Chapter 14: THE END

THE END

Time was ticking and it was time to make a decision. Should I go home or push through and visit more countries as a flight attendant?

I believe that certain things in life happen for a reason and for me being in Qatar was simply living a dream. I was a flight attendant, something I’d always wanted to do for a short period of time. I still remember the day I said to myself that after my bachelor, I would fly and experience the job myself. God listened to me and put this opportunity on my path right when I needed something else. I was indeed living a dream...

You know..In life, you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. A very high price sometimes. The moment I landed in Qatar and saw all these time restrictions and rules for the first time I immediately knew I wouldn’t manage to stay long. Not because I am (too) spoiled but simply because of the lack of freedom. I believe in taking your own responsibilities and knowing when to go home and take rest before a flight. I believe in performance and giving your best whenever you are in an aircraft. I don’t believe in setting boundaries for people and putting restrictions on when to be in their room. I also don’t believe in a fear-based company culture, which Qatar Airways definitely maintains. With all these restrictions I’ve spent a lot of time alone in my apartment because I never had enough time to go out and be home in time again. Indeed, it made me do a lot of thinking as well, which I really needed at that time. I have discovered that ME-TIME is important in life as it makes u think about certain things. I believe that with this ME-time you get steps closer to the answer to the important question: WHO AM I?

Despite all the restrictions, I have seen a lot of places all over the globe. Pakistan, Canada, Casablanca, Marrakesh, Johannesburg, Bali, Baku, Manchester, Hong Kong, Australia, Amsterdam, South-Korea, Windhoek, Phuket, Cape Town, Zagreb, Manilla, Beijing and Kuala Lumpur. What a beautiful and magical experience it was for me. All these different countries, with their beautiful landscape, people and cultures. An experience, which cost me a lot of energy and sleepless hours. But one that no one can ever take away from me!

I have come to the conclusion that being a flight attendant is a lifestyle, that either suits you for a short period of time or forever. I have experienced moments of joy during my job, met nice passengers but more often felt tired and experienced loneliness. A lot of nice people from different backgrounds crossed my path. People who came to follow their dreams, people who needed something completely different in their life and people who left their family in the hope to provide them a brighter future. All these people crossing my path made me realize and truly appreciate what I have and what I strive to be in the future. I believe that things in life happen for a reason and that it is important to follow your dreams but more than OK to realize that ‘THE dream’ is not really the one for you.

The most important thing about living in Qatar was realizing and defining what freedom actually is. Freedom to me isn’t the ability to do whatever you want, but TO BE whoever you want to be, to love whoever you want and to speak your mind whenever you want. One thing that bothered me a lot is the gender inequality in the middle east (well Qatar). A constant situation where the man thinks he is superior to a woman and this is something I will never tolerate. But in the end, the meaning of freedom depends on the person themself.

With all these thoughts running through my mind, it was time to make the decision. For me, it was time to go home! In life you don’t make the wrong decision, it is either the right one or the one which teaches you something. But always learn from it! After some days, it was time to leave the country. My flight departed on time, as Qatar Airways always does, and I was seated at 11A. The moment I was seated, I stared out the window and felt this positive energy running through my body. I think a feeling of relieve but also this proud feeling that I worked for the best airline worldwide. I then looked at the flight attendants and imagined myself one more time doing the job. A big smile on my face, greeting the customer and ensuring them of our award-winning service. I made peace with it and it was time to go. I looked outside again and saw moments of my life in Qatar flashing by as we took off. I smiled, waved to the land of Qatar, slowly closed my window and eyes as we were climbing into the sky. Was the price I paid to see the world worth it? You tell me!

Chapter 13: THE DECISION

THE DECISION

I believe that sometimes we must take risks in life. But always determine if the risk is worth it. For me at that moment, it was either throwing the bottle away and try to sleep naturally again or face a fine. The worst case scenario could’ve been that I had to leave China immediately after arriving. This would’ve been an embarrassment to the company and would’ve been cause for termination. The company and Arabic cultures in general are typically really concerned about what people think about them and the image to the outside world needs to be perfect. I mean, when we are in uniform and at the airport, we cannot even enter a store where alcohol is displayed. But going back to my dilemma at the airport, I knew that they’d never check crew at the airport how they’re supposed to be checked. Knowing that I could keep the medicine inside my suitcase, but you know since my time here in the middle east and in this company, I felt really 'locked up' and I hated the feeling so much. I knew that I would never do something to get myself into jail and that’s the reason why I threw the bottle away. It just wasn’t worth it.

