Bangkok, Thailand

I finally got an asian destination and I was so excited because it was to Thailand, and that means thai food yum!!! This trip was actually a really long one because first we went to Bangkok, stayed there for 24 hours then went to Sydney for another 24 hours then the next day we went to Christchurch NZ and then back to Sydney ( in the same day aka a turnaround) stayed in Sydney for 48 hours and then went back to Bangkok for another 24 hours before harding back to Dubai, just thinking about all that flying makes me a little tiered haha! I am going to focus on the part of the trip that was in Thailand.
Crew for the most part really like going to Bangkok, you can get some very cheap massages and street food, good food, relaxing massages, cheap, whats not to love!? The first day another girl from the flight and I started out by getting a 90 minute message for roughly 15 american dollars and it was great! After our messages were over we went t do a bit of shopping, things in Thailand are pretty cheap and so it was fun to have a look around. Next we tried our luck with the street food. It sort of reminds me of how at the fair you have all the concessions full of greasy food except some things are slightly less greasy like the fresh fruit for example. I had some thai tea (my favorite), fresh pineapple, and coconut pancake things. It was really neat too because the girl I was with knew what everything was and what was good and so I didn't have anything that was like cat brains or something... I have an active imagination :)
Ok so skipping over my sydney part of the trip back to thailand for a second time. This time I had a full day because we got in the night before at midnight and left the next night at midnight. I had prior to going on this trip looked up some cool things to do in Bangkok and the thing that really caught my eye was a thai cooking class. I love cooking and as I mentioned earlier really enjoy thai food so I thought this was right up my ally! I convinced another girl to come as well so I was not the only one. We got really lost in the morning and were actually a little late but we didn't miss much. The class starts with taking a tour into the local market and getting the ingredients we need for the meal. We missed a little bit of this but not too much. It was good to learn about the different ingredients and what to look for when making purchases. After we gathered up all the ingredients it was back to the classroom to start cooking! The menu consisted of red thai chicken curry, spicy chicken salad, a shrimp stir fry dish and mango sticky rice. I had emailed her prior to coming on the trip and she said we could learn pad thai and tom yum soup as well for an additional fee so we did that as well.
The class worked by first her showing how to prepare and cook the food then we each had a work station that they set up While the instructor was showing how to cook everything. After her presentation was done we would go back to our stations and recreate what she did. It worked really well and really enjoyed it also I learned so much! After we were done with the dishes we went in another room set up with tables to eat up out creations. It was so good and really cool to think I had just made it myself! After the class was over the instructor sent me and my cabin crew friend home with all the ingredients for the soup. It is something special they do for cabin crew she said and it was really nice! Everyday they make a different meal and so maybe if I get another trip I will go again!

Above are the coconut pancakes I tried they were pretty yummy!

This is how the street food is, just little tiny stations on the side of the street!

Pineapple was so fresh and yummy!!

I def. did not try whatever that is above... I'm not that adventurous!

Above is everything I need to make my red curry paste, and below is me making it all into a paste!

Below the instructor starting showing us how to make the red curry!

My cabin crew friend Adele is mixing the sauce for sticky rice below.

Foods done!! Red curry, shrimp, and rice/ rice noodles above, Adele with her mango sticky rice below!

Tom yum soup above, spicy chicken salad and mango sticky rice below ( we even learned how to make the rose decor on the chicken salad!)

Shrimp pad thai was our final dish of the day.

Above is us with our instructor!

