Day #13: A Dreary Day

It was an unexpected day off, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the company who didn't have to work today. It's also been pissing rain all day, and I'm still feeling homesick, so needless to say I was a little disappointed not to have the distraction of work today. I called to try to comp a tour today, but I think they were so busy that my request slipped through the cracks, which was alright because I just went back to sleep. When I woke up at noon I decided to go on a hike anyway (I'm from the Northwest, right? I can deal with a little rain). So I hiked by myself up the Mount Roberts Trail, which is about 2.5 miles up to the tram, where I took the tram back down after stopping to get some gifts for friends and family. I got some weird looks from some tourists for being soaked and covered in mud, but surprisingly I met at least 6 people along the trail on my way up.

I am sick of the rain. We never had spring in Bellingham, and it was a long dang winter. It's beginning to take its toll on me. Plus I keep falling onto photos on facebook of people climbing in beautiful, sunny areas and today I would just rather be there and not here. I'm certain these feelings of anxiety will pass. And don't get me wrong; I love this job and the people I get to hang out with every day. I genuinely am happy to be here and I am also super excited to go back to work tomorrow. But when I have too much time on my hands to sit in the rain and think about how I could be out in the warm summer sun somewhere climbing with my best friend, I get a little depressed and homesick. (Furthermore, I feel guilty for feeling this way, which I know I shouldn't.) Basically the moral of the story is to work me lots so I can continue to enjoy the here and now instead of dwelling on other things. Just waiting to see the schedule for tomorrow...

Day #12: Some Good, Some Bad

I was very homesick today. My moods have been a little wacky this week, so this morning I was pretty down in the dumps before I had to be at work at 1230. Daniel helped a little by assuring me that he misses me and that September will be here before we know it; plus, I get to look forward to traveling with him a ton this fall. Anyway, part of the reason I was feeling homesick was because yesterday was a bit of a rough day - I had an older crowd on my tour who gave me a really hard time for being so young (I was booed by the entire bus for not knowing who Wyatt Earp was. "We want an older driver!"). I did some research on my break and came back to them with some better answers, so I think I may have redeemed myself a little bit there. But dispatch assigned me a coach that chugs between gears, which I could tell was uncomfortable for some of my guests, and one gentleman even had the audacity to ask me if I had fueled the coach before I came out. And to top it all off, one woman was able to predict all of the punch lines to all of my jokes, so I barely even got chuckles from the rest of the crowd. They were a hard group to crack. But I made it through and turned around after getting home to go rock climbing at the Rock Dump, which is the gym here in town.

Today I worked a short day (6.5 hours, I feel like they get shorter every day). I honestly had a good time running shuttle though, not that I want to do it every day or anything. I just really enjoy talking to folks and finding out what they choose to do with their one day in Juneau. After getting off of work, a coworker called me and invited me to go climbing again - so I did, and had a great time even though the gym here is nothing to get excited about (it actually concerns me a little bit some of the equipment they deem "safe" to climb on...). Dispatch got posted and I have tomorrow off, something that also concerns me because Tuesdays are our busiest days. Hoping this trend of little/no hours doesn't continue.

Day #10: Slowly Building Confidence

There's not a ton to share today, but I am slowly but surely gaining a flow for a tour. This morning I did 4 hours of shuttle, which was boring and tedious, though I did talk to some pretty cool folks from all over the place. (I have decided that my favorite tourists are the foreigners, especially the Aussies, who seem to have an over-sized sense of adventure.) This afternoon I did a city tour, in which we visit the hatchery and the glacier and then come back, and though it felt a little awkward because the route is slightly different and I was out of my flow, I made pretty decent tips. It was a small group - about 17 people, and trust me, the bigger the group, the better, because they feed off of each other - but I think they had a good time. Honestly I had more fun with 50 people than I did with 17, so hopefully I get some more larger tours.

Tomorrow should be a pretty short day, because Sundays don't bring so many ships, so I'm hoping to actually FINALLY get to the Rock Dump (the rock wall gym) and climb. I'm out of practice of climbing and can't be a noob again when Daniel and I restart climbing again in the fall. Also, this way, I can beat up any hasslers with my super-human strength. Until next time...

