The Dubai Diaries

My life as a flight attendant in the Middle East!

Melbourne – Auckland

Being on reserve means you never know where you’re going to end up…and on my last standby I was pulled out for a 6 day trip to Melbourne and Auckland! My standby started at 3am but by midnight I could already see the flight on my roster, so I tried to get a few hours of sleep until crew control called me around 6am.

I got up to re-pack my suitcase (I was sure I’d end up somewhere in Europe and had packed thick jumpers and boots!) and get ready for a long day.

The flight to Melbourne was just under 13 hours, and as it was during the daytime most of our passengers were awake. However it wasn’t too busy and we had a great crew which made it seem a lot less than that!

IMG_9519

We were greeted by a wonderful sunrise in the morning, and soon headed off to the hotel for some much needed sleep. It’s always tricky to plan your sleep when you arrive in the morning, as you don’t want to waste the whole day and not be able to sleep at night, but you’re also exhausted from being up all night!

IMG_9527

Despite the beautiful sunrise, it was a grey and rainy day in Melbourne, which meant I didn’t feel too bad for going to sleep for a few hours!

View Post

A Wander around Warsaw

I recently got back from a lovely layover in the beautiful city of Warsaw. Poland was never somewhere that was necessarily somewhere on my top ten list of places to visit, however it certainly is now!

The city is absolutely stunning, full of gorgeous buildings and architecture. Although it was absolutely freezing, we still managed a little walk around.

The flight over was a little less than 6 hours, and incredibly busy! With a full cabin and a breakfast and lunch service, we barely had time to sit down, let alone eat!

Once we arrived it was still early, so myself and Aoife, another business class crew from Ireland, set out to explore a little bit. When I said it was absolutely freezing, I meant it… -12 degrees!!

IMG_9361

We arrived in the old town, which is surrounded by the castle wall.

We spotted the last few stands left over from the Christmas Market, and had a little wander along.

IMG_9366 View Post

An Adventure in Algiers

At the end of last month I was rostered a flight to Copenhagen on Christmas Day, however I was desperate not to fly on Christmas so I sent out about 50 swaps, the majority of which I can’t even remember which destinations they were! So when one got accepted it was a complete surprise to see that I would have a 48 hour layover in Algiers!

I was looking forward to it; a new destination and a nice long layover.

It was an early start, but we watched the sunrise accompanied by plenty of planes taking off whilst waiting for our passengers!

IMG_9006

The flight over to Algiers was a nice one. Just over 6 hours, and although it was a full cabin in business class we managed the service quickly and easily.

Since we had a whole full day the next day to explore, we decided just to go for some dinner in the hotel that evening.

I was greeted by a beautiful sunrise the next morning, although the temperature was a chilly 7 degrees!

IMG_9040

View Post

January Roster

Hi guys!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & New Year. I certainly did; I spent my Christmas in Mauritius which was absolutely lovely, and I will post some pictures up on here asap.

I usually post my roster at the end of the month, but since I was so busy with Christmas and then flying straight after my leave, I just haven’t got round to it.

This month I’ve already done my first flight – a trip to LHR. I had a lovely layover at my parent’s house, where mum cooked a delicious roast dinner!

My next flight is to WAW – Warsaw in Poland. I’m very excited as it’s somewhere I’ve never been before and I love exploring new destinations. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to put some pictures up on here! If you have any tips or must-do’s, please do share.

And after that…I’m on reserve!

Finally after over 3 years in the company it’s caught up with me and I’ll be checking my roster everyday at 6pm to see where I’ll end up the next day.

Somehow I’ve managed to avoid getting reserve the whole time I’ve been here (usually by scheduling my leave during my supposed reserve month) but the bidding system has changed which means it’s my turn to play the waiting game all month. It’ll be interesting to see where I end up; I’m hoping for at least one long-haul flight to get my hours up and hopefully a couple of nice layovers!

So that’s it I’m afraid – not a very exciting roster this month, but you never know, I could end up in a totally new destination 🙂

P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! ðŸ™‚

A Hike in Hong Kong

I recently got back from a lovely trip to one of my favourite cities, Hong Kong!

As soon as I saw it on my roster I made sure to tell my lovely friend (and ex-flatmate) Kirsty to get ready for some fun! The flight over was nice and easy, and we arrived in the afternoon.

Kirsty is back to teaching, which is what she was doing before she was a flight attendant, so after she finished school I headed over to her and her husband’s apartment. She’d told me to bring my trainers as we were going to hike up the Peak!

After a quick look around their apartment, we were off. Dan (her husband) would join us later for dinner, good choice on his part as it was a pretty steep hike!

IMG_8295

We made our way to the Peak and started the climb up just as the sun was beginning to set. We managed not to stop too many times on the way up but it was a challenge, that’s for sure!

IMG_8298

View Post