Nice, France

It has been quite a while since I last blogged and I have been so busy I have a lot to tell you about. I will go trip by trip, one trip per blog. I will start with one of my favorite trips I have done so far, Nice France. I was very excited and a bit surprised to see that I had been given a flight to Nice. For cain crew it is a popular place, everyone wants to work the flight because the destination is very nice, the allowance is good and passenger profile is friendly and well mannered.
I was excited to go because of all the good things I had heard but I still didn't really know what to expect. I had never been to france before either. Even as we were descending I was already excited. The airport landing strip extends into the ocean so it is a really nice view. The weather was really good as well. It looked like a storm had just passed through and we just arrived as the sun was coming out and the sky was clearing up with big dark grey clouds moving away and a cool 50 degree temp (had to describe that part for my dad, he loves hearing that kinda stuff).
After getting to the hotel we still had the afternoon and evening to explore so everyone changed and we met a local guy who gives tours and were off to see the city. Our first stop was at these little stands were people sell stuff sorta like a flea market but french style (more fancy with nice vintage gucci and Louie bags and shoes as well as beautiful furs, antique furniture, pictures, china, etc.) of course I was not buying any of it but it was really neat to look around at.
Next we did a coastal walk. It was cool because we had to follow this rocky path right next to the coast and in some spots if you weren't careful you would get soaked by the waves so you really had to time it right which was a little thrilling! (Two very annoying crew got soaked by a wave too so I really enjoyed seeing that as well...if I do say so).
With the costal walk done we headed to a tiny little bakery with the most amazing treats, it is a good thing that I don't live in France, those treats are very hard to resist and needless to say I didn't resist! We took our selections to one of the best views of the city a little park like place that overlooks the city. it was really cool, on one side you had the coast and then the other side was a beautiful mountain range. After this it was coffee time. We headed for a seven star hotel that used to be a castle and enjoyed a cup of coffee while watching the sun set it was really beautiful!
Monte Carlo is right next to Nice and so we headed that way to see the ever famous casino thanks to a man known as Bond, James Bond. I was really excited to go there it was the one thing I was thinking to do and I must admit I was a little unimpressed. The casino just isn't as extravagant as i thought it was going to be though still nice it was just nice not amazing...
I was however very impressed with the wealth that they have in Monte Carlo. I learned that the least you would expect to pay for a place there is 1 million euro and even that huge amount will buy you very little. After learning this I was not surprised to see all the huge yachts in the boat yard, they were all so big and two had helicopters on them...imagine!
After this we were all ready to go back and sleep! The next morning I woke up went and got some coffee and another yummy pastry and then walked along the coast before it was time to go. I liked Nice a lot because I got to see a lot and learned a bit about the place as well. It is probably not somewhere I would ever have gone so I feel pretty fortunate to have experienced it!

The 2 pictures above are from what I am calling the french "flea market"

This is pretty much how the city looks I think it is really pretty!

Above is a little part of the costal walk where I dared get my camera out since there were no chance of waves crashing at that spot!

The spot we had out pastry picnic above ^ and below are a few pictures of the beautiful views!

here are a few pictures of the seven star sunset!

And the famous Monte Carlo Casino!

Moscow and a birthday and Abu Dubi OH MY!

While the month has just begun and it sure has been a busy start! I have already done a lot and it has only been a week into December!
I started this month off with two turnaround trips. My first one was to Dhaka in Bangladesh, I had been well warned by a lot of people that this is the worst flight I would do but I personally did not find it all that bad. For me the worst part of the whole trip was in boarding on the way because they had a lot of stuff and trying to find space for everything was a challenge! The people were very friendly though and nothing crazy happened which is always nice!My next flight was another turn around this time to Istanbul it was a tough flight thanks to most of the customers being either rude or extremely drunk and the length of the trip was far too long! Both of these flights are five hours each way, we have to be at the airport 2 hours before the flight and it takes about an hour to get the plane ready to bring people back plus an hour after we land in Dubai to get everything in order and get to the bus to go home, all in all these were two 14 plus hour days back to back so I was extremely exhausted once they were finally done! I slept like 16 hours and that was really nice because it was actually raining for the first time in a long time and everything was flooding the whole city was a puddle!

