You Drive Me Crazy...

Now we all know how much crew love to bitch about discuss passengers & their weird behaviour. It's almost an Olympic sport amongst flight attendants. We'll talk about it for hours on end, giggling at the silly things passengers do, and ranting about the plain annoying and downright rude behaviour that some people exhibit when they travel by air.

But, my dear reader, there are actually some flight attendants out there who are just as guilty of annoying, inconsiderate behaviour. And boy, do they Drive Me Crazy!

It starts when I get to the airport. We sign on in the crew base, and do the required things like check our mailboxes, rosters and make sure we're up to date with the latest operational memos.

PARKING SPACES
Ms Inconsiderate blows in right before check-in time, parks her bag in front of the mailboxes and proceeds to lean on the counter before the sign on computers, chatting to her friend and not actually using, thus preventing me from printing my roster & making me late for briefing. I also can't get to my mailbox because her ten ton bag is in the way.

CREW: Be quick when printing and watch where you put your bags. Just because you have time to chat, doesn't mean everyone else does.

WORK IT
Briefing time. The working positions get allocated. Now strictly speaking, there's not any seniority, but the generally recognised procedure is you let the crew who have been there longer than you have first pick of position, if that's what they want. Sometimes it's just easier to let the 10 year seniors work where they want, to avoid crankiness during the flight.

The in-flight manager asks me where I want to work. Ms Newbie shows up, looks around smugly (knowing full well I'm a cabin person not galley) and says she would really rather not work galley and wants cabin. The manager, being not the sharpest tool in the shed, ignores the fact that Newbie interrupted me and gives her cabin position, which means I'm stuck with galley. I'll work with it, of course, but it's the principle. I'd just spent the last 5 days doing galley position, and working about 4 legs each day. I was tired and wanted a break from counting drinks and stupid coffee brewers that decided not to work.

CREW: Even if your airline has no seniority, be aware of not putting yourself first all the time and occasionally consider that one of the other crew might always get stuck working a position that they hate. Suck it up for once and just do it.

STOW IT
One of my biggest crew pet peeves is flying with people who have no idea how to stow luggage. For example, as we board, Newbie is working at the front of the plane but comes and throws her bags right above the overwing exit rows. Thanks love, you just took up space my pax need because they have no option of floor stowage. I tell her to move her stuff and she cracks it. I tell her there is a perfectly good bag stowage at the front of the plane and she should use it. It's not exactly rocket science, but if I'm travelling with 2 or 3 bags, I try to spread them out around the cabin so they don't take up an entire locker, and thus deprive a whole row of stowage space.

Some aircraft are better than others in that they have dedicated spaces for crew to stow luggage. Others don't, and that's where we get to play Baggage Tetris during boarding.

CREW: Think about where your station is, and don't take up space that another crewmember needs for their bags or for passenger bags. Sure, our baggage takes priority but there's no need to be smug about it. Make it easy for the passengers, and it makes it easier for you.

EAT IT

Another frustrating crew behaviour is that of the food-hogger. Not only are they selfish, they are usually lazy too. Picture a flight with every seat filled, a dozen call bells going off at once, screaming babies, broken tv screens and all that fun stuff.

While the lazy crew members do their thing in the galley, suddenly having gone deaf and unable to hear and/or see the call bells, I'm left to run around the cabin like a headless chicken; mopping up vomit, distributing drinks and re-stocking the toilet rolls.

Meanwhile, the Food Hoggers are descending on the galley carts like a voracious locust horde, devouring everything remotely edible and leaving only the saddest, most pitiful and tasteless meal items in their wake. After slogging my way through three dozen drink requests, I return to the galley, starving, only to find not a scrap of edible/desirable food left (including my own that I put in the ice bin) for lunch. Needless to say, I see red.

CREW: How about waiting until the service is done before you chow down on that crew meal, and hey, while we're at it, how about taking a vote to see what everyone else wants before you take the choicest meals?

Once upon a time at a certain airline I returned to the galley after dealing with a vomit volcano of massive proportions, not really wanting to eat (but needing to due to the 12 hour duty we were doing). I got there only to find that there were no meals left. (There should have been). On questioning the girl who was shovelling chicken stir fry into her mouth as to why she was eating the last meal, she responded with "You were gone so long I thought you weren't eating." Oh, REALLY? How about getting of your ass and helping me clean the sick that had been working its way toward the back of economy???? Too hard for the Food Hogger, apparently.

Which brings me to...

