Checking In & Taking Off

It's me, I'm back again! Phew, busy few days, so not much time for Tweeting... noticed I dropped a few 'followers', guess I'm not chatty enough for them! :P

Aside from a couple of flights I also had to go do a bit of training, nothing bad just routine stuff. It was ok though, as I got to catch up with FAs that I know in other bases, and also meet some new ones who were cool.

Speaking of meeting & cool, I once again got to hang out with Mel of Tampax Towers while she was back in Oz. We had only a short visit, but managed to fit in browsing in Borders bookshop, eating sushi & teriyaki chicken in DJ's food hall (mmmm, yummy!) and of course Gloria Jean's (apparently they're evil, I wass reminded of this random posting someone made on my blog awhile ago, which we laughed about)

Also being both flight attendants, and girls, we even managed to shop a bit. Mel got some goodies for her dad, and I to-ed and fro-ed over a skirt which at first looked a bit hideous but then I actually liked. Mel's sage advice was to think about it and not buy it on the spot. (I went back later & bought it- hehe!) Hope you had a good flight back to Dubai, and have fun on your holidays!

As if one meeting wasn't fun enough, I also had dinner with SkyHighBoy, we had a nice walk around Darling Harbour

then stuffed ourselves with food. Oh and of course made a detour to the fudge shop. I got Choc Macadamia, and SHB being the foodie he is, couldn't resist the sampler, so he could get as many flavours as possible!

The train ride back to the hotel was interesting, let's just say Sydney is full of some strrrrrange people on the train! But it was ok, not scary at all & still quite busy that time of night with people going home from work or out with friends. Managed somehow to still shop, by going to Woolworth's to buy water & cereal and walking out with new foundation (?)

I probably won't be around much, if at all before my vacation, so I leave you with the following picture... enjoy & be good!


And before I go, make sure to stop by and say hi to Fe, a new blogger and soon-to-be FA who is joining Etihad Airways in October. Welcome to Blogger Fe! =D

(All photos (c) By Traytable 2009)

Week's Wrap-Up

I've been a bit slack again (I blame the disgusting weather) so those posts are gonna be a little bit longer coming...

The winter PJ's are out, the heater's been cranked up, and all the crew are complaining bitterly about the rainy weather, struggling in from the crew carpark looking like sad wet seagulls caught in a gale. The dryer in the bathroom has been working overtime as we struggle to maintain uniform, hair and make-up to company standards. Needless to say, it's only kind of working.

The incidences of medical problems has gone through the roof. Whait is it about cold weather-does it make everyone depressed and thus more likely to get sick?

Amongst all that, I managed to have an awesome meet-up with both SkyHighBoy and Vanishing Point on my last Sydney layover. It was awesome, one of the first and one of the more recent bloggers I have known, got to meet, and of course there were stories & gossip galore! The weather was a bit funny but I had a great time, and I hope they did too. Poor SHB was still waiting back for an answer to his mystery allergy, but still came out to meet us. (I think he was getting a bit sick of being off work huh). More on the adventures later.

And in news today, Yemenia Airlines have lost an A310 off the Comoros Islands. It's always a sad thing to have a crash, but I think even more so as this has been a very sad month for aviation. Hopefully they can get to a cause as soon as possible, and more quickly than AF447, as it's quite close to shore this time.

For my faves, if you haven't already, check out my 'Laviator' pics on the Galley Curtain blog!! =)

Adventures!

Wow, what a busy few days! So much going on this week, I don't know where to start!

I had some great times with friends- shopping with the girls, movie nights, and general fun fun fun! It was nice to be social again, even though summer is officially over, I feel like I still need to make the most of the nice weather.

Work has been great, I got some really good remarks from passengers, and we had so many famous people travelling, too many to poke a stick at!

One of them was someone who has been a favourite celebrity of mine for a long time, sorry, can't say who for obvious reasons, but this person was very nice and down to earth, and I think they liked being treated just like anyone else. The celebrity actually came to the galley during the flight and had a chat with us. It's funny how much someone like me has in common with someone like them, even with all their fame and whatnot. I guess deep down they are just like everyone else.

