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

A Wander around Warsaw

I recently got back from a lovely layover in the beautiful city of Warsaw. Poland was never somewhere that was necessarily somewhere on my top ten list of places to visit, however it certainly is now!

The city is absolutely stunning, full of gorgeous buildings and architecture. Although it was absolutely freezing, we still managed a little walk around.

The flight over was a little less than 6 hours, and incredibly busy! With a full cabin and a breakfast and lunch service, we barely had time to sit down, let alone eat!

Once we arrived it was still early, so myself and Aoife, another business class crew from Ireland, set out to explore a little bit. When I said it was absolutely freezing, I meant it… -12 degrees!!

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We arrived in the old town, which is surrounded by the castle wall.

We spotted the last few stands left over from the Christmas Market, and had a little wander along.

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An Adventure in Algiers

At the end of last month I was rostered a flight to Copenhagen on Christmas Day, however I was desperate not to fly on Christmas so I sent out about 50 swaps, the majority of which I can’t even remember which destinations they were! So when one got accepted it was a complete surprise to see that I would have a 48 hour layover in Algiers!

I was looking forward to it; a new destination and a nice long layover.

It was an early start, but we watched the sunrise accompanied by plenty of planes taking off whilst waiting for our passengers!

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The flight over to Algiers was a nice one. Just over 6 hours, and although it was a full cabin in business class we managed the service quickly and easily.

Since we had a whole full day the next day to explore, we decided just to go for some dinner in the hotel that evening.

I was greeted by a beautiful sunrise the next morning, although the temperature was a chilly 7 degrees!

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December Roster

It’s that time of the month again…my December roster has been published! It was my “bottom bid” this month, so I wasn’t expecting too much.

In fact I really should be studying for my upcoming exams but instead I’m procrastinating and writing my blog!

In December I’ll be heading to:

  • ATH (Athens turnaround – a very long day!)
  • SEP (2 full days of Safety & Emergency procedures – my yearly exams)
  • BOM (Bombay turnaround)
  • MUC (Munich – can’t wait for the Christmas market!)
  • MAN (I was rostered Jakarta originally, but swapped for Manchester to get some Christmas shopping done!)
  • 5 days leave (just before Christmas, plus a few days off before my leave officially starts)
  • CPH (Copenhagen – on Christmas Day, which I am desperately trying to swap!!)
  • HKG (Hong Kong)

So a couple of turnarounds, and a few of the usual destinations. Munich should be lovely this time of year, I’m hoping for some snow. As my brother Matt lives there (and he does;t have university on the day I’m there) we’ll go to see the Christmas markets which should be very pretty.

I will most likely be heading to Mauritius on my leave (again!) and am sending hundreds of swaps to get rid of my Copenhagen so I can at least have Christmas Day off….I’ll keep you posted!

For now, it’s back to the books, wish me luck in my exams! 🙂

EDIT: Within about half an hour of posting this, someone accepted one of my many swaps!

Instead of heading to Copenhagen and Hong Kong, I’ll now be doing a quick KWI (Kuwait turnaround) which gives me Christmas off, and then heading to ALG (Algiers) for a 48 hour layover. I’d love any tips, as it will be my first time there! 🙂

Beautiful Cape Town

I recently got sent a swap for my London Gatwick…for Cape Town! Without hesitation I accepted straight away, I’ve only been to Cape Town once before and I was desperate to go back.

The flight is long, around 9 to 9,5 hrs each way depending on the wind, and it’s usually very busy. Especially if you do the daytime flight, as everyone is awake and thirsty! This time though, even though we had a full cabin in business class both ways, other than the usual service we weren’t crazy busy. I was pleasantly surprised, and with plenty of coffee in me I arrived in Cape Town late afternoon, ready to make the most of my time there.

A group of us arranged to meet and go up Table Mountain, as I hadn’t had the chance to do that last time.

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November Roster

My November roster has been published, and it was my “top bid”, which means my group is the highest in seniority for bidding.

We did have a new bidding system roll into place this month, so I think that may be why I didn’t get everything I bid for!

In November (which by the way – where has this year gone?!) I’ll be heading to:

  • VIE (Vienna – originally I was rostered Manchester but someone sent me a swap for Vienna, of course I accepted straight away!)
  • 6 days off (to attend a wedding of friends in Mauritius, yay!)
  • AMS (Amsterdam)
  • LGW (London Gatwick)
  • PVG (Shanghai)
  • HKG (Hong Kong)
  • HKG (Hong Kong)

These are all subject to change as I may get sent some swaps or send some myself, I’ll keep you updated!

I did also bid for Orlando and Bologna, but all of the above flights are A380 flights (except Vienna) so it looks like the rostering system didn’t want to give me any 777. Shame, would have been nice to see some new destinations!

I bid for HKG to go and see my ex-flatmate Kirsty who lives there now, so I’m very excited to finally be able to catch up with her as I haven’t seen her since her wedding in August!

Do let me know if you have any requests for posts – my Macbook battery has been playing up a lot recently and I fear it may need to be replaced, which is why I haven’t been able to post as much recently.

Thanks to everyone who follows my blog and leaves me lovely comments on each posts, it’s really appreciated! 🙂

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