November Roster

So I know we’re already almost a week in to November, but I realised I haven’t put my roster up here!

I’m now officially on my second month of working in business class and I almost feel like I know what I’m doing! 😉

So here goes:

  • New York (which I’ve just done a blog post about!)
  • Singapore
  • London Gatwick
  • Munich
  • Frankfurt (I was originally rostered Beijing but somebody sent me a swap for this!)
  • Paris

All of these flights are on the A380, and I’ve also got quite a few days off in a row which is lovely!

As always feel free to leave me any comments and suggestions for future blog posts 🙂

P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter @rachelwwilson for more day-to-day updates of what’s happening in my life!

Добро пожаловать в Москву!

What this post title says (if Google translate got it right!) is…. Welcome to Moscow!

One of my most recent layovers was to Russia, a country which I had never been to before. I was very glad to be going there for the first time in summer, not during -20 degrees in winter! It’s only a short flight from Dubai, around 4 and a half hours. However the bus journey from the airport to the hotel is a long one, so once we arrived it was late and we all went straight to bed. A few of us arranged to meet for breakfast in the hotel, and then decided to go out as a lot of us were here for the first time.

In the end 12 of us (that must be a record!) took the hotel’s free shuttle bus to the Red Square.

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It was incredibly beautiful and we were all very impressed. We took lots of touristy pictures and even managed to get a couple of group shots with everyone in!

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We walked all the way around stopping to admire all the different colours and shapes on the building. We stopped off in the souvenir shop to pick up a few postcards, and I also got a set of Russian dolls which are now on display in my room!

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One of the girls had just done the same trip a few days before, so she knew her way around a bit and suggested we go to a lovely park just nearby. A few of the others split off to do their own thing, and the rest of us hopped on the metro (hoping we were going the right way, as all the signs were in Russian only!) and rode a couple of stops to the park. 

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We had a lovely long walk through the park, feeling more like we were in a the south of France or Spain, it was so pretty! As it had been quite a while since breakfast, we decided to get some lunch and there was a gorgeous little cafe/restaurant hidden away between the trees. In fact the trees were still growing in between lots of the tables inside!

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After an absolutely delicious lunch we wandered back through the park, stopping by the fountain to enjoy a bit of sunshine! We would have liked to stay longer just relaxing in the park, especially as there were benches and bean bags everywhere, but we had to get back to the hotel for the flight home.

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Once back at the hotel I had a short nap and all too soon it was time to fly back home to Dubai. We thought it was going to be a nice easy flight, half full like the day before. However, the 777 flight which was meant to be departing that day got cancelled, so we got all of their passengers, which meant that we were completely full! Luckily it was over before we even knew it and I was back in sunny Dubai!

My next trip is to Singapore, which I am incredibly excited about as I absolutely love it there. I have also heard that it’s their national day and there will be a big parade and fireworks etc, so hopefully some of the crew will be up for going out to watch it!

After that I’m going to fly home to Austria to stay with my family for a couple of days (crew scheduling gave me 5 days off in a row – nice!) then I have one more flight to Perth, and then leave! August is going to be a great month, I can tell already! 

SIN – MEL – SIN

Sorry I haven’t been writing on here very much, I’ve been so busy lately that I just haven’t had the time to write a nice long post with lots of pictures!

After I got back from leave I had 2 short days off and then I left for a 5 day trip to Singapore and Melbourne! Once we arrived in Singapore, 4 of us girls (me, Kirsty from England, Kat from Ireland and Aneliya from Bulgaria) went out to get some delicious street food for dinner and decided to go to a place called Sentosa Island the next day. After dinner 2 of the girls went into Chimes bar, right next to our hotel, and I went straight up to bed!

The next morning us girls and Peter, a guy the girls had met the night before (who was also doing the same trip, but on his way home) squeezed into a taxi and drove to Sentosa. We picked up a map of the island and wandered down to the beachy area, stopping every few meters to take pictures!

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There were palm trees everywhere and it really felt like we were on holiday on a tropical island!

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As we were walking along the beach we saw another very small island which had a couple of little lookout towers on. We walked over (not without a quick stop at the 7/11 that was well placed for some cold drinks!) and found it was the southernmost point of continental Asia. We crossed a wobbly wooden bridge and climbed up to the top of one of the lookout towers. Luckily there were some chairs up there so we stayed enjoying the breeze and chatting for about an hour or so!

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Once we had decided it was probably time to start making a move back to the hotel, we walked back down to the beach and just as we were about to cross back over the bridge to the main island, spotted a horizontal palm tree perfect for climbing on and taking pictures!

It was a little less stable than it looked and actually quite scary once you were dangling over the water!

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We then headed back to the hotel (did have to run to catch the free shuttle bus!) for a little nap before the night flight to Melbourne. 

We arrived in Melbourne early morning and after checking in I headed straight to bed for a good few hours sleep. And then….. my cousin Sarah came to meet me! I packed my bag and we got the tram to her place where Aunty Mary (her mum) and Granny were waiting for us! They had driven all the way down from Canberra (8 hours!) just for the night, which was very lovely.

