Cooking up a storm in Bangkok

After my two lovely holidays to Zanzibar and Jordan it was time to get back to work. I eased myself in to things with a nice Bangkok flight that I managed to swap for an Australian multi-sector trip.

I’d fly to Bangkok, stay for 24 hours, do a “shuttle” flight to Hong Kong and back, and then get another 24 hours in Bangkok!

It’s been a while since I went to Thailand, so I was looking forward to the trip. The first day was spent getting a lovely massage and some delicious street food for dinner.

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A trip down under

One of my recent flights was a 6 day trip to Sydney and Auckland. It’s been a while since I’ve done a multi-sector trip (I think the last one must have been Rio – Buenos Aires back in September) so I was a bit apprehensive. The Aussie sectors are always very tiring and it’s easy to get jet-lagged.

After a 14 hour flight we arrived in beautiful sunny Sydney! My Grandparents and Aunty and Uncle live in Australia, so when I saw I would be going to Sydney I knew I had to meet up with them. My cousin flew in from Melbourne (where she is at university) and Granny and Aunty Mary were waiting for us, then we drove home to see my Grandpa as well.

It’s become a little tradition to go for afternoon tea, and seeing as it had also been Granny’s 92nd birthday a few days prior, we had something to celebrate! Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get many pictures, as I had not slept in quite a while and was feeling a little bit exhausted! Nevertheless I had a lovely day catching up with everyone and it was well worth the lack of sleep! Thanks so much for having me 🙂

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The next morning we were up bright and early for the flight to Auckland. It’s only around 2,5 hours and the Auckland sectors are usually not full in business class, so it’s a nice and easy flight. I’ve only ever been to Auckland once before, so I had big plans to get out and see the city and more this time!

After we arrived at the hotel we were all starving, so a few of us went out for some dinner down by the harbour.

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Houston, We Have Liftoff!

In January I was finally rostered a new destination – Houston!

Since I’ve upgraded to working in business class I’ve been solely on the A380, and with only around 30 destinations it’s easy to get rostered the same places each month. Houston only switched over to the 380 at the beginning of December so I was excited to be going somewhere new!

The flight is I believe the longest we have (along with Dallas) and clocks in at over 16 hours! That’s a very long time to be on a plane – not counting the hour or so before that we’re preparing everything onboard!

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On most US flights the route takes us over the North Pole, and the view is always incredible. I’ll never get sick of seeing beautiful snowy peaks and sunrises and sunsets.

The flight itself was a tough one. A full cabin with lots of demanding passengers, wanting to eat everything and anything we had onboard, meant that we didn’t stop for the entire time. We do get a break in our CRC (crew rest compartment; tiny bunk beds enclosed in a tight space in the back of the economy cabin) but what with babies crying, people talking loudly and toilets flushing constantly, it’s hard to get much rest even with earplugs and eyeshades!

I always wonder just how many steps I walk on these never-ending US flights!

We landed into IAH late afternoon, and even after being awake for hours and hours, most of us managed to make it down for dinner. Luckily we didn’t have to walk too far and although it was Saturday night I was far too exhausted to stay for more than one glass of wine!

The next morning we had arranged to meet bright and early to explore NASA, which is located not too far from our hotel. By the time everyone showed up we’d been hanging around for nearly 2 hours and at a total of 10 people, were 6 more than originally planned! Nevertheless, we booked 2 big hire cars and off we went.

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The Dubai Diaries: A Staycation Part II

Part 2 of Lizzie and Jarett’s stay here in Dubai is here!

After some tasty cocktails at a great little rooftop bar just across the street from mine (Level 43 Sky Lounge, at the Sheraton Four Points) we were ready for an early night.

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Because we had an early start the next morning…. off to Abu Dhabi!

We decided to get the bus as although I have a Dubai driving license I still haven’t driven here and it’s only 25 dhs each way per person on the bus (around 5 Euros).

Our first stop was a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

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February Roster

I’m currently on leave, and for once I’ve stayed in Dubai! 😉

My sister Lizzie and her boyfriend Jarett are here staying with me for a while; they’ve been living in the US and flew over from Dallas. So this means full tourist mode is on!

A couple of days ago I got my roster for February, so here it is, in case anyone is interested! 🙂

  • Houston (technically this is on my Jan roster but I land back into DXB in Feb!)
  • Zurich
  • Sydney – Auckland – Sydney
  • Zurich
  • Brisbane – Auckland – Brisbane

So as you can see they’ve given me two trips to Zurich (as obviously I haven’t been there enough already, haha!) and two multi sector trips. I haven’t done a multi sector trip for aaaaages (other than my Rio – Buenos Aires trip back in September) and I can’t say I’m looking forward to them!

They’re very tiring and you get very jet lagged in Australia, but I’ll try and make the most of them and have a good time anyway! At least for once I’ll have a new destination, as I’ve never been to Brisbane before 🙂

Just a short post today as I’ve got guests – but there’ll be one up soon with some pictures from my trip to Barcelona!

P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter @rachelwwilson for more day to day updates on my life!