Working on Cruise Ships

1. Aqua Park

2. visit the old town of Nesebar

3. have your portrait done

4. live shows

5. water sports

Labels: travel

I recently traveled to Bulgaria, Sunny Beach resort, for my honeymoon and as I always like to do, I made notes about my experience there so I can share it with all of you and maybe be of help to the ones planning to see this beautiful country. This will be a series of articles about my experiences in Bulgaria, Sunny Beach, some good, some not so good, but as always, I will try and keep it objective and to the point. For all of you complainers out there, please keep in mind that I am not advertising this as an absolute truth, I am merely putting my personal experiences and opinions on virtual paper. I would also like to note that although most of the things I will write about in these articles are related to the Sunny Beach resort, a lot of the information is general and can be applied to other Bulgarian seaside resorts. So, here we go....

1. The most important rule of all, always ask the locals

2. Local restaurants are always cheap and fresh

3. Go away from the main street bars and restaurant

4. Street food is always ready available and fresh

5. Beachfront is the most expensive place of the Bulgarian resorts

6. Make use of the kitchenette and the 24 hours mini markets

7. ask bartenders for the daily happy hour

8. There is happy hour for food as well in Bulgaria

9. Daily offers

10. Bring water and snacks with you at the beach

Labels: travel

Labels: travel

I recently traveled to Bulgaria, Sunny Beach resort, for my honeymoon and as I always like to do, I made notes about my experience there so I can share it with all of you and maybe be of help to the ones planning to see this beautiful country. This will be a series of articles about my experiences in Bulgaria, Sunny Beach, some good, some not so good, but as always, I will try and keep it objective and to the point. For all of you complainers out there, please keep in mind that I am not advertising this as an absolute truth, I am merely putting my personal experiences and opinions on virtual paper. I would also like to note that although most of the things I will write about in these articles are related to the Sunny Beach resort, a lot of the information is general and can be applied to other Bulgarian seaside resorts. So, here we go....

1. Take a walk during the day to locate the best places to go at night

2. Don't be shy to ask

3. Back street shopping

4. Choose an apartment complex instead of a hotel

5. 24 Hours mini markets

6. Meet for drinks at your place before going to clubs or bars

Labels: travel

I recently traveled to Bulgaria, Sunny Beach resort, for my honeymoon and as I always like to do, I made notes about my experience there so I can share it with all of you and maybe be of help to the ones planning to see this beautiful country. This will be a series of articles about my experiences in Bulgaria, Sunny Beach, some good, some not so good, but as always, I will try and keep it objective and to the point. For all of you complainers out there, please keep in mind that I am not advertising this as an absolute truth, I am merely putting my personal experiences and opinions on virtual paper. I would also like to note that although most of the things I will write about in these articles are related to the Sunny Beach resort, a lot of the information is general and can be applied to other Bulgarian seaside resorts. So, here we go....

Exchanging currency in Bulgaria, Sunny Beach

Most of the people nowadays use credit cards in their travels, but now and then you will find yourself with some cash you would like to exchange to the local currency. It happened the same to us and we had to learn the hard way what to do and what not to do when exchanging money in Bulgarian resorts.

So here are a few guidelines that will help you safely exchange your currency and avoid scammers:

1. Ideally, you should exchange enough currency while still home

That's the best practice in my opinion although even I forgot about it and then I just procrastinated and left it for when I reach Bulgaria. Needles to say that until we got at the hotel we had no money to pay for drinks or food or even taxi and we ended up paying in euros at double the price ( the taxi driver didn't want to take euros so we had to negotiate). Learn from my mistakes.

2. Use the local banks

The safest way to exchange currency in Bulgaria is to go to a local bank. If you can't find one, just ask at the reception clerks, they will guide you to the closest bank agency. Another plus is that the banks have the best exchange rate, well, they did in Sunny Beach anyways.

3. Use your hotel exchange office

Sometimes you just find out you need more money in the evening before going out and the banks are closed. So what can you do? Easy, use your hotel's exchange desk, it's just as safe as the banks are and the rates are not bad at all. If your hotel doesn't have one you can go to other hotels, we found out that all 4 & 5 stars hotels have an exchange office.

