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...