I'm Wide Awake...

So I'm on a layover and have been awake since 1am, catching up on emails etc. It's now about 4:30am, and appropriately, the Katy Perry song with the same lyrics is playing on MTV in the background.

I know I've been really bad with updating the blog for the last month or two, but not for lack of desire to blog! It seems like the times I've wanted to, Blogger just hasn't wanted to upload any of my photos and as you would all probably agree, photos make a blog, especially one about travelling.

So for now I'm going to bite the bullet and write a little something while I have the advantage of fast hotel internet with which to do so. I've had quite a few things I want to blog about, but as always by the time I get to I've usually forgotten a lot of the little details I wanted to mention. I really do need to start keeping a little notebook for these kinds of things.

Recently, I flew a trip to Sydney via Bangkok, which was my first on a new aircraft type I've trained on about 6 months ago. This flight had to happen in order to keep me legal to operate on that aircraft type, since we must have a flight at least every six months. As it had been so long since the training, I needed to study my books a bit to brush up on the details.

It was a great trip and I'd like to do a post just about that, but I'll leave you with a few photos to enjoy. Summer in Australia is great, and lucky me had not one not two but three trips to Oz in November. I'm currently on reserve and was expecting a lot of turnarounds, but no, it was off to Australia again! Now if only they can manage to do the same for Christmas... ;)

Finally, a big welcome to all the new crew joining my airline who have found my blog or sent me emails. Hope you enjoy the ride as much as I have, and as always feel free to email or Tweet me with any questions. (Just remember, be careful about what/how much detail you post about the Airline and so on - a bit of friendly advice from an 'oldie')

Up in the air... beautiful sunrise. Best part of the 'office'

 

After years of going to Sydney, I finally got to see the Luna Park lights!

 

'Radiance of the Seas' visiting Sydney.

The iconic Bondi Beach Lifeguard Tower

 

 

Hope all of you out there in blogland are keeping well and enjoying the festive season with your family and friends :)

Retro Flight Bag

It's no secret that I love me some vintage, and vintage airline stuff? Even better!! I have my own mini collection of books and bags, but if you haven't been lucky enough to score a Pan Am bag like me, or aren't a fan of bidding wars on eBay, then I saw just the thing in Typo recently. They have a retro-style airline shoulder bag, complete with the white trims so classic to this type of bag.

The cool thing is, they've updated it just that little bit, by adding the iconic giant aircraft, the A380. You have no idea how tempted I was to buy this, but since I have one of the coveted Pan Am bags from the tv promos, I left it for someone else to snap up. (Post on my Pan Am adventures to come later!) I love the Typo store and always have to restrain myself from spending too much whenever I go in there. Currently I've got my eye on their thermal mugs, perfect for work! :)

(This was not a sponsored post- though if Typo wants to send me some free stuff they are more than welcome, LOL)

Highlights...

I'm finally starting to feel in the mood to blog again, but me being me, there are a zillion other things I'd also like to do. I have some leave at the moment, and as I probably won't be travelling home this time, I'll have lots of extra days to try and get thigns done. I've only just realised how many layovers I have still to blog about- all the way back to my Niagara Falls visit- in November!!! :O

At the moment I'm procrastinating by tidying up my room, and as this mood strikes me rarely I'd best take advantage of it. So to tide you over until I make a proper posts, here's some photo highlights of upcoming posts & past layovers.

I survived the Great Wall of China!!! (Tough climb though, glad I wore summer clothes!)

Ticket to Temple of Heaven, Beijing

Visiting the tigers in Thailand

Another view of the Great Wall.

In the mix there'll also be Niagara Falls, more New York and another Paris trip =) See you soon!

LV = Leave = LOVE!

Finally the day rolled around where that blessed green box appeared on my roster: XX followed by two weeks of 'LV LV LV LV LV'. Woo hoo!!!

I arrived from New York at about 9pm, then right away I started doing my washing and getting my bags ready. Of course, after being so tired on the landing and through to the bus trip back to my apartment, by this time I could not fall asleep. I probably had about 2 or 3 hours of sleep by the time my phone rang to wake me up. I decided to skip getting a taxi to the airport and use the convenient Dubai Metro instead. It was a short walk from my building to a station and then onto the train. It took maybe 15 or 20 minutes to get to the airport. From there it was easy to take my bags and check in. Phew, my bag weighed right on the 30kg limit, lucky!!!