Day #8: A Whale of a Time

So it's been since Sunday that I blogged and the reason for that is that Monday and Tuesday were really long days. Tuesday, especially was a long day. On Tuesday I worked 15 hours, running shuttle back and forth to one of the helicopter companies and not giving any tours because they had a representative on board. By the end of the day, I was so tired that I couldn't park my vehicle, get the keys out, or count up my hours. I hadn't eaten much that day either. And then of course, one of my good friends chose that day to get really angry at me and make me feel really bad.... So on Tuesday I got home at 930pm, and then on Wednesday I had to be at work at 6am. But Wednesday was a much better day - I gave my first tour, which went awesome, because they laughed a lot, had a great time, and tipped me well. I was off my 430 and had the evening to relax with some friends at the Bnof and get to bed at a decent hour.

Since I had only 14 hours left for today (we can only work 80 hours in 8 days, and I have worked 66 hours in 7 days - also remember one of those days I had off!) they gave me the day off. Alyssa had something ridiculous like 8, so she and I went whale watching with Allen Marine off of Auke Bay. It was a great time! We saw a bunch of humpback whales, got some decent photos, but more importantly, we saw a bunch of killer whales that only come to this region of the inside passage for about two weeks at the end of June. I told Alyssa to quit her day job and become a photographer because she got some pretty awesomely epic shots with her little canon point and shoot. (If you want to see more of them, I will put them on Facebook.) I have to say though, the coolest part for me wasn't so much the whales, even though they were really cool, but it was the scenery. We had the perfect weather for it today, it was sunny and mostly clear, so the mountains were spectacular in every direction. To be out there on the water like that reminded me of the cruise we took 3 summers ago on a Princess ship, and I have really fond memories of that trip. I remembered how much I love Alaska and how beautifully grand this state really is. 

Tomorrow I have transfers, but luckily it will only be for 7 hours, and I don't start until 130pm. Saturdays are typically busier, with about 3-4 ships, so hopefully I will get some more tours then! I'm excited to keep perfecting my tour and to continue giving these awesome tourists the greatest tour they've ever been on!

Day #4: Zippin' Day

It was our day off, so we went ziplining today! At 10am Laura, Alyssa and I called our manager on duty and asked what comp tours we could get on, and it just so happened that there was a ziplining tour leaving at 10:45 from from the Mt. Roberts tram parking lot. We hopped on a boat with 3 older folks: a couple from Anacortes who had sailed their boat up to Juneau, and a gentleman from Molokai, HI. (They were an absolute HOOT.) They took us over to Douglas Island where we took a military style truck up to a building to get equipped. It felt good to be in a harness, I'm not going to lie, and in fact the last part of the excursion was a 50 foot rappel (with a super 8, interestingly enough) off of the last platform! So anyway after we got outfitted they took us up the hill past the Treadwell Gold Mine where we did 9 ziplines, the highest of which was 180 feet off the ground and got us going up to 40 mph, and 2 skybridges. The guides were a riot, 2 guys our age who just get to have fun all day every day, so we tipped them well, especially since we got on the tour for free. On our way back downtown we stopped at Pizzeria Roma on the wharf and had the most excellent garden veggie pizza I've ever had in my life, which I paid for with my tip money from yesterday. Then we came home, where I fell asleep for 2 1/2 hours. Yep, life is pretty rough.

The schedule for tomorrow isn't out yet, but I'm hoping I still have transfers for another couple of days just to get my material down. I don't think I'm ready for full-on tours yet, and I should still probably be doing more research on exactly what I want to say. Mondays are supposedly crazy though, with 4 or 5 ships, so I expect another 12 hour day (4 of those hours are overtime, booyah!). Time is already flying by - I can't believe we've almost been here for a week! September will be here before I even know it.

Day #3: Big Money

I had my first passengers today! They gave me transfers to the helicopter tours all day, which isn't a tour at all but I have the option of practicing some lines on them. I'd say it went well considering the fact that I made $17 in tips on a route that is notorious for getting skunked. It was fun, though it feels awkward still; they had told me that once I got here, driving would be the easy part - they were right! The day was a little stressful because the helicopter company was running a little late, but we made it through. I worked 11 hours today, and although it did feel long, it went by really fast.

Sundays are slow days around here so a bunch of us have tomorrow off. The plan is to take a comp tour, and so far the consensus is to do either helicopter/dog sledding or whale watching. We can do pretty much whatever we want! Tonight we're having group therapy in the lounge, which is basically everyone getting together to talk about deep life stuff and getting to know each other better - so it will be a night in and a morning to sleep in. Looking forward to more days of giving tours and lots more days of getting to go on them!! 

