Chapter 10: THE LAYOVERS 2.0

THE LAYOVERS 2.0

My heart starting beating very fast as I heard a scream. I ran into the cabin and looked for the sound. Suddenly I found this guy and I immediately saw that nothing major was going on. Well, that is what I thought. Relieved, I asked: ‘Sir..what is wrong?’ Suddenly this man starts kicking the seat in front of him and shouting at me. I thought to myself, What The F… is wrong with you?? I then raised my voice:  ‘ Sir. What is wrong and why are you shouting and kicking the seat? This is not how we behave in the aircraft’. So the family in front explained that they had reclined their seats to rest and he was kicking, screaming and complaining about the fact that had done so. At that moment I wanted to laugh, but I had to stay professional and told the customer that they were in fact  allowed to recline their seats when there is no service ongoing. Again, this guy went off and stated that they weren’t  allowed to recline their seats and that it was only allowed in business class because otherwise, he couldn’t sit comfortably. Again, I explained to this customer that THEY WERE ALLOWED to recline their seats. You know, sometimes people have something in their mind and whatever that is is right. And then explaining something really takes a lot of energy. Moments later I called my supervisor to assist me in this case, as the customer didn’t want to listen.

The flight ended smoothly and we were ready for landing. When we arrive, whether its outstation or into our home base, as a cabin crew we have responsibilities such as; assisting customers with disembarkation, do a Lost & Found check (well we pretend to do it, haha) and we collect all the headsets and blankets in the aircraft. The collection part is the worst part. Arriving that day, I immediately went home, took a shower and jumped in my bed. The best feeling after a flight is to be in your bed all by yourself. Sadly, I couldn’t fall asleep directly and had to wait for over 1,5 hours to do so.  I also started to realize that whenever I come off a flight (home base), I want to be by myself, just relax and do nothing. This is a mixed feeling to me because I never really get a chance to meet my friends. Our rosters usually don’t match and when they do, I don’t feel like going out at all. I just don’t have the urge to be around people and that is because we have to ‘entertain’ over 300 people in the aircraft.

12 hours later it was time for Bali, Indonesia. Yes, we often just have 12 hours of rest and then its already time for the next flight. Before Bali, I slept for almost 8 hours, woke up, ordered food and started to prepare for my flight. Nothing special happened during the briefing and we were ready to operate the 10-hour (no rest) flight. Customers starting boarding the aircraft and sadly nothing ‘special’ entered the aircraft haha. It was a night flight, everyone was sleeping and there was nothing to do for us. This is the most tiring part of the job, where there is nothing to do and u just sit and look at each other. I started to feel very sleepy and told my colleague that I had to take a quick trip to the lavatory ....well. I slept for 30minutes.

Arriving in Bali, I went partying with one of the crew members, such a nice party scene they have over there. There is a street full of bars and clubs. The nightlife is very entertaining and promising. Even though we were up for almost 24 hours, we kept on partying until the early morning. Before going out that night, we’d arranged plans to go for early morning yoga and then to the beautiful beach in Bali. Upon our arrival home from the party, we ate something, slept for 4 hours and went to yoga. Even though I was very tired, I enjoyed the yoga and we then went to the beach. We spent the whole day at the beach, swimming, tanning and relaxing. A breath-taking scene where I just sat and stared into the ocean for hours. Later that day we had our flight back home.

One and a have day later it was time for HONG KONG. Going there the flight was very calm and relaxing. Arriving, we stayed in this beautiful, modern and very luxury Marriot hotel. We again planned to go to the city and party. Driving to the city took us 45 minutes, but the scenery and skyscrapers were amazing to see. The city was full of lights and it immediately makes me think of New York. We then arrived at the party street, where there are a lot of bars with music and all the people are standing in the street, talking to each other and dancing. An amazing atmosphere if u ask me. The next day I went to the city to explore and constantly saw expensive cars passing by. After exploring the city, I went by myself to the famous BIG BUDDHA. A magical place, where u will find peace within yourself. After visiting this peaceful BIG BUDDHA it was time to fly back home. This is a flight I will never forget. As we were singing and laughing in the aft galley, there was some turbulence we ignored. But then something happened, which couldn’t be ignored… The aircraft fell for 6 seconds out of the sky…and two crew were injured.