Antibes

Antibes is one of the main hubs for the yachting industry. Many aspiring yachties fly to Antibes to find their first position and seasoned yachties tend to return to Antibes in between jobs and at the end of the season. All the main crew agencies are located right by the dock and it is also in the centre of the French Rivera, only a train ride away from all the major ports along the coast of the south of France, Italy and Spain. 

There are a number of crew houses, which are cheap hostel like, affordable places for yachties to stay. They enable an easy way to meet other yachties and provide the opportunity to make contacts in the industry, through living with like minded individuals. 

A few of the crew houses in Antibes include:

The Crew Grapevine

The Crew House

Amma's Crew House

Backpackers House

I spent a couple of weeks in Amma's crew house as well as staying in a number of Airbnb's with different groups of friends I made in Antibes, which worked out to be very affordable once split equally between us. 

Yachting

 

Life onboard a superyacht as a stewardess..

What is yachting?

What happens onboard? 

How do you enter the industry?

Yachting is a very diverse and ever changing industry which allows people to travel along with an insightful working environment. Don't get me wrong it is also very hard work and very long working days and you will be pushed to your limits, as it can be tough living and working with the crew onboard. However I have found that this makes you stronger and you will discover a lot about yourself in these situations. 

I decided to join the yachting industry this year, I completed all my courses in order to find work. I flew to one of the main yachting hubs in Europe which was Antibes. (See my Antibes blog for more about Antibes) I found it so easy to meet others in the industry and others that were also new to the industry and on the hunt for work. It is a funny dynamic to be very honest as you make lots of friends living there but you also realise that all the people you meet are all in competition with you. 

Salcombe Gin School Experience

Have you ever discovered how gin is distilled? Or ever made your own gin? 

Myself and my good friend Martha participated in a Gin school lesson with Salcombe Gin in South Devon. 

We were taught how the gin was distilled and developed our own gin in a beautiful mini copper still. We were able to choose from the extensive range of citrus, herbal, floral and spice botanicals to create our own recipe for a flavoursome gin. Which we named Girl's Getaway having created a fruity summery flavoured gin whilst having a girls weekend in Devon.   

It was so interesting learning the process of the gin distilling and the different flavours that compliment each other, along with the certain tonics that would match the variety of gins. I hope to use the knowledge I learnt in creating my own Gin cocktails and speciality Gin and Tonics. 

Salcombe Gin is based in the heart of Salcombe in the beautiful South Devon. It has a beautiful location with a balcony overlooking the Salcombe estuary, which is a perfect sun trap. I would highly recommend booking either if you are curious about the world of gin or as a fun thing to do with friends or family and an excuse to taste new flavours of gin. 

 www.salcombegin.com 

St Tropez Villa Event

In July, I worked at a beautiful Villa in St Tropez, which hosted a large event one night. It was all organised very last minute however was such an intricate event. Filled with dancers with the most flamboyant outfits, three large bars set up along with a VVIP booth area that looked onto the dance floor and seating area.The event itself consisted of a seated dinner for 100 people and about 400 for the afterparty. It was such a beautiful location that looked onto the Bay of St Tropez, the sun set in the most perfect spot casting a golden glow over the hills in St Tropez.

Myself along with three others were working at the villa for a total of 10 days and this party was hosted in the middle. We were the core team that were coordinating with the catering team, the bar staff and the artist management team to ensure that each team had everything they needed and helped the night run smoothly. 

It was quite a surreal event to be a part of as there were many celebrities and well known people at the party. One being Drake that was DJ'ing at the event which was a very exciting moment. 

Wedding in the Cotswolds

I was very fortunate to work at this beautiful wedding located in the heart of The Cotswolds. There were so many intricate details involved in the lead up to this event, everything from the flowers, catering, music, photography event design and more. I loved seeing it all unfold and come together and helping ensure that everything was in place and complete in time for the wedding itself.