Season's Greetings !

I have been a bad boy during this fast paced month of December, first off, I'm officially an A380 dedicated cabin crew ... My first destinations were YYZ (Toronto) not once, but twice. The first time I was nervous a bit, the A380 is one big mama , at times I felt so lost, and walking from one end to the other seems like a marathon ! But I like the fact that the whole cabin is divided into 4 sections and split into 2 as there are 2 Galleys one in the fwd and one in the aft . It's amazing that on both times, the flight was full , no FULL, 399 in economy, 76 in business and 14 in first class ! Simply amazing the load factor on YYZ , I can only imagine what would happen if the canadian government opened up their skies to Emirates . It is quite a challenge to try to please 399 customers in economy expecting the best service in flight as promised in our adverts , with 10 seats abreast , you can only imagine ! The most difficult part is explaining the reason why we run out of a choice, for reasons unknown to me, most customers refuse to understand that this is not a restaurant with unlimited access to supplies !

My second flight to Toronto was over Xmas, and what a threat to have seen my sister and brother waiting for me at the arrivals hall , they had flown from Montreal to spend time with me ! (I love you guys) ... We went for nice diner and breakfast, bickered a bit as real normal siblings should ! Exchange gifts, hopefully they liked what I gave them ( a model of the Emirates A380 ) . Sometimes I wonder how my brain thinks ? I managed to leave the hotel without my ID card and as I was going through security in YYZ I was literally stopped on my way to the gate for not having that piece of identification, I mean, we are 30 crew, and you think that I'm an impostor or something ! Anyway, managed to get through after obtaining a boarding pass from the ground staff, don't see the logic but who am I to debate about national security :) By the time I had realized that I had forgotten my ID in the hotel room and them to send it to me, it was too late ! But no worries, once in Dubai went to the police and had to fill a lost report in other to have a new one issued, even if I was to receive it in 3 days from the other crew in YYZ , it was either that or call sick for my London flight (last minute change to Bangkok ) the next day ! or worse get marked absent ! None of the last two were to be considered as I want to keep my record clean from any inconveniences lol

Now to the juicy stuff, try to read between the lines, why is it , in my case, growing up I never liked eating asparagus, but as soon as I found out that someone else likes it, I automatically liked it too ! Why do we continue drinking when we are already drunk knowing fully it will get worse ? in both examples I have been bad ! And people always get hurt by reckless actions ! I am sorry, but I do believe that's why Karma exists, and I hope that my whole ordeal with my ID was karma kicking me on the butt, not to mention I was nauseous for about a week and down with a congested nose lol And I do try to be a nice reasonable person, but I'm only human and have my weaknesses.

Later ...

Time goes by so ...

I still don't get why Madonna's hit single ends with slowly, when in fact time runs like crazy, is she aware that she is already in her fifties ? So anyway, it has been a full year today since I set foot in Dubai. I still remember the excitement, Flying over the atlantic , across Europe and down the middle east on the A380 from JFK, and now I am part of the cabin crew team operating this mastodon of an airplane. The main question most would be asking at this point, when living in a country where the language is not your own and your family is 14 hours away by plane, am I happy ? any regrets ? Yes and No, to an extent I am happy, as I'm doing a job that I really enjoy even when some times it seems that I want to yell my lungs out and quit, but that's part of the job too, does breakdowns that build up but never materialize :) . Also relationship wise, it has been a roller coaster , and I will leave it at that ! Of course I have some regrets, which in life is part of every decision we make, and choosing something good for another good thing will always leave a bitter taste behind ! But as we are here for an undetermined time on this earth, I try my best to move on and enjoy the best I can this world which is very much accessible to me. And how can I forget the friends I have made here and the fellow bloggers that share the same views i.e. the infamous AIRBOY and so many others.

In other news, just did my first operating flight on the A380 DXB YYZ DXB , there is so much excitement when you get off a plane with 30 crew (8 economy, 8 business, 4 first class, 3 seniors, 1 purser, 2 CSA's and 4 pilots), all heads are turning ! and yes I am so proud to work for Emirates :) .

I always wanted to blog on things that I find so annoying on flights so here is one situation encountered on board :

Captain : Ladies and gentlemen, due to ice build up on the wings we will be queuing to have the plane de iced . We apologize for the delay .

Irate customer : (fingering the call bell non stop)

Cabin crew: Yes sir , is there something I can do for you ?

Irate customer: WHY ARE WE DELAYED ??????

So please, on your next flight please appreciate the cabin crew ! even the lazy ones, it is a demanding job and we do work our behind off to make sure you get the best service possible !

Later !

Flying and Blogging

I have been finding it hard or maybe just being lazy to come up here and blog . Right now I am on my second and last week of training to join the A380 cabin crew fleet , as you know with EK, we are only licensed to operate either the main fleet or the A380 type aircrafts , that license being limited to 3 types : B777 (200 and 300) A330 A340 (300 and 500) and the fourth , the A380 . The decision came rather easily to make the switch. The main noticeable advantage is working more or less the same hours as the main fleet but having more days off . For example, on the main fleet I could usually be rostered 4 Layovers and 4 to 5 turn around, giving me 80-90 hours, as with the main fleet, I could do a YYZ , SYD , 2 LHR and maybe a third, and would get the same hours. Because of YYZ and SYD being long hauled flights. My december roster, I have training up to the 11th , then 3 days off, then a YYZ pairing , then 5 days off, and another YYZ , day off, and 2 LHR back to back ! this brings a big smile to my face, and the fleet is taking over the morning Paris flight as well as the ICN flights (Seoul) . Once my reserve month comes, no more stress of not knowing what destination I will be called out for, can only be YYZ LHR SYD BKK CDG or ICN , all great layovers ! If this seems like mathematics, I apologize :)

To come back to why I have not been blogging as much, well I have been flying a lot again, and after my SIN-BNE followed by JFK , I was truly exhausted . The will was there , but action could not have manifested itself :( . Going back to training college for the conversion course and seeing all the new Ab-Initios , kind of sparkled back the will for me to blog again , and being recognized by a reader who happened to be one of those few selected to be part of the cabin crew team is even more encouraging :) And also looking forward to flying on the A380 as crew is so exciting and flying to Canada twice , is just amazing ! and How ironic that one year ago I was joining Emirates and flying on the A380 from JFK to DXB and now I will be flying on this big baby !

During november I had the opportunity to go attend the Dubai Air Show, and being an aviation fan, I could not pass on that chance to see planes a go go , click here for pics and video taken that day :)

Later...

DXB JFK DXB

November being my second to last bottom bid position, I really did not expected any good flights, but when I saw JFK on my roster, I thought there has to be some silly mistake at scheduling. I was very excited to go to the Big Apple, one of the most exciting cities in the world, and to find out that we stay in Times Square was even more exciting . The way to JFK was good , the weather in the city was not at it's best but it is New York city and no way will I stay in my room ! First stop was of course Times Square to be dazzled by all the light generated by the surrounding humongous screens ! This was not my first trip to New York, but this city just dazzles you every time. Now to the juicy part, the return sector... O M G lol , the flight was full in all 3 classes , by the time we finished boarding, I was drained, thinking of off loading myself from the flight . It was a marathon that lasted 13 hours ! But being in New York was worth it !

I have 3 turn around and London at the end of the month before I start training to fly on the A380 !

Later...

LAX FRA SIN BNE and LIFE...

It's amazing how busy I have been, but that's all relative to the person. I mean , I have been sleeping a lot, because I have been flying (WORKING) a lot. Since my last post I have been to Los Angeles, Frankfurt again and a long 5 day pairing to Singapore and Brisbane, I am writing this blog as I just walked off the plane about 2 hours ago. Los Angeles was wonderful had a blast, rented a car right there at the hotel, very convenient, and went to off the first night to venture the surroundings, discovered part of Venice beach area and went out to a restaurant with a friend (shall I call him that lol ) that I met virtually in Dubai and luck would have it that he lives in L.A. , so that was that. Next day off I was driving 4 other crew member to Disney Land, the original plan was to go scream our heads off in Six Flags, but to our surprise was closed on week days, go figure. The alternative choice was Disney Land ! Not too many thrill rides, but makes you feel young again (not that I'm super old lol) and that's priceless.

Now I'm still feeling emotionally weird after my close encounter with LIFE back in october while on vacation in Montreal. Why is Life so weird sometimes, why can't we have all at the same time ? More so, why can't we accept things the way they are and move on ! It's not easy to get out of the vicious circle that is lying to ourselves and denying the truth that is in front of us . When we , I, refuse to see that truth, it will drag us to hell and beyond with our emotions and feeling. I'm finding myself crying for no good reasons in the middle of the mall or on my jump-seat during take off, or even in the bathroom doing my stuff. It is strange that brain of us controlling our emotions ! The things we do to counter effect these high emotions, are so plain wreck-less and that makes us wonder if we even know what we want ?

Frankfurt, I was looking forward to that, having swap my manilla for it, how ever, I had Pork Knuckle on my mind and it never found it's way to my mouth, on the other hand I had a blast with unexpected acquaintances , need I say more ! Then again, that's me reacting to my sorry state of mind since the past month.