GALLEY VULTURES

These are the crew who, despite knowing that you're still busy with the service, hang around the galley like starving seagulls hoping to score a hot chip. Even worse are the ones who get in there when your back is turned, opening carts and foraging for the best items. I once had a whole set of business class chocolates go missing before we'd even served the coffee. One must be very vigilant when there are galley vultures around, and shoo them back to Economy at the first opportunity!!! I should add that hungry, pilfering pilots also fall into this category, and the only worse pilot is the one who calls constantly for coffee during a busy service.

(I solve this problem by teaching them to make their OWN coffee, thus removing the need for my intervention at all... very handy!!!!)

CREW: For goodness' sake, if I'm still doing the service and you're not going to help before raiding my galley, GO AWAY!!!!

BUMPER CARS
For those of you reading this who have ever worked a tray service, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. There are some crew members around who just have NO clue when it comes to how to use a meal cart properly. Firstly, some don't use the brakes. EVER. I'll be turning around to pass someone a drink only to get hit from behind by a cart rolling down the aisle because my colleague doesn't have enough sense to put the brake on. I don't know about you, but I was always trained that the person at the head of the cart puts the brake on. Since then, I like to work under the motto that whoever moves it puts the brakes on. Of course, I always check to be sure, but when I'm a few rows away and my co-worker is stupid, sometimes it can't be avoided that the brake gets left off.

Also, it is quite difficult to be the person going backwards on a cart. Not only is walking backwards in a straight line quite difficult (humans are not really built for this), you have to factor in the motion of the plane and also that it's nearly impossible to look over your shoulder to see what is going on. You have to rely on your cart partner to tell you if you're going to trip over/hit a passenger.


Some crew are bad at this. They're in their own little world, ignoring elbows, knees and sometimes heads on their way up the aisle. Adding to the trouble is the fact that most ignorant cart operators also tend to push too fast. Walking backwards is difficult enough, let's not add speed into the equation! As the person facing the passengers, it's up to me to look ashamed about the fact we just slammed little Kevin in the head (even though we asked Kevin's parents five hundred times not to let him hang into the aisle.)

The other thing these crew tend to do is move the cart when you're not ready. Quite often, they're oblivious to the fact that the other person is bending down to put something in the cart. Two scenarios abound: moving the cart away so the tray gets dropped all over the floor because Crew #2 wasn't expecting the cart to move, or hitting Crew #2 in the head while they're trying to put a tray away. EXTREMELY frustrating! I find having one hand on the cart handle while I bend down is a good way to prevent the head smash and resultant unflattering bruise that comes with it!

CREW Think about what you're doing, where you're going and whether the other crew member is going to get hit if you move the cart. Good cart teams rarely have to talk to each other about what they're going to do; they just know.

So there you have it, just some of the bad crew behaviours that annoy me. It's not just the passengers!!! ;)

Now my fellow crew- tell me YOUR pet crew peeves. You can leave a comment or hop on over to my Twitter page.

(Photos: Google Image Search)

Beat the Heat

Now the summer months are upon us (in the southern hemisphere, at least) the weather is warming up and things are becoming hotter. As flight attendants, we're very aware of the weather, because even in summer it can mean bumpy flights and turbulence. Sometimes, summer turbulence is worse than winter. In Australia especially, the flat land heating up can produce very fast updrafts of hot air, which in turn becomes turbulent and we end up getting thrown around.

Even with modern planes that have air-conditioning, it can still get very hot. For example, if the plane has been sitting on the ground for a long time, or parked on the hardstand, the aircon might have been off. Sometimes the aircon might not work properly, and some aircraft only have cooling systems on when they have the engines on.

So how do we beat the heat? For passengers, it's possible to take off your jacket, or wear shorts (I'll leave why I think this is a bad idea to another post) but for the crew, sometimes we have no choice what to wear- maybe we have to keep our jacket or jumper on, or have a scarf which can make us feel hotter. For the ladies, stockings certainly don't help matters in the hotter months. Here's some ways I try to keep cool & refreshed on the plane.

Drink Up!

It's always important to keep hydrated on flights, but even more so in the hotter months. Although a lot of the time I don't feel like it, I force myself to drink as much water as I can to stop myself from feeling fatigued or getting a dehydration headache. it can get boring drinking plain water, but I don't like tonic or soda (not to mention all the salt in them) so sometimes I add in some lemon or lime, or just a touch of fruit cordial to liven things up.

Good Skin Is In
As crew, I've always taken care to use a good hydrating moisturiser, especially given the dry aircraft environment. In summer though, it's possible to switch to a lighter formula (even a gel) to stop that feeling of your face melting when it gets hot! As an Australian, it's very important to use a product for daytime wear that has a sunscreen in it.

