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

Christmas in Austria

It may already be well into the second week of January 2017 but I hope you don’t mind me putting up this post a little late! Since we got back from spending our Christmas holidays in Austria it’s been straight back into flying and although I’ve (almost!) got my new MacBook fully set up, I’ve hardly had a moment to use it.

Joe and I were both lucky enough to get Christmas off this year – last year I had to go back to work on the 25th! So since we spent last year in Mauritius it was off to Austria this year to spend time with my family.

Luckily the flight going from DXB – VIE had plenty of spare seats, and once we arrived in Vienna we had a few hours to kill before catching the next flight to Klagenfurt. It was looking a bit hit and miss as it seemed we weren’t the only ones on standby trying to get home before Christmas, but before we knew it we were landing in Klagenfurt (it is only a 30 minute flight after all!) where Mum, Dad and my brother Harry were waiting for us.

We spent the evening relaxing and catching up at home, and making plans for the next few days.

Most of which included some form of eating…

…and who can blame us with this cake selection! Joe and I met up with my soon-to-be-married friends Iris and Claudio for coffee and cake, in a lovely cafe that has a huge variety on offer.

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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!

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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.

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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!

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

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December Roster

It’s that time of the month again…my last roster of 2016! This year has just sped by, and I’ve almost completed my first month of working in first class.

Next month I’ve got plenty of European flights, perfect for visiting the Christmas markets and getting in the festive spirit. I’m just waiting for December 1st so I can put my Christmas tree up!

In December I’ll be flying off to these destinations:

  • GVA (Geneva, Switzerland – my first time!)
  • KBL (Kabul, Afghanistan)
  • AMM (Amman, Jordan)
  • ZRH (Zurich, Switzerland)
  • MXP (Milan, Italy)
  • DOH (Doha, Qatar)
  • GVA (Geneva, Switzerland)
  • Leave (Home for Christmas!)
  • ZRH (Zurich, Switzerland)

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I was surprised to see 3 turnarounds (Kabul, Amman & Doha) in next month’s roster, as that’s more than I usually get. They are short flights, although in Kabul we stay on ground for almost 4 hours so it’s a long day. Thankfully we now get paid for ground time during turnaround flights!

As you can see I’ll be a regular in Switzerland – I put it as a low bid and got 2 GVA and 2 ZRH, although not much else that I bid for!

The best part of my roster is 5 days leave over Christmas – it’s been 3 years since I had Christmas off!

I’m slowly getting used to working in first class, and enjoying the change. Hopefully it won’t be long before I fully know my way around the galley!

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