Jealousy is a messed up feeling ! I now know that I am a jealous person ! I have always praised myself on not being one, but Damn , I am the queen of jealousy ! It is crazy, is it Dubai ? Is it all that I have sacrificed and lose to be here ? is it in a weird way my maturity ? Who or what ever is triggering this, give me a break and let me breathe, because it is an intoxicating state of mind. I wake up most of my days, not knowing what to do with my self, and the last thing that comes to my mind, is to be with friends (if I can even call them that) . But if that's the case, I'm probably in the wrong field of job, but that's where I surprise myself, I'm able to put on a wild Poker face while on the job. Strange, yet again, our brain cells manage to help us , but not the situations that drive us crazy, I guess work and personal life , the later is tougher to manage !

Emirates has started hiring again after a 10 month freeze, understandably with the current global economic crisis (as we speak EK just announced 129% higher more profit for the first half of the year compared to last year ) . Reading online forums , and being cabin crew for EK makes me want to voice again to you out there wanting to join : Please make sure that this is what you really want ! Why do I say this ? most come to Dubai thinking it's gonna be no pain no gain, well, thinking that way , you become someone else's pain, and trust me that's not good lol My only advice don't come here if WORKING and working hard are not part of your vocabulary, I beg you !

I swapped my Dacca and Jeddah flight for Singapore and Brisbane flight. I was excited because I had never been to SIN and I love BNE . The thing about it , the timing are really , really bad, first sector of the flight we depart DXB fro SIN at 4:32 AM arriving at 1:45PM. Getting ready for these hours is quite a challenge, working out 2 days prior my sleep patterns in order to stay awake and energized ! On a full flight it's quite easy to stay alert and awake, but if the customers are sleeping, then it becomes a challenge. Once in SIN, I slept from 3pm to midnight, I was exhausted it is not even funny, having done SFO and LAX (16hours non stop) I could not understand how the heck I was so tired after just under 7 hours of flight. I went out next door to the hotel to this sort of mall, but fill with bars and restaurants, ended up at Burger King eating a chicken burger, I was hungry and it was late LOL. Next sector, Singapore-Brisbane was with departure time of 3:15 pm and arrival at 45 minutes past midnight, not so bad, as I slept a lot before, my body clock being confused. One of the things that is not so funny, is the fact that some hotels we stay at are quite far from the airport, understandably they can't build airports in the middle of cities, we ended up at the hotel at 2 am, not because the hotel is so far, but because Australian customs are pretty strict ! With out having a shower, 5 of us at 3am were off to find some drinks to reset our minds, ended up at the Casino, filled with youngsters, the average age had to be below 25, all drinking and gambling, it was nauseating, so 3 of us agreed and left the place after just 20 minutes in there, ended up at McDonald's at 4am ! (Please don't judge me lol ). So off to bed I was, and slept till noon, woke up, went out to shop, ended up buying the lates Dan Brown , The lost symbols, and back again at the hotel, oh, another close encounter lol, and sleep before the return sector to SIN , with departure at 2:45am yet again and arrival at 8:15 AM. Luck would have it, we were delayed on ground with customers on board for 3 hours ! Please try to imagine my state of mind ! Finally we got off the ground and in to the air , arriving at the hotel at 1pm, slept 6 hours, went out for a fantastic diner and cheap, but still fantastic, came back at the hotel at midnight, departure back to DXB at 9:40 AM and here I am in Dubai at 4:36pm , writing this blog having landed at 1PM.

Next trip is New York city...can you hear me gag ! :)

Cool video I made =====> Los Angeles

What did I do ?

This is the weirdest vacation ever ! After my last 2 trips to Montreal which were no longer then 10 days, this time I thought it would have been a good idea to make it longer, 21 days to be precise ! Once again sometimes I wonder if my life is always gonna be faced with choices after choices after choices, at least any one of them makes me happy , well almost ! It's never easy ending something in life, may it be leaving your family to go study abroad, a deceased friend or family member, breaking up , my situation is quite particular , last year when Zoom (the previous airline that I worked for ) went bankrupt, I was faced with a wall, what to do now with my life ? I enjoyed traveling so much that I could not imagine myself doing anything then that ! fast forward to december of last year, got hired by Emirates, excited to pieces, but was not thinking a lot about the 5 year relationship I was in ! In my head I thought I would be coming back and forth as I want to Montreal, and that everything would be ok ( I love to pretend that I live in a dream world ). So, off I was to Dubai, not taking any decision on the future of my relationship. In retrospect there are a lot of things that I did not do , that I would of done, like sending my loved one my phone number, my address, what was I thinking of ? Was I looking for a way out of the relationship ?

My brother seems to think so, when did he get so wise lol It's a funny thing guilt ! makes you do mad things, irrational things, we let it take over our mind conscience body ! Back to my vacation, so clearly in the past 9 months I have met other people in Dubai , as well as my other half in Montreal, but coming here and realizing that our relationship is over, hit me really hard, and I was pretty surprised about the emotions that I was living, totally unexpected ! It's like knowing someone died and only realizing it 9 months later ! intense.

I had bought tickets to go see funny lady Pam Ann in Boston, her first stop in her first ever USA tour, I was looking forward to go see her as if my life depended on it, I rented a car, and yes, I drove down by myself to Boston, about 5 hours drive from Montreal, I swear I will never drive so far by myself ever again ! so went there, and quickly realized that it is as cold as montreal. What is going on in this world, where is that famous global warming ? In my head I was predicting what would be happening to me... went to see the show, and was not disappointed a bit, it was all that I expected and more... next day I had the smart idea to go out on the town with just a sweater and not a jacket or a coat... I ended up with my body being icy cold, and a soar throat ! I had to drive back alone again to Montreal literally feeling like death was right behind me ... I had caught a fever and hit temperatures of 39 degrees centigrade ! I hear one degree more could be fatal ! In between me arriving to Montreal from Boston and peaking with my fever, I thought it was the right time to have my wisdom teeth removed ! lol I must either like pain or misery ! As I'm typing this post, I can barely open my mouth, I have body shakes, soar throat and in the middle of the strangest drama scene the likes of a good soap opera lol

I'm supposed to get back to Dubai this week end, I hope I get well, cause my next duty is to Los Angeles...and Me not want to miss that !

Later .

So you want to be a Cabin Crew !

I wanted to post about this a while back but a thing called laziness was holding me back. Personally , this is the best job ever, sure I had to make some great sacrifices to work for one of the world best airlines... but we only live once ! anyway only time will tell, and I'm enjoying my time to the fullest. I wanted to be a cabin crew because I truly love flying and flying around the world is even better. Now, of course you need to be ready to hold a smile non stop for hours and hours, and I manage to do that 90 % of the time, I can't say much about the people that I have been working with... So why exactly makes you want to be cabin crew if you are not ready to do a simple task as to smile ? And some people seem to be confusing this job to a High Executive job, complaining day in and day out about salary , which by the way are very competitive considering in Dubai , apartment and electricity are paid for, and free transportation to and from work and did I mention no taxes. I find the job very easy but demanding on the body and because of all the grumpy and spiteful people hard on the moral . But I try to make the best out of every flight, the best way to do that is not to give in to the constant gossip and laziness !

So if you are thinking of becoming a cabin crew, and think that it's a princess job ! Think again and pray that you are not on the same flight as me, cause I will remind you that your ass does not actually weight 2000 lbs so start working lol

Ciao...

Went to San Francisco , check out the pics : San Francisco

Flying with friends and LAZYNESS

The past four weeks was Ramadan in Dubai , basically all muslim who are healthy fast from sunrise to sunset, then devour everything there is possible to eat ! This is even more felt when I do a flight and we land before sunset and the fasting customers seem to go crazy and urge us to feed them ? Make up your mind, no time for double standard here ! I could also just as well be fasting, All my flights have been arriving back in Dubai between 1 am and 7 am, resulting in me sleeping all day long...and this has an effect on my eating habit, I have been eating less and less. Does it ever happen to you, to think about doing things, so much so that you actually think that you are doing it with out physically moving lol I have been feeling that way all month long, spending way to much time on Facebook and looking at my laundry basket getting bigger and fuller by the nano second... In between this hibernating life that I created for myself, I went to Munich again, and had this lovely Senior from Russia , who in the midst of having a bit to much wine decided to dance Salsa, and I joined her... She then decided that I should go for salsa classed, which I did when I got back... My mind is so strange lol I'm lazy enough to not do my laundry, but energetic enough to go to salsa classes 2 - 3 times per week and at night ! Oh Well lol

In other news, also went to Rome, my first time in Italy, was so beautiful, the timing was a bit off, we land past 3pm and go back the next day at the same time, so basically we had to run to the city visit as much and as quickly possible and run back to the hotel and rest ! But was worth it, I love this city, I will definitely need to go back there both as a passenger or crew. Following my Rome , I was rostered to go to Moscow, but coming back from Rome, the flight was delayed and because of legality reason , meaning getting days off, enough sleep yadiyadiyada , I was removed from doing the Moscow flight and put on airport Stand by 4 days later from midnight to 4am.... Crew seem not to be calling in sick and reporting for duty more now with the economic crisis in the world and everyone wanting to secure their jobs lol this resulted in me not being called out for a flight and heading back home after spending a night at the stand by lounge . Next stop, my long awaited flight with my best friend Deon to Beijing, I actually swapped my third Zurich to do it with him, many reasons, I was curious to know if my patience would survive, as I'm kind of anal when it comes to work lol and also us going to A380 , wanted to see what it would be like working with a close friend... So the flight was everything I expected, of course I was annoyed at times lol that's just me being me and wanting to control the whole universe , Time in beijing was awesome, and it makes a difference to see places and explore with someone you know. The trip back was so fun, there was such a good dynamic between the crew, well almost all, we were the ones putting some life into the crew atmosphere lol We rule !

