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

July Roster

After an absolutely delightfully easy roster this month, it’s back to regular flying in July. I’m at the bottom of the seniority rotation, and should have been on reserve, but somehow managed to get a pretty normal roster.

On an exciting note, I’ve been put on the inaugural A380 flight to Vienna on the 1st of July! If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you may remember that I used to live in Austria before moving to Dubai (for 6 years, although not in Vienna) so I am excited to be heading back! I get rostered plenty of flights to Germany and Switzerland being a German Speaker, but very rarely to Vienna!

Other than that I’ll be heading off to:

  • VIE (Vienna, Austria, the inaugural A380 flight, I’m hoping for a water canon salute when we land!)
  • SIN (Singapore)
  • DEL (Dehli, India, a shortish turnaround)
  • ZRH (Zurich, Switzerland)
  • DOH (Doha, Qatar, one of the shortest turnaround flights we have – about 45 minutes each way!)
  • ZRH (Zurich, Switzerland)
  • BHX (Birmingham, UK)
  • JFK (New York, USA)

FullSizeRender

Only 2 turnarounds this month, and relatively short ones which is not too bad. I even have one new destination, Birmingham, which I was rostered to fly to a while back but never ended up going (I can’t remember why, I think I swapped it or must have been off sick!). Any suggestions for what to do there are most welcome, as I’m fairly sure most of the crew just go shopping!

My JFK flight is one of the tougher ones, as it’s around a 13-14 hour flight each way, and only a 24 hour layover! I’ll still try and get out and do as much as I can, especially as it should hopefully be nice and warm there.

I’m looking forward to another month of flying, and of course I’ll keep you updated in case of any swaps!

Signature small icon

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

30 Hours in New York

My last trip was a flight to the Big Apple…there’s something magical about New York, no matter how many times you visit. I was especially looking forward to this flight as it was a 30 hour layover. Last time I was in New York was just a 24 hour layover, and those few extra hours really make all the difference.

After an early start from Dubai we were on our way. The flight was full, and since it was daytime everybody was awake, which certainly kept us on our feet! On long “ULR” (ultra long range) flights, we get a break in our bunk beds (CRC – Crew Rest Compartment), so while we take it in turns to rest we each have a lot more passengers to serve.

14 hours later we finally touched down in JFK, and after a long rush hour bus journey made it to our hotel.

IMG_1135

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that I have some friends in New York, Stephen and Colin, who I met whilst interrailing around Europe before I joined Emirates. I’d messaged them before coming to see if they were free, and we arranged to meet for dinner.

Luckily they also got stuck in the terrible traffic, which gave me a bit of time to shower and  freshen up after the long flight.

They’d reserved a table in a restaurant called “The Smith”, which was located just a short drive from my hotel. We could have walked but we already running a little late for the reservation, so decided to hop in a taxi instead.

IMG_1136

View Post

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of…

… There’s nothin’ you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
These streets will make you feel brand new,
Big lights will inspire you,
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York!

I think you guys can guess where one of my most recent layovers was spent!

I didn’t manage to swap my 24 hour layover in the Big Apple, so after a couple of hours sleep I was up at 1am ready to serve a full cabin of hungry passengers for the next 14 hours.

Luckily, they were hungry but even more than that, they were sleepy! I guess the one good thing about a departure at 3 o’clock in the morning is that everybody wants one thing – sleep!

The flight flew by with great crew, and so many laughs in the galley whilst everybody slept.

IMG_5303

We’re lucky enough to fly over some beautiful places on our way around the world, and I always take time to appreciate the beautiful views out of the window. I even popped up to the cockpit to admire a bit more of Greenland and the gorgeous snowy peaks visible for a while.

Just as the passengers were starting to wake up, it was time for my break! We have a little crew rest compartment (located in the cabin on the A380 behind a locked door!) which sleeps 9, plus a separate area for the flight deck with 2 bunk beds. They are a bit of a squeeze and I’m pretty sure some of the tall guys barely even manage to fit in the bunk beds, but once you’re in it’s hard not to fall into a deep sleep!

After a short but sweet slumber, it was time to serve some breakfast, and then….land into the concrete jungle!

Being Saturday morning, the city was so busy and it took us forever to get to the hotel. Half of the roads were closed due to some market or other so we drove around for what felt like hours before we finally reached the hotel. By this time it was already lunchtime, and although I’d already eaten on the plane, I was suddenly absolute starving!

IMG_5306

View Post

New York, New York!

Not too long ago I was lucky enough to swap onto one of our newest flights – a JFK with a 42 hour layover! (The previous flights only have a 24 or 30 hour layover.) I originally had a flight to LAX, but I went there in January so wanted to get rid of it if possible – and someone accepted my swap 🙂

The flight was busy, busy, busy. We had around just over 50 upgrades in business class (so pretty much the entire cabin!) and we were running back and forth for 13 hours. The good thing about my job however, is that as soon as you get off the plane, you don’t have to think a single thing about the flight again!

IMG_1628

Another great thing about my job – the views from “the office”! This was one over Greenland. I always take a moment just to appreciate the beautiful views we get to see. Only recently (on my way to Barcelona) I looked out of the window and could see the Pyramids!

We arrived in NYC quite late at night, so all headed straight to bed.

IMG_1635

View Post

November Roster

So I know we’re already almost a week in to November, but I realised I haven’t put my roster up here!

I’m now officially on my second month of working in business class and I almost feel like I know what I’m doing! 😉

So here goes:

  • New York (which I’ve just done a blog post about!)
  • Singapore
  • London Gatwick
  • Munich
  • Frankfurt (I was originally rostered Beijing but somebody sent me a swap for this!)
  • Paris

All of these flights are on the A380, and I’ve also got quite a few days off in a row which is lovely!

As always feel free to leave me any comments and suggestions for future blog posts 🙂

P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter @rachelwwilson for more day-to-day updates of what’s happening in my life!