From the Cabin

I've had so many things to write about lately, but what with Tweeting, flying, getting ready for my vacation & catching up on all the good blogs out there, I've gotten a little bit behind. So, here's a few highlights from recent trips.

BYO? Oh no!

On a recent red-eye flight, I was coming down the cabin, aft to forward, clearing rubbish to save the cleaners time once we arrived at our destination. Most of the passengers were asleep, with a few watching movies on their laptops or listening to music and reading. As I came down the cabin, I was taking cups & bottles from seat pockets. I took a stack of plastic cups out of the seat pocket of one guy who was reading. He said thanks, then I noticed the neck of a spirit bottle sticking out of the pocket. I pulled it out & it was empty. I said to the passenger that 'BYO' is not allowed as the plane is considered a licensed area. He tried to say he had bought it from one of the other flight attendants. Um, hello we only sell minis, not 250ml bottles!! Haha. I warned him he should not do this & if we caught him drinking his own alcohol again he would be in trouble.

Crew Pest

There's a particular crew member who I've had the 'pleasure' of flying with a few times now. She is quite possibly one of the laziest crew members I've ever seen. For example, as soon as there is any work to be done (clearing in, helping a sick pax, juice runs) she's nowhere to be seen. She doesn't even have the brains to at least LOOK busy (as every FA knows, always carry something) Anyway, recently we had an issue with lots of luggage during boarding. I was trying to deal with it as best I could, as well as get everyone seated so that we could close the main door. On top of that, I had to brief the overwing exit rows and Lazy Louise was doing absolutely nothing to help me. Later, the manager asked what the delay was, she was quite angry as they have to explain whatever reasons make us delayed in departure. I thought, stuff this, I am totally not taking the blame. I was doing everything I could. So, Lazy Louise got a lesson in teamwork & doing her part that day!

Unscheduled Leanover

Due to weather delays, my scheduled 4 leg day turned into an unplanned layover, which despite being extremely short, turned out to be not too bad as we got put up in a different hotel to where crew normally stay in that city. It had great views and the beds were really comfy.

I was just disappointed that we didn't have time to enjoy the hotel. It really sucked having only about 10 hours between arriving & leaving. I didn't really sleep very well & we had a 10-hour day ahead of us. Fortunately, most of the crew (different for each of our 5 legs) were pretty good. The morning of checking out, I was getting dressed ready for pickup when this really loud, strange noise started. It sounded at first like workmen using a drill or jackhammer, but then got louder and sounded like a helicopter landing on the floor above. I rang the front desk, who didn't seem too concerned, and told them about it. They said it was just a water tower on the roof. I was kind of freaked to use the lift, but pickup time was really close so I chanced it, just making it to the lobby in time.

Let It Snow

We were on a short flight over the ski fields and I was so excited to see SNOW!!! I've seen snow in NZ for real annd on tv here, but never seen actual snow in Australia before. The closest I've seen is when it hails so much the ground is white :D

YAY Snow!

Pillow Talk

Here I am sitting in my hotel room bed. The mattress is a bit hard, but at least the pillows are pretty good. I've discovered that the good hotel pillows (at least in mid-to cheap-range hotels) tend to be in the closet on the top shelf, rather than on the bed. Don't ask me why this is, it's just something that I've noticed.

Maybe the ones in the closet hardly ever get used, so they're softer, or perhaps the housekeeping staff have been told to put them there, so the 'expensive' pillows don't get used as much, and therefore need to be replaced less frequently.

Whatever the reason, if your hotel pillow is crap, try the one in the closet. At least it's likely to be cleaner! :p


Some crew I know take their own pillow (rare) or bring a pillowcase from home, to put over the hotel ones (not so rare). I used to bring my own sheet on one particular layover, because the hotel was notoriously icky & we often found unpleasant things in our beds. Let's not get started on airplane pillows, that is, on the airlines that still have them. Fortunately for my vacation time, I purchased the ultra-cute Lug travel pillow set (pink of course!) It's kind of like the PamBee, which Mel of Tampax Towers has, only I'm not quite so luxe as her & had to settle for the slightly more low-rent, but still cute, option. You can get your own here.

Flights today went ok. Two of them were very short legs. I had to work galley which is a full on but challenging post. Luckily I had a really good crew who helped me out where we needed it. This turned out to be a good thing, because we had to sit down early because of turbulence.This meant we had only just handed out the meal trays and were starting on the clean-up. Of course, there were one or two passengers who didn't understand that this meant we couldn't keep coming out to serve them more wine. The captain basically said to get the cabin ready for landing. That pretty much means, pack up your s**t and sit down.