Day #2: I'm Getting Warmer

Second day was a 12 hour day! We started at 8am this morning, were given a bus to drive around town, and spent 4 hours making sure that we knew where all of the drop off sites were. After that, we sat in the break room where we were paid to sit on our butts with some friends for 2 hours waiting for our next drive. We made it onto Jessica's tour to see how she does things; she had a 3 1/2 hour Glacier Gardens tour (which also goes to Mendenhall Glacier). I learned a lot watching her drive! She talked the whole time, gave a slew of information, and offered up lots of advice and tidbits on things to say. Of course, we also had some time to walk around at the glacier with our friend Nick, so we explored the sights and the visitor center while we waited to get back to the docks. Because of the cloud cover, the glacier was so blue, and even though it was a bit chilly, we walked around enough to not freeze our butts off. Bear in mind that we got paid for all of this. It's a rough life.

Fortunately, 12 hours didn't feel like 12, and we had enough energy to get back and hang out with some of the other HAP employees in the lounge that we all share in the Baranof. I can't stress enough how nice the people are here; everyone is so excited to be here and anxious to get to know us. And every night there seems to be some sort of activity going on with someone - there was a movie run out to the valley this evening to see the Hangover 2, and tomorrow night there is dancing and something called "group therapy" that a few kids put together to get together and talk about "deep stuff." We will definitely not be bored this summer.

So obviously the weather yesterday was beautiful, but today it wasn't bad at all. Temperatures dwindled around 55, and the cloud cover stuck around all day, but it didn't rain on us, which I feel fortunate for. The days are long though, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It never gets dark enough here to see the stars, and we have to utilize the full extent of our blackout curtains to get any sleep. But the days feel infinite, and I haven't felt fatigued at all since I've been here (granted, it has only been 2 days). In general, the climate feels very similar to home; in fact, the landscape feels like home too, only the mountains here are steeper, closer, and much more grand.

Tomorrow I get my first passengers. They start us out with simple transfers, so I will be transferring guests from the docks to the Temsco helipad where they will receive helicopter tours like dogsledding and the Juneau Ice Field. I have to do this all day, but the upside is that it's not a full tour, so I can talk as little or as much as I want. It's a good introduction to the tours, and will give me a good idea of the things I want to talk about on my own tours when I start to receive them. Unfortunately, however, my call time is 615 am, so until next time...

Day #1: A Tour of the City

Today was beautiful! It was beautiful and sunny in Juneau, and the sun just set here at 10:30. We got a chance to take a bus out this afternoon and see some of the drop spots for the tours, including all the docks and tour places like the Mendenhall Glacier, the Dog Sled drops, and Allen Marine where the whale watching excursions leave from. All of the locations are tight and turning around is complicated and difficult in a 42 foot motorcoach, but I'm sure it will all get easier with practice. The uniforms really do it for me though; I feel so official. I even get a fancy name tag.

Tomorrow Alyssa and I get a motorcoach for the morning to drive wherever we want in town, to get a feel for the area and all the drop zones. In the afternoon we will do some ride-alongs with the drivers who have been here for a while to see what the tours are like. And word on the street is that Saturday we will start helping with some of the basic shuttle runs to get our feet wet, since Saturdays are kind of hectic (though they don't compare to Monday-Wednesday). I'm really, really excited to be comfortable behind the wheel, get some of my own tours and just have a normal day, but it might be a few days before that happens...

Everyone here is really nice. We are staying at the Baranof Hotel in downtown Juneau with about 20 other Holland America/Princess employees and about 10 Alaska Cruise Tours employees, so we got invited out to play some ultimate frisbee and have a bonfire out on the beach. Everyone genuinely wants to know your name, where you are from, and what you do - and it seems that the community of cool young people is not limited to HAP employees but extends to the all the companies in town who run the excursions like TEMSCO (helicopter tours), Allen Marine, and Glacier Gardens. I've already met more people than I can remember and every single one of them is so happy to be here that the energy is contagious.

Tomorrow we have to be at work at 8am, and it's a half an hour walk to base, so I'm going to catch some sleep and catch up with you all tomorrow. I miss my family, my good friends, and of course my sweetheart, but I can already tell that this summer will be over before I know it and I'll be missing the long Alaskan days from the comfort of home. I'm sending my love to you all!

We made it!

Today was our travel day, but we made it to Juneau safely. We woke up late but took the light rail to the airport and pretty much walked on the airplane. In Juneau our manager was waiting for us to take us to the place we are staying, which happens to be the Baranof Hotel in downtown Juneau, a historical building that many of my friends and family have stayed at before. Tomorrow we have to be at work at 9 am - we are both super excited to get started!! I'm slightly nervous about all of the procedural stuff, but I know I'm going to love this job no matter how stressful it is. Anyway, when more stuff starts to happen, I will share it here, so check back often! Thanks for all of your love and support, everyone.