Towards the end of the flight, our guest gave us the card of their manager/PA and said if we had time while in Sydney to come visit at the hotel for a party that they were putting on, to let them know and they would put our names on the door. Awesome!! Of course it had to be totally top-secret, as letting anyone else in on it would lead to mobs of screaming fans at the hotel. But it was sooooo hard not to tell the rest of the crew, hehe. Lucky us!!!

Let's just say a great time was had by all, free drinks, awesome food, plenty of celeb-spotting aside from our guest, all in all I think the best night that has ever come out of having my job. Did I mention I love my job??? I am just itching to post a picture but of course I can't, in the name of professionalism. (Darn)

And you know the best part??? During the evening the celeb's manager got talking to a couple of us crew, and mentioned that they might be looking for one or two to work as crew on the private jets that their client uses! Apparently they want someone a bit different, and think having some Aussie crew is just what they need. Of course we handed over our numbers, emails, you name it!! The conversation sounded very promising, and the opportunities would be fantastic. I can't wait to hear back from them.

So of course today seems very dull indeed. I have to do boring things like clean house, do washing, run errands and pack for my next trips. Will let you know as soon as I have any updates =)

Airport Security in the Spotlight- Again

Just weeks after a security scare involving two young kids transporting bagfuls of weapons on flights across the country, the ugly side of Sydney's gang warfare has exploded in the public areas of Sydney Airport.

Yesterday, members of two rival bikie gangs got into a brawl in the domestic airport terminal, bashing each other with metal barrier bollards and resulting in one man dead, with many bystanders injured and airport workers & passengers deeply traumatised.

Of course, the incident has raised questions about airport security, namely- what if these had been 20 gun-toting terrorists, and they had got away with a rampage through the terminal for the same 10 minutes, but targeting any and all, not just one victim?

Obviously there is going to be a huge investigation on this. Now as usually happens, the police were the first to be criticised. I think, if anything, this highlights just how under-resourced and underpaid they are. Even the four or 6 uniformed specialist airport cops one regularly sees in the departures area couldn't have stopped this. So it begs the question- just how much is enough? Some commenters mention airports such as Changi, Chek Lap Kok and Heathrow, with machine gun-toting anti-terrorist officers as an example.

It will be interesting to see how it all actually panned out, if/when the CCTV footage is released.

In other sad news for aviation, a FedEx MD-11 has crashed at Tokyo's Narita airport, killing both flight crew on board. I suppose the only 'good' thing about it is that it was a cargo jet, and not full of passengers. Still, very sad. I thought the video was a fake when someone emailed it to me. I'm not going to post it here, but you could probably Google it if it interests you to see it. All I'll say is, there are sure some interesting last moments for the investigators to look at.

Next Time You're Passing Through Sydney...

Heather's recent post about the aviation museum in San Francisco reminded me of a similar exhibit in Sydney, Australia.

Next time you're passing through with some time to kill, why not check out the Qantas Heritage Collection in Terminal 3?


I've been a couple of times when I've had a half hour or more to spare, it's quite fascinating and the views are great too if you just like to watch the flights come and go.

There's uniforms, aircraft parts, menus, timetables and all sorts of stuff along with a timeline of Aussie aviation.

If you get a chance, have a chat with Des, one of the volunteers at the exhibit. He's a wealth of info, and I'm told, has some great stories to share.

Meeting SkyHighBoy

So, where was I? Oh yes, after avoiding the tourists at the giant Christmas Tree in the QVB building...


I met up with SHB and recognised him immediately! (He had that slightly tired thank-god-I've-finshed-work-for-the-day look that we FAs frequently have on our faces, hee) and told me that he definitely needed a coffee after the day's events. Being my usual smartarse self, I suggested that perhaps instead of coffee he needed a big fat drink, lol... but I was kidding of course! Perfect timing though as without the intervention of our newest FA blogger, I would probably have bought up half of the mall which would not be good for my holiday fund! :S

We found a coffee spot in QVB which looked alright so settled ourselves at a table.