Still, 6B kept insisting on asking me for another red wine. In my company, once the captain says prepare for landing, that's it. unless you;re having a heart attack, we can't do anything else for you except make sure your seat back is upright & your bag is stowed in the o/h locker. One couple in the last row got really upset that they didn't get their meals choice. Considering that I quickly served them for 30 seconds after the landing PA, they were lucky to get anything at all! We landed 10 minutess early due to tailwinds, and some people even complained about that! You just can't win! Having said that, majority of passengers were really nice & understood that we'd done the best we could..

On a side note, if you're travelling in economy, please don't nick all of my hangers from the closet in business class- I actually need them to hang jackets on- for BUSINESS CLASS!

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!! =)

A Sign of Things to Come..?

So to continue the last post, about the trip with the nice passengers etc...

Once arrived at the airport, I had to stop a couple times to help some of the passengers from our flight who got lost in the building. Once they were on their way, it was on to the crew bus and to the hotel. Then of course as I wrote, drinks and dinner with the crew. Next morning we were all bleary eyed for the early morning departure, our passengers were pretty much the same so we just fed everyone breakfast and then let them sleep, only coming through to bring water and such every now and again.

Before we had taken off, we had to sit on the taxiway for awhile as the airport was busy with morning departures. The captain even made a PA saying it would possibly be 10 minutes. At that point I knew I could lean forward in my seat and look out the viewing window on my door to watch what was going on outside. We moved forward a bit in the takeoff queue, and when I next looked out of my window I saw one of these:


Interesting. If I was one of those people who believed in signs, I might make something of it. *grin*

In between flights I've just been doing the usual. Studying for SEP, meeting up with friends for coffee, and yes, I did do a tiny bit of shopping. I've been pretty good though. I only bought a jacket which I've been wanting for ages, and with winter coming I think it was a good buy. I've got it with me at the moment, and wearing it around on my layover, I was so glad I bought it. I also used two reserve days to organise my bedroom, categorise my shoes and mark ones out to be got rid of- though no doubt I'll be regretting it next year when all of those said shoes become 'in' again and worth a bit of money! isn't it always the way!

One last bit. A post on Twitter got me thinking about tips to help remember to take all of one's belongings when leaving a hotel room.

Here's an inside crew trick (especially good for newbie crew, or those who don't travel often, to get into the habit of checking) I learnt this one very early on after losing jewellery and an mp3 player in hotels...

When you put your stuff in the hotel safe (whatever it is, you obviously value it, right?)

take one of your uniform shoes and place into the safe also. Voila! Even if it means two minutes of blind panic searching for your shoe so you don't miss pickup, you will eventually remember where you put it, and thus discover that your precious belongings are still in the safe.

Another method I use is to switch on every light and lamp as I get ready for pickup. As i pack, and check each area is free of belongings, I switch off the light, leaving the foyer light until right before I leave. Right before I close the door behind me, I know that if I see a light on, there's stuff I've forgotten.

Those are just some of the things I've learnt in my flying career.

One last tip? If you forget something, and recall it while you're still in the hotel GO BACK YOURSELF. This ESPECIALLY applies in hotels where they 'hot bed' the rooms...

by the time you get to reception and ask, the maids could be in the room and if they're dodgy, you'll never see your stuff again.

Happy travels!

Pictures: Etihad A340(griffs0000 @ Flickr) Safe(Hotel Management Network) Hotel Maid(msnbc.com)

Postcards, Tour Groups & the Dedicated Spotter Award

Well, where to start?

I had a great trip, with a really good crew, and awesome passengers. We had a daytime flight on the biggest Airbus my company flies, and were preparing to be pretty busy as is usually the case on these daytime trans-continental flights. Normally on the "Bus" we fit about 270 or so down back, but on this flight we were full in the front cabins and only had about 200 down the back. So it wasn't so crowded as to be crazy-busy.


I was still expecting things to be pretty full on though, as we serve complimentary alcoholic drinks as part of the premium service. Of course the passengers take full advtange of this and enjoy a wine or two with their lunch or dinner. (We have to be careful, as some will ask each of us for two or three drinks, potentially getting 8-12 drinks in a flight, so we must pay attention)

The crew were great, we were from 3 different bases which can sometimes be hit and miss, but these guys were fine! I flew with 2 girls from my base who I hadn't flowm with before, and they were really fun. We had time to chat on our break and just had a good time. We had some cute families on board, and a really nice elderly couple whose daughter was travelling with them. They were such dears, we had to open their cutlery and ice cream for them because I don't think they'd ever seen a Cornetto before! At the end of the flight, I found out that their daughter was turning around and going straight home again, she just wanted to make sure they'd be ok on the flight over! Isn't that sweet? (Not to mentione expensive! But, it's the only way to do it if you want to be absolutely sure they will get everything they need, as we sometimes get so busy we can't stay to help even if we want to)

One of my colleagues happened to mention a passenger who had asked if we could find out some information from the captain. This passenger was a bit of an aircraft enthusiast, and he had a folder with lists of all the aicraft types, airlines and registrations he'd EVER flown on, as well as departure airports, arrival airports and anything else you could think of. (AviationCrazy, you would have been impressed!) So of course we offered to take his folder up to the guys up front, who wrote all sorts of things down for him including altitude, speed, fuel figures, all those facts only "plane nerds" like me would appreciate.

