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

Snowy Annecy, France

So it turns out Annecy is actually closer to Geneva, which I visited twice last month, and not Lyon! I had my heart set on visiting during my last trip to Lyon, but didn’t want to go alone, but if only I had known (or done my research better!) I could have popped over from Geneva.

Never mind, this trip I found 3 others who were also up for a road trip, and after a few small complications (i.e. there being no cars available in any of the car hire places at the main train station!) and a quick metro ride a few stops along, we managed to hire a car.

Our captain Christian, from Mexico, along with Jenny from Scotland, Waleed from Egypt, and myself, were all ready to go and finally on our way.

The drive out of the city took a while as there was a fair bit of traffic, but once we were on the motorway it was smooth sailing.

View Post

48 Hours in Lyon

My first flight of the year was a 48 hour layover in Lyon, France. The last time I visited was in summer, so the weather was a bit different this time around!

We arrived into Lyon in the evening, so on the first night there was just time for a light dinner and some drinks with the crew, while plans were discussed for the next day. Although I’ve visited before I was happy to head into the city and do some exploring.

Nine of us managed to meet in the morning and jump on the bus, just a few stops into town to start our day out.

We strolled through the streets, and although it was a quiet morning it was nice to enjoy the pretty architecture and atmosphere of the city.

View Post

Mulled Wine & Cheese Fondue in Lausanne, Switzerland

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the festive period and managed to spend time with your families, I was home for a week at Christmas and managed to get lots of relaxation and eating in!

Now it’s back to work for me, and I spent New Year’s Eve at 40,000ft, somewhere between Zurich and Dubai. In this job it’s practically unheard of to have both Christmas and New Year’s Eve off, let alone 2 years in a row, so I didn’t mind working NYE since I was lucky enough to be on leave for Christmas.

My last flight before my leave was a trip to Geneva, my second time visiting in December. Since it had only been two weeks since the previous trip, I decided to jump on a train and visit Lausanne, a small town around 40 minutes away.

Luckily I even had a companion for the afternoon – Thanatip, the lovely Thai first class crew, accompanied me.

We were slightly taken aback by the price of the train ticket – 56 Swiss Francs each for a return ticket! Bearing in mind that’s about what I used to pay for a ticket from Klagenfurt – Vienna (a 4 hour train journey!) when I lived in Austria, and this was a 40 minute ride each way. Fortunately we get a generous allowance in Geneva, but still!

View Post

Christmas Lights in London

First of all I must apologise for not updating my blog for a couple of weeks – I’ve been flying non-stop and in-between Christmas preparations and present buying I also had a dying MacBook, which has now been replaced with a shiny new one!

Last week I needed to pick up a few of my last Christmas presents, so I swapped my original Milan flight for a Heathrow. A fairly easy flight on the way over, as it departed Dubai at 3am so all of our passengers in first class slept most of the way. I had a quick nap once we landed then jumped on the tube into central London.

As you can imagine in the lead-up to Christmas it was very busy (even on a weekday!) but I still managed to get all of my last minute present-buying done. The Christmas lights along Oxford street were all lit up and looking rather pretty, so I thought I’d share a few pictures.

View Post

An afternoon in Geneva, Switzerland

I’ve just got back from a lovely trip to Geneva, my first time flying there with Emirates. The flight departed early morning from Dubai, and with a full load in first class we were kept on our feet for the 6 hours and 40 minutes it took us to get there.

The sight of these gorgeous snowy mountains on the approach kept me going until after landing though!

img_8014

We were lucky enough to be greeted by a gorgeous sunny day, although the temperature was a rather chilly 3 degrees.

img_8010

View Post