It's always fun meeting new people, especially bloggers and of course as FAs we bonded immediately over one of the favourite discussion subjects: annoying passengers!!! :D

The other thing FAs love to do is bitch about compare rosters/pay/aircraft/colleagues/uniforms and all that fun stuff. I must admit I wasn't my usual wide-awake self, even having had 5 hours sleep after arriving at the hotel. Soon the cafe staff started putting up the chairs which we took to be the ground equivalent of us flicking off the cabin lights and walking up the aisle behind the last straggling passengers with our cabin bags: we took the hint and left (hehe)

After a brief confusion of where we were actually headed, and wandering semi-aimlessly around we decided that still more coffee & chat was in order. If it had been nicer outside Hyde Park would have been a cool option but it looked like it was about to pee down rain so instead found good old Gloria Jean's (after a diversion via the ATM- my blance is looking decidedly sad until payday tomorrow, thank god)

The cafe was a weird hybrid of GJ's and an internet cafe/game geek hangout... we ordered and then commandeered a couple of sofa chairs upstairs. And proceeded to probably annoy the heck out of the gamers by our loud laughing at all the funny goings on we had been itching to relate!!!

All in all it was a v fun few hours, and I really cannot believe that SHB has only been flying for 4 months, he has that mix of professional yet slightly cynical that only we flight attendants have! He plainly loves what he does and it comes through (even when bitching about discussing those annoying crazy passengers!!) It was nice to spend time with you SHB, hope we can do it again sometime, and I'm trying to line up GirlOnTour when she gets here next.

So, Number #5- SkyHighBoy is added to the 'Bloggers I've Met' list. May there be many more! =)


(Ok so it's not us but it was the closest I could find)

Shopping, Sydney & SkyHighBoy! (Part 1)

Well after settling in after the New Year rush, it was back on duty for me.

My NY trip was great, with a fun crew. Seeing as we got in to our layover port quite late, we decided to just have champagne and watch the fireworks from the hotel balcony. Of course we brought hats, nibbles, and those party blower things that roll out and make a hooty noise when you blow them. (I love them but the naighbours don't)



Next up was some time in Sydney, it's always fun when I get a bit of time there. As usual, I slept a bit when I got into the hotel as the flights had been through the night arriving first thing after curfew lifted at 6am Sydney time.

After sleeping, it was time for a shower and then I got dressed and headed down to the station to get the train into town. Catching the train in Sydney is cool, as it's underground and some of the tunnels have been there for like a hundred years or more. You can see how old they are because the ceilings are still black from soot. It's funny how you can feel the train before you see it as the big rush of air gets pushed along in front of the train.



I was on a mission to find a dress, not just any dress, but THE dress. I saw it in a magazine and fell in love. I want it to wear for my birthday, I've never bought myself a dress that expensive before (not too expensive, it's around the 120 mark)

Despite trying all the known stores which carried that brand, I was unsuccessful. Still waiting on an email from the label themselves to find out if maybe it's not been released yet. Oh well I have a month or so to find it!

In the Pitt St mall, this girl was trying to raise money for a plane ticket to visit her dying mother. She was challenging passers-by to a game of chess and was kicking ass in less than 3 minutes. Pretty amazing stuff! I hope she gets where she wants to go.


Of course Sydney wouldn't be complete without a little shopping (window shopping and REAL shopping!) I succumbed once more and bought this cute little pair of shoe-booties, how retro are these, but I love them!


Perhaps I was subconsciously influenced after reading this book in Borders:


I always liked how Dita did retro, she combines a few things I love: corsets, awesome shoes, 1940's fashion and pin-up/Varga girls. Think I might be adding this book to my shelf very very soon, the pictures alone are amazing and I don't think smutty, even in the fetish sction, it's an interesting look at the whole connection between burlesque and fetish, people think they're totally different but really they're not. And if you think fetish is only for freaks, well, if you've ever admired a girl in high heels then that is a fetish too! And not a bad one, I love girls in heels!


Anyhoo, I'm getting off track. After doing a bit more window-shopping, I receieved word from SkyHighBoy that he had touched down in Sydney and we made plans to meet for coffee & chat (the two things aside from shopping that we flight attendants do best!!) ^_^

I never get tired of looking at the buildings in Sydney, the QVB is one of my favourites:






This one is for Bagpuss:


Turns out that the giant Christmas tree in the Queen Victoria Building is a great meeting spot, if you don't mind being blinded by tourists taking photos, that is. (Not that I am a tourist taking photos, hehe)




Cute crystal animals in Swarovski


And this one is for Wizardress:


Ok I just reaised the time, this will have To Be Continued...