donderdag 12 juli 2018

Chapter 11: THE LAYOVERS 3.0

THE LAYOVERS 3.0

I won’t lie, the drop was very scary, and I’d never experienced such a long one. We were immediately called to take our seats due to heavy turbulence. As I sat on my jumpseat, I closed my eyes and started thinking about all these crazy scenarios. The only thing I wanted at that moment, was to land and get out of the plane as soon as possible. The thing with flying is, you can’t just stop, take a break, get out, relax and continue the journey. So at that moment, I prayed that we would land safely and that I could get home. Besides two injured crew members , we all landed safely, disembarked and went home.

Upon my arrival home, I was still in shock but went for a shower and jumped in bed. Again I struggled to fall asleep, but eventually managed to nod off. Luckily, I had some off days and was more than happy to spend it with my friends here in the middle east. Well, I hoped they were free because usually the rosters didn’t match up. Due to minimal rest you don’t get the time to meet each other, because the other person is already “locked” in his accommodation.
As I was about to make plans, I started feeling tired again and wasn’t really in the mood to meet people. This wasn’t a new feeling, it was one i’d experienced after my other flights as well. I just didn’t admit it that time. I just wanted to stay in bed all day, sleep, watch a movie and have no one around me. This is the part where the job gets very lonely as well. Imagine, you spend your time ‘entertaining’ over 300 people for 10 hours or more, spend a lot of time rooming around the city with colleagues, fly back entertaining a full flight again and then finally some time for yourself. Wouldn’t you want to be alone as well? Of course,…but…then you never get the chance to meet your friends. Well, sadly I didn’t meet them and stayed in my room for almost three days. I usually just go out to grab my delivery food. Delivery food became a habit for me and was the only thing I ate. Due to my crazy schedule, tiredness and sometimes laziness I must admit.

Well after doing absolutely nothing on my off days, it was time for my next destinations: Manchester, Baku, and AUSTRALIA. Manchester was a requested flight for me as I’d always wanted to go to England. The flight was a bit busy but overall very calm. I flew with this lovely Australian girl who I spent my layover with. Arriving at the hotel, my room wasn’t ready yet and then my spoiled behavior came up as I was really tired. No, but seriously… all night I was awake working and when I wanted to go shower and sleep, my room was unavailable…. What a 5-star service I must say…. After a rather long wait, my room became available and I could finally go to bed. Later that day I went to the city with my Australian friend and we spent the entire day roaming around. I must say, I was happy to be in England finally, but I really wasn’t that impressed. It was just another European city, there wasn’t anything particularly remarkable about it. Still I was happy to have finally visited England.

After this layover, it was time for Baku, Azerbaijan. Indeed, Where the hell is that? I had no idea and didn’t have an opportunity to look it up. Though the flight was very short, it was still very tiring because of the two stops we had in between. There were also a lot of demanding passengers. Passenger whom ask you ten times to refill their drink as you are serving other customers. “sir…water….water….sir…whisky…whisky….” I would have liked to give a reaction such as: “Take the whole damn bottle and shut up” But of course I remained professional. I consider myself to a very calm person, but during my flights, I’d caught myself being very irritated with customers.
Of course, I’d never be rude to someone but after so many hours you sometimes can’t take it anymore. Well, I nicely gave them what they wanted and went straight to the galley and rest a little. We arrived in Baku at night and I went sightseeing with a very lovely colleague who was more junior than me. I couldn’t believe my eyes… wow..the city and the atmosphere were so beautiful. While driving through the city it felt like we entered a new city every kilometer. Very clean and the weather was nice. The architecture was a mix of the European and middle east. The best combination I’d seen so far. A place that I will never forget. Baku was a short layover but gets a place in my top 5 best destinations.

Upon arrival home, I had 12 hours of rest and then it was time for my ultimate dream destination: AUSTRALIA. A long flight, with some grumpy but amazing crew members.
Once we reached Australia I went out with three super funny girls and our first stop was: Bondi beach. A very famous beach in Sydney, Australia. The beach was magical and I took a moment for myself staring into the ocean and the land. Can u believe it..another dream come true.. I’d always wanted to visit Australia and there I was. I can tell u, everywhere u go in Australia u see beautiful people, a great atmosphere, and such positive vibes. Australia is like a new world which u can’t compare to anywhere else in the world. A place you must visit to experience this amazing feeling. The next day we took a boat and went to the famous Sydney Harbour bridge and opera house. I can’t describe it in words. Australia stole my heart and gave me a feeling I want for the rest of my life..

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