4. Never exchange currency at the people in the street

Not so often you will see people, mostly men, waiting at the corner street advertising currency exchange. This is a BIG no no, no matter in which country you are, 99.9% of the time you will find you were scammed and there is nothing you can do about it. You've been warned...

5. Avoid the yellow exchange cabins found at every corner

Almost at every crossroad you will see these yellow cabins with an exchange panel outside stating the currency rate, not two like you're used to at the bank, one for selling and one for buying, just one, written in big print. You'll also see that the rates are way more than what you will get at the bank. But wait! Look closer...can you see that written in very small print it says that they are buying the currency at those rates and not selling it? Well not everybody sees that and falls for the big exchange rate and when you get the money and notice that it's less than you thought you will get there is nothing you can do. The won't give you the money back and one tourist told me that they even ask the police nearby to intervene and got no reaction. My advise to you is to just pass by and ignore the yellow exchange cabins.

6. Only the major currencies are exchanged and sometimes the neighborhood countries' currency

Like in any country, the exchange offices will only exchange the major currencies. I would have expected for them to exchange the neighboring countries' currency as well, like Romanian currency, but i was surprised to find out not all of them did, well most of them didn't actually. Luckily we had some euros left we could exchange.

I hope this was helpful to you, safe travels.

Labels: money, travel

Although Romania is a beautiful country, it somewhat lacking in service and now, with my new British husband, these missing little things are more and more obvious. I grew up here and some things might go unnoticed to me, but for a new person to the country these things are obvious and sometimes shocking.

Well today we will talk about taking the InterCity train from Bucharest to one of the most beautiful mountain cities in Romania, Brasov. I want to mention that I am writing about my experiences and some things might not be dated by the time you are reading these. That said, I want you to know that I will try and be as accurate and objective as I can be.

So lets go on with it. When traveling by train in Romania (the InterCity in this case, which is one of the best you get here) you should keep count of the following:

1. To start with, you need to know that the best way to get from Bucharest to Brasov by train is to take the InterCity train. It's the closest to a decent train you can get and the price difference compared to others is not that big.

2. Make sure to check the hours and ticket price before arriving at the train station, schedules change depending on the season and so the prices sometimes.

3. The best part about traveling in Romania is that you hardly need a translator. Most of the young people know English at some level and will be happy to help you, don't be afraid to ask.

4. You should buy your drinks and food before boarding the train. We don't have speed trains in Romania, not the way you're used to anyways, the rides are long and most of the trains have no service, there is nowhere you can buy something to drink r eat. Some might have a restaurant wagon, but that happens rarely.

5. Except the InterCity train, I don't know any other one that has charging outlets by the seats so make sure your phones are charged at the hotel.

6. Do I have to mention there is no internet connection? No internet hub? I guess not....

7. There is no entertainment in Romanian trains, no music, no tv's, so if you don't want to get bored, bring your own music/movies/books etc.

8. the difference between first class and second class wagons is almost non-existant so don't bother. The InterCity train has good seats though and it's clean even in the second class wagons.

9. I don't recommend traveling with big pieces of luggage as there is little space for storage above the seats. You're better off if you divide your luggage in 2 pieces, a backpack and a carry-on for example.

10. Traveling from Bucharest to Brasov is a beautiful journey through the mountains despite the long 5 hour ride, make sure you have your camera out, the scenery is amazing.

I hope this will be helpful to you in your travels to this beautiful country, farewell!

Labels: travel

Actually, these are my last hours of freedom. I’m waiting in the hotel’s lobby for the bus that will take us to the ship. The flight was long as usually. Even though to go from Bucharest to Barcelona is a 2 hours flight, the company always sends us through London or some airport in Germany, probably because it’s cheaper. At least I didn’t pay for the flight, which is always good. We all like free stuff, don’t we?

