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

May Roster

I feel like the months are rolling round quicker than ever, and just as spring has hit, it seems summer is only just around the corner!

I’m already imagining sitting outside in the beautiful May sunshine sipping on an aperol spritz and reading a good book…just perhaps not in Dubai where the temperatures are already in the 30’s at the end of April! So let’s see where I’ll be heading next month, of course this could always change last minute as I send or accept swaps for any of these flights.

  • MNL
  • BOM
  • FRA
  • BRU
  • MEL – AKL
  • LHR

Now let me dissect that a little bit – first up is a 30 hour layover in Manila, in the Philippines. I’m not sure if I’ll keep this flight as the area we stay is quite far from the airport and the city, which means it can take hours to get anywhere as the traffic is insane. I’ve been once before but I didn’t get up to too much!

Then is a quick daytime turnaround to Bombay, India, which is luckily my only turnaround flight in May. After that I have 24 hours in Frankfurt, which I’ve visited a few times. As a German speaker I usually get at least one German destination a month, and these flights are quite hard to swap when you’re the “official” language speaker.

After my Frankfurt and before my next flight I have a lovely string of days where my boyfriend and I are hoping to get away on a little holiday somewhere. We’re thinking of perhaps heading to Lisbon, unless you guys have any other suggestions? Then I’m off to Brussels, which is a first with Emirates, although I visited a few years ago when I went interrailing with my best friend Lucy. Perhaps I can squeeze in a visit to Bruges, as I’ve heard it’s a much nicer city than Brussels itself!

Next up is a 6 day trip to Melbourne and Auckland. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know I’m not a huge fan of these long multi-sector trips, as they’re exhausting and you tend to be completely jet lagged by the end! So fingers crossed I can swap that trip for something a little bit shorter.

Last but not least, how could a month go by without a trip to London Heathrow! Recently LHR has been appearing regularly on my roster, so it was no surprise to see it again.

There you have it, another month has flown by and tonight I’m off to Singapore, where I’m looking forward to eating some delicious Asian food and hopefully lapping up some sunshine by the pool (that’s if the thunderstorms stay away!). I’ve got a new book to take with me which I’ve just started, called “The Girl On The Train” which is already gripping and I’m only a couple of chapters in.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my roster for May, and as always feel free to leave any questions or comments down below!

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Hanging out in Hong Kong

I recently got back from a quick trip to Hong Kong. I’d say Hong Kong is up there in my list of top ten favourite destinations, so I am always happy to go back!

The flight time was not ideal, as we left Dubai in the evening, flew overnight and landed into Hong Kong international around 5:30am, so by the time I got to bed it was around 8am. I’d arranged to meet my friend Kirsty later on in the day, so after a few hours sleep she came to meet me at my hotel.

The weather was looking pretty miserable, with foggy clouds covering the sky and a fair bit of drizzle. I was glad I’d left my scarf in my suitcase from my last trip to Oslo!

Our first stop was to get some lunch, and Kirsty remembered a restaurant, “Tai Woo” that she had visited with her dad (who used to work for British Airways) over 10 years ago. Somehow she recognised the manager, Raymond, who was still working there!

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We ordered an array of dim sum, fried rice, steamed broccoli, pork and chicken dishes, and soon realised we might have gone a little overboard!

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A stroll through the streets of Oslo

I’ve just returned from a layover to the beautiful city of Oslo, Norway. It wasn’t my first time to the country, as we have family friends who live in the north of Norway who we have visited a few times, however it was to be my first time in Oslo, so I was very much looking forward to it!

The day started off with an absolutely stunning sunrise whilst on our way to the aircraft. I was hoping it was a sign of good weather to come in Norway!

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The flight left on time and just under 7 hours later we landed into Oslo airport. We were whisked off to our hotel in the centre of town and arranged to meet shortly in the lobby. Soon the five of us were ready to go, and armed with maps and directions from the concierge, off we went!

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30 Hours in New York

My last trip was a flight to the Big Apple…there’s something magical about New York, no matter how many times you visit. I was especially looking forward to this flight as it was a 30 hour layover. Last time I was in New York was just a 24 hour layover, and those few extra hours really make all the difference.

After an early start from Dubai we were on our way. The flight was full, and since it was daytime everybody was awake, which certainly kept us on our feet! On long “ULR” (ultra long range) flights, we get a break in our bunk beds (CRC – Crew Rest Compartment), so while we take it in turns to rest we each have a lot more passengers to serve.

14 hours later we finally touched down in JFK, and after a long rush hour bus journey made it to our hotel.

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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that I have some friends in New York, Stephen and Colin, who I met whilst interrailing around Europe before I joined Emirates. I’d messaged them before coming to see if they were free, and we arranged to meet for dinner.

Luckily they also got stuck in the terrible traffic, which gave me a bit of time to shower and  freshen up after the long flight.

They’d reserved a table in a restaurant called “The Smith”, which was located just a short drive from my hotel. We could have walked but we already running a little late for the reservation, so decided to hop in a taxi instead.

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April Roster

It’s that time of the month again…. my roster for April has been published!

For the first time in a while I’ve got 2 new destinations that I haven’t flown to before, which I’m quite happy about. I also managed to get quite a few turnarounds thrown in there (although with swaps I’ve managed to reduce that number from 3 to 2!)

Turnarounds are short-ish flights to places within about 4 hours, where we come straight back to Dubai instead of staying in that city.

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