Next stop San Francisco, a 50 hour layover but a 15 hour flight or more !

Click for pictures : Rome - Beijing

In my personal life a lot has been unfolding and folding lol But not giving up...

Am I sadistic ?

This life is truly a wonder.... always throwing surprises at us, good or bad, it's a question of how you embrace what you are being served, and that itself is the whole challenge of loving life and enjoying every second of it. We all want things to happen in a second, instant gratification , always failing to remember that hard work and patience releases more pleasure in us at the end. The past few weeks, I've been asking myself why I place myself in impossible situations, or worse in unsolvable enigmas ! I must admit I love a good challenge, no matter how big the headache, this would explain, me moving from Haiti to Canada, and now to Dubai, of course I have no regrets, just sorrows for the sacrifices that had to be made to be where I am now at this stage of my dramatic life. This bring me to the biggest question that haunts my whole existence : What do I do with Love, the ultimate reason for being alive ? I say to myself, Love is in what ever I do, my job, friends, social activities...and basically loving myself and what I do , Loving my life ! How ever, of course, we all need to love someone, that person we all call and want to call our other half ! I would like to meet that person who came up with these rules about what love should and should not be. This life has been define by so many standards enough to make me think that I'm probably a sadistic human being ! But am I really ? or it's just the social realm in which our lives have been bordered with that is the devil in all of this ? I always tried to live my life in my own terms rules and standards, and I always question formality and rules, explains why my parents keep telling me that I was not accepted at an all boys catholic school run by priests , due to my ever growing curiosity disabling my ability to submit myself to any kind of authority .

In other news, reminding myself this is a blog about my travels lol I've completed my German adventures by going to Frankfurt, so unless Emirates opens up new destinations to this so beautiful country , I've done them all lol . I just arrived from my second trip to Zurich, again another beautifull destination.... Cannot get tired of going to Europe !

Next trip is my first ever Italian destination, and no better to start with then Rome...

Pictures : Frankfurt

Till next time...xoxo

Oh wait , almost forgot, I had 5 days off, and Deon and I decided last minute to head of to the land of Gods, Greece, and had a blast, the best unplanned vacation in my life, short as it was, it was sweet !

Pictures: Athens and Mykonos

Tic Toc Tic Toc...BOOM

THIS POST IS BASED ON A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND IN NO WAY SHOULD BE GENERALIZED TOWARDS WOMEN OR CABIN CREW

Ah ! the pleasures and insane displeasures of working at 35000 feet . Flying with girls and being the only male on board proved once again faithful to the tension between them, you would think you are on planet venus in the middle of a world war ! Why are women so aggressive towards each other , its as if they had a point to prove and everyone of them had to make a statement on how things are done as to their knowledge and screw company standards ! unbelievable... If I was a woman I think I would love to look my best and not chew my nails in front of customers while on my jump-seat, if I was a woman I certainly would not complain like a raging pig in front of customers as if EK was owned by my father , If I was a woman I would make more then an effort to smile and not look like a man who came out of a sex change operation ! I would most likely try to do my job instead of complaining about small things that will not change the situation or my future in the company !

I really don't understand why with such an easy job filled of perks why some people find the energy to complain and complain more then working ! Just do your bleep bleep job for crying out loud. And when complaining is not enough, they move on to rumors this and that when clearly the possibility of them being true or not even at one percent. The thing that just drive me insane is when someone acts as if they have class when in fact they are far from having any ! For instance we have this service quality appraisal form to complete by surveying the customers on board, one of the girls starts righting what is an invention of her non functioning brain or should I say lazy brain and of course I had something to say about it : Out of 300 customers you could not manage to talk to one of them ? - as I'm writing , I hear : Fuck off ! - I immediately turn around and shout to her face : Did you just say FUCK OFF ? - obviously the terrified 5ft7 girl could not even fathom to admit her foul mouths creation... Really makes me wonder how the hell these people even pass through the interviews, sure it's easy to pretend to be the best person for a job, but why would I even do that if I know that I'm not made for that kind of working environment. On another note, some crew confuse being hard working i.e. fast bar service, fast clearance, to just being courteous and nice both to customers and colleagues. I mean customers come back for our service, being the attention we give them to a smile, not the uncaring speed that we throw a drink at them ! And also, I swear if I see another crew reset the call bells on a 5 hour flight I will slap them silly...

In other news, I made through the application process for working on the A380 fleet and just can't wait, I'm also happy that my partner in crime also made it through ! Fun times ahead !

Over and out !

Concentrated Post :)

So I was avoiding blogging a bit after a censorship fiasco down at fellow blogger Airboy ! What have I been up to ? Just go through the good ones, did not had bad ones , just mixed feelings lol I dead headed to Bangkok on the A380 and in business class, I think Business and up is the only way to travel, how am I ever gonna be able to sit in economy with out complaining ! this was my first time there, as I did not see the attraction or felt motivation to go there and with reason. Arrived there late at night, and it was decided by the crew to go out for diner , yes we did, I'm a bit picky on exotic food i.e. food I would not usually cook myself, but I was surprised by the Thai food (yes first time eating it) and it was yummy yum yum lol next we were off to this street full of people mostly foreigners on vacation trying to fulfill some fantasy , most likely a dirty one , and full of those same foreigners, myself included, drunk out of their minds...I think I threw up part of my brain after that night lol enough said :)

I also did my first Indonesian flight to Jakarta, it was a 48 hours layover that I could not be bothered to get out of the hotel... so spent that layover by the pool and ordering drinks and getting sucked dry of my blood by mosquitoes and what nots ! Then got a Calcutta layover again but this time a 24 hour layover, so some time to brief, and something unusual, I went out clubbing, well with 5 Local crew on board, I was willing to go on an adventure , knowing that I was with people who knew the place. It was an experience to see people dance to music that yourself are not used to... Well thats why I love this job, keep discovering :).

I just came back from a layover trip from Kuala Lumpur, very clean and all around nice city, somehow I only managed to take pictures of the Petronas

Towers, one of the worlds tallest buildings, I was going at it click click click not realizing that I was not taking any other pics !

Now to the part some of you just gag to hear about, the ranting : One thing I absolutely get a seizure from , is crew trying to impress the seniors , and the way they go about it by overdoing what is expected of them , its almost like eating an over-glazed crispy cream doughnut ! It was too much sucking up, I had to give my self a bath room break to scream out my pure disgust ! I admit it feels good to get recognition for a work well done, but why not do it all the time and be happy with yourself for delivering excellence ! after all that's what expected of us ! Anyway... the other thing that absolutely makes me run for my EpiPen is crew talking so loud in the galley that you can hear them on the plane flying 25oo feet above ours ! I mean jeez...oh and before I forget, this one I need to have an aspirin near by cause it's hear attack worthy, crew that act like they are better then others and they just deliver poor poor poor and poor service ! god bless them...

September roster is out...and being Top bid got almost all that I asked for, starting with no turn around yet again, 2 Zurich, Rome, Moscow, Nairobi and the mother of all wanted destinations, San Francisco with a 48 hour layover ! now thats something to shout out, God Help me :)

Later babes...

EK770

When I was bidding for Cape Town flights last month , I really did not know what to expect, or just did not pay attention on what the other cabin crews where saying about it. This is a 9 hour flight to and from there with a 2 hour time difference which is good after a long flight not to suffer to much jet lag. First big smile on my face is entering the briefing room and realizing that I flew before with one of the seniors, so stress on this flight from my peers is to strike out from my mental list. On to the flight itself, 314 passengers in economy for 9 hours is something , with 8 cabin crew at their each and every wish ( call bells to summon us). Right to the point , the flight there was HELL, fantastic crew though, but HELL of a flight, 100 Vegetarian meals requested aside the children meals, we call those special meals, and of course, OF COURSE, half of those people switch their seats on a full flight and it took us what seem like for ever to give out those meal and deal with all the customers who changed their seats and we could not get a yes or a no from them on if they had ordered a meal or not...CRAZY...and I still don't understand what it means when you ask for a simple yes or know and you get a funky head roll as if it was a compass trying to point north (in the north pole) ! Other amazing thing I experienced during the flight, customers helping themselves to the unattended bars while we are out in the cabin distributing meals, I could not believe my eyes, but amazingly enough, no one took any champagne, just goes to show what goes on in these fools mind ! Some reasonable customers, and thank God for them, felt sorry for us, one of them told us that they cannot comprehend on the fact that we serve so much alcohol (free) on board, and on how demanding the customers were to us and rude as if we were there own personal genie ready to make anything happen, like the guy at 43 charlie using the call bell to ask me to come close the window blind for him ! or 24 Golf who wanted me to come clear his empty cup of soda ! and it just goes on and on and on...and how can I forget customer 30 delta pointing out cheese the cake that was walked over on the isle and flatten out to the extent of becoming part of the cabin floor, and asked me to clean it up !!! Professional that I am, I did, but the way she asked me to do it ! Hello are you suffering from some post bossy down syndrome ! Out of all the going up and down ridiculously to satisfy the needs (some not to say most , TRIVIAL) of the customers, one sweet couple terrorized by all the craziness of their other fellow travelers, found the need to tell me that this was their best flight in term of service, as we managed to keep it together and still be nice to everyone (well almost lol) and that needed a recognition from them...and that kind of notice makes the job worth while amongst the zoo that the cabin becomes after take off ! On a more positive note, the return sector was way more quiet and happier customers to deal with.

