Week 1: Getting Onboard

Hey everybody!  Banana here, and life is SO exciting these days!  I left the states about a week ago now.  It seems so long ago… and I LOVE IT!!!!  Packing for the journey across the Atlantic was horrendous… as always.  But fortunately, J.P. wrangled up a troupe of happy helpers to help us get the job done.  Special thanks to Albert (official item finder), Lance (organizing fiend), Megan (clothes folding specialist) and especially Kap (chauffer & “Pushing Daisies” extraordinaire)!  Without these four, I never would have gotten my worldly possessions all packed up, and J.P. would CERTAINLY not be in Europe right now.

Sorry I haven’t blogged until now, but life has been a maelstrom of exciting adventures; rules and regulations to nail down; and practice, practice, practice!!!  We got two shows up on their feet and 4 more to go.  But all in all, I’m just having so much fun!  I haven’t gotten off the ship yet, sadly, but I’m having a ball here.  I am REALLY enjoying my co-workers and the random friends I’m making in both the crew and guests!  I’m trying not to be too descriptive, because otherwise I’d be spending WAY too much time typing and not enough having fun, or even more importantly: SLEEPING.  But trust me, I’m having a blast, and I’ll hopefully get a chance to get off the ship tomorrow in Dublin, Ireland!

If you want to thoroughly follow the path of my boat to see where I’m going and where I’ve been, here’s a link to Oceania’s website.  I’m a proud employee of the Marina, and right now we’re cruising around the UK.  WHAT A DELIGHT!?!  Oh there’s so much to say, but I’ve got so little time to tell.  Just know that I’m doing well and that I’ll post some pictures with descriptions about the past week.  ALSO know that I’m not really allowed to take pictures on my phone in areas that guests are allowed, so there are many mental images that I would LOVE to show you… but can’t… because they’re in my head!  I hope you enjoy these pictures, but I hope even more that you’ll enjoy the captions that accompany them.

This is the chair at work that I'd typically eat my lunch in.
They furnished the studio quite nicely.

If I wasn't being used during rehearsals, I might just take a quick cat nap on the couch in the lobby.

 

This is the studio where we'd conduct all the arduous labor of
learning dance moves and "putting it all together."

Here I am in what was either referred to as the church mission trip or the rape van.  Many lovely memories here.  We used this van to get from place to place in Nashville.  I'm seated between the lovely Mary Ann (left) and the fabulous Meredith (right).  In the next seat are the glamorous Kelly (left) and the stunning Kasey (right).  And last but certainly not least in the back of the van are the gorgeous Jessi (left) and the hypnotic Kendal (right).  Ryan and J.P. were in the front seats.

Kasey, J.P. and I sat together during our dinner with the company.  I LOVE working for Gary Musick Productions.  They are so considerate and nice enough to treat us to a final meal with all the higher-ups!  Gary HIMSELF was there!  What a delight!

This is Jessi, Felix, and I sharing martinis.
Felix taught us the choreography to our bumper shows.
He does magnificent work.

What do you think?  Don't I look good as one of Gary Musick's newest employees?

Ruthie and me!  A large group of my close friends
and I had a final dinner together before
I hopped across the big pond to the UK.

These are all my friends who had the ability to come to Chilies for my last state-side meal.  From left to right, they are Kap, Lance, J.P., Megan, Ruthie, Courtney, Abby, Taylor, and Albert.  I love these guys!  Courtney even made cupcakes!  I'll miss them all a lot, but I'll be sure to visit Nashville again when I get back to the states.

I'm all packed up and READY to go!

Just chillin' in the airport.

Alright!  Let's get a move on!

Can't wait to get to England!
But we first need to make a pit stop to Charlotte North Carolina.
That's where we'll switch planes and head off to the UK!

Oh... my... gosh... they had JAMBA JUICE at the Charlotte airport!  Praise the Lord!!!  Now, I'm no cannibal, but I do enjoy a good fruit smoothie every now and then... provided none of my own kind are in it.

I made it!  I slept almost the whole way, but here I am filling out my landing card!

Just watching out for my luggage.  Kendal's in the background doing something or another....

My best buddy and me excited to be in the UK!

Meredith and Ryan riding the shuttle to our hotel for the night.  We just want to ditch our stuff and get out on the town!

Kendal and Jess are stoked to be arriving at the hotel soon.

Honestly, I haven't the slightest idea what building it was... but my first authentic picture of London!  WOOT!

It doesn't usually look like this, Ryan told me, but because we were in London on the DAY OF THE DIAMOND JUBILEE... things were a bit... special.

For those of you who don't know what the Diamond Jubilee is, it's a celebration for the Queen's 60th day as the British Empire's ruling monarch.  WHAT!?!?!  60 freaking years?!?!?!  And I was there?  I mean, COME ON!!! This is some good stuff here!  We are kicking this gig off GOOD!

People were out in the street celebrating (as you could see in the previous picture).  But here, I wanted to show some of the planes flying overhead.  There were three dispatches, but this one caught my eye the most... probably because of the colored trail they left behind.

If nothing else proved I was in London... this ought to.  No Tardises though, sad to say.

Once again, I don't rightly recall what place this was...
but it LOOKS impressive, doesn't it?

Good ol' Big Ben!  What's a trip to London without seeing him!