Do You Do That At Home?

Will some of you tell me about the door knobs on the bathrooms in your homes? Maybe submit some pics in the comments section if you don’t mind? I’ll tell you why; it has been a burning question among crew members as we sit on jumpseats near lavs for years and observe passengers struggle mightilyContinue reading “Do You Do That At Home?”

Boots On The Ground

After we delivered our precious human cargo at the destination in the Middle East, we pretty much hung around for the next four hours while the troops unloaded all of their gear from the cargo hold. As expected it was a well-organized military operation performed with precision. Our job was primarily to stay out ofContinue reading “Boots On The Ground”

Shock and Awe

    We landed back in Rome and left the airport quickly after a 24 hour night, anxious to get back to our hotel. We didn’t really stop along the way to chat or notice much, we kept to ourselves and our own thoughts. The bus driver was quiet. Traffic was crazy that late afternoonContinue reading “Shock and Awe”

Got Jumper Cables?

The day finally came. This is what I had been waiting for from the day I started those missions; the day we would start bringing those soldiers home. It felt odd to us to deadhead over to Rome and then fly a huge empty MD11 the 10 hours down to Kuwait. We were excited. TheContinue reading “Got Jumper Cables?”

Fridays in Tel Aviv

My next stop on the international educational tour was Tel Aviv. It just felt easier. The irony of that was not lost on me, what with attacks from Gaza on a regular basis and a new crew hotel because the old one got shelled… I just grew weary of having to use bottled water toContinue reading “Fridays in Tel Aviv”

Yabba Dabba Dubai!

Ultra long range flying is attractive to flight attendants because we are only paid for the time after we push back from the gate until we land. We get a base rate of pay (less than minimum wage) and then we make an hourly rate per flight hour based on our seniority. A lot ofContinue reading “Yabba Dabba Dubai!”

Bucket Lists and Opera

So what other kind of flying do senior flight attendants do when they aren’t just packing on the hours? Believe it or not, after all of those years of travel we are adventure geeks at heart and love to explore. I finally decided to take some time and see the sights. Upon recommendation, I choseContinue reading “Bucket Lists and Opera”

Roman Holidays

Rome. Need I say more? What’s not to love? I actually had no real interest in going to a huge city in Italy at first glance. It seems that folks who travel a bit, say Europe maybe once a year or so, love to bash big cities. It was easy to get on board withContinue reading “Roman Holidays”

Talking the Talk

As I spent time each week in Italy immersed in their culture, I found myself picking up Italian a bit at a time with no effort. A melodic language, easy on the ears, it had remarkable similarities to English and the Italian propensity to embellish communications with gestures helped with translation. I took the nextContinue reading “Talking the Talk”

Something More

To say I made the most of my commercial flying career would be an understatement. The friends I made and the experiences I was afforded by traveling the world were priceless. I spent most of my career commuting to a base since I often chose to live in smaller towns and more intimate settings. WhenContinue reading “Something More”