I like the Nivea Daily Face Veil because I can wear it under my makeup and it's got SPF 30, which is the highest you can get here. I also look for foundations that also have SPF, in case I wear them alone.

Making It Up
Aside from using foundations that contain an SPF (most major brands now have them)

I also use a light dusting of powder to keep away shine. If you tend to sweat a lot in the face, sometimes blotting papers can help, especially to stop your makeup coming off as well! I use a brand from Hong Kong, but there's plenty available in Priceline such as ModelCo or Manicare.

Misting You
Another good item to have handy is a nice cooling facial spray. I like it for when I'm driving to work in the car, it's nice to have because once you use it you can turn on the airconditioning and it cools right down. It's also nice to use on those long night-time flights to make myself feel more awake, or to use after coming off the crew rest, so I don't look like I just got up! ;)

I have a nice one from the Face Shop, which is Jeju Marine and has a nice scent, but not irritating. Plain water sprays also work, such as Evian, but I find they make my skin feel a little tight and dry, so probably better if you can moisturise after using it.

Taking Stock
I might be trapped in nylons for the whole flight, but in hot weather the type that you use can make a real difference. So long as we have the right colour, the company doesn't really care what type or brand we choose to use. Instead of a full stocking, lots of girls chance to the 'stay up' kind in summer.

Basically it means there's less layers of clothing around the middle of your body which is where you feel hottest, especially when sitting down and stuck in a seatbelt harness for ages. The only thing you have to watch out for is that if it is VERY hot, the elastic doesn't always 'stay up'- so it pays to choose carefully when and where to make use of this type of stocking :P

Fan of Your Work
Another easy way to cool down is to carry a small folding fan in your bag, or even in your pocket. Handy for those times when the airconditioning doesn't work, or when you're strapped into your jump seat and can't get up.

In a pinch, a safety card or menu will do just as well!

These are just some of the simplest ways to beat the heat on flights, hope they have been useful to you. Have a great trip & stay cool!

Homey Hotels

Amongst the flight attendants on Twitter, we've often had the conversation about hotel habits, little rituals that we have to make ourselves feel more at home while we're on the road (or in the air, more like!)


All of us have our favourite ways of relaxing, and it really depends on what kind of person you are at home. If we love our comforts at home, chances are we want to be comfy when we travel. If we don't 'need' a lot at home, generally we're light packers. I tend to swing somewhere between the two, depending on how long I'm away and what kind of trip I'm working.

If it's a leanover (very short layover) then all I'll want is comfy pyjamas,

my iPod and maybe a good book, adding a mini hot water bottle in winter or cold destinations. (You can pick up ultra-cute crew-themed tanks & pj's at theJet Line Clothing site.) If I have longer, I might bring a 'going-out' outfit, a couple magazines

and my beauty kit to do my nails and a facial while I watch a movie in the hotel. Sometimes I'll bring my little computer, and work on various things, or just watch tv. Nights where there's nothing good on, I'll try to write a few blog posts so I don't get too far behind.

Anyway, back to hotel routines. I already made a post back in the early days of my Blogger page on this, but what the hey, it's one of those topics that flight attendants never really get tired of!

First thing I do when arriving in the room, is to do a quick check of the room to make sure that a) there's nothing/no-one funky in there and b) make sure it's up to standard and one of the rooms on the crew list (they meet requirements for noise, light, amenities and so forth) Once the room checks out ok, I'll unpack my stuff. Pyjamas go on the bed, ready for sleep time. Book, iPod, torch & water go on the bedside table, along with the travel speakers and eyeshades.

In the bathroom, I unpack my toiletry bag, I'm a bit OCD in that I arrange all the items out in order of use so I don't need to think about it too much for an early bus time in the morning.

I also make sure the towels are handy and put my shower gel (Body Shop Satsuma) on the bathtub. If I have food that goes in the bar fridge. If we're staying at a hotel with mini bar facilities, I'll check out what they have on offer (and whether their prices are a rip off or not. If so, I go buy that from the supermarket down the road if there is one ;)

If I don't have a lot of time, I'll usually iron my uniform as soon as possible, and hang it in the closet along with the shoes and make sure all the badges and so on are pinned on, so I don't leave any behind. If it's daytime, I'll generally head out into town for a look round or to get food, order determined by how hungry I happen to be. On a leanover, especially a daytime one, I'll probably be getting right into pj's, popping on my eyeshades and music and nodding off to sleep as soon as I can (sometimes aided by a herbal sleep aid)

Sometimes the hotels we stay at have a nice pool or gym, if the weather is good enough (or the pool is heated) then I'm definitely there! Otherwise I'll go for a walk or at least get outside in the fresh air and sun if it's out.