I spent awhile looking around the shops and the airport in general. It's only when on leave that we actually get to see inside the airport; usually we get taken direct to the plane from our crew centre and so miss seeing all the goings on of the airport. I picked up some supplies for the flight (bottled water and some snacks in case I didn't like what was being served) then had myself a quick breakfast before boarding. (See, it's not that hard to do, passengers who tell me you can't buy water in the airport!!!)

I went to the gate as it said boarding, but silly me didn't actually look outside of the window and check if there was even a plane there. (It wasn't there yet). After waiting about 45 minutes, the plane did show up and was cleaned ready for our flight. While waiting, I got talking to a girl sitting by me, as she wanted to plug her iPhone to my laptop to charge it. No problem. It turned out she used to work in a town that one of my previous airlines flew to. We even knew some of the same people. Small world indeed!!!

Once boarding was called for my section I headed onboard, putting the things I needed immediately in the seat pocket (and making sure I didn't block the aisle while I did so). The size of people's carry on luggage still never ceases to amaze me. I had the smallest of small rollaboard bags, others were bringing stupidly large bags plus myriad smaller items, then getting annoyed when there was nowhere to put them. Of course, putting things under the seat in front (in their own legroom) was out of the question. The lady in front of me wanted to put her bags in MY legroom (Um, no thank you was my answer).

Soon everyone was settled and off we went. I was going home!!! Despite being tired, I didn't (or couldn't) sleep. I ate my lunch (which was the fish as they'd run out of the choices) and it wasn't too bad. Of course some people made such a fuss, so when the poor crew got to me, he nearly had to ask me to repeat myself when I said that whatever he was serving is fine. I wasn't using a crew bag so I don't know if he knew I was crew- his reaction said probably not. After the meal was done I watched some movies. "Morning Glory" with Rachel McAdams and "Never Let Me Go" with Carey Mulligan. I quite like her, aside from her cute awards show outfits she has an interesting face.

Anyway, the flight was okay, weird and uncomfortable for me because I'm not used to sitting for so long. Eventually, we arrived and it was nearly time to meet my family. Yay!

After a brief stop in duty free to buy Moet for my sister's birthday, it was out to Arrivals & my family. We got my bags into the car then headed home. Being around 3am by this time, we were all hungry and I requested to make a stop on the way home.



Hungry Jack's!!! For those of you who like Burger King, imagine it but ten times better. I still haven't found any Burger King anywhere in the world that even comes close to Aussie Hungry Jack's- not even in NZ.

Getting home, I dumped my stuff in the foyer and we descended into the lounge to devour our burgers and fries.... man it was sooooooo good!!! All the while watching 'Jersey Shore' (don't ask) re-runs and me answering myriad questions about my life in the Middle East.

I'm not one of those people who can keep a good gift under wraps for long, so of course then the unpacking of bags in the middle of the lounge room floor followed, I like seeing what people think of the presents I got for them. As it was my sister's 30th birthday I splashed out a bit and bought her the new Dior Cannage makeup palette, she said it was exactly what she had been thinking to buy for herself and the cool thing is onc eth emakeup is gone the case can be used as a clutch bag. Cute!!

For my aunt I got an 'I <3 NYC' t-shirt and glass Arabic perfume bottle and for my sister's BF I got him a set of new york shot glasses with the Subway symbols on them which are really cool looking.

The first few days of leave were spent doing boring stuff like Dr's appointments, car service and all that fun stuff. We didn't really do a lot, I hadn't planned much before I left and we just went with the flow.

Most nights we had a dinner together followed by cocktails and watching tv. During the day it was so hot, which resulted in spending lots of time at the local pool or the beach. I loved going to the beach, here are real beaches, not the yuvky rubbish-strewn ones I'd seen in Dubai. I didn't need to worry about creepy guys taking my photo. SOme nights it was so hot that we went to the beach at 10 or 11pm. I'm also kind of ashamed to admit that we did have our fair share of meals at Hungry Jacks or making stops for M&M McFlurries from McDonald's. The last big meal I had in Oz was fish and chips at Peter's by the Sea, in Scarborough. It's been there since my dad was young and was THE hangout by the beach. Happy to say the chips are as good as ever and the fish was really nice, batter golden crispy and piping hot. As always there was lots of chicken salt involved. Yum!!!

