Hello Hong Kong!

The minute I got sent a swap request to fly to Hong Kong instead of Paris I knew I was going to accept it. Hong Kong has to be one of my favourite cities, and it’ll always be that little bit more special as it was where I went on my very first A380 supy flight.

This time around, I had lots of plans. Even though it was a night flight leaving at 4 o’clock in the morning Dubai time, once we arrived there was no time for sleeping and it was straight out to explore the Ladies Market. I’ve been there before, but it’s always fun having a walk around and seeing all of the kitschy things on sale (as well as lots and lots of handbags, of course!).

Image

Well hello to you too, Hong Kong!

ImageImage

After a lot of browsing, haggling (and possibly a little bit of buying…) we decided it was time for dinner. Our original plan was to go to the Michelin-starred Dim Sum restaurant “Tim Ho Wan”, however the concierge had told us earlier that they stop serving at 9pm. By this time it was getting late so we popped into a little restaurant just off the side of the Ladies Market.

We chanced our luck and ordered some very interesting sounding things off the menu…such as “Born Fried Fried Dumpling”! Pointing at the pictures definitely helped, and they were all very delicious and freshly made!

Image

After dinner we had another quick browse around the market on our way back to the MTR, then headed back to the hotel. 

ImageImage

By this time we were all practically falling asleep standing up, so decided just to head up to the rooftop bar to have one quick look at the amazing view before going straight to bed. 

However…once we arrived, the atmosphere was incredible, with a live band playing and such great views over the city that we decided to stay for a drink! We got a seat by the window and sat and chatted for a while until I really was about to fall asleep in my chair!

Image

The next morning we had arranged to meet early to get the MTR and then the cable car up to see the Big Buddha. I was almost ready to go and then upon opening the curtains discovered that not only was it absolutely pouring with rain, the was such a thick layer of fog that I couldn’t see anything at all outside! 

We had planned to go up to the Big Buddha to get some lovely views of the city and have a nice walk outside….so that got cancelled, which was a shame as I had been looking forward to it the whole flight. In the end I went downstairs and had a big feast of waffles and bacon for breakfast! Didn’t quite make up for it, but close enough! 😉

The last few hours of the layover were spent checking out the new roster and having a quick snooze before the flight home!

In June I’ll be flying to:

  • Kuala Lumpur (yes, again! Why on earth they keep sending me there, I do not know)
  • Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (a new destination for me!)
  • San Francisco (woohoooo!! Was originally rostered Seattle, but since I have already been there I managed to swap it for San Fran, so so excited!)
  • LEAVE! No idea where I’ll be going yet, any suggestions? 🙂
  • And to finish off the month, a Dhaka turnaround.

I’ve just had my mum come to stay for 3 days, and we managed to squeeze so much in … so of course there will be a blog post coming very soon, once I get tonight’s Bombay turnaround out of the way! 🙂

 

P.s. If you want more regular day to day updates of what is happening in my life, follow me on Twitter and Instagram @rachelwwilson!

My first flights!

I’ve just got back from an amazing layover in Hong Kong! But before I get started on that, I’ll tell you about my very first flight….to Kuwait and back! 

So originally my roster had said that I was doing a turnaround to Amman, Jordan, however the day before it changed to Kuwait! Luckily I was going with two lovely girls who had started at the same time as me so I wasn’t the only new person on board! It was an early morning flight, which meant getting up at 4am (yay!). Once we got to the airport we were briefed on what the flight would be like and what kind of service we would be doing etc. For take-off and landing I got to sit in the cockpit, which was amazing!

Image

The flight is only an hour and 15 minutes, so we did a very quick breakfast service. It was nothing like training college! I wasn’t really sure what to expect but the sector going there was not busy at all which helped, and all the crew were so lovely! We did have one passenger sitting in first class who got out a cigarette and just lit it up and started smoking during the flight! 
We had a while on ground in Kuwait to have some food, but didn’t actually get off the plane there. Once we got back to Dubai it was only around lunch time, so I still had the afternoon off to get ready for my next flight!

