Just realized this is my first post of the new year !
WoW, I’m one year older and already have unfinished news to write on my ill forgotten blog , did I wish to take better care of it while blowing the candles on my birthday cake ? Of course not, but I will definitely try my best to feed it . So far flying on the A380 fleet has been amazing, it is truly a special aircraft , I love it ! I have now done all the destinations it goes too, a part from Jeddah that is starting on February 1st . The new year started with a sour note on a personal note, with a massive earthquake hitting my native country, Haiti, and devastating the city that I was born and raised, Port-au-Prince, it has been almost 3 weeks since this horrifying event and I still can’t believe it , even after being bombarded daily by news and pictures. It is quite sad and for me frustrating, because it makes you think of that mortal question that we all have and haunts us , why ? Haiti has been struggling for ever with all kind of problems throughout its history, from the indian genocide by the spanish colonisator , to the seemingly eternal battle for power putting the people to their knees not having their needs met, and the past years the un-restlessness of hurricanes parading down on the island once called the Pearl of the Caribbean . The people of Haiti have definitely been challenged in every way possible in this life , the trick I think is not to try to understand it but to still continue appreciate what we have and not take every precious breath for granted , as only our maker decides , as he did when we were put upon this world . I can only be thankful that no one in my family got hurt . For the month of January I had put a bid to fly with my best friend who I consider like the second brother that my parents never presented me to lol so off we were to operate a flight to Paris that happen to fall on my birthday , we both also got 6 days off following that pairing and of course I could not resist to make an attempt to reunite with my family, this after finding out while in Paris that my mother and aunt made it out of Haiti to Miami ! After checking the loads the only flight that had availability was the flight from Dubai to Houston, not our first choice because of the flying time , a wrapping 15 hours non stop, at that point we had to make a decision , next to check the return flights, FULL, what a surprise, all flights on Emirates are always 80 % to 150 % booked, good I say to myself imagining being paid a bonus this year :) . Our itinerary ended up being Dubai to Houston, this after 3 hours of sleep after coming back from Paris, On our way to DXB international, we had to get our Zed fare tickets, and what a stress we got when the agent told us we had to pick them up at headquarters, because apparently the airport counter is only open till 6 am , with 30 minutes to spare there was no time to go to HQ and get those tickets, so we made our case and got the tickets issued . Once in Houston and waiting for our American Airlines flight to Miami, Deon was stressing that he has an aversion for flying on small planes, anything smaller then a 737 would trigger an anxiety attack ! Go figure ! I might of mentioned this on a previous post, but Emirates truelly delivers an exceptional service by it’s Cabin Crew when compared to what I saw on AA, attendants welcoming passengers with arms crossed, really really really could not be bothered with anything, even the passenger briefing at the emergency exit was done with the minimum information possible , literally the attendant told the passenger : You know how to operate that door ! , and that was it . I guess to each their own, to each their misery and suffering lol At that point I was feeling un easy , imagining the pilots having such a relaxed approach to security. Landing in Miami , I would be witnessing another short fall, as the passenger across me was fast asleep and during cabin preparation for landing no one bothered waking them up and just let them be laying down on the seats ! The time in Miami could not have been better, I met up with Mother, Aunty #1 , 2 and 3, and Cousins 1 and 2 , 5 women that love with everything I have in me, and also met up with their babies, my cousins ! I guess I’m blessed to have such a strong family with a big bond and me leaving Miami made me sad but a happy sad (if that exists). I just hope I get to see them again sooner then later. After 3 nights there off we were to JFK, and another stress was awaiting us at Miami International, after Deon got off the shuttle bus from the car rental place, he realized that he left his hand bag on the bus ! Oops, I was so tired that I could not even stress, and yes we only got 2 hours sleep again before leaving Miami. Luck would have it that he went downstairs at arrivals and met up with the shuttle bus and took his back. In our rush out of Dubai we did not bother to look at our tickets, and the agent issuing them gave us a MIA-IAH ticket instead of MIA-JFK ... as we got to the AA counter to check in, the lady said at first that the coupon could not be used on the sector we wanted to go to , so we had no choice at that point but to purchase a one way ticket to New York city, that would put us back 200$ USD each, as we were pulling our credit cards out , something unexpected happen, the American Airlines agent brain actually thought , and she said that she would verify with her supervisor first to make sure the coupon is valid or not, turns out it is, Houston and New York as well as Montreal fall into the same sector pricing and therefor can be interchanged for travel ! As I said before , we should appreciate every second of life, because we have absolutely no control over the events that make it extraordinary being good or bad. The MIA-JFK flight was sweet and short, 2 hours, and empty on a old 767 ! the most senior flight attendant was 50 years old, as we were having galley gossip with them and comparing notes. At that point I was thinking if Emirates would ever have a flight full of senior citizen all over ? Time will tell . What is the definition of cold ? New York city in January, it was so cold and windy , I imagined spending the 24 hour stop there in the hotel room, thank God , Deon was motivated and we managed to spend little time in the hotel and enjoyed the city thoroughly. I am writing this post on board the flight to Dubai and we have 4 hours to go till landing , I just can’t wait, my body was not made to travel long distances in economy class lol. I definitely love operating a long haul flight hands down then sitting as a customer. I still don’t understand how sitting on a plane for over 8 hours is considered legal ! But a little survey I did, people seem to rather travel from point A to B, instead of breaking it down with one or 2 stops .
So I have landed and uploading this post, I should add that in the beginning of the year I had met someone who I came to like a lot, but coming back from this trip I learned that it takes 2 hearts to make a relationship worth while and not just one ! Oh well ... we move on, and there are worse things in this life then going through a breakup !
And by the way next months roster is super duper awesome : ICN CDG YYZ BKK BKK BKK ! How good is that ?
Here are the pics : Paris , Miami