So, instead of 2 hours, I flew 7 and finally got to the airport. All Royal Caribbean employees are sent to Best Western Alfa Hotel in Barcelona, a 4 star hotel near the airport. They have a shuttle that comes to the airport every 30 minutes, but this time, I just didn’t want to wait any longer and took a taxi. Cost me less than 20 euros, which I gladly paid just to see myself at the hotel.
The first one to greet me was a good friend of mine from Trinidad. He’s a executive sous chef on Voyager. He posed for me when I did the post about uniforms, you can see him here. Next one I see is a waiter I use to work with. It really feels like home seeing all this familiar faces. When I stepped into the restaurant, my manager was having his dinner with other crewmembers. Us joining together was great because it gave us some time together to know each other outside work. We had some after dinner drinks, play some pool and we went to bed as all of us were tired after the long flight.
Transportation to the pier in the morning is also provided by the company, so basically, if you’re an officer, you don’t spend any money at all. If you are a waiter, stateroom attendant, bar staff or have any other position that is paid based on tips, you have to pay for the return ticket, which can be a lot if you have to fly across the ocean.
So that’s it! The buss is here and the crew started to load their luggage. My last hours of freedom are rapidly turning into my last minutes of freedom. Boy! Here we go another 6 months……

Labels: ship life, travel

There are things that you can or can not do when you find yourself traveling alone in a foreign country like Thailand. Some are related to their culture, some to your own personal safety and some to money. So here are 10 things you shouldn’t do when you travel alone in Thailand:

1. Wear shorts or tops when visiting temples – You need have respect for their tradition and religion. Although Buddhist religion is a very tolerant one, when visiting their temples you need to have your legs covered as well as the shoulders, otherwise they won’t allow you inside. So, whenever you’re going to visit a temple, make sure you’re wearing long pants or skirt and a t-shirt or a shirt. And if you want to visit the Tiger Temple near Bangkok, wear neutral colors so you won’t make the tigers too nervous.

2. Buy food out off the streets – Trying the local food is a must when you visit Thailand, but don’t buy it off the streets, otherwise you risk spending the rest of your vacation in bed with food poisoning and I am sure you don’t want that.

3. Walk alone at night – Needless to say that walking all alone on the streets at night is not safe, no matter which country you’re visiting. Just don’t do it. Use taxis instead, they are cheap and you can find them anywhere in Bangkok. Don’t forget to ask the taxi driver to start the meter otherwise they will charge you double.

4. Shop in the big malls for souvenirs – Might seem convenient to have everything in one place, but shopping in the malls is a big mistake. You can find the same things on the street markets or shops and it’ll cost you a lot cheaper. Besides, you can’t bargain in the malls and that’s the whole fun of shopping in Bangkok.

5. Go in bars or clubs at night – If you really want to have a drink late at night you better use the hotel’s facilities. Going by yourself in a bar or club at late hours isn’t safe and you better leave it for when you’re with friends.

6. Drink – And by that I mean having one too many. Besides the heat that will make you feel really sick, drinking too much might make you a pray for thieves. Just like going out in clubs, leave it for when you’re with friends.

7. Visit places outside Bangkok without a tour guide – Getting lost in the city is ok since you can take a taxi anytime and go back to your hotel, but getting lost outside the city is not advisable because taxis are hard to find and few local people know English. Remember, there are no directions in English anywhere in Bangkok or around it, so if you want to go and visit places outside the city, you better go with a group and tour guide.

8. Use tuk-tuks – if you need transportation in Bangkok, use taxis instead of tuk-tuks. Tuk-tuk drivers have an understanding with the shop owners and instead of bringing you to your destination, they will try and get you to a particular shop and make you buy things that you don’t really want to buy. Besides, they are much more expensive than the taxis and they have no air con and believe me, being stuck in traffic in a tuk-tuk with no ventilation or protection from the pollution and sun is not something you want to experience. In my opinion, tuk-tuks are good only for short distances, but make sure to bargain before going into one and tell the drivers you don’t want any other stops but where you want to go.

9. Trust people too much – Making friends is great, but you need to be cautious about it. Not all of them have good intentions, some will try to get you into their hotel rooms, some will try to get you drunk, and some will try to rob you. That doesn’t mean you have to be scared of anybody who says hi to you, just use your common sense and be careful.

10. Go outside without putting sunscreen lotion – Thailand is a really hot country and you can get sun burned in a matter of hours if you don’t use sun protection lotion. Even if you go outside for a short while, use it otherwise you’ll end up looking like a lobster.