I went for a rummage through our amenity box and found a company pen which we gave him. I also went on a mission to find the rare writing paper and envelopes, plus a pack of playing cards, but sadly they hadn't been loaded on that sector. My last idea was that I vaguely remembered putting a company postcard in my bag on my last international trip, so I was hoping to find it and pass it round the crew for them to sign. But again, it wasn't there, and then I remembered that I had to throw it out when a juice spilt in my crew bag :(

Still, the passenger was thrilled when I told him to stop by after landing to say hello to the crew in the flight deck (this is allowed at my airline) and he had the chance to take a few snaps in the flight deck. I wrote down the name of a company that used to do tours of the airport (runways and such) and told him to visit the airport museum. At least one person left the flight happy! While I was in the airport later, I took the chance to drop by the gift shop and bought about 10 postcards to put in my bag, just in case. I never have any in the aircraft when I need them. Besides, I like to be able to bring out something like that as a surprise!

So after the gift shop we jumped in the crew van to the hotel. Was good chit chat with the girls, and as we were on a min rest we decided to just pop over to the restaurant next door and have a drink and a bite to eat. I got a crew discount cocktail (hehe) and we had wedges, fries and some thai entrees. It was really good. But soon it was off to bed for our early pickup. I had a whole Chinese tour group staying on my floor, and boy were they noisy! They were going in and out of each other's rooms, talking loudly and laughing. But bless them, I couldn't be angry, they were probably on the trip of a lifetime, so I just turned up the ocean soundtrack on my iPod louder, and nodded off to sleep pretty much right away.

More about the trip home, and an interesting sign, a little bit later!

(Pictures: A330 Cabin- Swiss Airlines)

Bikes, Bookings & Beach

Well. Where to begin. Such a lot to update on, I've nearly forgotten all the stuff I wanted to post about!

Exercise: I've been pretty good lately, yes ok I admit I've slacked off some days, but overall I don't think I've done too badly. Once in Perth I did a fast walk from South Perth (near the Mends St jetty) up to the park near Burswood Casino. And back. Not too bad. I was getting a little sick so haven't been riding the bike as much, but I did get out with my friend J yesterday and we did 45 minutes before deciding the weather was so nice we'd rather be at the beach! =D

I think the ride was overdoing it a bit as when I got back tot he car I had to lie down and put my feet up, feeling lightheaded. While I was lying there some guys playing football nearby kicked their ball over and it nearly knocked me out! Haha! But they were kind of cute so I forgave them.

J and I dumped our bikes in our cars then headed for the beach. Much better. The water was a little cold but it was really refreshing, being the Easter long weekend, it was really crowded but it was so nice just to be there, floating on the waves and talking. I also took the opportunity to take my new (waterproof) camera for its first test drive for underwater shots- as we were near the shore it wasn't too interesting underneath the water but it was fun to be able to have it with me and not worry about someone stealing it from my bag. The only drag to the day was that I was on call reserve, so had to keep checking my phone, but luckily I didn't get any calls so it was all good in the end.

Once we got too cold in the water we took our towels up onto the grass and just got some sun for awhile. I think I needed it after spending a few days mostly sleeping in bed. Once we dried off we decided we were both really hungry and went to get fish and chips. The line for the most popular place was really long, plus we decided it was a bit too expensive. There was a simple kebab joint down the road which also did fish and chips for half the price of the trendy place, so we got our food then sat down on our towels on the grass and ate. Our reward for being good about exercise was a really pretty sunset, which we watched the end of while going for a quick walk down the beach and back to work off the fried fish :P

Some lifeguards were training in their powerboat and it was really funny when they rounded a corner too quickly and threw the female lifeguard off the dinghy. Of course she screamed as she went over unexpectedly and the guys had to go pick her up out of the water, red faced. Hehe.

