The Perk and The Shaft

There are many perks to being a flight attendant; thus far, the most rewarding one is having the opportunity to talk to my friend's fourth grade class. Standing in front of 23 fourth graders was made me more nervous than the first time I did the safety demo for main cabin on the 737-500. I got to tell them all sorts of exciting things about my job, and answered all of their questions. They wanted to know if I had been to places like Italy (not since 1985, so I said no) or California. They asked what happens if someone gets sick; I showed them the airsickness bag. The school has a diverse population, and one of the students asked if I flew for Jet Airways; I was forced to hold in my laughter.

It was so weird to be there. The school building looked exactly the way mine did; I remember learning the same things. Walking around a school building as an adult is one of those trippy strolls down memory lane, enabling you to put all those things into perspective. Somewhere out there are all those girls who made fun of me for not being the best cheerleader on the squad (can we say captain of varsity? NCA All-American?) or that punk who ragged on my lack of spelling skills (RU alum in the house) or some Trebor that threw up on pizza day (I did the same thing then that I do now, run away and call a medical professional). I keep talking about becoming a substitute teacher come the fall and being with such small children made me realize that is not where I need to be... who knows where I'll even end up in the fall?

Who knows where I'll end up tomorrow night? I have airport alert at five. There are a lot of fun trips that leave then - Rome, Paris, Athens, Delhi, and all the German destinations. Sure, flying the couch sounds like fun right now with the endless possibilities of destinations in mind. We'll see where I end up; my dollar is on the crash pad.

Brussel Sprouts ;)

I just came home from Brussels. Yes, I saw the peeing boy and girl statues and yes, I had a waffle. It was covered in chocolate, whipped cream, strawberries, bananas, and was awfully delicious. I bought a bottle of wine from duty free; it's tasty. Oh, I worked too. First class aisle - it was not easy and it is not my favorite position. There was some drama on the plane (between two flight attendants!), which I thoroughly enjoyed. It amazes me at how hard people make such an easy job.

Tomorrow, I'm visiting my friend's class (she's a teacher) for career week. I get to talk about how I'm important to the community, what made me want to become a flight attendant, strengths you need to have to be successful, and what a typical day is like. I cannot even imagine what my reaction would have been at that age to have met someone who wakes up at two in the afternoon on a regular basis. I have the next two days off and will most definitely be personal dropping for a third. I have officially worked my ass off and now I'm tired. I suppose that's what going back and forth to Europe six times in four weeks will do to you.

Miss Me???

Alright so now that I've been running around the European continent for almost a month, it dawned on me that I do miss blogging. I went to a writers' conference, learned a lot, and have upped the time I spend writing. Thereby, giving me the time and desire to tell you that I went to London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, and most recently Frankfurt. So that girl dancing on the bar last night in Meinz... look familar? ;)

International is amazing. I love my job, and you're so jealous.

More to come.



PS - Those of you who are really my friends, there's a video of me and some crew members running around London and if you're so inclined, I'll provide instructions on how you can see it. Its amusing.

Auf Weidersehen

This past trip was probably the most ridiculous trip I've been on in this entire past year. Event after shananigan, it was just insanity and with each passing moment I got excited about the prospect of blogging and sharing it with you. And now that I'm here, I've decided that this isn't the literary direction for me.

I drafted my first short story since college, and it felt amazing. I have met two different types of flight attendants (and even pilots) - those who fly max hours with no lives outside of airplanes, and a whole nother breed of people who pour a few cokes/fly a few planes on the side. I'm done sharing my reality with all of you because I've got way better fictitious stories to tell. For those of you who mean the world to me, and you know who you are, frett not. My cell phone is still fully functional, even after dropping it twice today.

So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, good night.
Good night.

Happy Anniversary!

As of today's MCO turn, I have been online for exactly one year. Happy Anniversary to me! And thanks to our union, I'm guarenteed a raise - very exciting. AND... I got my transfer! As of next bid month, I will be an international flight attendant! UK here I come, over and over and over til I've spent more time in Londontown than Township.

Who's excited??? I AM!!!

Adventures in Scheduling

Yesterday, I woke up and decided that scheduling was not going to control my life. I was on page two so I checked movie times, picked Be Kind Rewind which was only playing in New Brunswick, hopped in my car and drove off into what should have (oh those are so the key words in this sentence) been a lovely day. WRONG.

I get down to Brunswick and I'm literally there for 15 minutes before screw scheduling calls. I have an IAH turn on the 777, working A zone galley down and deadheading back, with exactly two hours to get to the airport. The only minor exciting part about any of this is my BFF was working the flight back to EWR. Now that I had my sob story about how much scheduling sucked I peddled it to anyone who would listen. And no one cared until I got on the plane and talked to the other flight attendants - all nine of us were quick called and had similar sob stories. At least mine did not involve a haircut.

A zone galley on the 777 is rather intense - I had to feed 30 people. It wasn't international service by any means but my two aisle people were international flight attendants so I felt like they were kicking my ass. I did the best I could and I rocked it for the most part. I really liked the position and I'm not so intimidated anymore. I better not be considering I'm transferring to international! My only issue is that I feel too short; I couldn't reach the glasses that were in the top atlas carriers and that just spells concussion. I liked being in the galley because I had little to no customer interaction and that makes me a happy camper.

Oh the Glamour!

I had airport alert tonight from five to nine.

Nothing happened.

I'm already mentally gearing up for some abuse tomorrow night.