We sat and had a cup of tea and some biscuits and chatted until it was time for dinner. We went to a lovely Italian restaurant and I had pasta – surprise, surprise!

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After dinner Granny and Aunty Mary went back to their hotel and Sarah and I started getting ready for a night out in Melbourne! One of her friends from uni was having a little party so once we were ready we went over there. Later on we ordered a taxi and drove over to a club that was having a 90’s night (YES!) and danced until we were too tired to stand! (Very glad I decided not to wear heels!)

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 Back at Sarah’s we went to bed for a few hours sleep before meeting Aunty Mary and Granny for breakfast in their hotel. Real bacon!! 😀

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We said goodbye to them as they got ready for the long drive back to Canberra and decided to do a bit of shopping in Melbourne Central. We then walked over to Victoria Market which is an absolutely amazing market which has everything you could possibly need, including hundreds of fresh food stalls. We bought some ham (real pork, not turkey or beef ham!) tomatoes, mozzarella and bread for lunch and I got some fresh fruit to take on the plane. Sarah also did most of her grocery shopping and we walked back to hers with our hands full. 

After lunch I packed up my stuff and we hopped on the tram back to my hotel. Soon enough it was time to say goodbye and fly back to Singapore. We arrived pretty late and had made up our minds to go for a Singapore Sling (which originated in the Raffles Hotel, just opposite where we stay) but unfortunately it was shut! 🙁 The next morning Kirsty, Kat and I walked over to Bugis Street, a huge undercover kind of street market mostly selling clothes. We all bought a couple of things hoping they would fit as you can’t try anything on there! We then decided it was time for some lunch so we crossed the road to the “food court” and got some fried noodles and sat with the locals. Just as we were finishing we noticed that it had started to rain, and not just a bit of a drizzle, a huge downpour! We waited a while for it to stop a bit and ran over the road back under the cover of the market. 

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We saw a couple of food stands and decided on some dessert – I got a crepe (which was sliiiiiiightly larger than expected!!) and Kat tried some fried mars bars!

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As the Long Bar at the Raffles hotel had been shut the night before we had to try one of their famous cocktails before flying back that night. (we were probably only just legal within the flying time to drink, but shh!)

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Of course we all tried the Singapore Sling 🙂

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Kirsty and Kat decided to walk over to the Marina Bay Sands hotel but as I had been there on my last trip I just popped over to the supermarket and picked up some really fresh sushi for the flight home and went to get a few hours sleep.

By the time the flight came round we were all ready to get home, it had been a great trip but everyone always looks forward to getting back to Dubai!

Singapore & Melbourne!

Early yesterday morning I got back from a 5 day trip to Singapore and Melbourne. It was amazing – I love Singapore!!

The flight from Dubai to Singapore was great – not even 2/3 full and lovely passengers. When we got there it was the evening, so a load of us went out to grab a bite to eat at a kind of food court/ street restaurant place. I had some sweet and sour chicken and fried noodles, so good! They also brought us some type of vegetables in sauce, it was so spicy that I had tears in my eyes and was sweating from one bite! Can’t deal with the heat 😀
The next day 2 of the guys and I decided to do some sightseeing, as no-one else was up to doing much. We had the hotel breakfast and headed out to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. It’s an amazing hotel which has become one of Singapore’s landmarks because of the huge pool on the roof! 
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There is so much green everywhere in Singapore – it made me realise how much I miss it living in the desert! We went up to the top of the roof and looked down over Singapore. What an amazing view!!

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We then decided to go to the Gardens by the Bay, which are the dome shaped buildings plus a lot more outside. They were so lovely and we had a nice walk around, all feeling very hot and sweaty by the end! We then hopped in a cab to Chinatown, had a look around the Indian Temple there, and walked along looking at all the stalls. I bought a fridge magnet to add to my growing collection! 🙂
We then walked back to the hotel and I managed to get a few hours sleep before the flight to Melbourne! Once again we got lucky and the plane was only about half full, which was very nice. 
After arriving in Melbourne I called my cousin Sarah and arranged to meet her. Quick shower and change of clothes later I was off to meet her – first time seeing her since August! She showed me her new university accommodation and we went out to get some lunch. By this time I was feeling very tired as I had had about 4 hours of sleep in roughly 30 hours so I was in need of a very strong coffee! 
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We then went to Melbourne Central to do a bit of shopping and I stayed there while Sarah went to uni for a couple of hours. Afterwards we went back to hers and I had a little nap whilst she did some studying. So good to finally sleep! 😀 In the evening we were going to go out clubbing but ended up just getting nachos and frozen margaritas with her friend Lucy, which were very tasty! 

