..And NOW, for something Completely Different..

3 generations of Thomas family

At the urging and with huge support from my Grandma and Mom, I decided to carry on as planned. I would still use my flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida just over 10 days after Papa passed away and attempt to slip into my newest disguise as Yacht Stewardess. While I had lost all excitement and confidence in picking up again and heading into the complete unknown, I knew that Papa would absolutely scoff at the thought of me cancelling my plans and hanging around aimlessly in Calgary.

So, with some strong doubts, many tears and a big lump in my throat, I boarded my plane to Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Oct 9th and arrived some short hours later to a balmy, humid, and completely different world…

The World of the Super Yacht

I would have never known this yachting universe existed, had I not come to Fort Lauderdale in this time. It is like a well-kept secret (although I think the words gotten out now), where one can work on a 100 + foot luxury mansion on the water in the capacity of stewardess (interior) or deckhand (exterior) or some version of either of those. You get to tag along with your millionaire boss to the most beautiful places in the world for free, no, even better; while getting PAID.. ALOT!

Pier 66, Fort Lauderdale

While living aboard, all food and living expenses are taken care of, even down to sundry items like toothpaste which allows for all pay to be saved in a generally tax-free way. This means savings accumulate fast, and with a monthly salary for an entry-level stewardess starting at $2500-$3000.. in as little as 6 months, well, you do the math! The job of a stewardess is to generally take care of everything inside the yacht; housekeeping (“heads and beds”) and top quality service to the owners or clients. The hours are long, the work is NOT all glamour and the living quarters are tiny and you may barely see the light of day or even know at which stunning location you are docked. BUT…hmm now where was I going with this? That doesn’t sound like much fun at all! Well, regardless, us newby crew are turning up in droves to the lackluster, tacky, stuck-in-the-70’s city of Fort Lauderdale to seek out that dream job aboard a super yacht. Perhaps it is the intrigue of the unknown, the curiosity about how the “other half ” lives, or purely the monetary lure.. Whatever it is, the market is becoming saturated and finding a job is much harder than many of us imagined.

dedicated student haha

Luckily or unluckily for us, Fort Lauderdale is cashing in on us crewies and providing overpriced and worse for the wear Crew Houses. These are basically shared houses with dorm-style rooms made to accommodate crew who are here short-term and looking for work. While I could rant for days on the shocking lack of good management that goes into these places, or the complete ripping-off of us unemployed hopefuls, these crew houses have provided one priceless thing: fun, like-minded, instant friends all in the same boat (excuse the pun)! While being unemployed for 2 months (as it were) would normally be quite a lonely, suffocating and depressing affair, here it is embraced! We all live with this knowledge that any day soon our care-free, beach bum lives will transition into a new phase of 18 hour work days and cleaning up the poo of rich people, thus, we are living like high-schoolers on summer holiday!

There is no end of parties to attend, barbeques to be had and swims to be swam at the local beach. Life is pretty sunny (besides the impending shadow of doom which hovers over my ever-growing credit card balance.) I have met kindred souls whom I know will be friends for life, and we support each other through the ups and downs of coming to terms with a shockingly shallow and flaky industry.

Because really, we are ALL dirty hippies at heart, we have just hit gold!

Right, so I haven’t mentioned MY job yet. Well, that’s because it doesn’t exist as such quite yet but with a small trickle of interviews and bites on my crew profile and have a feeling that employment is on the horizon. I have mixed feelings because, to be brutally honest, I could be unemployed forever and be happy as long as I was able to travel the world and learn as much as possible along the way, but that pesky issue of money is a reality in this world. So, I will embrace whatever job I get, I will work hard and enjoy every minute along the way… until I can once again dive back into the skin that I am most comfortable in. And hopefully see some breath-taking places and get some hilarious stories along the way.

In the meanwhile.. here’s a look at how I am keeping myself extremely busy…!