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

January Roster

Just like that, 2020 is upon us! The past year flew by so quickly, and I feel like sometimes I just live waiting for the roster each month.

Whilst I haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions as such, I will try my hardest to make the most of all of my layovers, and get out and explore as much as possible!

As for this month’s roster, here goes:

  • LIS – Lisbon, Portugal
  • PEK – Beijing, China
  • SYD – CHC – Sydney, Australia & Christchurch, New Zealand
  • KUL – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • JED – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (turnaround)
  • ARN – Stockholm, Sweden

Sadly I didn’t get a single one of my bids, but I did have my top bid month in December, so wasn’t expecting too much. Not my favourite roster I’ve ever had, but it could be worse!

I started the month (and year!) off with a flight to Lisbon – although it was quiet it was very long at just over 8 hours there. Having been to Lisbon on holiday previously, I had a quiet layover with a bit of browsing round the shops, although it was super busy with post-Christmas shoppers.

Next up is Beijing – a destination I haven’t visited in a while. I tried to swap this flight but with no success, so I’ll see what the rest of the crew fancy doing when I’m there. 

Following on from that is a multi-sector trip to Sydney and Christchurch. I also tried to swap this one as I’ve only just been to Sydney, and I’d rather do shorter flights, but there are so many swap legalities that it was impossible. Hopefully the smoke from the awful bushfires doesn’t get any worse. 

After my multi-sector down under, it’s back to Asia, with a trip to Kuala Lumpur. It’s actually been a year since I last visited, but the timing of this flight is not ideal – we fly through the night from Dubai and get there early morning.

Then I have a quick turnaround to Jeddah and back, let’s hope it’s uneventful. Once again not great timing – leaving Dubai at midnight and getting back at 8am.

My last flight of the month is to Stockholm, the one I’m looking forward to the most! I’m really hoping for some snow, as I haven’t been anywhere with snow yet this winter.

And that’s it for January 2020… I wonder where else this year will take me!

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

June Roster

It’s time for another roster post over here on The Dubai Diaries! It feels like I live my life waiting for the roster each month, and then when I get it, thinking about what to bid for for next month’s roster!

In June I’ll be visiting a few old favourites, here’s my line-up for the upcoming month:

  • DFW – Dallas Fort Worth, USA
  • STN – London Stansted, UK
  • PRG – Prague, Czech Republic
  • Leave
  • HKG – Hong Kong
  • FCO – Rome, Italy

Back to Dallas – it’s only been a few months since my last two visits to Texas, but I’ll be heading back again. Since I went to a rodeo in Fort Worth last time, I’m not sure what I’ll do here. 

Then is another flight to Stansted to see my family, and the sweetest little kittens that are now living with my parents!

After that I have Prague, which I don’t think I’ve visited since last summer. Originally I was rostered Lisbon, which I do love (and am a little bit sad about getting rid of!) but I swapped it, so that I’ll hopefully be able to travel home on an earlier flight for mum’s birthday. 

Next up is a week of leave, as mentioned I’ll try and fly home for a bit – let’s hope the flights are not too full!

Straight after my leave I have a flight to Hong Kong. you guys will know that HKG is one of my favourite destinations. Funnily enough I didn’t actually bid for it this time around, and I got two! Sadly my friend Kirsty who lives there will be back in the UK this time.

My last flight of the month is to Rome, a place I haven’t visited for quite a while! This was originally another Hong Kong, but I decided to swap it as I won’t be able to see Kirsty anyway, and I love Europe in summer.

And just like that, that brings us to the end of June! Hope you enjoyed seeing where I’ll be flying 🙂

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

Exploring Belém


After our fantastic day out to Sintra, it was time to explore a little more of Lisbon. When doing research about Portugal before our holiday, I’d read so much about the famous egg tarts, and there was one place in particular that kept popping up – Pastéis de Belém.

The delicious custardy tarts were originally created by 18th century monks at the Jerónimos Monstery (which we also visited), as at the time large quantities of egg-whites were used for starching the clothes in the monastery. This led to a lot of leftover egg yolks, which were then made into cakes and pastries. The monks started to sell the “pastéis de nata” to secure a small income, and when the monastery was later closed, the recipe was sold to the nearby sugar refinery, whose owners opened the Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém in 1837.

So it was decided – a trip to Belém was in order. Luckily the Pastéis de Belém shop is not the only attraction there, we also set out to visit the incredible Jerónimos Monastery, as well as the Torre de Belém.

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After a quick ride on the tram, we (along with seemingly every other tourist in Lisbon) arrived in Belém. Our first stop was to visit the monastery, which with all of the incredible turrets and architecture, is very easy to spot.

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Stunning Sintra, Portugal


One morning, after fuelling ourselves with a delicious buffet breakfast including fresh fruits, meats, cheeses and of course the infamous egg tarts, we made our way to Rossio Train Station in order to catch the train to Sintra.

Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, just over half an hour by train from Lisbon centre. We arrived to a beautiful cloudy but sunny day, and armed with a coffee, set out to do some exploring.

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Nestled in the foothills of the Sintra Mountains, the town is full of beautiful parks, castles and palaces.

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A jaunt to Lisbon, Portugal


As I mentioned in my last roster post, I was lucky enough to get the 5 days off that I bid for, perfect for a little holiday with my man. We decided on Lisbon, as it was a place that neither of us had visited before and seemed like a great choice for a 5 day trip.

I sorted out the hotel, and after he arrived from a trip to Rome, we packed our bags and made our way to the airport. Neither of us had realised the flight was fairly long, just under 8 hours from Dubai. Luckily we managed to get some exit row seats with plenty of extra leg room!

Upon arrival we took the metro into the city, which was pretty easy and fairly quick. We arrived at our hotel, the Internacional Design Hotel, a gorgeous boutique hotel, which was located on Rossio Square right in the centre of downtown Lisbon.

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The view from our room, which had a small balcony, was perfect – right out onto the bustling street below.

After a complementary welcome drink at the hotel (a delicious glass of Portuguese wine) we made our way outside to do some exploring.

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