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

May Roster & An Update

Well hello there – and welcome back to my blog! It’s certainly been a while since I’ve updated anything on here, and this will be my first post of 2021, oops! I never meant to go so quiet, but as you can imagine, I’ve not been flying very much. Slowly things are starting to pick up and I’m seeing more and more flights on my roster, but since we are still not allowed to leave the hotel on our layovers, I don’t have a whole lot to update you on!

Flights are gradually getting back to normal, although we still have to wear our full PPE (mask, gloves, gown and visor) and of course passengers still have to wear a mask. More destinations are opening up though which is a great sign, and I’m hopefully that eventually things will get back to normal. Let me tell you, I’ll never spend another layover in my hotel room again!

Believe it or not, this month I have an *almost* normal roster – quite a few flying hours, which makes for a nice change. Especially since we get paid depending on how much we fly; it’s been over a year since a normal salary.

So if everything goes to plan and no flights get removed (fingers crossed!) in May I’ll be heading to:

  • JFK – New York, USA
  • AMM – Amman, Jordan (turnaround)
  • HAM – Hamburg, Germany
  • BP – Business Promotion Event
  • DMM – Dammam, Saudi Arabia (turnaround)
  • LUN-HRE – Lusaka, Zambia – Harare, Zimbabwe
  • IKA – Tehran, Iran

I was actually quite excited when I got my roster, as whilst I have been flying a fair amount the past few months, this is the busiest roster I’ve seen since the pandemic!

View Post

March Roster

First of apologies for the silence over here on The Dubai Diaries… no excuses, I’ve just been busy enjoying life at the moment!

So, where am I off to next month?

  • DAC – Dhaka, Bangladesh (turnaround)
  • ARN – Stockholm, Sweden
  • CSV Review
  • LHR – London Heathrow, UK
  • Annual Leave
  • BOM – Mumbai, India
  • BHX – Birmingham, UK
  • CSV Graduation
  • JFK – New York, USA

First up is a turnaround to Dhaka, Bangladesh. This is a pretty long day (around 5 hours each way plus time on ground), and sometimes it’s a layover but due to the timing I’ll be doing the turnaround.

After that is another trip to Stockholm. Although I was only just there in January, I’m happy to go back as the hotel is in a great location, perfect for exploring. Perhaps I will even get some snow this time!

Then I have my final review for the Cabin Supervisor pool, that I’ve been working up towards these past 6 months. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Straight after that is a trip to London Heathrow. I haven’t done a flight to Heathrow in a while, as Stansted is close to home so I try and get that flight when I can. I’m looking forward to this one though, as my best friend Lucy lives in London and she’s hoping to be able to take the day off work so we can do something fun together!

Then I have some leave – my friend Emma and I are planning to visit Turkey. We’re thinking a few days in Cappadocia and then a couple in Istanbul. If you’ve visited, feel free to leave some tips in the comments below!

Straight after my leave is a back to back combination of a turnaround to Bombay and then another layover in Birmingham. I’ve just been there, and didn’t manage to do much as all of the trains were cancelled due to Storm Ciara!

Then if my final review goes well, I will have the graduation day for it. This is actually the same as when I joined and completed the 6 month probation, and will be with all of the new crew.

Last up a trip to my favourite US destination – New York! I was originally rostered a São Paolo, but managed to swap it quite soon after the roster came out. I’m excited to visit New York in Spring!

August Roster

Once again the roster is out and it’s time for another busy month.

It’s a jam-packed one this time and I’ve already managed to do a couple of swaps, and hopefully one more if I can! 

August will be a real mix of destinations, with almost every continent covered! I’ll be heading off to:

  • BSR – Basra, Iraq (turnaround)
  • AMM – Amman, Jordan (turnaround)
  • MLE – Male, Maldives (turnaround)
  • EWR – Newark, USA
  • BLQ – Bologna, Italy
  • ABV – Abuja, Nigeria
  • BCN – Barcelona, Spain
  • GLA – Glasgow, UK

Starting off with three back-to-back turnarounds (i.e. no days off and minimum rest in-between) to Basra, Amman and Male. I’m seriously hoping I can somehow make a miracle happen and swap these for a layover, but let’s see!

My first layover of the month is to Newark – while I’ve visited New York plenty of times, it’ll be my first time flying into Newark. Sadly it’s just a 24 hour layover but I’m sure I’ll manage to stay busy! I originally had San Fransisco rostered but decided to swap as this will give me an extra day off.

Up next is the trip I’m most looking forward to – Bologna, Italy. I’ve been here a couple of times and can’t wait to go back and eat my bodyweight in tagliatelle bolognese and gelato 😀

Following on from that is a 48 hour layover in Abuja. A new destination for me and I’ll be honest and say it’s not one that I would have bid for, but I’ll try to make the most of the layover and get out and explore some of the city. Any tips are more than welcome!

Then I have a layover in Barcelona, Spain, which I can’t wait for! I was actually rostered Moscow, but someone sent me a swap which I immediately accepted. Funnily enough I had actually bid for Barcelona but didn’t get the flight, so it’s great that I managed to swap.

My last trip of the month is to Glasgow, which again is another swap – originally I had a flight to Entebbe, Uganda. I’m not sure yet what I’ll do there, so stay tuned!

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

New York Is Always A Good Idea

It feels like I only just blogged about New York, and yet here I found myself once again. This time around my friends were on holiday so I decided to take it easy on this layover and just do whatever I felt up to after the 14 hour flight!

Last time I walked over 15km around the city, so I gave my feet a bit more of a break! Our crew hotel is just around the corner from Times Square, so after a good freshen up one of the other girls from first class and I headed out to get a bit of sun, a drink and a bite to eat.

View Post

Rooftop Hopping & A Day out in New York City

Not too long ago I was rostered a flight to JFK. It’s actually been quite a while since I visited New York – the last time was Christmas 2017!

As always, I was so happy to be heading back to one of my favourite cities, and looking forward to catching up with my friends there.

We touched down in JFK early afternoon, but by the time we got through immigration and hit the New York traffic, it was nearly 5pm when I reached my room.

I showered and changed and headed straight back down to the lobby to meet my friend Stephen, who was there waiting for me.

View Post