabble and wandering around the ship in a 'zombie-like' state....looking around with red eyes...I think we are all tired now and its finally catching up to us. There are also quite a few cuddle puddles (i just invented that word by the way)....4 or 5 people lying down in the middle of nowhere in one giant heap of people....either sleeping, or cuddling, or whatever....just being together. You never know when you will see these people again. I saw the diswasher today for example (found out his name is Irwin finally), and he looked at me with his never-sad eyes and his massive ear to ear smile, and he said "thank you Mike. I will miss you. I will pray for your happiness." Perhaps its things like that that give this ship the sense of love and nurturing that we all feel.

The love and friendship of all the people aboard over the last 21 years, echo through the hallways like ghosts.

And tomorrow when the ship sails for Greece to start a new life, the echos of the pacific sky will remain and warm the hearts and minds. And we will walk the halls forever.

-m-

Gone going, gone, everything's gone...

Well well well... the final cruise is done. Its now 2:30am and I am quite hammered in an internet cafe in Singapore with Szymon beside me, and Will outside using my phone card to call some girls he met on the last cruise. I have worked 17+ hours each day for the past two days packing everything up so we could have the next 3 days off...and holy God was it ever hell.... but now, we are off....Szymon, Will and myself just finished a few beers in Little India, and now we might go for one more and then head to the ship for bed.

Grit went home today. Fucking hell. I don't think I have felt so bad in such a long time. There were so many tears and hugs, more than anyone should handle, yet it was all for love, and only happy tears really....we never said Goodbye....we just said 'see you in 30 days' (we are hoping she gets on the Diamond Princess with me June 10th)...I know most would think its too soon to say this but I really would do anything to be with her. Thats the typical LOVE thing to say I know, but I am sticking to my guns on this one...her and I are so good together. The last few hours her and I spent on the ship was lying in her bed talking about what movies and music and other things we like. She really likes Jack Johnson, James Blunt, mellow music, salsa music (and Damn what a dancer!) and her favorite movie (at the moment) was that one a year or two ago with Richard Gere and JLO when he goes to learn salsa. I miss her so much. Her and I were toying with a few 'lets go move somewhere for 6 months and try things out...' .... Australia and New Zealand were the top two seeing as how we both have 'connections' there. I am all up for that but I really hope that its not 'the ship life' talking and she forgets me the second she got on the plane. Nevertheless I spent my entire free time tonight in Singapore (minus the beers with the guys of course but that was after time with her) going to the airport with Grit and spending the last few minutes with her...(for the time being)

Christ I really hope I see her again.....you know? I'm happy with her, we get along, we work well together under stress, we do things for each other without wanting anything in return (which is very rare nowadays)....we just want each other to be happy..... plus when I saw her cry today...I finally knew she felt for me the way I felt for her. Now, I may or may not read this months from now and go "well shit, what was I thinking then?" but I know how I feel right now, and thats what life is all about. I am being open minded and at the same time I am loving "the now".

I miss her. She's been in the air for 3 hours now....she is going back to London until she finds out whats going on....and I am here ......loving life.....but just wishing she was around, ya know?

Will's back...on the mobile with his woman :) I just asked him to think of something to say on my blog....he said 'gimme a minute...i have to think.' the anticipation is killing me. He always has time for a good laughable story.

In the meantime, lets talk about coming home... I am off duty for the next 3 days and the 9th I leave the ship (Oh, I bought a new suitcase today in Singapore for 30 canadian dollars hahahaha) .....I think we have to be back on the ship at 7am tomorrow so we can sail to another terminal (Star Cruises needs our spot again....damn you opposing company!)

Random thought: I miss speaking German with Grit....yes I am still learning German...
Random thought #2: What is that smell? Diesel? Garbage? at least the air con works.

On the 9th I fly at 11:00am from Singapore to Hong Kong and then to Vancouver. I cant wait to see everyone, and I have started to think of things to do while on 'vacation'..mountain climbing, sleeping on the beach, dancing, meditating....hopefully seeing old friends (but i doubt that), and being with loved ones....

ok Will is back...

Mike: 'so do you have anything you want to say to the blog?'
Will: 'hmmmm.....i dont know. I was just outside a food place and I said how much is this? and they said where are you from? and so i said ....hmmm.....Ukraine? and then they gave me one price....and so I asked the other guy and said I was from England and then they gave me another price.....Singapore....I'm ready for bed now."


thats the humor I deal with every single day.....

Grit gave me her internet card so I can add more tomorrow on the ship...so I think its time for one more beer and then back to the ship.

"To Grit and her safe trip back to London. Please make sure we are happy, no matter what that means. Life will always go on for the best, but I know a part of me died when she left, and I know part of me will grow when she returns...mwa ha ha ha"

Thats something I think only my dad would laugh at....so I am leaving it in. All kidding aside I really hope my future has Grit in it. To the fullest.

See her in my next cartoon.