In other news, you probably figured out that EK 770 is the flight number for Cape Town lol A beautiful city with lots and lots of natural beauty...I would go again, but either as a passenger or after I recover from the psycological effects of this trip.

Check out the pictures : CAPE TOWN

What am I talking about ?

Now how much is too much, why do we not know when to quit ? Is this what life is all about, taking chances , multiple ones at a time and risking everything, and for what ? some for spontaneous pleasure others for long term and most of us , we are lost, just act on an impulse with out knowing or understanding the very basic fundamentals of it all. The figuring out part can basically lead to depression or craziness, as trying to understand our actions can lead to disturbing revelations about ourselves that are in opposition to our beliefs and to the very core of who we think we are or see ourselves as. We take decisions all the time that we don't want to, but convince ourselves that they are right, thus where friends come in and remind us of the sermon we keep telling them over and over again, but even then it still feels right when it's so wrong. I guess the main problem with us humans is that ever incomprehensible and mysterious thing we call feelings. They always seem to take over any logic we might come up with to get out of a situation that we deem risky and that we pre evaluated as a dead end to our happiness . Is to much happiness a good thing or a bad thing, I personally for some crazy and unbalanced reason find it as a cake with too much sugar, it is sweet with the first bite but a whole plate can leave you with a tummy ache... and most relationships seem to be like that , specially when we jump onboard to quickly and by listening to feelings and not logic. But feelings are what we rely on to move forward on an impulse ? I would say yes, but I need to control those impulses for my sanity sake lol On another matter, when do we know that we are in the same boat as those we call Desperate lol ? I think these days I've acting like a desperate fool lol and I need to come back down to earth and realize that my well being in every department of my life only depends on me and not others ! That's what living in such a place called Dubai can do to you. Not thinking rationally and acting on impulses and immediate gratification. But there most be a logical explanation to all this ? after all we are superior animals said one biologist in comparing humans to animals , them being inferior. They call earth the lonely planet, and we seem to live our lives as lonely as possible, creating clans , groups, etc. It must be a reverse karma treated to us by life for complicating it. Fair enough I say. We are so filled of judgement and criticism, except when it comes to ourselves that we deem the most perfect being of all. Vanity is surely part of our DNA composition, after all God created us to his image ! but then again that only counts for Christians and what ever else religion that read the same bible. So then maybe he did not create us to his image, and we are just randomness completely lost with no guidance and out of control. Now that makes more sense, cause this world seems to be lost and out of control !

Later my sweet fools !

Casablanca !

I just got back from Casablanca (Morocco) and I was shocked beyond belief on how bad the passengers were, I thought I had seen it all by now... but this is crazy. Not that I'm putting all Moroccans in the same basket, but this flight was close to being hellish ! First of all boarding, its as if someone told the passengers that they would win a prize if they get to their seats as fast as possible, people were being impolite to one another, not giving the person in front of them the time to sit down or stow their baggage ! Now the plane takes off, seat bell sign is not even off yet and call bells are ringing off the hook ! First request water (mind that they just came out of Dubai terminal 3 where you can get a bottle for 1 Dirham which is about 30 cents USD or less ) and I just love it how they ask it as if we are responsible for them being so thirsty ! As soon as we are released for service we prepare the bars , so of course customers requesting drinks we advise them to wait a few minutes, some would not take no for an answer... so out we go with the first bar and dragging it from the back to the front is an adventure as every 4 rows we were guaranteed to be stopped by a customer asking questions, bright ones like: Are you serving us food ? (no live animals) Do we have strawberry juice ? uhhhh ??? Can you close the window blind ??? double uhhh ?

I really wonder if these people that treat cabin crew like slaves greet people at their homes like kings ? I also wonder what goes on in the head of one that keeps requesting for service when seeing us going up and down with carts and picking up after them ? No wonder Emirates is #5 in the world, we basically bow down to customers in terms of service, but we will never compromise safety, so yeah I like it when I have to scream during landing to seat down :)

I could go on with the many many many outstanding bad behaviors I witnessed tonight on board, but I won't...

Casablanca as a city left me with mixed feelings it's in between of what I expected, but loved eating tagine ! (look it up in google :) ) Everything seems to be disorganized and chaotic but yet everything seems to run smoothly amongst that. Nothing more to add.

In other news, it is still hot in Dubai and I think it's affecting my brain, because I have been taking on projects one after the other (please read between lines lol ) and I just can't seem to stop my self. I also applied to Join the A380 fleet, I'm happy about that, more hours and more days off, and only flies to London, Sydney, Auckland, Bangkok, Toronto and Seoul in december, Paris in february, my good friend Deon also applied so a lot of shenanigans in perspective as the chances of getting on the same flights are high !

I have to do a philosophical bit : How honest can one person be, how much of our needs must we sacrifice for the good of the people we love ? these questions have been buzzing around my head and driving me crazy...

Later my sweet fools !

Dear London

Just came back from 1 of 2 back to back London's , originally was rostered to do Calcutta and got changed to operate a London... Most cabin crew fear London and say it's a hard flight. It was my 3rd and I find it as normal as any other flight... Oh well, what would the world be with out complainers and then some ! This as to be to date the weirdest crew I had to work with, it's as if there was absolutely no chemistry and not even a common ground of interest. The purser was super boring, I don't even remember seeing her smile or anything, and that's the thing I hate, if you don't like your jobs do me a big favor and quit, it's an easy job down the line, given that we work hard on board , we do have the best perks ! A layover is what you make of it, as for me I went out in SoHo and had a blast. Contrary to the pursers attitude , you had crew that where overdoing themselves and therefor also showing that they don't like the job, you too please quit ! Nothing drives me more crazy by an overbearing personality , it's not rocket science being cabin crew, please don't try to make the rest of us feel like losers ....

Needed to rant out a bit lol

Loved London can't get enough of it !

Oh and I forgot to mention that I'm thinking of joining the A380 fleet but a bit undecided, on the plus side I'll get to be in Toronto more often and London , but won't be able to go elsewhere, but the company plans to get more A380s so I guess patience as to be a virtue in this case... we'll see.

Hamburg, Paris and some thinking :)

So I went to Hamburg not really expecting any big thing...and I was delightedly surprised as that city is one of the most beautiful I've been to so far and by far the cleanest... The hotel also follows suit and had an amazing view over the lake and champagne served with the breakfast buffet, I have got to love my job :) .

In other news, I'm really being lazy these days... My flatmate being away for another 2 months, and being alone in the appartment somedays I just leave the dishes pile up , it is amazing how much I can get unaccomplished lol

Now, I originally got scheduled for 2 Paris, but swapped one of them for a Hamburg, which I don't regret...so off to Paris I was, I could barely contain my enthusiasm to going there and working that flight. I just love working in french and with people who speak the language, it makes the job all worth it :) and specially landing afterwards in such a magical city that it Paris. It was not my first time there and probably not the last time, about 2 hours before departure I realized that it was a national holiday , almost like independence day, called Prise de la bastille, google it or wiki it or better yet go watch MARIE ANTOINETTE which Reece Weeterspoon stars. Other reasons I love Paris, besides the art and history is of course the FOOD, as my good friend Deon would say, I was in deed gagging to eat French food :)

Click for the pictures : Paris

I was just reading Airboy's most recent post, and he was talking about people sending him mails encouraging him and others not, makes me think why people always have to be negative, why can't they keep it to themselves, I'm well aware of the saying misery likes company but jeez don't be looking for me lol This comes to my job, where I work with a myriad of different people coming from different cultures and that mixed with the passengers with the same melting pot as we. I won't lie, it is trying at times to understand others and why somethings that seem so basic to me seems difficult or weird to others ! it is challenging, but I love it, with out this job I would of lived a life filled of stereotypes towards other cultures and basically now I appreciate more the people I get to meet and learn about where they come from...but to be real some cultures I don't think I will ever understand them and what makes them tick.

My next trip is Calcutta...as Hamburg really don't know what to expect...will see...

Heat !!!

