Living on a boat with no electricity has been nothing short of amazing and I love the simplicity. However, my blog and website have suffered for it! Not owning a laptop or iphone has meant a lot of trips to the Coconut Grove library to check emails and work related things. I've found that I really have come to despise having to go on the internet and rarely even want to check my facebook, and updating my status has become extremely rare. So I'll just settle for trying to update everything when I come back to my parents place in Ohio.
Anyway, 2012 has been full of challenges so far and I have loved every one of them. From simple challenges like learning how to fly a new airplane, to the difficult ones such as being stuck in Bangkok with both debit cards stolen and no money! I've finally become very comfortable with living on the boat and the change of lifestyle. No longer is having to row in to shore, walk to the gym where I workout and iron my work uniform, followed by another walk to the metrorail where I catch the tri-rail and transfer to the shuttle to the airport, seem difficult anymore.
My boat, which I've decided not to rename (I hate the name of my boat) for superstitious reasons, survived it's first tropical storm and even boats coming off anchor and slamming into her. I went sailing for the first time on my new boat and look forward to continue to learn and can't wait for the day I can sail her on my own.
As far as work goes, the company is growing like crazy and new opportunities are rising left and right. I spent 5 weeks in Puerto Rico where I flew from our base in Aguadilla to San Juan, Ponce, and Punta Cana, in the D.R. It was there that I fell in love with the island of Puerto Rico, it's people and places, as well as our new aircraft, the Saab 340B+. Particularly the first aircraft of our new fleet which we flew the whole time, N341AG, nicknamed "Only the Beginning". I had the opportunity to explore a lot of the island on my time off but there is still a whole lot more I would like to see in P.R.
Other highlights of the year have been three weeks in Thailand where I met and traveled with a local girl to Koh Phi Phi who taught me basic Thai language and introduced to me some great local food. Although it may have not been my most memorable or exciting trip ever, Argentina and Uruguay was a great little last minute trip. I can't wait to go back though, especially after being forced to pay the $160USD 10 year visa for Argentina! I also spent a month living out of a hotel in Gainesville flying some of the new routes our company started in September. Atlanta and Dulles (Washington D.C.) were really cool flying into and the mountainous airports of Altoona, PA, and Lewisburg, W.V. were interesting as well.
I've also started writing a book about my travels. I've realized that this website will not turn out to be my travelogue or a way to make money. Too much work for me! And without a computer on the boat it really would be difficult to keep up with.
Updates to the site include: Pictures added to almost every page under the "Trips" section. I've decided to wait to finish my videos for the year and just make one big video recapping the whole year. I still have to put up my Indonesia pictures and videos from last year as well. Looking forward to finishing 2012 with a bang.
Anyway, 2012 has been full of challenges so far and I have loved every one of them. From simple challenges like learning how to fly a new airplane, to the difficult ones such as being stuck in Bangkok with both debit cards stolen and no money! I've finally become very comfortable with living on the boat and the change of lifestyle. No longer is having to row in to shore, walk to the gym where I workout and iron my work uniform, followed by another walk to the metrorail where I catch the tri-rail and transfer to the shuttle to the airport, seem difficult anymore.
My boat, which I've decided not to rename (I hate the name of my boat) for superstitious reasons, survived it's first tropical storm and even boats coming off anchor and slamming into her. I went sailing for the first time on my new boat and look forward to continue to learn and can't wait for the day I can sail her on my own.
As far as work goes, the company is growing like crazy and new opportunities are rising left and right. I spent 5 weeks in Puerto Rico where I flew from our base in Aguadilla to San Juan, Ponce, and Punta Cana, in the D.R. It was there that I fell in love with the island of Puerto Rico, it's people and places, as well as our new aircraft, the Saab 340B+. Particularly the first aircraft of our new fleet which we flew the whole time, N341AG, nicknamed "Only the Beginning". I had the opportunity to explore a lot of the island on my time off but there is still a whole lot more I would like to see in P.R.
Other highlights of the year have been three weeks in Thailand where I met and traveled with a local girl to Koh Phi Phi who taught me basic Thai language and introduced to me some great local food. Although it may have not been my most memorable or exciting trip ever, Argentina and Uruguay was a great little last minute trip. I can't wait to go back though, especially after being forced to pay the $160USD 10 year visa for Argentina! I also spent a month living out of a hotel in Gainesville flying some of the new routes our company started in September. Atlanta and Dulles (Washington D.C.) were really cool flying into and the mountainous airports of Altoona, PA, and Lewisburg, W.V. were interesting as well.
I've also started writing a book about my travels. I've realized that this website will not turn out to be my travelogue or a way to make money. Too much work for me! And without a computer on the boat it really would be difficult to keep up with.
Updates to the site include: Pictures added to almost every page under the "Trips" section. I've decided to wait to finish my videos for the year and just make one big video recapping the whole year. I still have to put up my Indonesia pictures and videos from last year as well. Looking forward to finishing 2012 with a bang.
I'll finish this blog with the best advice I've received so far this year:
"Stay out of the trees" - A preflight briefing from one of my favorite captains at Silver Airways!