Image

Image

The next morning I was off to HONG KONG! As soon as I saw that on my roster I was so excited! I have been quite a few times with my family before, so I was really looking forward to going back.

I got to the airport in the morning only to find that the flight was delayed almost 2 hours because of the fog! Luckily I was flying with one of my batchmates, Ibrahim, so we went and sat on the terrace and had a coffee until it was time for the briefing. 
We were flying there on the A380, which meant there was a bigger crew than the flight to Kuwait. We got to sit in the cockpit again for take-off and landing, and before we left we did a walk around of the plane – you don’t realise just how enormous it is until you actually see it from close up on the ground! As we were walking past another A380 was taxiing close by, and we got blasted by the engines and almost blown away! 😀
The flight itself was great – economy was not even 1/3 full, so we had very little to do and Ibrahim and I were also shown around the whole aircraft. Upstairs in business and first there was a total of about 10 passengers! Most of them were asleep as well so it was a pretty easy flight for the crew there. 
Flying into Hong Kong at night is amazing, especially because the airport is very close to the water, so it almost feels like you are going to land on the water! As the flight had been delayed, we didn’t get til the airport til almost 1am. We got our rooms and then most of us went to the supermarket just around the corner to get some things for breakfast etc.

The next morning I managed a 30 minute run at the gym, before meeting some of the other crew down in the lobby. We had planned to go to the peak and see the Big Buddha, but it was a little bit far from the hotel so we decided to go to the ladies market and have a wander around!

Image
Image

One of the guys, Bruno, told us about a restaurant which specialised in Dim Sum, so he had asked the concierge where it was and we set out to try and find it. Once we got to the area it was supposed to be in we couldn’t find anything that even looked like a restaurant! So we asked a local girl and she directed us to the right place (it had moved!) …but once we got there it was shut for Chinese New Year! Very disappointing. By this time we were all starving, so we decided to go back to the area of the Ladies Market and try and find something else. We ended up going into a place which was absolutely huge and filled with locals! Bruno ordered for us as he had a bit of an idea what to get, and we ended up with at least 20 different dishes of dumplings, fried rice, more dumplings, and lots of different things to try! It was all so delicious, and we payed the equivalent of about 15 euros each, if that!
ImageImage

Image
Image

After lunch, all feeling very full, we walked to the ladies market and had a browse! I didn’t buy anything there, as I had bought some Asian beauty products (face masks, make-up, etc) from a very cute pink shop before lunch! One of the girls, Jesica from Argentina, bought a very cute bag and managed to get a good deal! 
There was one thing that I wanted to buy in Hong Kong…an iPad! So we made our way to an area full of electronics shops, not before stopping to get some delicious bubble tea!
Image

I managed to get a nice deal on an iPad, and then we set off back to the hotel to get a sleep in before our night flight home. Of course I couldn’t resist having a little play with my new baby, but did manage to get a nice few hours sleep before getting ready to go back to Dubai! Whilst getting ready I had an amazing view from my hotel room! 🙂Image

The flight back was a little bit busier, in fact it was almost full, but as it was a night flight we did the service shortly after take off and then most passengers went to sleep straight away. All of us were feeling pretty tired, and on the way back the flight was almost 2,5 hrs longer because of the direction of the wind. We were happy to start the breakfast service in the morning as it meant we didn’t have long left to land! 
We got to sit in the cockpit again for landing, and flying into Dubai just before sunrise was amazing – the amount of lights and skyscrapers is incredible! You can see the Burj Khalifa from so far away as well….it made me realise how much I love my job already!
Image


All in all my first flights were pretty amazing! I’ve just checked my roster now and it looks like I’ve got another turnaround to Kuwait tomorrow evening! After that I’m going to Malaysia, India and Switzerland… I can’t wait!