Milan…Brunch…Munich!

Last week I flew to Milan. The flight itself was fine, pretty uneventful, and the hotel was nice. The only thing was that it was located literally at the airport, which meant it would have taken quite a bit of time and money to get to the city centre. So in the evening after arriving a group of about 8 of us decided to go to dinner. The hotel organised a shuttle bus to take us to a lovely family run restaurant, where we all shared some different meats and cheeses to start, and then I had a delicious pizza!
The next day I went down to have the hotel breakfast which was really good, and then I just pretty much stayed in the hotel crew lounge using the wifi all day! I managed to have a couple of hours sleep before the flight home which was good!

Once back home I had a couple of days off, so Michelle, Bianca and I went for dinner to a nice place called Warehouse. We get 40% off there which is very nice! 😀 They also serve alcohol there as it is part of a hotel, so we all shared a bottle of white wine.

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The next day I went for my very first brunch! I went to a place called Double Decker with a couple of girls from my Singapore Melbourne trip and some of their friends. There were lots of British people there as well which was lovely. It was really good and I even had roast pork with roast potatoes and gravy…and quite a few drinks! 😀 Brunch is a kind of Friday tradition in Dubai, so it was good to see what it’s like and I will definitely be going again on my next Friday off!! 😀

On Saturday I spent the day relaxing at the Meridien hotel pool with my friend Rebecca, which was great. It’s getting so much hotter now in Dubai, we had to stay in the pool to cool off most of the time!

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Sunday was back to work….I was flying to Munich! The flight itself was fine, I’m guessing 99% of the passengers were Germans so I went back to speaking German! They all drank so much but it was a good flight. When I got to the hotel in Munich guess who was in the lobby waiting for me….my parents and sister! 🙂

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They had come from Austria to visit and stayed the night as well. We went for drinks in the hotel bar in the evening and then headed to bed. In the morning we all went for the hotel breakfast and ate as much as possible without actually exploding, and then took the underground into the city. It wasn’t a very nice day, rainy and cold, but we had a nice walk around and I bought lots of cheap strawberries, blueberries and raspberries to take back to Dubai where they cost a fortune! We went and had a coffee in Starbucks to warm up and then did a bit more shopping, mum and dad bought me lots of things to take back to Dubai 🙂

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In the afternoon we walked to the train station so mum and dad could get their train home and Lizzie could get the train back to Vienna. Lizzie and I made a stop at Müller and I stocked up on tights for work and a few bits of make up that you can’t get in Dubai. After they had left I got the underground back to the hotel and had a little sleep before the flight home. I wasn’t feeling too great (woke up with a headache and cold!) and unfortunately the sleep didn’t get rid of it, so flying back was not that great. We were also over an hour late taking off so I didn’t get to bed until 9am the next morning! Not ideal when you are feeling ill! I woke up feeling worse and today it hasn’t got any better, so I’m trying to drink lots and rest. I will not be happy if I have to call in sick for my 2 day Shanghai layover! I’ve been looking forward to it all month! 😀

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!

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!

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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!

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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!

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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!
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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!
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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!
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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!

Jordan, Malaysia, India, Switzerland…

So these are some of the places that have been put on my roster ….. yes, my very first flight is happening in 5 days time!! I’ll be flying a turnaround to Amman, Jordan, which is about a 4 hour flight from Dubai. I’m guessing it will be pretty tiring as we about 2 hours or so there, then come straight back the same day. After that I have a week of “can use” – basically where I will be sitting at home waiting to hear whether or not I have a flight!
And after that…some exciting destinations! I have a layover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which I am so excited about, as well as a turnaround to Chennai, India, and another layover in Zurich at the end of the month!

I can’t believe how quickly time flies; in only 2 days I will have finally finished my training. Sometimes it feels like I have been in training college forever, and then I realise I have only actually been here for almost 8 weeks! Luckily I am still absolutely loving it and am so glad I made the decision to come!

During service training so far we have had 2 mock-up flights, one to London Heathrow and one to Ahmedabad (India), and tomorrow we have our final one to Sydney. We are split into 2 groups and take it in turns to either be crew or customers. The first time I was doing the bar cart, so I had to serve drinks to our customers, and then on the Ahmedabad I was doing pre-flight checks, boarding, welcome services, and also tea and coffee service after the meal. On our Sydney mock-up tomorrow I’ll be in the first group, serving lunch. As there are 8 of us and 8 customers, not everyone can do every part of the service, so I’m hoping I will get to do the actual meal cart to give me some practice before my first flights! After we have done our service, the crew and customers swap round, so we will be having a snack served to us and then breakfast as well! 😀

Last Thursday my dad had a quick overnight stopover in Dubai, so he came to visit my apartment for some lunch before training college which was very nice! He also brought me a bottle of wine which was consumed very quickly the next evening 😉 (Not by myself, my friends Michelle and Sally helped!). As usual we all went out at the weekend, Thursday night to Crystal and Friday night to Mahiki! Sally and I also had a quick trip to Dubai Mall on Friday, as the weather wasn’t great (windy and even a bit of rain!) so we couldn’t spend all day at the pool like we usually do. Saturday I managed to stay in bed feeling a little bit (a lot!) worse for wear and only got out to go to the door when the pizza I ordered was delivered! Ultimate lazy day, but then again these weekends where everyone is home at the same time will not be happening much once we start flying!

I’ll try and get a few pictures up soon, right now it is almost 2am and I have just had a really nice long skype session with my best friend Lucy back in England and so I am feeling very tired and ready for bed!