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

Top Travel Tips

As cabin crew, I’m used to travelling the world and within a timespan of two weeks, I could have been in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia! So much flying certainly takes a toll on your body, and it’s not uncommon to wake up in the middle of the night wondering where on earth you are!

It can be hard getting up in the middle of the night to go to work, flying for anywhere between 6 and 16 hours, and then wanting to explore the destination when you get there!

I’ve tried to think of a few of my top tips to survive long-haul flights, and feel as refreshed as possible once you get there.

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February Roster

It’s that time of the month again…it seems the first month of 2016 has flown by and I’ve already got my roster for February.

I’m still on reserve at the moment, and I’ve already had a turnaround to Bombay, a trip to Madrid (including lots of tapas!) and a 6 day trip to Melbourne and Auckland. I hope you enjoyed the pictures from that trip, where I explored a lovely little town called Devonport, just a 10 minute ferry ride away from Auckland.

My reserve continues until the 10th of February, and after that I’ll be heading to:

  • SFO (San Fransisco)
  • Leave (my best fried Lucy is coming to visit!)
  • BOM (Bombay turnaround)
  • DUS (Dusseldorf)

I’ve actually never been to Dusseldorf before, so that’ll be another magnet to add to the collection! I’m trying to swap my San Fran for something else at the moment (a Sydney would be nice, so I could go and see my grandparents) but we’ll see where I end up.

Don’t forget you can follow me on instagram, where I post more frequently. That way you’ll know which trips I end up getting on my reserve month!

 

Melbourne – Auckland

Being on reserve means you never know where you’re going to end up…and on my last standby I was pulled out for a 6 day trip to Melbourne and Auckland! My standby started at 3am but by midnight I could already see the flight on my roster, so I tried to get a few hours of sleep until crew control called me around 6am.

I got up to re-pack my suitcase (I was sure I’d end up somewhere in Europe and had packed thick jumpers and boots!) and get ready for a long day.

The flight to Melbourne was just under 13 hours, and as it was during the daytime most of our passengers were awake. However it wasn’t too busy and we had a great crew which made it seem a lot less than that!

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We were greeted by a wonderful sunrise in the morning, and soon headed off to the hotel for some much needed sleep. It’s always tricky to plan your sleep when you arrive in the morning, as you don’t want to waste the whole day and not be able to sleep at night, but you’re also exhausted from being up all night!

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Despite the beautiful sunrise, it was a grey and rainy day in Melbourne, which meant I didn’t feel too bad for going to sleep for a few hours!

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A Rickshaw Run in Dhaka

After a short and easy night flight I arrived once again in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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The last time I was here was in August, and aside from eating and reading by the pool, I didn’t do a whole lot!

This time I wanted to at least get out of the hotel grounds, so myself and a few of the other crew arranged to meet in the afternoon. Our flight arrives early morning and the hotel keeps the breakfast buffet open for us so we can go and have free breakfast before checking in. Who can say no to free breakfast?!

After a few hours sleep I was ready to do a bit of exploring. Our first stop was a restaurant which our purser (who is from Dhaka) had recommended, not too far from the hotel. The minute we stepped out we were surrounded by people asking us for money and food, which made me feel slightly uncomfortable!

We all ordered some butter chicken and garlic naan, which was delicious but very spicy!

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Marvellous Mauritius

I was lucky enough to finally be rostered another flight to Mauritius! It had been over a year since I last visited and I was so happy to get the chance to re-visit the beautiful island I fell in love with last time.

The flight was nice and easy, busy but not too long. After around 6 hours we arrived in MRU just as the sun was setting. It was already dark by the time we arrived at the hotel but I could still see the pool and ocean glistening from the lobby!

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The hotel does a great dinner buffet, so we sat down to some delicious Mauritian food and had a relaxing evening.

The hotel is actually more of a resort and some of the rooms are spread out pretty far, you can even get a lift on a golf buggy if the walk is too much for you!

My room had a beautiful view of the ocean and all the lovely palm trees. It was the best feeling waking up on the first day of my birthday month and being greeted by the sound of waves crashing and the breeze blowing through the trees!

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