After my two lovely holidays to Zanzibar and Jordan it was time to get back to work. I eased myself in to things with a nice Bangkok flight that I managed to swap for an Australian multi-sector trip.
I’d fly to Bangkok, stay for 24 hours, do a “shuttle” flight to Hong Kong and back, and then get another 24 hours in Bangkok!
It’s been a while since I went to Thailand, so I was looking forward to the trip. The first day was spent getting a lovely massage and some delicious street food for dinner.
I’ve had a couple of requests to post my monthly roster – so here’s April for you!
I think I’ve explained before about the bidding system we have. There are 7 groups that all the crew are divided up into (randomly, as far as I can tell) and the bidding system goes by group seniority. So my group (group 5) is at “top bid”, where you supposedly have the highest chances of getting what you bid for, in April.
Even after nearly two and a half years I still haven’t got the bidding system completely sussed out, and I only got 2 of the things I asked for – you can bid for up to 5 (this includes layovers and days off).
So as you can see – no new destinations again. 🙁
At least I got a couple of Barcelona trips in there, which will be fun as I’m hoping it’ll have warmed up nicely!
As for the lovely string of 5 days off, mum and dad have very kindly invited me to join them in Athens for a little holiday! Unfortunately it’s not quite enough time to visit any of the beautiful Greek islands, so I’ll try and see if I can do that sometime later this year. Any tips for Athens are very welcome! 🙂
P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter for day-to-day updates of where I am in the world and what’s going on!
This is going to be the final instalment of my mini “Staycation Series”!
As you may remember, my sister Lizzie and her boyfriend Jarett came to stay with me in Dubai. Lizzie had visited Dubai before (but not for quite a few years!) and it was Jarett’s first time visiting, so we tried to make the most of it and do/see as much as we could squeeze in!
On their last day, we decided to visit a lovely part of Dubai that we still hadn’t had time to see – the Marina!
The Marina is a really nice part of Dubai. It’s full of crazy skyscrapers, and since it’s mostly Western expats, there are lots of nice cafes, restaurants and bars. It’s also one of few “walking-friendly” areas in Dubai, as there’s a path all along the waterfront.
We strolled along enjoying the lovely sunshine, and decided to stop at Pain Quotidien for a coffee.
Jarett is ready for his coffee! ^ 😀
In January I was finally rostered a new destination – Houston!
Since I’ve upgraded to working in business class I’ve been solely on the A380, and with only around 30 destinations it’s easy to get rostered the same places each month. Houston only switched over to the 380 at the beginning of December so I was excited to be going somewhere new!
The flight is I believe the longest we have (along with Dallas) and clocks in at over 16 hours! That’s a very long time to be on a plane – not counting the hour or so before that we’re preparing everything onboard!
On most US flights the route takes us over the North Pole, and the view is always incredible. I’ll never get sick of seeing beautiful snowy peaks and sunrises and sunsets.
The flight itself was a tough one. A full cabin with lots of demanding passengers, wanting to eat everything and anything we had onboard, meant that we didn’t stop for the entire time. We do get a break in our CRC (crew rest compartment; tiny bunk beds enclosed in a tight space in the back of the economy cabin) but what with babies crying, people talking loudly and toilets flushing constantly, it’s hard to get much rest even with earplugs and eyeshades!
I always wonder just how many steps I walk on these never-ending US flights!
We landed into IAH late afternoon, and even after being awake for hours and hours, most of us managed to make it down for dinner. Luckily we didn’t have to walk too far and although it was Saturday night I was far too exhausted to stay for more than one glass of wine!
The next morning we had arranged to meet bright and early to explore NASA, which is located not too far from our hotel. By the time everyone showed up we’d been hanging around for nearly 2 hours and at a total of 10 people, were 6 more than originally planned! Nevertheless, we booked 2 big hire cars and off we went.
Part 2 of Lizzie and Jarett’s stay here in Dubai is here!
After some tasty cocktails at a great little rooftop bar just across the street from mine (Level 43 Sky Lounge, at the Sheraton Four Points) we were ready for an early night.
Because we had an early start the next morning…. off to Abu Dhabi!
We decided to get the bus as although I have a Dubai driving license I still haven’t driven here and it’s only 25 dhs each way per person on the bus (around 5 Euros).
Our first stop was a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