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The next morning we slept in and had a walk around Melbourne, then got some breakfast (although it was more like lunch by the time we actually decided on where to go! :D) and I had to head back to the hotel to get a few more hours of sleep before the flight.
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Back in Singapore we arrived a lot later than the last time (around 1am!) so a few of us decided to go out clubbing! 😀 Rebecca, one of the crew, is from Singapore, so she and some of her friends took us to a club called Avalon which was pretty awesome, as it was just by the Marina Bay Sands and looked out over the water. We may or may not have ended the night with a stop at McDonalds…oops! 😀

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The next day I met up with my friend Matic from Slovenia, who I met back at the open day. He got put on hold, and then got offered a different job in Singapore, so we decided to meet up! We went to the botanical gardens which were lovely and it was so nice to see so much green! Dubai really needs to get a few more plants, ha ha! 
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It was then time for the final flight back home to Dubai! It was a completely full flight and so many difficult passengers! They all brought about 3 huge suitcases with them on board and expected us to find space to put them, and were just generally being difficult! Luckily the crew were all great so we had fun! We were all glad to be going back home though!
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Today I met up with Rebecca, we wanted to go to the beach but it was too cloudy, so we got lunch at the Dubai Mall and went and saw Oz the Great and Powerful at the cinema. Her flatmate came along as well, the film wasn’t too bad but I did almost fall asleep halfway through! 😀

Now I’ve got to pack for tomorrow’s flight to Milan! Should probably unpack from the last trip first though… 😛

Back again!

So I have just had a nice 12 hour catch up on sleep after my last couple of flights – I got back from Chennai, India last night!
I was rostered for this flight with one of my lovely batchmates, Cully, and as she lives near me we got on the bus together to go to HQ before the flight. We were sitting waiting for the gates to open when I got a call, telling me that the aircraft configuration had changed and they wouldn’t be needing me, so were putting me on airport standby for four hours! I wasn’t really that bothered, so I went and had a coffee and waited for my standby to start. Once I signed in and sat down, I got called literally straight away for a flight. Turns out they had put me back on the same Chennai flight!
Luckily on the way there it was only 2/3 full, so was not too bad at all. On the way back the plane was completely full, so we were rushed off our feet! There seemed to be at least 10 call bells going off at once at all times, and there was always something to do! During the meal service we ran out of the vegetarian option and the passengers at the back who didn’t have a choice were getting quite angry at us! 
Luckily the crew were awesome and we all worked well together and had fun!

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Chennai Airport from the back of the plane!

Before my turnaround to India I had something much more exciting…Kuala Lumpur! The flight there was pretty busy and demanding, and every other passenger wanted pot noodles instead of the meal service, but I didn’t really mind as I couldn’t wait to get to Malaysia! Once we arrived we got the bus to the hotel (which was beautiful!!), checked in, had a quick shower and met downstairs for dinner. By this time it was about 11:30 already, but about 8 of us took taxis to an area full of street restaurants and chose one. I had some pad thai which was pretty tasty, and everyone else tried some other kind of Asian dish! 
After dinner we had a walk along the street and headed back to the hotel. The next day Cully and I met up for breakfast…and yes, I did abuse the buffet and eat as much as possible! 
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After breakfast we met up with 2 of the other girls and headed out to Chinatown to do some shopping! We had originally planned to go to the Batu Caves, but decided we were too tired and wanted to do some shopping instead! 
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All of us managed to buy something – bags, scarves, watches etc! I bought a gorgeous blue Celine bag! (Unfortunately not the real thing…but who can tell! :D). After shopping we went back to the hotel to put our stuff away, and walked to see the Petronas Towers. They used to be the tallest buildings in the world and are very impressive, especially at night when they are all lit up! We didn’t go up, but we did take some obligatory tourist pictures in front of them!
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We wanted to get a massage before going home; one of the girls decided to stay at the hotel, so we walked to a Thai massage place and went for the 90 minute full body massage!! It was quite nice, but Cully’s lady kept burping which we could all hear through the walls! We also got asked if we wanted “special special”….which we still aren’t quite sure of the meaning of, but we definitely did not want it!
Coming out of the massage place it started to absolutely pour, so we got soaked getting in a taxi back to the hotel! It was only about a 5 minute walk but we would have got so wet walking back that we had to get a taxi! The driver however had no clue where he was going and we had to get out halfway through, cross the road and get a different taxi!

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Once back in the hotel I went to bed to have a nice few hours sleep before the flight home. I ordered some room service and had it in bed before getting ready to fly back home to Dubai!

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Room service in bed….club sandwich is always a good choice!

Now I have 3 days off (although it is 2pm already and I’m not dressed yet…so today doesn’t really count!) and then I will be off to Zurich! Have to say I’m very excited to be back in Europe and possibly see some snow! I’m not sure if I brought any winter clothes with me when moving here so I might have to wear lots and lots of layers!

Next months roster came out yesterday as well ….and it’s amazing!!! I only have one turnaround to Karachi at the end of the month, and I’ve got a trip to Singapore – Melbourne – Singapore, Milan, Shanghai (2 day layover!), Munich and Dublin! Especially excited about the Melbourne, as my cousin has just moved there for uni so I’ll be meeting up with her as soon as I get there!

Now time to get dressed and pop over to headquarters to get a few things sorted out, and then enjoy my days off!