This probably makes for a boring post, but just being at home and hanging out with the family was great. While home, I celebrated my 28th birthday, along with my gorgeous nephew who turned 1 on the same day. We had a big BBQ with delicious food and of course, cake- or in our case- cakes :P

The times when my family were working was when I did all those things that one does when on leave- bank stuff, getting my fillings re-done, sorting my boxes which were in storage. That part was kind of fun (despite the heat) and it was almost like shopping as I got to clothes I had wished I'd brought with me when I moved. Now, I have much more choice when it comes to what I wear in Dubai.

Too soon it was time to get on the plane back to Dubai. This time I had to share the row of 3 with a couple, about my age. All through the flight the girl kept going to the bathroom what felt like evry five minutes. She wanted me to trade my aisle seat for the window. Normally, I'd agree but they had been annoying me so much, sticking their elbows into my space, trying to put their bags in my foot space & so on... plus, I hate being in the window as sitting down for that long is hard enough as it is without being trapped. Eventually, I wandered down the cabin and found another seat as she just kept climbing over me without warning, not giving me the chance to move my legs. Win for the inconsiderate passengers! :P

Finally we reached Dubai. I lugged my bags outside the airport but having never come through the arrivals since I moved here, I got lost and couldn't find the way to the Metro (the odd directions from one of the staff didn't help, either). After about half an hour I managed to backtrack & find the right way. Arrived home at the apartment & typically couldn't sleep! It was okay as I had a day before my next flight.

Soon enough it was time to get ready for work again. This time I'd be going back to Bangkok!

First NYC Trip!! :)

After the disappointment of having to call sick for my first rostered New York trip, I was happy to see that I finally was assigned one the following month. (Perhaps the rumor that they give you the trip you called sick for as 'punishment' is true- I need to call sick on a Sydney next then, no??)

As you can imagine, I was pretty excited at the fact I'd be going to the City That Never Sleeps, city of scenes from movies I'd been watching all of my life. When I called sick in December, one of my disappointments was that I'd be too late to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. After seeing it in the 'Home Alone' movies, I'd wanted to go and look at it for myself.

Since joining the airline, all I'd heard was how hard North American flights were, and how demanding the passengers were, asking for this and that. While we worked hard, I can't say it was the worst flight I'd ever done. I just had to keep reminding myself that while *I* knew 15 people had already asked me for stuff, as far as one passenger was concerned, I was probably doing nothing in the galley. So I tried my best to keep smiling even though they'd ring a minute later to see "where I was" (hunting down the last ginger ale in aft economy, if you must know)

Despite the busy flight, the crew were amazing (especially our lovely supervisor in the aft) and the time passed quickly with lots of laughs and teamwork. I think our good mood must have rubbed off on the passengers because aside from one or two sad-cases, they were quite nice, much nicer than the stories had led me to believe.

When we arrived and headed to the bus, it was SO cold!! I have yet to be issued an overcoat so braved the chill in just my suit jacket and skirt. Even a scarf would make a difference but unfortunately we cannot wear either it or gloves without a coat :( We settled on the bus for lots of chatter, excited to be in this big city. I was very happy to see snow on the ground, all white and pretty. Soon we got to the hotel, checked in and received our allowances and room keys.

Greenbacks!!!


Although we were tired, about six of us made plans to meet fairly soon to grab food and then go ice skating in Central Park. A short stroll form the hotel was a Ray's Pizza branch. We filed in, ordering in our various accents and excitedly awaiting the delicious smelling pizza. Of course I took the opportunity to order a slice with pepperoni (REAL pepperoni!) and we chatted while waiting. The guy behind the counter was happy when we thanked him in Arabic, after hearing him speak to his colleague. He asked us where we were from and how we knew what he was saying. Finally we got our pizza and boy was it good! I almost inhaled my piece in seconds, I was so hungry!



Next we made our way to Central Park. Along the way, I happily snapped photos of the interesting architecture.












I was so happy to see it, just like in the movies. It gave the crew great amusement to see me happily running at the snow covered grass yelling 'Snow, snow!!" - and promptly falling on my butt when it turned out not to be soft powdery snow but solid ice... oops!




Not snow, but ice! (Still looks- and was- cold though!!)



