The Dubai Diaries
My life as a flight attendant in the Middle East!

Mekong Delta, Vietnam

First of all I’d like to apologise for how quiet it’s been over here on The Dubai Diaries for the past few weeks – I’ve just finished sitting my yearly exams so I was out of action studying for a while!

After my 2 trips to Hanoi it was time to explore another part of Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City, also known by the locals as Saigon.

We arrived after a fairly quiet night flight and although this time the layover was only 24 hours, I was still eager to fit in as much as possible. There’s a huge street food market around a 10 minute drive away, so a few of us jumped in a taxi to sample some local food for dinner, which was delicious. I’m converted to Vietnamese food after a month of flights there!

The next morning we were up bright and early to head to the Mekong Delta.

It was around a 2 hour drive, and we had a quick stop at a rest stop along the way – similar to the stop we’d had in Hanoi on the way to Trang An, very touristy! At least this one had some pretty gardens 😉

View Post

Hanoi, Vietnam: A Street Food Tour & Trang An Grottoes

For my first trip to Hanoi I was eager to see as much of the city, and surrounding countryside, as possible. After a lovely quiet flight, we arrived at the hotel just after lunchtime, and agreed to meet in a couple of hours to tick off our first item on the itinerary – a street food tour!

There are plenty of companies that come up if you google “Hanoi street food tour”, and one of the girls on the flight had already contacted one to arrange our tour. We took an uber into the city (our crew hotel is around a 40 minute drive away) to meet with our local guide, Hannah.

We started at Hoan Kiem Lake, which is a central point of the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Since it was a weekend, all of the surrounding roads were blocked off for cars and were pedestrian-only, which was great.

Our first stop on the tour was a little bit of a walk from the lake, but this was the perfect chance to get a feel for the city. It was very busy and it felt like everyone was out enjoying the evening!

View Post

November Roster

It’s time for another roster post and next month I’ll be working in business class again! It’s been a year since I upgraded to first class, but due to rostering requirements a number of us will we working in business class, as well as a number of business class crew who will be back in economy.

So of course I had to embrace the opportunity and bid for flights that I wouldn’t normally be able to fly on (due to a lack of first class) and I’m happy to say I got a few of my bids!

Next month I’ll be heading off to:

  • KHI – Karachi, Pakistan (turnaround)
  • JED – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (turnaround)
  • HAN – Hanoi, Vietnam
  • JED – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (turnaround)
  • HAN – Hanoi, Vietnam
  • SGN – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
  • SGN – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
  • TPE – Taipei, Taiwan

As you can see I’ll be spending most of the month in Vietnam! No complaints there as it was my highest bid, and I won’t be able to get the flights once I’m back to working in first class again.

Unfortunately rostering have thrown in a few turnarounds as well, but that always seems to be the case when you get what you bid for!

Lastly I’ll be flying to Taipei, which I’ve visited once before – you can read about that trip here.

Although I’m not particularly excited to be working in business class I’m really happy I’ll be seeing some new places next month! 🙂

P.s. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! 🙂

Adventures in Australia

As you may have noticed it’s been rather quiet over here on the blog…I’ve been off work for a few weeks and have been making the most of my staff travel benefits and time off and have been visiting several different countries this month!

I started off with a trip to Australia to see my grandparents, who I don’t get to visit very often. They live in Canberra, next door to my aunty and Uuncle, so I decided since I had a bit more free time I would pay them a visit. I flew with Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong to break up the flights a bit, and with only a small amount of drama (forgetting that I needed to apply for a visa to Australia!!!) I made it first to Sydney, then on to Canberra.

View Post

Alligator Hunting in The Everglades

On a recent layover in Fort Lauderdale, having visited Miami the previous time, I decided to head out to the Everglades in the hope of spotting some alligators.

Once again we had a 50-something hour layover, which gave us plenty of time to do some exploring. After getting a few hours of sunshine in by the pool (which the hotel forgot to mention was empty and under construction …. at least I got a tan!) 6 of us met for dinner.

Our captain had hired a car big enough for everyone to fit in, so we drove down to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, which wasn’t too far.

We had a recommendation for a restaurant called Aruba Beach Cafe, and it was a great choice! We got a table out on the terrace, and ordered up a seafood feast.

View Post