8 years ago today, I left New Zealand to go traveling for "a bit". My travel budget was the equivalent of US$6186*. I had with me US$1200 in cash and travelers cheques(!), £800 in a new bank account in UK and about NZ$3,750 available on my credit card. Sounded like plenty. After all, my visas and flights to New York and onward to London were already paid for. Boy was I naive. Obviously, this money was nothing. When I arrived in New York City, I was picked up and taken to Camp Jened, a summer camp for adults with special-needs. I had signed up for the Camp America program, which pays a very...

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I handed in my resignation yesterday. I wish I had a juicy, dramatic story to tell you why but the primary reason is because I need to return to Canada in order to maintain my residency status there. I still have 6 weeks left on the ship and a few more new countries to visit, so the adventure continues for now. To tell you the truth, I was very hesistant about handing in my resignation but for all the wrong reasons. So after another crazy night in the crew bar and a hangover so bad, that I was convinced I may have had a mild stroke, I was in a sufficiently foul mood to do the deed. There...

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This post is dedicated to my mum. My mum probably doesn't realize it but she's a big inspiration for me going traveling. The funny thing is she was never a solo-traveler nor did she travel when she was young. But I often remembered when I was young how she would talk about the places she wanted to visit one day. We would watch National Geographic on TV and would be mesmerized. All these countries sounded exotic and magical, and I wanted to go as well. Unfortunately, our family couldn’t afford it at the time. Not to mention that my dad hates traveling. We did however, have one overseas...

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We've been at sea for the last 7 consecutive days doing the Transatlantic. I would have liked to report that it was amazing and that I was very productive in my free time creating new products for Stickmen & Unicorns but in reality, it kinda sucked. Like Albert Einstein said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." And that’s sort of what it felt. It felt like I was repeating the same day over and over and over again. The same routine, the same meals, I’m pretty sure even the same conversations. Rinse and repeat. To make matters...

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In the last 6 days, we've been at sea for 5 of them. And that one port day was just spent in a café in Fort Lauderdale, Facebook-poking people. So what’s up with all the sea days? Well, we are currently on a Transatlantic cruise. And it'll be another 4 days until we see land again! Whenever crew members talk about transatlantic cruises, there are usually ominous pauses to emphasize the gravity of the situation. Sea days are no doubt our busiest work days, so to do so many in a row make some people nervous. It was only 6 months ago when I headed East over the Atlantic Ocean. Apart from...

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Recently, I published a post entitled "7 Occasionally Asked Ridiculous Questions About Working On Cruise Ships". The response was quite interesting. I had a number of people write to me asking why I was still working on ships and why anyone from a developed country would want to work on ships. Now don't get me wrong, there are many advantages to ship life. It's definitely more glamourous than office cubicle life but probably not when compared with being a fashion model, astronaut or digital nomad. A major frustration for me when I first came on board was coming to terms with the over-sold perception...

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You know how they say "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"? Well in Grenada, it's "a coconut a day...". I was also told that coconut water is the best cure for a hangover. So for good measure, I purchased two. You see, I had a lot of cheap tequila the night before. Grenada has a lot going for it. Although for crew members, the highlight as always, would be the free wifi in the port terminal. Regardless, when you walk out of the terminal and turn right, a small tunnel leads you over to Fort George over-looking a lovely section of Grenada brimmed with colorfully-painted houses. I was told that...

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