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!