Mixologist I Am Not..

Ahh, the day after. St. Petersburg evening was indeed a blast. I also had a good experience in the day doing a little shopping, a little sight seeing, and getting a lot of walking exercise in. I also got some fabulous exercise in at the club Metro last evening as I shook my tail feathers for about 5 hours on the dance floor. My shirt and pants were soaked I was dancing so hard and the club was jamming all night long with trendy young Russians and various others. Going out to Metro is always a unique experience. Tonight was no exception. You take a nap beforehand because you don't leave until 11:00 PM or so and then you all get in a cab that costs about $5.00 to get to the club from the ship. The club ONLY takes Rubles so you have to change your money during the day (otherwise you'll get screwed on commissions and rates from the city cab drivers waiting to take advantage of your U.S. money in the parking lot). The entrance fee is 300 Rubles (roughly $10.00) if you get there BEFORE midnight, but after 11:30 PM. It varies with times starting at 11:00 PM. After midnight is the highest. You get your 5 free soda tickets and you have 3 floors of hopping music to choose from. We usually start off at the bar with the cheap vodka at 55 Rubles (roughly a $1.75 shot and for those in NYC that's cheap!) and a coke. Then we're off to the dance floor. It was packed in there the other night. Now before we all get to the club, we usually have a cheap outing in the local crew bar on board. I had my 2 fabulous cans of cider beer that I got in Tallinn. The pear cider is fabulous and is the only beer form I'll drink. It's cheap too at a $1.00 US/can for at least 2 cans worth (1 liter). At the local crew bar I was also given a shot of Yeager mixed with Red Bull and had a shot of Tequilla. I was happy, but not overly happy and figured I'd dance most of it out on the dance floor. I used 3 of my tickets for cocktails at the club and stopped. The rest of the night was dance dance dance until 5:00 AM. Woo hoo!! Now in Russia, you have to take your Seaman's Book with you as a crew member. It's bigger than a passport and just doesn't fit into any normal pockets and you NEED it to get in and out of the gate at port. You also NEED it in Russia if an official stops you. SO I hand it off to one of my fellow female cast members with a purse figuring that we all left together last time and it's sure to happen again. Woops. That's where the interesting part comes in. I was burning up the dance floor soaked in sweat at the end of the evening when a group decided to leave and I was ready to go. I found out this girl left 2 hours before I did WITH my book. Whoa!! I panicked of course and friends were calming me down saying everything would be okay. Sure enough, my poor friend forgot she had it in her purse and realized it at the gate (which is about 30 minute walk from the ship itself so you need a cab inside the gate to get through all the shipyard crap). Her and her boyfriend waited outside for the 2 hour difference. I was relieved, but never felt so worried before. It was still a good night until this morning when I realized all my mixing was not a good idea. I was sober when I went to bed, but certain mixtures had me in bed all day. Lessons learned, always beware of your important identification paperwork and never mix tequila with ANYTHING. All is well now and we all have things to laugh about today. I finally caught up on all my rest though since I was knocked out until 5:00 PM today and when that happens on a ship, you're suddenly on a diet because you only have 1 meal left, lol. Thank God for snacks.