Crash Pad 101

In this industry, many people commute to work. People live in places like FL or LA and commute up to NYC or ORD and are based out of airports that are far from home. Having left their real houses behind, people in the airline industry rent out what is known as a "crash pad" which is exactly as it sounds. A two bedroom apartment with one bathroom that's 10 minutes away from the airport for 8 people at $300 a month, give or take depending on the housing market. Being that my house (okay, my parents house) is two hours from the airport, I too have joined the 1000s of airline employees who have a crash pad. Due to my proximity to the crash pad, I went yesterday to move some things in and check it out as to report back to my other pad mates.

Rule #1 - Management should tell current tennants that new tennants are moving in.

The current flight attendants who live there HAD NO IDEA that we were coming; only one was home and the others were out on trips. She was nice to me, but I could tell that she was not exactly excited to add four more girls to her comfortable living situation. I felt really bad for her but then again, its not my fault.

Rule #2 - Public space is public space. Keep your shit to yourself.

My room at home in my hosue is a mess. It's my room, my mess, and no one is forced to deal with it or live in it. Public spaces, like the kitchen or bathroom, are just that. Public. These are areas that need to be cleaned regularly and space needs to be shared. Rest assured that while this may not be the situation in my new place at the moment, you can be damned sure that it soon will be. If your mother wouldn't let you keep your teddy bear in the kitchen, then perhaps you should put him away in your own room. Not where pots and pans go.

Rule #3 - If you can carry it, then bring it.

As soon as I saw how cramped our bedroom was, I called my roommates and told them to bring their flight bags, uniforms, and ONE large roller. Detriot had one roller for her shoes. Picture your college dorm freshman year, that you were forced to share with another person. Imagine a slightly smaller room, and three roommates. Get the picture yet?


I'm not quite sure what to make of this whole crash pad thing yet. Its going to suck with the four of us there all week for base orientation; at least the other girls are out flying. I'm sure that once we start flying things will settle down and we will rarely be there at the same time. I'm also curious to see what NorCal thinks of the whole thing; she's a bit more mature and is used to living in her own house with multiple bathrooms. I'll keep you posted on how things go, and hopefully once I start flying I'll have some better stories about crazy people on a plane. I bet they're more exciting than snakes too.