Obviously it is warming up in Dubai , and I mean that in all the possible meanings of that word ! First of all the weather is getting pretty close to being hellish, it is so damn hot that I get out of my apartment only and I stress only if absolutely necessary . With the passing of Michael Jackson , at first I did not make a big deal out of it, typical me, delaying my reactions, went to Zinc after a 7 week hiatus, and there was a MJ sort of tribute put in the regular cheesy monday theme, and there I was old memories of my teenage life growing up to MJs songs, I almost felt like bursting into raging torrents of tears ! After my Shanghai Surprise off I was for my first trip of the month and first of seven layovers of the month, went to Accra in Ghana, my expectations were kind of high as it is said that's where the slaves who were brought to the americas were taken from. But as we disembarked the airplane and on to a very familiar scene , the small airport , not quite modern installation, my mind flashed back to PAP (Port au Prince international airport), and I literally had the chill, and for a split second thought I was back in Haiti, my mind was scrambling for reality to settle back, I think me not wanting to go back to my country is getting borderline pathologic. That moment set the mood for me for the whole 3 days spent there ! I've never been so disinterested to be interested as much before in my life, and for good reasons . I'm gonna skip some bla bla that I just can't seem to find the words to explain, but having been harassed by prostitutes in a hotel, not quite sure if it's the cherry on the cake, and who's cake ? There is something quite disappointing to me about countries with the obvious resources to become strong and powerful but seem to be content in a constant state of corruption ! That boggles my mind, as it is that same logic that applies to my home country Haiti ! On the other hand it is also and as upsetting to see some countries with enough resources to help suffering countries but just don't seem to bother...when billions of dollars are being put out to save failing banks and car companies, would not that money been served better for the millions dying of hunger and so on ? I guess after all we do go back to our roots and that is that we are animals and as such we stick naturally to clans and looking out for their survival ! I really don't know what that brain of ours is inside our head for ? Never the less, hope and faith is what all of us look beyond this major imperfection of ours and towards a brighter future...

Now these days I have been meeting a lot of interesting people, and I'm starting to wonder if the heat of Dubai is modifying our way of thinking and downgrading it to the animal instinct that I mentioned above , because it feels like mating season here lol No more to add !

In other news, I swapped one of my two Paris for the month for a Hamburg layover, I heard a lot of nice things about that city, plus german customers are the best I've had so far (that sounds strange, but the heat talking again lol ).

I was so disappointed about Accra that I did not even take one single picture of the place, only some pics with the crew at the local restaurants there...sorry :(

Shanghai Surprise !

Where to begin ? Going into China is always interesting, such a different culture in every way possible. The 7 hour flight was good, nothing major, the same people asking for their usual water and the same people taking off their shoes to suffocate the rest of the cabin. As we are about to decent, the senior advises us that as soon as the plane comes to a stop at the gate to keep all customers seated ! uhmmm.... my brain was tired at that point that I did not even bother to think why... about 30 minutes after landing, a group of fully protected inspector (masks and all) come in to take everyones temperature, now the aircraft type is a Boeing 777-300, with a 3 class configuration, that is 8 in first class, 42 in business and a whopping 304 in economy ! did I mention we were full ! that inspection took about 45 minutes, but when they reached the last row , they found a customer who happened to have high fever (oh great I was telling myself), but with no coughing or any visible signs of fever symptom, the authorities were not willing to risk it, so the obvious logical thing for them to do is quarantine ! But only the customers who were sitting in the area and all the crew who served him. At this point my brain awakes and I'm thinking, we were all trapped at 40 thousand feet in the air breathing the same air, and now they figure only part of the plane is affected ! Anyway I'm no doctor or scientist, who am I to judge lol . By now it's been 2 hours we landed and still on the plane, a decision needed to be taken between the crew, do we all stay for quarantine, or one of us volunteers ? Guess who out of nowhere decided to take that step ? No other then me ! Once that was settle, the rest of the crew and customers could disembark and only a dozen of customers and myself stayed, and that, for another hour, until a bus came to pick us up and bring us to a quarantine hotel. What involved the choice that I made ? If the test for the customer with high fever revealed positive for H1N1 I would have to stay in the hotel for a minimum of 7 days ! scary ! if negative, I would just go join the rest of the crew at the regular layover hotel. Leaving the airport on to that so called quarantine hotel, felt like being a star, for some strange reason, they were camera man waiting outside the gate, and arriving at the hotel , people were actually waiting for that bus to arrive, really strange ! no discretion , the thing does not make any sense. We get at the hotel, get a room key, and advise to stay in untill further notice. The plane had landed 7 hours ago by now, and I just dropped dead and slept like a baby, but to be bothered 1 hour later by a disturbing knock on the door, it was my dinner, obviously I did not realized how much I was hungry, ate the meal as fast as possible, a record for me, fell back asleep, but, an hour later again, same story, this time they came to pick up the tray !!!! it was 10pm by now !!! next disturbance would be the next morning at 6am to a call telling me that everything is ok and a bus would be picking me up in an hour. Now on to the real layover, got to the Hotel at 8am, saw the rest of the crew outside waiting for the hotel shuttle to take them shopping, checked in, and went back down a.s.a.p. and went out with them ! spent the time on the bus yapping away my night in quarantine. Shanghai is pretty nice, the shopping second to none if you like fakes ! lol.

Roster for July is not out yet, but I already know that I'm going to Paris twice next month...Can't wait !

Click for Pictures from Shanghai and then some : Shanghai

Leaving Montreal yet again !

So this is my last night in Montréal and I'm heading to the airport at 4am Tuesday, arriving in Dubai at 8am Wednesday, can you believe it !!! I had a much better time in Montreal then last time (see Passport issues lol) enjoyed my family , friends and met some cool people.

The best time had to be when my family came over for diner and we played games after :

Later...

Watch out my neurons are acting up again !

So after a day of hanging out with friends, I decide to finally make it to my sisters place where my Mother was waiting for me, but she was about to go out and invited me to go with her at this forum called Landmark, it's my mom and I have not seen her since last november, and my brother and sister would be there too, so there I was on my way to the forum ! I'm this kind of person who basically makes my own rules about life, but also I'm this kind of species who wants to try everything (thus me being cabin crew for EK). So this forum was more about managing life and managing the decisions we take that seem to sabotage our happiness, and apparently we do that because we get so use to failures that we accept them better then risking something that my lead to something better something greater. For example, when I was growing up I used to be teased a lot at school for very stupid reasons, as these same people who made my childhood hell seem to have magically forgotten about it and seem to respect me more , anyway, so because of that experience, I became shy about having friends, deeming that they are all certified backstabbers , liars , ungrateful bastards. And that basically shaped who I become, in my late teen years into my twenties I had a really really cold attitude towards people who clearly were being nice to me ! I would even call it snob...of course I know better now, but that grim side of my personality still makes surface from time to time, specially when my brains starts analyzing why these people are being nice, and what are they after ? It's human nature , we are drawn to people for what they have ! Well I'm contradicting myself, I never once befriended someone because they had something they could bring to enhance my well being, may it materialistic or for social reasons ! so if I think that of my self surely others like me must exist... Now comes my other dilemma, why do I get paranoid when I find some one like me ! To come back to the forum, they say that we need to stop projecting the past into the future ! which is what I need to do, in almost all aspects of my social life and interaction with others, keep my past in the past and trust the future ! if it was that easy, but I'm working on it !

On another matter... In that forum it talked a lot about taking risks ! in example, why not ask that person you like out ? the worse that can happen is a turn down, but is not that what life is about, Qui ne risque rien n'a rien = Who risk nothing has nothing ?

I'm pooped from blogging of all this mambo jumbo lol

Later...

Going home again !

Off I am to my second leave this year, and where other then Montreal. Last time I went was back in april and it was full of drama (knocking on wood that this time will be all the contrary) so far my pattern is very familiar, last time I had a Dubai-Brisbane-Aukland pairing which is a 14 hour flight and I went directly after to Montreal via Toronto another 14 hours in the opposite direction, this time, I had a Dubai-Melbourne pairing, 14 hours also, got back in Dubai at 11am, and left for the airport the same day at 11am for a 2am departure to JFK landing there at 8am and taking another plane to YUL at 3pm...exhausted, yes I am, as I'm seating at JFK terminal 8 waiting to board my plane. With 5 hours to kill, I decided to got to Manhattan as the transport is very convenient from the airport, just catch the air train that goes directly to Jamaica station which is on the blue line (e), and that goes to pen station near Times square the major artery of New York City... once there I went on to Madison avenue , one of the most expensive streets there, with all the major stores, I was on the hunt of La Maison du Chocolat Paris (house of chocolate) to purchase some delicatessens. Back to my flight, I make an habit not to attract to much attention if I'm traveling on EK as a passenger, this said, I was disappointed to the crews attitude, and really got a good understanding as why some passengers do not bother to say please or act politely with us, there is nothing uglier or more rude then someone working and not even able to deliver an honest smile, this kind of attitude makes me wonder, why do they even bother working ? Personally some passengers can kill all good will left in me, but I still find a way to get over it...enough said...humans will be humans.

Check out pictures from my melbourne flight and the uniform :

Melbourne pairing

Later...

Expect the unexpected...ain't that the truth !

