The Best Job in the World
Friday, August 13, 2010 at 12:22PM | 5 Comments A little over a year ago, I was soliciting the help of most of you to help me win a contest that I’m sure I was not alone in entering: The Best Job in the World. It was a contest to be employed by the department of tourism in Queensland Australia as a sort of “mascot” if you will, for tourism in the area. Needless to say, I was devastated when through a sequence of events, my application was not considered for the position. Though I listened to my mothers advice, “it wasn’t meant to be, something else will come along!” I didn’t really want to hear it.
But now, I realize that although the job on Hamilton Island would have been amazing, it is not the last opportunity I will have to work a dream job and is rather, just one of many jobs I’m sure I will hold over the next 20 years.
I have found the best job in the world – for me. I work at a riding holiday called Los Alamos where every day I wake up, do what I love, spend time with amazing people and fall asleep knowing that life doesn’t get much better than this. If you need to catch up on what a riding holiday is, read my post from last week. If you’re caught up, let me give you a glimpse of my typical workday.
8:00 AM – Alarm goes off, time to get up
8:10 AM – stumble out of my bedroom door and into the Red VW van already running and ready for me to drive up to the horses
8:15 AM – arrive at horses and tack them up with Jose and Rachel for the days ride. Sometimes Mitch or Jesus (the two forest guards or guardabosques) will stop by on their stallions for a chat or to help out with the horses.
9:15 AM – back to the Jacaranda (the name of our house) for breakfast. Tea, orange juice, muesli and a banana for me. Sometimes a Sprite or a Coke as well if I’m especially in need of caffeine.
10:00 AM – back up to the horses to meet the guests for the day’s ride, mount my steed and head out for the day’s ride. I usually ride backup, at the very back of our little procession watching for problems and communicating with the lead if we need to stop for any reason – it’s a relatively uneventful position to be in and I generally pass the time chatting with guests or studying up my Spanish on my iPhone.
1:00 PM – we arrive at lunch somewhere in the forest or on the beach. I sit the guests down, order drinks and food and then help wait the table. While I’m not doing that, I am chatting with Jose and the bar owners, eating my meal and having a couple glasses of Tinto de Verano.
2:00 PM – back on the horses to head home
3:00 PM – arrive at the field, untack the horses, hose them down and wipe down the bridles.
3:30 PM – as fast as possible, change from my riding clothes into a swimsuit and run straight to the pool to jump in. Spend the afternoon laying out, reading a book, drinking a beer.
5:30 PM – Siesta.
8:00 PM – set the dinner table and eat dinner w/ the guests.
9:15 PM – finish dinner up, walk to Miguel’s for a couple after work brews.
11:30 PM – in bed, ready for another day.
I eat dinner w/ the guests three days a week, that’s it. The rest of the days, I am finished with work at 3:30 and spend the afternoons at the beach, down at the bar, shopping in Barbate or if I had a considerably rough evening at Miguel’s the night before, a REALLY long siesta.
I have Wednesday’s off. That means sleeping in, laying out all day, doing basically nothing.
Thursday’s, when the guests are in Jerez, I feed the horses in the morning, ride out for an hour or two if I feel like it, help Rhiannon clean rooms if she needs it (which she generally does not) and feed the horses again in the afternoon. Same on Sunday when one group of guests leaves and the other returns. I have so much free time, it’s ridiculous. I read the entire twilight series in 10 days. I’ve seen more movies in the past 3 months than I have in 3 years. I study Spanish, I go to the beach, I sew clothes, I’m redesigning the Los Alamos website. I have so much time to think about what I ACTUALLY want to do that I’m getting spoiled on always doing what I want to, when I want to.
But I don’t care. Because now I know that this is possible, so I refuse to ever work a job where I am not happy 95% of the time ever again.
Andalucia, Cadiz, Holiday in Spain, San Ambrosio, Spain in My Trips
Reader Comments (5)
Beautiful - it's fantastic that you've found such a comfortable, happy place for yourself!
Pretty soon you're going to need to get a new url for your website!
@Joel - What's that Joel, "A Chick with slightly less baggage but still with a likelihood of up and leaving at any moment" or "A chick who now only has emotional baggage and can no longer tell people that the REAL reason her site is named 'A Chick with Baggage' is because she carries a giant backpack with all of her personal belongings in it." Those both are WAY too long for a site title, I reckon.
That sounds amazing. But you make it sound like you're just lounging around when you're not with the resort guests, which isn't exactly true. You're blogging, reading, revamping the website, boning up on your Spanish, etc. On another note, I wonder if I'm 95% happy at my job...
That does sound like a beautiful life and an amazing job. I'm reminded of that Rolling Stones line about not always getting what we WANT, but getting what we NEED. So glad to hear that this chapter of your life is so deliciously fulfilling. High 5!
Peace,
Lauren
@Bess - Ok, ok, you're right :) I am doing work still when I'm not "working" per-say, but it's what I love, and for once, I have time to do everything I want to! Though I do find blogging taking a sideline position which I'm not happy with. Hopefully I can work out a better balance once I'm here for good!
@Lauren - You are amazing. I'm so right there with you with the RS lyric. This was not what I wanted, but definitely what I need. And I can only hope that everyone else finds their version of what I've got going on for me now. I'll never go back to any other life, even if my "forever" doesn't end up being Spain, it will involve, without exception, 98% happiness every day of the week.