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

October Roster

Sorry for the silence over here on the blog – I’ve been on leave for the past couple of weeks and am actually not going back to work till October, so I’ve been very much enjoying just having a bit of time off and relaxing!

If you follow me on Instagram you might have spotted that I flew down to Australia to spend some time with my grandparents and aunty and uncle in Canberra, and my cousin in Melbourne. I then flew on to Hong Kong to meet my friend Kirsty, and from there we jetted off for a week in Borneo! A new country for the both of us, and we made sure to squeeze in as much as we possibly could, despite having her 4-month old baby Theo in tow! 🙂

Now I’m back in Dubai with just enough time to unpack, do some washing, and repack my suitcase, as I’m still not done travelling and will shortly be heading off to Portugal! I’m taking Joe with me, and we’re meeting my parents and one of my brothers and his girlfriend for a week of cycling along the coast. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the last of the summer weather as I wouldn’t mind coming back with a bit of a tan!

Enough rambling for now and onto my roster for October. I’ll be flying to:

  • BEY – Beirut, Lebanon (turnaround)
  • MEL – AKL – Melbourne, Australia & Auckland, New Zealand
  • JNB – Johannesburg, South Africa
  • JED – Jeddah, KSA (turnaround)
  • MUC – Munich, Germany
  • ACC – ABJ – Accra, Ghana & Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Starting the month off with a not-so-lovely nighttime turnaround to Beirut, I’m still hoping some miracle will happen and someone will give me their days off for this, but let’s be real here…that’s never going to happen, haha!

Then I’m off to Australia and New Zealand for a 6-day multi sector trip, and I’ve already made sure my cousin Sarah is free in Melbourne. I’ve been to Auckland a few times now, so if anyone has any other fun ideas or suggestions of what to do there, do let me know!

In between my MEL-AKL and JNB I have 5 days off, so if flights are ok I will hopefully be flying to Manchester to stay with my best friend Lucy for a long weekend! We were meant to go away together in September but it didn’t work out, so this should be a long overdue catch-up!

Next up is a trip to Jo’burg, which I’ve only done once (and is actually the flight I met my boyfriend Joe on!) so I’ll be happy to head back for a delicious steak and some wine!

Of course there had to be a turnaround to Saudi Arabia in there, but let’s hope its nice and uneventful.

After that I’m off to Munich, and I’ll be visiting my brother Matt and his girlfriend Miriam and their new dog, which I’m very excited about! Matt likes so cook so I’m already hoping he’s going to be whipping up something nice for my visit! 😉

Lastly a new destination for me – Accra! Africa is my least-visited continent, so I thought it was about time I bid for some new African destinations, and for this trip we fly to Accra and stay there for 24 hours, then on to Abidjan and back (I believe it’s only around a 1 hour flight) and then stay another 24 hours in Ghana. So any tips or must-do’s are much appreciated!

Somewhere between Canberra and Melbourne – thanks Qantas for the ride!

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

Breakfast in Dubai, Lunch in Melbourne, Dinner in Auckland

I’ve just got back from a 6 day trip down under – a night in Melbourne, quick hop to Auckland for 24 hours, then back to Melbourne for another day. The last time I did this trip was back in January, when I got it on my reserve month. I normally tend to avoid multi-sectors as I always end up a bit jet-lagged, but I couldn’t say no this time as I was going to see my cousin Sarah!

She was away in New York on exchange last time I came to Melbourne, but luckily this time around she managed to get some time off work so we could hang out!

The trip over was nice and uneventful, and after a 12,5 hour flight we landed into Melbourne at around 6am.

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I headed to bed for a couple of hours, and soon enough it was time to get ready to meet Sarah for some late breakfast. It was a pretty grey and miserable day, 12 degrees and a drizzle of rain. Just what I needed after a constant 40 degrees in Dubai!

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September Roster

I’m sure I said the same last month, but where on earth has this year gone?! It’s just flown by, and it’ll be Christmas before we know it!

But before that, I’ve got some flights to do, so without further ado here is my roster for September.

  • SKT (Sialkot, Pakistan – turnaround)
  • MEL – AKL (Melbourne, Australia – Auckland, New Zealand & then back to Melbourne)
  • FCO (Rome, Italy)
  • HKT (Phuket, Thailand)
  • DOH (Doha, Qatar – turnaround)
  • SYD (Sydney, Australia)

Two quick turnarounds, although maybe someone will be kind enough to take the first one and give me a day off?! Unlikely but you never know! 😀

The MEL – AKL trip is over 6 days and even though I usually don’t like long multi sector trips I’m very happy with this one as I’ll get to see my cousin Sarah who lives in Melbourne. I’m also hoping she’ll be able to accompany me on the layover to Auckland, which should be fun.

Then I’m heading back to Rome, one of my favourite cities in Italy, where I’ll be indulging in plenty of pasta and gelato!

After that I’m lucky enough to have been rostered a 48 hour layover in Phuket! Normally almost all of our layovers (other than west coast US) are just 24 hours, so I was very pleasantly surprised to see that on my roster.

Then another quick turnaround to Doha – this is one of the shortest flights we have at around 50 minutes each way, so it’s a quick afternoon’s work back in time for dinner!

At the end of the month I’ll be heading off to Sydney, a direct flight there and back with a 30 hour layover. I was rostered a London but swapped with my friend Sally so she could have some extra days off after her leave and I can see my grandparents who I haven’t seen in far too long. Win-win situation!

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

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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Another trip down under!

So if you read my last post you will have seen that I did a 6 day trip to Sydney and Auckland. The same month I was rostered another one of these multi-sectors, this time Brisbane and Auckland!

This would be my first time visiting Brisbane, so I was excited to see a new city.

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We arrived early morning after a long 14 hour flight, and I was ready to pass out! A couple of hours and a nice nap in the comfiest bed ever later, I was ready to do some exploring.

Plan for the day: koalas!!

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