Oh and I always have my slippers in my bag, because you never know who or what has been on that carpet before you! :P

What do you do to feel more at home in hotels- candles, room sprays, BYO pillows? Tell me! :)

When "Being Helpful" Really Isn't

Sitting at the desk in my hotel room, listening to the baby in the room next door cry. It's not so much the crying that's the problem, but the fact that whenever I turn up the tv to drown out the noise, the baby cries even more. The walls in this joint are too darn thin! I mean I'm trying to watch a tv show at regular volume, for goodness' sake! I shouldn't be able to hear the baby as though it's in the bathroom. (Hang on, is there a baby in the bathroom? Nope- just checked, in case)

The tv show in question was one I just happened upon by chance, called 'Drop Dead Diva'. Basically, hot shallow girl dies & gets reincarnated into the body of a mousy lawyer. Hilarity ensues. Well, I didn't think it was that bad, so given that I remember to watch regular tv next week, and not just cable, I'll watch it again. Just to see what happens.

I was getting a bit hungry by the time the show ended, so I headed to a nearby convenience store to get some supplies. This is proving kind of hard as at the moment I'm on a diet- of sorts. No eating carbs after 8pm. Which is harder than it sounds. Given that I've never really been on a diet in my life, it's proving to need willpower. Out of the multitude of choices there I settled on the least evil of spicy capsicum dip (2g of carbs per 100g) and celery sticks. I don't think celery has carbs, but even if it does, I'm sure I read somewhere that you use up more energy eating it than you get out of it, anyway.

Okay. So, first leg of the trip went pretty well. Crew were nice, which is always good. One of them slightly crazy, but in a good way. She was really funny. Even had a show & tell of her tattoo in the rear galley! I was in charge of the emergency exits for this flight. I had all seats full, so I did the briefing. Then the final passenger to board tells me that someone is sitting in his seat. It's in the exit row. I check all of the boarding passes, just to make sure that no-one got past 3 card checks onto the wrong flight. (Don't laugh, it has happened once or twice!)

Turns out a guy sitting in the exit row is meant to be in a different row. Since his friend is in the row in front, he thought they were sitting behind each other, and misread his boarding card. Happens a lot on this type of aircraft as the seat rows kind of sit above the seat backs, so heaps of people confuse row 13 for row 12. The guy sitting in the wrong seat is actually a well-known football player. Normally they love the exit seats for the extra leg room. But, he didn't get that seat, the other guy did, and he wanted his allocated seat. Fair enough. So I had to eexplain why he needed to move, and he seemed okay. Later, I thanked him for being understanding, and he said no worries. He then said he thought I might have brought him a meal from business class to make up for it. Make up for what, I thought. Seeing as there was no mistake on my part, there was nothing to make up for! If he had wanted an exit seat, he should have booked it. The other guy had every right to ask me to move him. Pffft, so funny!

The service went fine, aside from one or two things. One guy, who seemed to think he needed his beer quicker than anyone else, and wanted seconds before we had even finished serving the rest of the cabin, and a guy in a family of tray stackers. My fellow FAs shudder here, because they know what this means.

For my non-airline-savvy readers, let me explain. When passengers travel in a group, and they finish the meal, sometimes they think they will be nice & helpful and stack everything up in a pile, like at home when you take dishes from the dining table. That's all well & good, except it isn't actually helpful to us. When we pass out trays, they come from inside the meal cart (or trolley) which contains racks, kind of like inside the oven. Each 'slot' in the cart has room for one row of trays (whether that's 2 or 3 or 4).

On your tray, you have a meal, the cutlery, a cup and maybe a snack or other dessert item.

Each utensil, cup & dish is a specific shape & height to fit into the tray itself & also into the trolley, without disturbing the trays above and below it.

When people stack trays, what they tend to do is this: remove everything from the trays, and stack each tray on top of the other. Then, place all the dishes in a pile, the cups in a pile, and so on, putting these piles on top of the stack of trays, creating a nice little mountain of airline-logoed plastic. Often, a scrumpled napkin serves as a crown to this epic masterpiece.