Labels: travel

There is such thing as safe traveling and when you are in a foreign country you know nothing about there are things you can do and others it’s better not to do. So here are 10 things you can do when traveling on your own in Thailand.

1. Site-seeing – The first thing you should do is to get to know the area around your hotel. See if there’s an internet café close by, if there’s a 7 eleven around (there are everywhere here in Bangkok) or any other shop when you can buy things you need such as water, what markets are near you, temples etc. It is pretty safe as long as you do it during the day.

2. Shopping – Oh yeah! Either is it in a store or on one of the street markets in Bangkok, shopping is something you can do alone. You can even shop at night, they have this great night markets and it’s safe as long as you take a taxi from and back to the hotel. In Thailand you need to bargain otherwise you get to pay twice the price the item is worth.

3. Visit places– book an excursion at the travel counter in your hotel if you plan to go outside Bangkok. It’s safer and you get to know others like you. If the place is in the city, you may choose to go by yourself, but it isn’t as much fun as going with a group and you won’t get to know the history of that place since there’s no tour guide to tell you about it.

4. Sunbath topless in your hotel balcony- HA! I bet you didn’t think about this one! Well, the truth is nobody likes sun marks and since you have no idea about the culture, don’t take any chances and do it in the privacy of your hotel room. Might be allowed in Romania and it’s becoming a normal thing to do at the beach, but here you never know.

5. See shows – Thailand is well known for its Lady Boy Cabarets and that’s one thing you don’t want to miss when here. You can either book throughout the travel counter and they will provide you with transportation from and back to your hotel, or you might go on your own, but either way, don’t miss that, you’ll be sorry

6. Try out the local food – Don’t go safe on this one! Don’t order burgers and fries while here, try their local food, it’s delicious and very healthy. If you don’t like spicy food, let the waiter know, they will cook it mild for you. Might seem scary having lunch or dinner by yourself in a restaurant, but it’s a great way to relax and observe the people on the street. Can be fun at times. If you really, really don’t feel comfortable doing that, just bring with you a book, a magazine, your laptop, it’ll give you something to do until the food is ready. Remember, hiding because you’re alone is not going to do you any good and for sure won’t do anything good to your self esteem. And, at the end, nobody really cares you’re sitting all alone at the table anyway.

7. Check your emails – Most of the hotels here have internet access for its guests in the lobby, both wireless and their own PCs. Usually, it is more expensive at the hotel than it is at a local internet café. There are many places with internet connection in Bangkok and I am sure you can find one near your hotel. So, unless it’s late at night, I advice you to go and use one of those places.

8. Have yourself made a nice dress/suit at a local tailor – Thailand tailors are very good, not to say cheap, and very fast. You can choose your favorite designs from any catalog and have it made in 2 days for less than $100. What more can you want? As usually, don’t forget to bargain for a lower price. I got my self a nice kimono made out of real silk.

9. Use the hotel’s facilities – Go to the pool, use the sauna or any other facility they have at the hotel. You paid for it anyway, so enjoy it.

10. Have a massage – Another thing Thailand is well known for is the thay massage. They are great way to relax after a long day of shopping and, just like everything else here, it’s cheap. For about 10-15 dollars you can have an hour of pleasure. Go for it!

Labels: travel

Nobody wants to be alone. That’s a universal truth that applies to all of us no matter which country you come from, what age or sex you have or what job you do. You might think you want to be alone when you get fed up with your friends or girlfriend/boyfriend, but that’s only temporary and you find yourself alone in an empty room wishing somebody will be there to talk to you.

So why in the world I chose to go alone in this trip to Thailand, you may ask. Oh well, I didn’t choose to go by myself; it’s the circumstances that brought me here alone. It’s always been a dream of mine to visit Asia and since my friends were either working, not interested in traveling or didn’t have enough money for this trip, I decided to go as a solo traveler.

It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but I am kind of proud of myself for following my dream and not let my fear of being alone get in the way of it. Because, let me tell you, worse that being alone is postponing your dreams because of this fear.

