As you may have noticed, it’s been pretty quiet over here on The Dubai Diaries. I’m sure I don’t need to mention why, but as you can imagine the aviation industry has been impacted hugely by the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am very fortunate to still have a job, unlike many of my friends and colleagues who have sadly been made redundant. However, in comparison to my usual busy rosters, I’ve hardly been flying since March, although slowly things are starting to pick back up a little. That’s not to say more redundancies won’t happen; at this point it seems nobody knows when the airline industry will recover. I can only keep my fingers crossed that I am one of the lucky ones who gets to keep this job that I love so much.
Just like that, 2020 is upon us! The past year flew by so quickly, and I feel like sometimes I just live waiting for the roster each month.
Whilst I haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions as such, I will try my hardest to make the most of all of my layovers, and get out and explore as much as possible!
As for this month’s roster, here goes:
LIS – Lisbon, Portugal
PEK – Beijing, China
SYD – CHC – Sydney, Australia & Christchurch, New Zealand
KUL – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
JED – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (turnaround)
ARN – Stockholm, Sweden
Sadly I didn’t get a single one of my bids, but I did have my top bid month in December, so wasn’t expecting too much. Not my favourite roster I’ve ever had, but it could be worse!
I started the month (and year!) off with a flight to Lisbon – although it was quiet it was very long at just over 8 hours there. Having been to Lisbon on holiday previously, I had a quiet layover with a bit of browsing round the shops, although it was super busy with post-Christmas shoppers.
Next up is Beijing – a destination I haven’t visited in a while. I tried to swap this flight but with no success, so I’ll see what the rest of the crew fancy doing when I’m there.
Following on from that is a multi-sector trip to Sydney and Christchurch. I also tried to swap this one as I’ve only just been to Sydney, and I’d rather do shorter flights, but there are so many swap legalities that it was impossible. Hopefully the smoke from the awful bushfires doesn’t get any worse.
After my multi-sector down under, it’s back to Asia, with a trip to Kuala Lumpur. It’s actually been a year since I last visited, but the timing of this flight is not ideal – we fly through the night from Dubai and get there early morning.
Then I have a quick turnaround to Jeddah and back, let’s hope it’s uneventful. Once again not great timing – leaving Dubai at midnight and getting back at 8am.
My last flight of the month is to Stockholm, the one I’m looking forward to the most! I’m really hoping for some snow, as I haven’t been anywhere with snow yet this winter.
And that’s it for January 2020… I wonder where else this year will take me!
P.s. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! 🙂
The final roster of 2019 is here! It’s been a great year and I’ve visited many of my favourite destinations, as well as a few new ones.
I’ve also worked my way up from FG1 (first class crew) to CSV (cabin supervisor) which has been a new challenge but something that I am enjoying so far, although it’s very different!
I haven’t been posting much on here the past few months as I’ve been preparing things for my CSV “pool”, as it’s called – the 6 month probation period that we have to pass.
For the last month of the year I’ll be heading off to some familiar destinations and hopefully enjoying the Christmas spirit around the world! My roster next month looks like this:
SEP
VIE – Vienna, Austria
SYD – Sydney, Australia
CAI – Cairo, Egypt (turnaround)
AMS – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Leave
VIE – Vienna, Austria
First up are my annual exams – time to get studying! We have 2 full-on days of exams every year and this time it’s at the beginning of the month, which means I can get them out of the way before Christmas.
Then I have a trip to Vienna which I’m very excited about – I love Austria at Christmastime and I’ll definitely be checking out the beautiful markets and drinking some Glühwein!
Following on from that, a 43 hour layover in Sydney. This is a bit longer than our usual Australian layovers so I’m very much looking forward to 2 days Down Under. While I’m there it’ll also be exactly 7 years since I joined Emirates and moved to Dubai!
After that is my one turnaround of the month, Cairo. A fairly long day as the flights are around 3,5 – 4 hours each way … but at least it’s not as long as the two Istanbul turnarounds I’ve just done!
Then I have a flight to Amsterdam – I think it’s been around 2 years since I last visited. I’ll definitely be going into the city and having a wander around as it’s such a beautiful place.
That’s the last flight before my leave, which I’ll be spending at home with my family of course! It’s over Christmas which I’m very happy about, and although we usually spend it in Austria I think we’re planning to stay in England this year. Looking quite unlikely for a white Christmas but you never know!
My final flight of the year is another layover in Vienna. I’ll be landing back into Dubai just before midnight on New Year’s Eve – so I’ll most likely be bringing in 2020 collecting blankets and headsets on the plane!
Thanks as always for following along with my journey at Emirates and reading my blog!
P.s. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! 🙂
Once again I’m back with another roster post, this time for the month of September.
While I didn’t get everything I asked for, I do have a new destination to tick off the list, as well as a couple of old favourites.
In September I’ll be heading off to:
BKK – SYD – Bangkok, Thailand & Sydney, Australia
STN – London Stansted, UK
STN – London Stansted, UK
IKA – Tehran, Iran (turnaround)
BKK – Bangkok, Thailand
ADL – Adelaide, Australia
I’ll be starting off the month with another multi-sector trip, to Bangkok and Sydney. I’ve just got back from my Sydney Christchurch trip, so I need a few days off to recover before another week away!
I have to admit I did bid for Bangkok (albeit as my lowest bid) though I kind of forgot this trip existed, so wasn’t really expecting to get another multi-sector! As always I’m happy to go though – for my fix of Pad Thai, mango sticky rice, and an excellent Thai massage.
After that I have two trips home, to Stansted, which of course I’m very happy about! I’m hoping the brilliant summer weather England has had over the past couple of months will hang in there for a few more weeks, and we will be able to play some tennis and eat dinner in the garden.
Next up will be a quick turnaround to Tehran and back, followed by another flight to Bangkok. Perhaps I will see if I can swap these two for something else, but if not it’s no big deal.
Lastly is my new destination for the month – Adelaide! This will mean I’ll have ticked off all of the Emirates destinations in Australia. As it will be my first time there, any tips or beautiful places to see are much appreciated!
P.s. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! 🙂
It’s been quite a while since I’ve spent time sightseeing in Sydney, and this trip I had two layovers there, and was determined to make the most of them!
It’s a 14 hour flight from Dubai to Sydney, and now that one crew has been removed from our long haul flights in first class, we were kept on our toes, to say the least! I was certainly ready for my bed once we checked in to our hotel in the morning, but made sure to set an alarm to at least spend some of the day awake.
Sunrise in Sydney
Sydney Harbour Bridge & Opera House
First things first, a walk to see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House!