I've also done a couple of work trips which were really good, one to Singapore with some new crew which turned out to be a huge trip, mainly because we went out on the town the first night and stayed out til 3am (I only had 3 drinks the whole night as I'm kind of not into the drinking thing anymore, it doesn't do much for me, plus I already had a massive headache from work that day. SO I just had a vodka tonic or two and watched everyone else. We went to the bar Clinic which is decked out like a hospital, and you get drinks in drips and test tubes. But it was kind of expensive so really we sat around dithering over the menu while taking photos of us mucking around in the wheelchairs. All was good until two of the crew who had had more drinks than us decided it would be fun to take off in the wheelchairs down the street. So we got the 'move along' and then headed back for the hotel. On the way some of the crew decided it would be fun to go on the Reverse Bungy ride. Fun for all, even if you're only watching! Hehe


Singapore at night!

Next day I shopped a bit, had a fantastic pedicure (including leg massage and heat treatment), stocked up on my faves from the Body Shop (which I can't buy here at home) and found a fantastic pair of shoes to go with a new dress of mine. (More about the dress later!)

Plans for holiday going well, got my leave approved so now just waiting on booking confirmations. Singapore Airlines are having an awesome sale which will get me to London and back for around $1499. Emirates had a similar offer which I really wanted to do as it had a stopover in Dub-Dub, but I had to pay by tomorrow and my bank transfer won't be through by then. Oh well! SQ it is! I do like a Kebaya, and I'll get to fly on the A380. (I'm such a plane nerd, just had to include it so I could check it out.)

I plan to make a few posts today while I can as I am off on another trip tomorrow, so be sure to scroll down and check for the others =) Will also add some photos, once flatmate gets home with her work computer which isn't so slow as this one!

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 =)

I'm Still Here... Sort of

I'm stil here, just not posting as much. Have been having intermanet/laptop issues, which I seem to have sorted for the time being. Fingers crossed laptop starts behaving. I had to reboot it to its factory settings. Luckily, the portable hard drive I had ordered arrived a day before the computer crapped out completely, so I still have all my photos and things. Getting support finally worked out once I managed to convince the computer people that I did, in fact, have more than a 12 month warranty, and that it hadn't expired.

On a side note, I've got the iTunes Top 20 playing in the background... does anyone else think that Beyonce looks totally hoochie in the clip for 'Single Ladies'?? Waving one's crotch at the camera while wearing a black leotard does not classy make, especially when you are more on the curvy side like she is. Nothing against her size, but that dance routine does her NO favours! Let's not even start on that HIDEOUS dress that she wore to the Oscars. Okay, back to your scheduled blog.

My latest work trip totally kicked my ass, al this time off does not good flight attendant condition make. Especially flying horrible red eye flights. I was so knackered, I didn't even go to the shops. Woke up 3 hours after I started my supposed 45-minute ' power nap'. Oops. Luckily the supermarket near the hotel was still open, so I got some supplies and then stopped by Subway to get a sub for dinner.

Weather has been nice, I'm on standby tomorrow but if I don't get called out I'm thinking I might head down to the local pool and sit with my book, get a bit of sun before it's gone and swim for a bit. Always fun!

In career news, I did hear back from Etihad, they said I have been shortlisted for their visit to Australia, and they will let me know what date they want me to come to an interview. Always worth checking out what other people are offering. I love my current job but it's just impossible to get anywhere career-wise at the moment. I don't want to be 30 and still renting... ugh. Though apparently if one moves to Queensland there are properties to buy that cost less than renting, and not too far from Brisvegas. Not sure I believe that, though. Hmm.

Curious George Goes to Singapore...

On a recent Singapore layover, I got on the crew bus only to discover that George had snuck into my bag and onto the flight from Australia.

Here he is hiding in the crew baggage:

Naughty George!

On arriving at the hotel, the first thing George wanted to do was to check out the view.

He thought that this jungle was very strange, the trees were shaped funny and he didn't see any birds in these trees.

Looks like George likes the city!


Before I knew it, George had run to the mini bar and was busy throwing the sugar sachets everywhere!


Then he was off to the bathroom to check out the amenity goodies.

No bananas though, so he quickly lost interest.

I went for a walk to the supermarket to get some food for lunch, and when I got back this is what I saw:

I don't think he wanted to drink it, George just LOVES shiny things!!!

He was pretty interested in my lunch, but he doesn't like sushi much.


After going through the second bag, George was very happy to see this:



While I went out to do a little shopping, and get a massage, George had himself a great time alone in the hotel room.

Here he is rocking out to some music...


and running up a phone bill (cheeky monkey!)


Before long he settled down to watching some foreign tv


When I got back to the room, George was engrossed in a National Geographic documentary about gorillas, so I left him to it while I had a shower and then we ordered room service.

George liked the smell of whatever was under those dishes.


Here he is inspecting the bread for quality. (It was yummy)


Oops! Between us, George & I made quick work of dessert..!




What a busy day! After a bath it was time for some z's... George liked the comfy bed.

Night George!

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)