I walked out of Bangkok International Airport thinking “Oh my God, I am all alone here!!” and now, after more than a week, I feel like I can go anywhere, do anything I set my mind to. It feels great when you achieve things you thought you couldn’t do. But that’s the thing, you might think you can or can not do something, but unless you try it, you have no way of knowing it for sure. You can do anything you want to as long as you follow 3 little guidelines:

1. it makes you happy

2. it doesn’t hurt the ones around you

3. you have a good plan for it

If you follow these guidelines you set yourself for success in anything you do. Take a moment, close your eyes and think. Is it what you really want? If yes, take another moment and think if anyone will get hurt because of your actions. No? Then go ahead and start planning. Think of any possibility and create a plan for it. Sounds like it’s a lot of work, but really it isn’t, and after a while, it’ll become an habit.

Doing things by yourself gives you confidence and it has a snowball effect. Meaning, you do more things by yourself, you get more confidence to do more things, things you might have thought you could never do and that increases your self esteem even more. The first step is the hardest, and then it gets easier and easier.

And you know what? You get to meet a lot of people along the way. I did and that’s why I am not sorry at all I took up on this adventure on my own. I am actually considering doing this again, and this time I’ll go alone, not because I have to, but because I want to. And anyway, you are alone, but not really… there’s always someone there who will talk to you if you give them the chance.

Labels: friends, travel

They say that all the money in the world won’t make you happy. Well, I’m afraid is true. What I discovered, the hard way I might say, is that only good friends who are always there for you can do that. What’s the point of having loads of money if you have no one to spend it with?

I find myself in this huge airport in Istambul, in my way to my dream vacation in Thailand wishing I had a friend to talk to and have the coffee I am drinking right now with him (most of my friends are men by the way). Instead, I am all alone writing this, not because I have to, but because I don’t want to seat at this small table doing nothing; it’s boring…

So, I am asking you: Are you sure you what this job? Are you sure you want to live out of a suitcase traveling between the ship and home over and over? Yes, you can earn good money, but by the time you reach home after 6 months, most of your friends are too busy with their lives, have not enough money to keep up with you or, worse, not there at all for you because they made other friends who are there for them and you’re nothing but an acquaintance to them right now.

In Romania, after a certain age, if you don’t have a boyfriend there’s no way you can hang out with your old friends. Most of them have boyfriends or girlfriends and they all go everywhere in pairs making you feel the fifth wheel, out of place. Nobody calls you unless there’s a party and they need single girls/boys for their single friends. Of course, there’s always the good friend from childhood, but they are so rare.

I am fortunate in a way because I still have my old friends calling me but this takes time and work from my part. How? Simple. Calling them, emailing them regularly, keeping them in mind when I go shopping for gifts and dedicating time to each of them when I am home even though I am busy with my own stuff. And I’m always happy when I get the same in return and never get upset when they tell me they have other things to do. It’s a give and receive situation, but with the lifestyle I have it’s a bit harder that it is to a person who works and lives in the same place.

So, again I am asking you: Are you really sure you want this kind of life? If yes, be prepare to lose some friends and do an extra effort keeping the ones you have left. Be prepared to be alone a lot of your time and do the things you want to and dreamed of alone sometimes. One thing I can tell you…don’t wait for anybody to do the things you always wanted to do. If you want to visit a place and your friends can’t, just go alone. You’ll make new friends along the way. If you want to do something, anything, and you’re friends can’t go along with you, just do it, you’ll feel sorry if you choose not to do it. Trust me.

The good side of all this is that you’ll make other good friends, worldwide, that will make up for the lost ones. Maybe better ones…

Labels: friends, travel

It’s easy to travel for a Romanian now that Romania is part of EU. But what if you’re going somewhere else than Europe, like I am? What if you’re going to Thailand? Things change a little.

The most important thing is the visa. We used to be able to buy it in the airport when you arrive in Thailand. Not anymore though. Don’t ask me why…I wouldn’t be surprised if our reputation as a nation preceded us all the way to Asia and that made them strengthen the rules. What’s sure is that you need to go to the Thay embassy and apply for a tourist visa one week before leaving. Yes, it takes, according to them, one week.