Moscow flight was not so bad at all we had the whole Moscow pro rugby team on board in because they just got done playing in a huge tourney in Dubai and were headed back home. I had been warned that russian flights everyone wants drinks but luckily this was not the case. Most the guys slept a lot and the rest of plane was not even that bad at all so I did not mind. After departing the plane we had an hour long bus ride to the city and it was already mid night so we went straight to our rooms and slept. The next morning I went down to brunch, i think every hotel we go to has amazing brunches and this one was really nice too. I have worked out a routine where I always go get the brunch in the morning and then I am filled up for a good part of the day. It is nice too because they are discounted for us crew so I can have more money for important things like shopping ;). After brunch we all planned on meeting downstairs. There is a shuttle from the hotel that takes you right to the red square! There were about 10 or so of us that met to go to red square. It was really cold!!! Like 8 degrees is all plus windy that made it feel even colder. Despite the weather the square was amazing and beautiful. The buildings there are so cool. I think that it was really neat to see because a lot of Russia to me doesn't look very nice kinda run down but these buildings are super nice and the snow added something extra special. Unfortunately I somehow forgot my camera charger and the battery was dead so I got no pictures but a friend on the trip took lots and is supposed to email me so I hope to be receiving those soon to post and goo news is that I have another trip there at the end of the month so I can take pictures then!
That night we had a red eye back to Dubai and the plane was only half full!! I love that because the crew is more relaxed and all the crew was so nice so it was good to get a more relaxed flight where we could visit and get to know each other, if the crew had been bad I would have preferred a full flight because full flights go so fast! But the flight went fast anyways because it is only a four and a half hour plane ride from Moscow to Dubai. Also it was my birthday so I got a little spoiled. I got all types of goodies from first and business class cabins, chocolates, cookies, ice cream, dinner, cheese tray, cappuccino and on the bus from the plane to HQ the crew gave me a perfume from duty free that they had all gone in on it smells amazing it was so nice I was blown away!
So because it was my birthday I did not want to spend the whole day sleeping like I normally would have and so i decided to do what I loved instead, after all I was all jacked up on sweets and coffee from the plane:). I started off by going on a nice run on the beach followed by a short workout then I met my friend Teresa and we decided to lay out and tan. We have this card called a face card and it allows us all kinds of discounts and stuff around Dubai. With this card there are pools and beach clubs we can go to for free. One of the pools we can go to for free is in a very nice hotel a few blocks from where we live. We decided to check it out and it was amazing! There were lounge chairs everywhere a nice pool with a swim up bar and a jacuzzi and a guy walked around and gave you fruit on a stick. We stayed all day and then went home and got ready for dinner with a few of my closest friends at a little steak house followed by cake and champagne at another friends house followed by dancing and drinks at a little bar and then home! It was a very nice birthday, the best i have had in a very very long time!

I had been invited by a friend to go to Abu Dabi yesterday. She needed to renu her passport and her embassy is in Abu Dabi so she was headed over. I had never been but i really wanted to go so I happily joined in. We hired a guy that takes people from Dubai into Abu Dabi and where ever they want to go and so we did not have to worry about getting around anywhere and finding a cab. I had looked up a few things to do once we get done with the embassy stuff. There is a 7 star hotel in Abu Dabi and it is called the Emirates Palace. (It is where sex and the city 2 was filmed and the hotel they stayed in in the movie to give you an idea). I read that they let you go in and tour around there and so we did just that! The hotel is amazing and they have a menu that boast a few foods that they even put gold into. One of the things is a cappuccino. It was only 50 dhs too (roughly $13.50)a small price to pay for gold hahaha! We couldn't pass it up... it was really nice and we really enjoyed ourselves. I look forward to going back to Abu Dabi someday soon and drinking some more gold haha.

When I got back from Abu Dabi I had been invited to a Sinter Klaas gift exchange party by some of my roommates Dutch friends. It was really nice! Sinter Klaas is a dutch holiday that children in Holland celebrate where they have to put your shoe by the fire and the next day it is filled with candy, your used shoe filled with candy sound great huh!? HAHA. It was really nice though they made traditional Dutch food and we had a nice time.

Here are some pictures!