We got to the skating rink only to be disappointed- it was closed for a private function and wouldn't open again until far after jetlag had claimed our weary selves. Accepting the fact that skating wouldn't happen today, we headed out of the park and decided to walk down Fifth Avenue towards Rockefeller Center and the shops along that way.






Americans are so patriotic. There's so many flags everywhere, more than I've noticed in other countries. They're on all kinds of buildings, not just on major landmarks or official places.





I love the variety of architectural styles in NYC. You've got old and classic alongside modern and sleek. There's always interesting details like these red canopies & banners as seen above.


Bulgari store along Fifth Avenue. Can't really tell from this photo but the window decorations were these cool bubble-like globes. Neat.


Old next to new. I love seeing contrasts like this between buildings. I have a bit of a thing for parallel lines, as well. They're very graphic and sleek. This picture below almost looks like those fake backdrops they use on tv to show a lit-up cityscape at night :)


Being just after Christmas, there were still decorations on the streets and in the storefronts. This giant snowflake was suspended above the road. We also saw a really cool animated light installation of moving bubbles and snowflakes on the side of a building near Rockefeller Center.



Got to love the straightforward New Yorker attitude. Even the street signs tell it like it is!

More US flags adorning buildings- you literally see them everywhere...


After a brief stop at GNC (so the boys could buy protein shakes, of all things) we finally got to Rockefeller Center. I rounded the corner, and there it was:


The Christmas Tree!! Despite being early January, the tree was still there, looking just how I remember it in 'Home Alone'. I think even the angel statues are still the same! All of us gleefully ran down for a closer look.


Although it was only decorated with lights, I still liked the tree. I could just picture Kevin sitting there wishing for his family. I was happy to see one of the things on my 'list' of things to see, as basic as it was. We still really wanted to skate, but the line was long and jetlag was starting to bite us in a big way, so we trudged on in search of coffee.

The next stop was the Starbucks at Times Square. We armed ourselves with a hot beverage and again went outside to brave the cold. (I had hot chocolate, not being a coffee drinker)


You know you're in New York when you're standing in Times Square. It didn't really hit me until then and this was when I really started liking NYC.




US Forces Recruiting Station. You could be eating a burger in Times Square one minute, and enlisted in the Army, Air Force, Navy or Marines the next. Kinda scary thought.


At this point, two of the girls and myself somehow got separated from the others, so we continued on by ourselves despite being tired.



All of us are big kids at heart, so of course we had to stop by two kid-friendly places near Times Square: the M&Ms Store and Toys'R'Us. (At this stage, I had no idea that Impossiblecat and her husband had been here just a day or two before- clearly great minds think alike, lol)


The Toys'R'Us near Times Square. Home of the indoor ferris wheel, massive Barbie aisle, cool Lego sculptures and giant T-Rex from Jurassic Park. Great for kids small and large, haha.

'Elmo'. Somehow not as cute in the large version. But I felt sorry for the guy as no-one was taking photos (he wanted tips for photos, fair enough). So I took one for a laugh.

Chocolate town! Hershey's & M&Ms are right near each other.


Of course, there were lots of hyperactive kids running around. Like the big kids we were, yes we looked around the store and played with all the stuff.

Cute jumbo screen above the M&Ms store, showing Red as King Kong over the city. I love the look on his face!


Found my perfect match! Hahaha! I've always loved Red & Yellow, the ads are funny and very clever. I liked the 'Colorblind' campaign back when black & white M&Ms were around.


Custom colour M&Ms. I hoovered down a whole bag of these last time I visited Mel's house. (Sorry Mel, I owe you more on my next JFK trip!)


There was even a wall featuring M&Ms as figurines in different countries. They had Australia (yay!)

and here's one for Robyn:

We scoured the gift shop and I bought my standard magnet, as well as a tiny shot glass in the shape of a beer stein with Red on it.



By this time we were well & truly sleepy, so it was time to head back to the hotel. True to form, by the time I had a shower & changed into my PJ's I didn't feel sleepy at all!

The next morning I woke up hungry, but as it was almost lunch time I felt justified in having more Ray's Pizza for br/lunch :P then a short walk through Central Park again and down 5th to look at the Lego Store in Rockefeller Plaza. I also decided to go check out the Chrysler building, but as this post is very long already I'll save it for the next installment.




















(For those of you wondering, yes I am aware my yellow coat is similar to Gwyneth Paltrow's in the film 'View From the Top' and no, it wasn't intentional) :P