How To Travel The World And Get Paid For It

This article was originally published in the Dubai based publication Gulf News in 2007 when I had just started my career as a sailor in the merchant marines. At the time i was very unhappy with how the editors had mangled my words and trains of logic...lets call this my redemption as i edit the editors!
this is my first attempt at a post on steemit!

(just another beautiful morning in the bay of La Spezia, Italy... I look out over the side of my ship at another vessel exiting the harbor as a tug boat on the bottom left of the frame makes its way to us)

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It's literally the most fantasized about profession in the world, owing not solely to the "see the world" marketing chant but also because most people don't get much farther than simply fantasizing about it. You would have heard second-hand stories about the exotic lifestyle and the freedom of the purest blue morning breeze coupled with the tons of money you think sailors make and it seems like the perfect job. I'm not saying you're very wrong, but do hold your uneducated perception in check and allow me to be the not so humble metaphorical horse as you hear straight from my mouth the intricate details of the lifestyle of a young merchant mariner.

The Merchant Navy is the sum of all the private and public business enterprises that own and run cargo ships around the world. When you sign up you work for one company at a time based on contract boundaries depending on the policy of the company. Usually a contract lasts six to nine months during which you cannot be granted a leave of absence — barring special circumstances — because until the contract is up you have to stay on board the ship and in all probability it will not call at the port — or even the country for that matter — closest to your hometown.

The money is pretty decent once you get past the obligatory three year on board training period, and there are virtually no expenses since the company provides for all your basic necessities including boarding, lodging and an 'all you can eat' voucher for the duration of your stay.

In return they ask of you one thing; and try as you might, you find impossible to deny: to be on call 25 hours a day. And trust me; it is impossible to find a place to hide in the superstructure of a ship sailing on the high seas.

The bright side

As much as I'd like this grey and blue bubble to expand further I feel I'm bound by the rules of the argumentative essay to shed some semi-bright light on the greener side of the hill;

Every other week, you get to visit a new city and most of these will be world famous tourist destinations, the kinds of places people save up for years and pay a fortune to see. So getting to see these places and getting paid half a fortune isn't that bad a prospect in my book.

You learn to navigate the high seas using but a simple magnetic compass, you learn why the constellations were mapped out and their actual utility and you are able to name almost any star in the bright night sky, yes it's bright, there's no back scatter from street lights or tall buildings like in the city; you see the whole sky like you will never be able to see it from land. It's so staggeringly overbearing that you feel you can reach out and rearrange it.

You start to become skeptical concerning the shooting star wish-come-true myth because you see at least three every night and that's really expecting a lot from a bunch of exploding masses of gas and dust millions of light years away.

If you don't have a compass, you can navigate using the stars. You learn astronomy and physics the fun way, you don't see it as studying; it all just comes to you in daily work.

There's no such thing as routine on board owing to the unpredictable trading schedule of the ship; so you never get bored, you do something new every day and remember it for ever.

There is a warm feeling of camaraderie, the seniors have to teach and instruct you because when you join you are literally a fish out of water (no pun intended), everything on board is Greek and Latin to you; and in your turn you instruct the newcomers that follow you.

You get to drive a 500,000 ton harmony of heavy machinery and state of the art electronics; you get to see storms the likes of which even Hollywood can't contemplate and on days like that you understand the true meaning of life itself.

You realize how foolishly insignificant you are. You understand that the only way to achieve the legendarily elusive state of 'nirvana' is to trust nature and do your best to walk alongside it.

You see distant coastlines with lush green hills and jagged cliffs and wonder why so much of the world is so much more beautiful from the wrong side of the deep blue frontier.

It's amazing how an old fishing village nestled snugly on a sloping hill that's dreary home every day to thousands and a boring holiday every week to hundreds could seem like heaven from the sea.

I'l stop now before this becomes too lengthy...but re-writing this old story has made many others come to mind...and I'l start writing them here on steemit now....that is, if anyone wants to read them! do let me know in the comments below.!