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

3 weeks left of training…

Today is Friday – which means that it is the weekend! This week has been long but it was all worth it in the end; I got 98% on my GMT exam! So now I am all prepared for anything to go wrong on board – baby delivery, heart attacks, anaphylactic shock, epilepsy… you name it, I’ve probably learnt how to deal with it this week!

I have decided I actually preferred SEP to GMT. We did have to study and revise so much more for SEP (the nights before my final A380 and B777 exams I got about 3 or 4 hours sleep!) but I found it a lot more interesting to learn about the aircraft and all that type of thing as opposed to medical stuff. Luckily I’m not a doctor! Maybe one day I’ll change it up from being a stewardess and work in the left seat of the cockpit instead… 😉

Today I had a lovely day with my friend Sally at Deira City Centre. We got the crew bus (which goes from literally right outside our front door!) to Headquarters and then the metro from there, which is about 3 stops. We both ended up buying way more than anticipated – I got 2 dresses, some heels and some underwear! I also got a pack of earrings (pearls and “diamond” studs), but they are for work, so they don’t count! 😉 Sally also got a couple of dresses and some heels, so we are all ready for the next few nights out that we have!

Tonight I’m going out with my group of friends (this seems to be a regular occurrence on Friday nights!) and we will probably go back to Crystal as we had such a good night last weekend!
Tomorrow I think I’m going to have a nice day up by the pool, it’s been horrible weather all week, cloudy and chilly, but today was lovely and hot and I think the same is forecast for tomorrow. I also did a big food shop the other day and even treated myself to a nice steak, which I’m going to have tomorrow! 

This week we also got our passports back with our visas – I am now officially a resident of Dubai! One other small thing I forgot to mention….. UNIFORM!! On Tuesday we went and picked up our big suitcases with all our uniform in, which was very exciting! Of course my flatmate and I had to try everything on in the evening!

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Last weekend at home!

With only 3 days to go now (actually only 2 full days as I will be leaving early Friday morning) I definitely needed to make the most of my last weekend at home. A couple of weeks ago I decided to organise a little leaving party, and told my best friend Lucy about it. She lives in England, so she checked Ryanair flights and believe it or not booked them a few minutes later, for less than 40 Euros return! So this Saturday I drove to the airport (one thing I’m not going to miss – driving on snowy and icy roads!) and picked her up. In the evening a group of friends came round and we cooked Mexican food, and then all went out into town, where a whole load of other friends came and met us.
We had such a good night out and it was definitely a great way to say bye to all of my friends!

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The next day (surprisingly we weren’t as hungover as we were expecting to be!!) my mum drove us up to a place called Magdalensberg for a late lunch. There is an amazing restaurant/guesthouse on the top of this hill, which serves traditional Austrian food and is all family run. It was the perfect day to go up, as although it was pretty chilly the sun was out and there was a beautiful clear sky. 
As we were having our meal the sun was setting, we even went out between courses to take pictures of the sunset! 

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On Monday we decided to do some shopping! We wondered round the Christmas Market in my town, but it was too cold to stay outside for long. Both of us managed not to buy too much in the shops, I have been having to restrain myself from buying winter clothes by thinking about Dubai every time I see something I want!

In the evening one of my good friends from work arranged to go for drinks, and when we got there a whole group of others from work had come, which was a lovely surprise! They also got me a book called “1000 Places to see before you die” – I’m hoping my new job will help me do that!

Yesterday evening and this morning Lucy helped me sort out my clothes – 1 pile to take with me, 1 pile to give to charity and 1 pile to keep but not take with me. Somehow I have a feeling I’ll never wear the “keep but don’t take with me” pile again, but I can’t justify getting rid of over half of my wardrobe! I don’t even want to know how many pairs of shoes were thrown away!

This evening after taking Lucy back to the airport, I started on the packing. I honestly have no idea how I am going to fit everything in! I’m allowed 50kg, plus hand luggage. One of my suitcases is already over half full and pretty much all it has in is shoes and underwear! 
Here’s a picture of me squeezing into one of my suitcases!
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Well, this was quite a long post! The next time I write anything will probably be from Dubai! Only 2 full days left, when did this even happen! I’m so nervous and excited at the same time – it’s crazy!