To continue from my last post, the changes to my roster kept coming, I had a Kuwait turn around changed to an Amman turn around and my Lagos layover changed to Johannesburg. So in all, i worked 7 days straight doing 3 flights, Guangzhou, Amman and Johannesburg ! I can say that I am tired as an owl lol Typing this blog at 4:27 am is quite strange ! But not stranger then attempting (3 rd try) to cook up some Butterscotch squares at midnight ! Originally I planned to go out, but all the ingredients were there and I needed to satisfy my self by successfully baking those damn yummy cookies :) which happened and boy will I have a major tummy ache by the time I finish posting this blog. Back to J-burg as they call it, I had a lot of stereotypes about South Africa , some of them were broken but others were reinforced ! The flight was quite particular, and kind of represented what my stereotypes were, specially when it came to customers asking for something and not saying PLEASE... is that too much to ask ? or they think they pay for the right to boss us around like robots with money back guaranteed ? ( click on this link to another fellow blogger who expresses fully what I experienced : AIRBOY ) 

After an 8 hour flight and arriving at sweet home Dubai at 8 am, I decided to go see my manager and talk about what is going on with him not replying to my emails and about my ABSENT showing on my roster in April following my eventful passport and visa issues. He seemed to be as shocked as I was when he told me that He thought everything was settled...( Dear reader I encourage you to use your imagination and think of what went through my mind at that precise moment and what colorful choice words were hanging at the tip of my tongue ! ).

Apparently my ABSENT will be removed,  but I will still be paying , as it will be replaced by another day of LEAVE, my yearly balance diminishing yet again. Oh well ! For now my plan is to have my 8 days leave for june cancelled and just take 19 days in October in sweet home Montreal or where ever, going back to Haiti has been tingling in my brain recently, we'll see !

I have one day off, then 2 back to back Istanbul turn arounds during the week end... As for June roster, Melbourne, Johannesburg again and Shanghai !

Click for photos : Butterscotch Success !

Johannesburg

Later :)

Butterscotch , Moscow no Guangzhou...

Crazy past days, I had 2 days off and decided to finally give a try at making one of my favorites dessert cookies Butterscotch squares !!! First attempt was a complete disaster, I used too much butter, burned it and still continued doing the recipe. By the time everything was mixed together and the dough was ready to go to the oven, I thought seriously that it would be a success, well, I managed to burn it, pitch black CRAZY ( click here for pictures: Butterscotch ) . But on my second attempt did not burn it, but was funny how I melted the brown sugar completely and having it harden as fast and wondering how could I possibly make a dough out of hard caramel lol . In all a funny experience, crash and burn will best describe my time in the kitchen cooking it up between midnight and 5am lol Why, because my internal clock is out of whack !

Next story, I was suppose to fly to Moscow, and the best, I would be deadheading most likely in business class, as the flight was oversold, however this did not happen, I got taken off that flight and put on to go to Guangzhou in China... No idea where that city was or it's existence, the flight to there and from there was pure HELL ... The passengers were the most demanding I have ever met ... I get so frustrated when people keep asking for thing with out the magic word PLEASE ... Actually it drives me crazy , I guess it is something I will have to learn to manage if I want to survive in this industry. During hour 24 hour layover there, I slept in the whole time, ordering room service to keep my body alive lol I have to say the Hotel is one of the best I have ever laid my eyes on , simply incredible, but cannot say the same about the time in the air !

Next flight Amman, Jordan turnaround followed by Lagos, Nigeria layover...

Later.

Glasgow...Personality disorder !

I was excited to go to Glasgow from the first second I saw it on my roster. I had checked the passenger load a few days before the flight and not to my surprise, full going and coming back. Now I was thinking it would be an easy flight , specially when during boarding I saw that everyone , well almost, were Scottish. How wrong could I have been, this has been the hardest working flight to date, there was nothing left in our bars, NOTHING, they drank everything, when the gin was over they moved on to the whisky, and when the wine was over they started buying champagne. This was a day flight on top of everything !!! I was brutally tired when we arrived in Glasgow around 2pm , but the shops close early even on a friday, so I use up my backup energy to go shopping, where else then Primark , the cloth look good, and are cheap, and the quality, well, you get what you paid for, but so far my undies seem to be good. It is strange how people have completely different personalities while working and off work, there is no consistency, therefor it makes it difficult to feel there interaction outside of work to be natural and sincere. I experienced this full frontal lol during this trip, some people have the natural talent of being professional while keeping the same attitude both on and off work, so they don't look too crazy. But others, oh my god, it is absolutely freaky lol Enough of that, does who are in the flying business know what I mean, and well even working in the office it happens, but it seems to be happening at a greater level up in the air !

Unfortunately I did not take any pictures on this trip, why you might ask, well, besides the fact that Glasgow has a gloomy weather which seems to be year round, I was dead tired, and did I mention that I managed to go for drinks on that same evening, drinks are so cheap there, no wonder everyone is outrageously drunk there by 7pm lol

Later...

Rewind selector back to Beijing, Video !!!

London, Wax and socializing !

Continuing this month of getting back in the air, after discovering Beijing off I was to London, been there done that, but not quite enough, this is a wonderful city to do everything, shop, eat, dance, fall in love, you name it , the possibilities are endless. The flight there was not eventfull but we fly a particular kind of people, the ones who never thought one day they would be on a plane and be treated to first class service while seating in economy ! It is something human behavior , sometimes I wish we had a Dr Phil on board to explain certain characters on board that I call special. For the first time since I've started flying with EK I was super tired  once I got to the hotel, I mostly blame it to the pairing I did before, or just the fact of working hard on board. The next day woke up early having slept a real good night rest, went for the usual breakfast buffet, and once again gagged on bacon , shoved as much as possible into my stomach. Then out we were to the city, oddly enough no one remembered that in London the stores open only at noon , being a sunday, so we uselessly woke up at 7am to meet at 8am, oh well, next time we will just have to party late and hard . Once in to town we headed to Starbucks for some coffee, cake, etc. and headed for the shops , after not finding anything or should I say not wanting to spend too much we headed to Madame Tussauds wax museum, I had more fun then what originally expected, so that was good. 

Socializing, the past weeks I found myself being more open and conversational to people I meet, I don't know what has gotten into me but I like it lol I have this tendency to sticking to the one or two people I feel comfortable with and shouting down the door to the rest of the world. In my defense I have to say it's not given to everyone to be lovy dovy ! But can one be too friendly, as in any life situation when 2 or more human beings are interacting, it is quite challenging to stay in the middle line and not go over our boundaries as well as others. I also found myself in a place where I always want to avoid, being possessive lol Will not go into details, but you all know what I am talking about here, that feeling of wanting everything to go your way but it does not , maybe the right words for this syndrome should be Control freak ! But I see myself more of a passive control freak then an active one lol What am I talking about ?!?!? 

to be continued....

Click here for pictures : London

Back in the air again !

I finally got my passport back last thursday with a brand new visa on it ! One would think my troubles were done...That same day I was rostered to do a Turn around flight, which I was told 4 days prior that I would be removed from it, well turns out some one was sleeping and I got marked Absent...Fuming I was, but since I have all the evidence (emails) I will not make a great fuss about it, at this point I have done my part, it's just that you get a salary deduction (sort of penalty) from missing a flight, and if this is not corrected before the next pay , you better beleive it I will be a betch on steroids. 

My first flight after 20 days was Beijing , and how delighted I was, specially with my May roster : Beijing, London, Glasgow, Moscow, Lagos. I am someone that is not easily impressed, remembering back at my first trip to London where I could not be bothered and now I just get so excited to go there. I am weird. Well same thing is happening with Beijing, I got there, and I was like, that's it ? I think it was the frustration of having my passport number not updated in the flights general declaration where I was delaying the whole crew explaining to the local authorities that discrepancy . Moving on, we got in town around 3pm , quick nap and off we were to diner , I always had nightmares of eating out in Asian countries ! probably due to mass marketing of unsanitary practices there in restaurant in the western medias. Diner was awesome and cheap, One of my best diners on a layover, not as good as Paris but different. Next day, we (the crew) rented a car with driver and went on to visit the Great Wall of China, I was really excited about that, the landscape is quite odd, a bunch of old crippled houses made out of old reddish bricks and dirt everywhere, but also a lot of trees ! Got at the station to start the tour and immediately we were bombarded by locals trying to make a sale ... I am pretty aggressive when someone is in my face, even more when I don't understand the language and I say no ! That's the negative I will be taking back from Beijing, the people are pushers when it comes to selling. Also a very strange phenomenon I experienced, people randomly taking pictures of me or asking me to be part of a picture with them. Maybe I look like a superstar, lol , who knows ? But I quickly realized that it was not the case, when  someone took my picture with out asking me and I went to ask them why , and they ran away, at another occasion I grabbed one of them and said : you take picture, you pay me ! The guys face went completely blue of fear, being that he must have been 5 ft 5 and me 6 ft 3 lol. Back to the visit, so after taking a lift to go up the mountain where the wall is laying, every one was in agreement that we would not be walking much as it all looked like an ever ending brick road, nothing wowing there besides the fact that it was built 1300 years BC . The way down, we had to go down a slide , which was the highlight of my day lol (took a video of me going down). Next we were off to the forbidden city, this one I did not visit the inside as it would take a whole day, so next time ! 

Click here for pictures : Beijing 

Why complain ?!?!?