First Flights

I cannot believe how long it has been since my last blog! I have am proud to announce that I have officially started flying! Wahoo!! So let me tell you all about it. My first flight was a turn around to Amman Jordan so we didn't actually even get off the plane when we got there just reloaded new passengers and went back to Dubai. It was not so bad and no offense to Amman but there is no desire on my part to go outside of an aircraft there. I got to sit in the cockpit for take off and landing and it was pretty cool but on the flip side it was during the day and there is just desert to look at so yeah pretty uneventful. The part in plane is not so bad though most the passengers were really nice and so that made things go smoothly. Another perk about this flight was that it was my first time working on a boeing 777 and so it was considered my "supy flight" meaning I only had to work if I wanted to and could do as much or as little as I liked, I still did everything but pressure was off for sure! A few days later I had my first flight on the Airbus 380 so it was considered my "supy" as well since it is a different aircraft. This flight was a layover to Manchester which is much more exciting than turnarounds if you ask me! Also I once again got to sit in the cockpit for take off and landing and I really had a much better time considering the view this time was much better! The flight was only half full which was really nice because it was a lot less busy than normal and I heard that most of the time crew is running around giving everyone drinks the whole time so it was nice to be a bit more relaxed. When we got to manchester I went with some of the girls from the crew into the city we had lunch and shopped around a bit. It was raining out and I was so happy because I had really missed cold weather, it was after all the first time I felt the cold all fall so I embraced it! After that we went back to the hotel and I worked out at the gym which is nice and then went to bed the bed was so nice and comfy they have the most amazing pillows and there are like 10 of them on the bed and I love pillows so I was super happy about that. The next morning I met up with a few crew for breakfast and then it was time to get going back to Duabi. Manchester was all in all a nice little city but nothing too exciting. I think next time I go I will save the allowance and stay in the comfy bed with my book and hot kettle of tea!
On my way back from Manchester I was working in the cabin when my senior told me I was wanted in the cockpit, i did not think much of it because this is common to get the captain or FO something to eat or drink so i proceeded to the cockpit when I arrived there were abut 5 other crew inside and they were all looking out the captains window, I looked as well and was amazed. I will try to paint this picture for you but nothing can do it justice, it was around 11 pm, the weather below us was overcast so there was a blanket of clouds below covering any sight of the earth, above and around us however was a perfectly beautiful black sky with millions of stars. Off to the left hand side by the captains window there was a huge thunder cloud above all the other clouds and shooting out of this cloud was lightening bolts every second flashing in all shades of purple! It was the most amazing thing I could not get a picture on camera but it is something I will never forget!
After my Manchester flight I had two days off then I was put on "can-use" for four days, that means that they can put you on a flight or not anytime they want and I kept getting mine changed to day off!! I normally would love a few days off but COME ON! I have just started flying so I was ready to get out there not sit around Dubai! Finally on my last day of can use before I was supposed to go to Moscow Russia there was a change in my schedule and I was on call at 4am until 10 am meaning they could put me on any flight they wanted to. Because I had a scheduled flight the next day I was thinking they would just maybe not use me or else give me a turn around flight. I could not believe my eyes when I checked the schedule that morning and saw that I had been called up for a one week flight going to Sydney the Auckland NZ then Sydney again!! I was a little disappointed that my russia was being taken away and then my rome as well but too excited to really care too much! The trip was ok it was my first time sleeping in the CRC (crew rest compartment) it is basically a little room in the back of the plane that has built in bunk beds and crew sleep there for certain periods during long range flights. I had trouble sleeping on my way to sydney and chose to spend most my time watching a movie instead! The trip to sydney is very long we were in the plane for 14 hours so I got to know the crew I was flying with a little better they were all pretty nice and I had already met one of them because she was my friends friend from back home in Greece! Once we got to sydney it was 8 am but we still had to go to the hotel and it took a while because Emirates is really nice and puts us in nice hotels in the city as much as possible rather than right by the airport! We decided to go to breakfast at this pancake place called pancakes on the rocks and it was really good they have all kinds of different pancakes and they all come with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! After all that I needed to work out and the hotel has little maps the printed with different 5k runs on them that take you through this beautiful botanical garden and then past the opera house I loved it so much and when I got back they gave me a granola bar and water bottle, I could have gotten really used to that! The next day we went to Auckland and I was really tiered so I did not do too much but the next day after brunch I got to squeeze in a little sight seeing before heading back to Sydney for another day and then back to Duabi!
Now I am on my third of five days in a row off and I just got my roster for next month! It is all European flights and I think they felt bad about taking away my Russia and Rome last month because this month I have two of each! Here is how it looks for me: on the first a turn around to Jeddah on the 2nd until morning of my birthday the 4th I will be in Russia and then i have four days in a row off then I go to Rome, turnaround to Kuwait another layover in Manchester, a layover in Munich then layover in London and on christmas I am going back to Moscow for a layover then a layover in Rome landing just in time to ring in the new year!
I am going to try one more time o get these photos working on here...





Hope all is well back home I miss you all lots!