But wait, in order to get the visa you have to have a round trip flight ticket. That’s easy, you go online, find a travel site, book the flight and pay for it either cash at the agency, money transfer or by credit card. Easy, takes one to two days to get it.

Not over yet though. They also ask you to provide a hotel or any other place where you’ll be staying. That’s easy too, but harder than getting a flight ticket. You need to find a reliable website/company to book your hotel. For my trip to Thailand I used 2 sites which friends who used it before recommended them to me: http://www.agoda.com/ and http://www.sawadee.com/. I had a bit of a hustle to get the international credit card from my bank, but after a week of waiting, I finally got it and used it to book my hotels. Had no problem with the booking so far, they’ve sent me the receipts and the hotel vouchers and everything seems to be ok.

So I get to the Thay embassy, fill out the form, listen silently to the moaning of the lady there about me being late applying for it and the next day got my visa. Hooray!

Don’t forget one thing: make sure you’re getting travel insurance from any insurance company. Even though you might feel you don’t need it, you never know and besides, it’s really cheap comparing to the costs you might encounter if God forbids anything happens to you while traveling.
This being said, I wish you safe flight where ever you’re going and if you want my advice, when ever you have the chance, just go. Go see what’s out there, the world doesn’t end where the borders of your country ends. There’s so much to see that a life time isn’t enough to do it.

Labels: home, travel

It is just me or everybody just went crazy? All my life I dreamed of visiting Asia. I was and am in love with its culture, food, religion and I promised to myself I will one day visit it, country by country.

Finally I decided to start with Thailand simply because my boss lives there. He’s an American married with a Thai girl who settled there years back. He was telling me about his home there, the country and habits and I just had to see it.

So I booked the flight and the hotel, 5 nights in Bangkok, 9 in Pattaya with a plan to visit all the palaces, temples and whatever else is to see in each of the locations. I would have thought my parents would be happy for me, but no, they are more worried about me being alone there. I am alone everywhere I go anyway, when embarking the ship, when visiting my friends…

Talking about friends….I got a strange reaction from them too. They all think that Thailand is the land of sex and that’s it. When I tell them about the things you can see there all I get back are smiles and the annoying “yeah, yeah!” reply. Last friend I told about it advised me to buy a lot of condoms and have fun…. What’s wrong with you guys???

Can I help but thinking this is the same situation that happens to Romania as well. Foreigners who never visited it imagine that Romania is a poor country where everybody abandons their kids because they have nothing to feed them with and the women sell themselves for pennies. How wrong!

Labels: home, travel

And here we are near the airport when the driver asks us which terminal we’re going to. I am trying to find the terminal number in the sign off papers that I got from the Crew Administrator, but there’s nothing. I look around and see quite a few disorientated people shuffling through the papers from the crew office… “Damn you Jitendra, you forgot to print out the flight details again!!!” is the first thing that goes through my mind. Well, I don’t blame him entirely, he is overwhelmed by the amount of work he has to do, plus, that day, we had full crew immigration inspection and we could have checked the flight details, but still…

Lucky me, the airline’s name was written on each terminal and I could find mine, but that was about all the luck I had. I get in the line for luggage check in, when my turn comes, guess what? I have 7 kg over and I need to repack. I ask the lady how much is the overweight fee and she replied that there’s no fee, but I need to repack. I paid $30 for a new bag, repacked, checked in my luggage and I go for the custom check.

I take all my jewelry, shoes, jacket and laptop and put them in one of the containers, another container for my backpack and my carrier, all went through the scanners. And guess what?? They saw something suspicious in my carrier and now I have to open it. It’s been already an hour since I stepped in the airport.

“No problem” I say to my self again while opening my luggage. First thing that was checked for explosives was my hard drive, the next one was the carrier itself. Apparently, perfumes over 100 ml are not allowed in hand luggage, but the lady was nice to me and just gave me a warning.

Long story short, after waiting almost 6 hours in the Huston airport, I get into the airplane and try to sleep through the 9 hours flight to London. Another 8 hours in the Heathrow airport and here I am in the airplane to Romania. After more than 41 hours I step in Otopeni, my home Airport.

God, is so good to be home!

Labels: home, travel

Labels: home, travel