Unfortunately, this stack of traydom doesn't fit in the trolley, and everything has to go back in the way it came out. There's usually no extra room anywhere. So what must happen? FA collecting trays must first take one empty tray & place it in the trolley, then place one set of utensils on that tray, and repeat, until all trays are back in original, yet empty, order inside the trolley. Add to this process a quick flight, full aircraft, and a 70% loading of 'stackers' out of the passengers on board, and you might begin to understand why your FA looks slightly grumpy when you hand her your little Mt Everest of stacked trays after dinner. We know you're trying to be helpful, but really you're not, you just create more mess for us to clean up. We know it's our job, but it makes it that much easier if you try to return everything how it was given to you. We expecially love this when it comes to blankets (folded on the seat is great), and if you cross your own seatbelt, well, you've just made crew friends for life! I can always pick a non-revving airline staff member- they're the one who leaves the seat pocket neat, with safety card facing out, and their seatbelt crossed when they leave! (Don't get me started on military charters- pure flight attendant bliss! It's tidy-airplane heaven! =)

Anyway, back to the dad. He had finished creating this masterpiece, but as is often the case, it was unevenly stacked. Just as we were about to reach his row to collect the trays, it crashed down around the place, sending cups and bread crumbs all over. Immediately he blamed my colleague for knocking it over. I felt like saying I saw it fall before we even got there, but you know, customer is always right, blah blah blah. It was so funny, colleague's face was hilarious. She was making faces as she couldn't be seen! I had to try clean it up without laughing. She said sorry to me, for having to pick it all up, but Mr Stacker thought she was apologising to him, and told her that so she should. The cheek...

The moral of the story? Hand back thy tray as thou would like thy tray handed back to you!

Believe it or not, there's even a Facebook group dedicated to the FA peeve of stacked trays!

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!! =)

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)

A Little Blog Tweak...and a Good Read for Crew

Just to let you know, below the blogroll I have added links to 'Airportal', an e-magazine made by crew, for crew. (Ok, or for fans of crew!)

I had it on the blog since the start, but as it was at the bottom of the screen, and the blog is so long now, I thought I'd 'bump' it up closer to the top. It really is a good read, and a brilliant job by the girls considering they write it while flying long haul!

You can also join the Liz & Julie fan page on Facebook, where the girls are putting together the sequel to "You For Coffee, Sir?!", titled, "Let's Get Trollied!" Well worth it for a long haul flight, or those boring reserve days. Plenty of crew shenanigans and 'secret hostie's business' in there!

Hoping to make a few small changes to the blog over the next few weeks, and just improve it a little, seeing as I have neglected it a little during the Laptop Downtime.

Also, a welcome to a new blogger (well, new to me!) 'M' of Aviation Crazy, longtime poster to blogs such as Airboy and Tampax Towers. Check it out for some cool aircraft photos. Believe me, it is not so easy to get pretty photos of these flying machines, and to get decent composition to boot!

Welcome to the blogroll! =)

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 =)

Those Clever Etihad Crew!!

It's a great tradition in most airlines, that as an antidote to the stressful training, each training group will devise a skit to perform at their graduation (or 'wings') ceremony.

I stumbled across this little gem on YouTube, sung to the tune of 'Summer Nights' from Grease. Very clever, especially the last line!!! =D

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!

Nightmare flight...

Ok so I know I said I'd post about my last few flights, but first I wanted to get this sucker out of my head. With the summer heat, plus odd working hours, I've not been sleeping too well lately. One of the usual side effects of crap sleep, plus hot weather, is my having very weird, very whacked-out dreams.

Now most flight attendants at some point (usually during training school, and usually during Emergency Procedures/SEPs/etc) have a dream/nightmare involving some emergency situation.

Every so often, after a bad day at work, I'll have another one. But the one I had last night was a beauty!

Usually in these dreams (nightmares), I'm a crew member, going about my business, and then it all hits the fan. This time I recall sitting in a passenger seat. We were arriving back into Sydney and then we must have hit something, because I very clearly remember receiving an almighty crack on the head from hitting the seat in front of me. It's so weird that in a dream one feels pain (well at least I do) and boy did I! It hurt like hell!

Then I could hear other crew calling out as the plane stopped, yelling the commands we know by rote. I remember in the dream that I tried to join in, only the words weren't coming out right. It was like being drunk, or I suppose, when someone's had a stroke. My mouth couldn't make the sounds right. I got really scared when I tried to get up and one side of my body wouldn't co-operate. I remember then being at the front of the aircraft and a crew member handed me a life jacket. I tried to put it on but was so clumsy and my right hand wouldn't work, so I kept dropping it. Then all of a suddem, I saw my SEP trainer, with a clipboard. He kept yelling at me that I wasn't saying the words correctly. I was trying to explain my brain wasn't getting the message to my mouth. It was WAY weird!!!

I think at that point I must have realised I was dreaming, because I laughed and then I woke up. All I can imagine is that one side of my body must have gt pins and needles from my sleeping position which prompted the part in the dream where I couldn't move.

Very weird!!!

So fellow FA's, c'mon, hit me with your recurring SEP nightmare...