Following my last post I really thought things could not get any weirder, stranger or even difficult for me and my stress prone mind and body. As I got my passport on the day before I flew back to Dubai, I asked again to the Passport Office if there was no way for me to have a certified later stating why they kept my passport ? When I got another official NO, I said to myself !@#$%?&!@#$%? and some more %$#@!?&*@#$%!&* ... so off I was back home, thinking, what kind of vacation was this ? takes more than a day ,to and from Montreal, and spent most of my time worrying about a passport and visa !!! The good thing coming back was that the flight had enough seat available for me to enjoy 3 empty seats to myself, that meant I would, and I did, sleep a whole 8 hours on the plane. As we landed in to Dubai, could not help myself to text my favorite B. to make sure I'll have an unconditional ear to listen to my rants. Once I got settled in the apartment , my compulsory need to go to the internet acted and just before I logged on to Facebook, decided to go check my schedule ! To my biggest surprise , my flights were replaced by leave days (vacation days), which down the line means less money for me and less vacation days to take in the future... How upset was I ? LIVID !!!! Let me explain, when I got to the airport the immigration officer did not make any fuss about me not having the visa on my new passport, as EK crew we have been issued electronic cards that let you by pass an officer , as all our information and finger prints have been registered. The officer directed me to the Egate (name of the card) counter where I scanned my card and finger , and voila, I was cleared. The officer also told me to just make sure I have the copy of my visa with my new passport until I can go to the office and have it transfered ! I mean really, how can such an important issue be interpreted a gazillion times by a service department ? As it was Thursday evening , meaning all offices were closed until sunday, that meant I could not do jack *&?% for 2 days , which have been marked as LEAVE.... How to balance all the bad words that were flowing to my brain cells and making their way to my mouth ? Surely enough I ended up at the beach on friday, and at Dreamland Aquapark on saturday. On sunday my adventure in Bureaucracy began at 8am, direction EGHQ (Emirates Headquarters) , went up to the visa section, explained my whole situation, which seemed odd and strange to them, got sent to the immigration services, where they seemed even more lost in my story, so nothing better for them to do then to expedite me again to the visa services where this time the agent lost his cool and went back to the immigration services (having talked to them before sending me lol) and there about 5 or 6 men were debating in Arabic about my situation tossing my passport from one hand to the other before deliberating on what to do ! Finally I was told to get a letter certified by the Canadian Consulate and then attested by the ministry of foreign affairs...my head was going beep beep beep , back up back up, when I joined EK I was poked and tested and so on to make sure I was healthy and benefit from a UAE resident visa , then issued ID cards which would let me go through security zones and immigration, so why exactly to I need to go through all that ? Why would my passport be a fake ? anyway.... moving on !

I arrived at the Canadian Consulate under a blazing  35 degrees celsius in Dubai... it was busy there in a small room full of people there to renew their passports etc... It was a bit funny hearing some issues people came with , made my problems seem obsolete.  Finally my number came up to go see a representative, of course as I started explaining my problem, they could not understand why exactly they needed me to produce a letter !!! My mind was going : Why don't you just do it %?#%@&@&#?@&#?# !!!!! LOL so the lady there tells me that it's gonna take a week minimum for them to verify everything : my passport, my story !!! At that precise second, I had a reverse orgasm and my brain exploded.

After a good hour that I took to calm down and realize that I'm still alive and healthy and that I still have a good life, I decided to go back to EGHQ and report to my manager. Unfortunately I soon realized that I was in this alone ! My intuition drove me to go back to the consulate, it's like I had a feeling of in-satisfaction  and I just could not leave it alone. As I got there, another lady was present and told me that waiting a week or more is just crazy, and all I had to do is type a letter stating what happen and they would attest to it ! Things were looking better ! Off I was home after a long day of frustrations and what nots. Next day, up and early and I was at the consulate, this time it was empty as if the gods decided to give me a break lol got my letter attested and certified, went to the foreign affairs ministry and did the same, got to EGHQ and submitted my documents, and now I have to wait another 4 days to find out if my visa will be awarded to me. At this point, if I don't get it, there is something seriously wrong with this picture and I don't want to be part of it !

On the down side of this whole experience, spent over 700 DHS so far (about 230$ canadian) , lost some brain cells, that burned, my view of bureaucracy being a BS factory was strengthen , I lost my pairing to Milan and working hours, lost 4 days of vacation leave plus a week on vacation being stressed. But hey, there is a plus side, I got to work on my tan lol enjoyed some fun times with the B. who had his birthday and I have a very good roster for the month of May to look up to, going to Beijing, Glasgow, Birmingham, Lagos and London and just 3 short turnarounds. The lord works in mysterious ways !!! That he does :)

Oh to clarify, B means Britney lol you foooooooolllsss :)

Later...

Vacation or is it ?

This post is more about me needing to rant about a series of unfortunate events. Back in January when I received my UAE resident visa, my passport was covered with a tape that had left glue on some pages, when I tried to remove the tape, I unfortunately tore a page off my passport ! Not thinking nothing of it, I was flying the world with a broken passport, not getting any warnings from any immigration officer both in Dubai and the world. As I was getting ready to go on annual leave last wednesday , the series of events that were about to unfold left me unsuspected. As I was going into terminal 3, Emirates dedicated terminal and a massive piece of construction, I was simply amazed on how big that thing was... After doing the self check in, I directed myself to the baggage drop off counter, and the lady finally realizes that my passport should not be in a state of handicap (missing a page - more having a page torn) . She says that it might be a problem getting into Canada or back in Dubai (mind that in more then one occasion the authorities in Dubai had a look at my passport and the missing page and never was I advise anything). My body heat slowly gets up as I see that the agent was dead set on me not boarding that plane. At this point she was trying to get in touch with a supervisor who was looking for Canadian Consulate officer to confirm if the Passport is still valid ! After 30 minutes of waiting they finally get a go to let me go through the gate , where I would be verified again. In between, I was exploring the new terminal, or should I call Mall terminal, so many shops, this thing is bigger then life , but I should not be surprised as Dubai is equivalent to big. Finally time as come for me to head to the gate, where never seen before there was 2 guys , one standing behind the other checking passengers passports and formalities, when I got there, they did not even notice the discrepancies in my passport, but only were looking for my boarding pass number which was relayed to them by the check in agent earlier. There was a Canadian government rep who verified my passport and told me that I should get a new one as soon as I get back in Dubai. Fine, I can relax and start enjoying my vacation ! NOT . The flight was full, and can I tell you that flying 14 hour in economy and being my size is not an easy task, thank god , the passengers seating next to me where very conversant and interesting so that made up for me not being so comfortable , other wise, experiencing the Emirates world class service as passenger was pleasant, even dough I deliver a better service when I am working a flight lol . As we were landing in Toronto, I was taken over by a series of memories from my last airline ( as I had a lot of flights origination or ending at YYZ). As I was lining up at the customs queue, my mind was pretty clear, got to the officer, look at my passport and stamped my custom card. Interesting, so I ask him, "What about the page that's torn off ?" and he says that he does not know if it's a problem or not, that I should go to the passport office and verify. Next stop, is the Air Canada transit counter, where with Emirates on time performance I was able to get bumped to an earlier flight in to Montreal, by now, I had an hour to move through the Terminal and make the other connecting flight, I board the plane and as they are about to close the door I here a PA asking for someone with the same last name as me to identify themselves, turns out they were looking for me, luck would have it, that I was issued someone else's boarding pass, as the agent did not even bother to look at the first names, so I was ask to leave the plane just to be invited to get on again !!! (Unbelievable). After a quick 45 minutes in the air, we land in beautiful Montreal and I finally get to go home.  As excited I was to be home ! I could not help but shake off a feeling that the following day would be challenging.

Next day, off I was as early as possible to the passport office, I get there got a number for the queue and went to the counter when my number pop up . I explain my situation, the officer asks to see the passport , and KEEPS IT ! I said I need the passport back as it as my UAE visa on it, and get told that the integrity of the passport has been compromise and that it's now a security issue and will be sent to their security department. OH MY F....G GOD !!! Are they for real ? At this point I had no choice but to get a new passport issued to me, costing me 117$ which is nothing compared to the headaches that this situation has generated. I spent the whole day at the Passport office, as they are very efficient with servicing customers (Read with sarcasm !). I'm thinking that getting back in Dubai will certainly be eventful emotionally in dealing with this situation and getting a visa stamped back on my new passport, and I'm trying to be optimist in not getting pulled off the roster (which is the worse case scenario).

Last night had a very nice diner with Champagne with The Bouzou and friends...which diluted my thoughts !!! Another great diner with Friends tonight to take the edge off things !!! Also went shopping at Simons where I managed to buy some nice stuff from cool shirts to sexy Diesel swimwear... Shopping always do a lot of good to the mind and body, definitely better then eating fat ice cream lol

Later...

The vacation that this Job is...

I just came back from work... well for the common mortal it must look like a big vacation... After the 5 day pairing I just did I can confirm that it is in deed a big vacation... Left Dubai Thursday morning and got into Brisbane (Australia) in the morning the next day, we stayed again in a nice hotel and again with a nice breakfast buffet that I did not hesitate to join after a long shower, did I mention that it is a 14 hour flight from Dubai. After breakfast, joined some of the crew for drinks - YES DRINKS AT 8 am - with a 6 hour time difference it made sense to stay on Dubai time and pretend it is night time lol After that , I will spare you the shenanigans , leaving your imagination to work ! Left there at around 2 pm and went for a walk around the city, leaving my camera in my room, oh well, it was a gloomy day and nothing really interesting to capture. After a 5 hour walk in the city, I realized that I have been awake for over 24 hours, how my body survived that I really don't know...So I headed back to the hotel and ordered room service, finally hit the bed around 9 pm. By now we are saturday and I'm heading to Auckland in New Zealand, arrived there at 3 pm, and again went for drinks with the crew around 6 pm and then clubbing till 3 am...Now have I been sleeping much ? lol . On Sunday we get back to Brisbane where we all finally decide that enough is enough and we all stay in our rooms and sleep, but not me , went out again that night, and slept it off after. It's monday morning and cut my sleep short and went for a good breakfast again and some other crew members wanted to go to a Koala reserve, so I said why not, and followed them. Koala's are cute, but I find that they stink lol Later on, got a 4 hour sleep and headed off to the airport for the flight back home, another 14 hour. I must say that this was the best time ever I had working both on the air on the ground during layover, great crew and great cities.

Click for pictures : Brisbane

So now I am getting ready to go on vacation (lol) to Montreal, it's another 14 hour flight west bound this time and as a passenger... I can't wait to have some real food lol Things that I am familiar with , HOME. But I'm also excited about my Milan pairing right after my vacation lol 

That's it for now...

Days off !!!

The month of March was one exceptional work experience for me... being my reserve month, I worked a warping 9 days representing 3 flights, all layovers (thank God :) ) and giving me 61 credit hours (average is 80). In comparison to February, I worked 9 flights , 3 layovers and 6 turn around, giving me 86 hours ! As you read my past posts for that month, I went to the beach several time, clubbing more then usual in my lifetime... but hold it continues...for april my first 8 days were also off, as we get not 30 days of reserve in a block but 35-38 .. so today I decided to go to this water park in Dubai, Wild Wadi, the experience was fun, but the rides could have been better, never the less, it was another gorgeous day (not unusual) and the water was warm and not cold (i.e. Montreal on a summer day) .

Moving on, I'm going on a 6 day pairing (trip for the common mortal - but working) , starts off Dubai-Brisbane and layover, then Brisbane-Auckland with another layover, this one I just can't wait, I remember watching the amazing race last season, and they had a leg in Auckland , and I was telling myself, I have to go there ASAP. Then back in Brisbane then Dubai, immediately after, I go to Montreal , taking part of my annual leave, I just can't wait !!! (the flight is 14 hours plus connection, that's almost a whole day sacrificed in total). For the month of may I bid for North American flights... why ? They have bigger credit hours as they are long flights, and Me needs cash as I'm planning to take an unpaid leave during the summer to avoid the unbearable heat of Dubai. As it is, I'm already sweating a lot when the plane is on the ground...Just imagine in a 40 plus degrees centigrade weather !!!

 

Day at water park pictures ====>>> Wild Wadi

I wish...

I wish everything could be clear, no doubts no worries, no second thoughts ! I'm sure all of you reading have been in that situation where a choice had to be made , but none was, there for creating a perpetual continuum of an unpleasant situation. I wish that when I want something it could just get out of my mouth, or I could make an action, but most of all I wish that what I want I could get ! But that would be being selfish, but why would it ? Are we not entitled to get what we want, why should we not ? Well obviously if it involves someone else, then it's not just what we want but also what that person wants. I wish I could settle for the simple things in life and not want more and more, which these days, is complication, but then again, if life was so simple I would probably find it dull. So then, I wish I could accept the simple things in life, and not challenge it , but what's a life with no challenge ? Living day by day is a theory that is hard to put in practice, considering we keep thinking about the future, for example, when I was doing my Paris flight and layover, I could not stop thinking about the next time I would be coming back to Paris, isn't that just time waisted ? Enjoying the present time is a real task, forgetting about the future and enjoying the present is where happiness begins. From time to time I do think and keep my brain activities thinking about the present moment, that impressive instant when the future becomes completely irrelevant and obsolete, because the present is so priceless and irreplaceable. This moment for me is mostly realized when I'm in good company of people I cherish, friends I care about, and know care about me in return, not to confuse with people we like and have no idea if it's reciprocal , or  a loved one whom we confuse attachment with love !  I wish and this one is a big wish, that I could just slow down and just think about myself by not thinking too much about myself, more that I don't expect to much from others and just give what I can and not think about what I will get out of it. That unselfish act has happen to me before and it is a place that I wish I could stay in for ever. Because what is a life spent on expecting others to give us exactly the same treatment that we gave them. After all isn't the biggest joy found in making someone happy ! Well easier said then done because of our selfish nature, Yes, we are selfish one way or another, it's what makes us human ! 

Ok, a bit too philosophical for one post...Today went out with the Brit and we invaded IKEA, probably , actually is blogging about it...and we had a blast making asses out of ourselves, that's the way to go, life is short no time to be serious about things, well at least things that don't matter ! Also picked up my new uniform as EK is putting the actual A380 uniform to the whole fleet, pretty classy , pictures should soon come up as soon as the uniform goes on line, which should be in may. The Brit and I also attempted Risotto, and was a major success, specially with a nice Australian red . We then went to a friend of mines birthday party and had another red this time a french. Originally felt like going clubbing but the enzymes of those reds got to our brain cells and we were left victims of our good taste in wine lol Even dough we are half a wake, we manage to spend the night imitating a certain group of people and eating kit kat ( it is past midnight ) Incredibly enough we are both blogging at the same time, when a few minutes ago for sure we were half dead near coma zone. I have slept so much the past few days, that I actually believe that my internal body defense system is sleeping too, as I think I'm getting a nasty cold, the only time I don't feel it coming is when I'm keeping active ( drinking not being one ). 

Today (March 30th), I'm on home stand by from 10pm to 6am , I don't know if I want to be pulled out, but if I do it better be a nice layover somewhere, if not, well I will try to make the experience interesting, as I'm always meeting new people, crew, passengers. 

Ok fools, I'm drained...later...

Ha..Ha...Ha...Paris and...

What a week ! After my Brazil stint I was sure I would not get another flight for at least a week, so Sunday night went out with Carine , fellow Montrealer and some of her friends (6 other girls), the night started a bit boring for me but ended up great as we switch from Barasti to Zinc lol One would think I would be tired or something, but no, I decided to go again for a second back to back dose of Zinc, but this time it was more a bust then a blast, oh well. Tuesday, I slept almost 11 hour s ( a record to be broken in a few days...read) I woke up at 4pm and had breakfast around 5pm, a mushroom omelette, I have to say that I'm getting better and better at cooking eggs lol around 1 am (Wednesday now) Brit calls me up for diner (Yes 1 am lol) , soon after a full stomach of good food, I call EVITA ( since I was on reserve from 4 am to noon) to find out if there was any changes to my roster, and there and be hold, I got pulled out to operate a Paris flight departing at 8 am, can I tell you how excited I was, finally I'm getting a flight where I am a language speaker and to one of the nicest cities in the world, a lot of flashbacks from my previous airline came back to mind, last time I was there was about 2 weeks before Zoom Airlines folded and it was my 3rd layover in Paris. Anyway, I had an hour left to get a small nap and get ready. Eventually no nap happened as I was excited like a baby, and thinking about french pastries and food, but more pastries lol As I got to the briefing prior to the flight, I realized that this was gonna be one of the best flights, there were 5 french speakers and all the crew was open and funny and relaxed, special mention to my purser who has to be one of the best so far that I had to work with ! The flight to Paris is about 7 hours, I enjoyed every second of it, I could not believe how much as I was talking to the customers (passengers for EK ) , speaking french was some kind of release for my, I just could not stop myself lol The passengers were especially happy to have someone converse to them in their own language, and I must say I did feel better also ! We land in Paris, and of course we stay in a nice hotel and from my room I noticed the old hotel I use to stay in, memories memories. No time to nap, took a shower and headed to the city, I kept falling a sleep in the train, I was seriously tired, but I would have the whole night to sleep it off. I immediately headed to LaDurée , supposedly one of Paris finest bakery. I can confirm that it was one of the best, I had an éclair and bought a dozen Macaroons (and ate every single one of them lol) I was in paradise, I will definitely need to have diner in their restaurant.

        

Got back to Dubai at midnight, and crazy as it my seemed, I slept a whopping 13 hours from 2am to 3pm, I just don't understand it lol I really think it's the Air conditioning that's causing my hibernation lol and I'm loosing more and more my appetite, people are telling me how thin I'm becoming, I certainly don't feel it, except on my pants that keep falling lol , I guess it's a good thing, but I will try to at least get the daily nutrients one needs to be alive into my body.

Before I end this post, I came to a sudden realization that I should not worry so much on things that don't need so. 

And here is a cute picture of the Brit at the Beach :

April roster is out : Auckland , Brisbane, Milan, Athens and annual leave to Montreal.

Later :)