After some time we were ready to leave for China, the worst flight ever. It was a full flight with only Chinese people and no one could speak English. Just imagine the language barrier. Other than that I am still not sure if these Chinese people are rude or if it’s a cultural thing, but from my perspective, they were so rude. They were demanding, and  even yelled at me. As I mentioned earlier, no one will ever disrespect me or yell at me, so the moment this customer yelled at me I gave him a very arrogant look and said: “Sir.. listen carefully to me, In my aircraft, we don’t yell at people. I will serve you once I am finished with the other customers”. If he understood what I said, that’s another question. Other than this, we also had a common thing onboard. Whenever we’d start the service we would distribute menu cards to all our customers, which means u have some time to go through the menu and decide what u want. Customers often wait until the moment you’re standing in front of them to look through the menu and decide what they want to eat. I just couldn’t stand that and sometimes I just left them and went to serve another customer.

Finally, the flight ended and the next day It was time for the Great Wall. Walking those stairs was a magical feeling, u can feel this magical atmosphere around u. It was a feeling I can’t really describe, but It made me do a lot of thinking as well. As I was standing there, I realized that I’d already seen 19 countries since starting the job, and a random fact I’ve visited all the continents on this earth. I am more than blessed with this opportunity to indeed travel the world. But on the other hand, I was constantly tired and never really had time to contact my friends and family due to the crazy schedules. My crew was always very nice, but it was for a short period of time. For me seeing the world would be much nicer with people around me who I adore and love the most. I am not saying that I didn’t enjoy seeing all these countries, but for me, there was always a small piece missing.

As a flight attendant, u are either sleeping or tearing your body apart. I often had times where I was awake for almost 30 hours and still roaming around the city just to see the country. For me, it was necessary to see the countries because that was one of the main reasons I did this job. I also experienced a lot of loneliness at the home-base as well. I had times where I would just sleep order food and sleep again. There wasn’t really much to do other than just sleeping or go for a drink in one of the expensive hotels, where a Heineken beer costs €15. Also, the culture didn’t suit me at all but of course I respected it, but I believe that it limits u in many ways. Especially if you are from a western country. I never had the urge to go home directly but sometimes u just know that at a certain place you will never feel home and that a dream can be lived but doesn’t need to be lived forever. But how do u know u need to stop living the dream when there are so many countries to be seen in this world?

The feelings mentioned above were feelings I was constantly dealing with as I was enjoying the beautiful layovers. And the thing with feelings is, you can always hide them but never deny them. So for me, it was time to make a decision.

Chapter 12: ADDICTION?

ADDICTION?

And so my journey in Australia came to an end and it was time to go back home. Well rested and ready for the ultra-long-haul flight with two amazing colleagues. I remember talking to one of them and saying that I would love to work with her in the aft galley. She looked at me and smiled, saying that she would like it as well but hopefully, the other girl will not be working with us in the aft. I was a bit confused at that time and asked her: “Why don’t u want to work with her? Did something happen?”. She started laughing and said: “No the thing is, she likes to work a lot during the flight and I don’t”. At that moment we started laughing like crazy.

Shortly after takeoff to our home base, a customer collapsed in front of us. For a brief moment I was shocked and didn’t know what to do. I had to react and give first-aid for sure. But what do we do? Where should I start? What did they even teach in class? CPR? During these seconds, you start asking why the customer had to collapse and just not sleep in his seat. Well, I think it was time to my put training to use. My colleagues and I sprung into action and started to administer first-aid to the passenger. She wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t breathe normally. We gave her oxygen through one of the bottles we carry onboard. We immediately called Medlink as well. Medlink is a hospital in the United States which can be contacted from the flight deck during every flight at any time. The commander/captain will speak to a doctor from the hospital and we will be advised what to do with the customer. Well luckily everything was ok after some time and Medlink advised us to continue the flight home. Other than that, it was a nice and quiet flight

We finally arrived in the home state after a long flight and passing three time zones. I went to bed but couldn’t fall asleep right away. I looked out the window and realized it was already morning. I didn’t even know which date it was, which is very common among flight attendants with hectic schedules. As I stared out the window I started to think about certain things in my life. The amazing life I’d given up for this new opportunity. An opportunity which allowed me to travel the whole world but without my close family and friends. A new life where I’m constantly away and a life where contact is hard to maintain. Why would people choose a job where they’re always tired and never really get to see their loved once? Yes, of course not everyone has the chance to travel the world, but is it all worth it under these circumstances? That’s a question I couldn’t answer at that time.

Several hours later I was still awake and couldn’t figure out why, because usually I’d fall asleep within an hour. It began to irritate me and I remembered that the doctor had given me cough syrup, when I was sick between my flights. She told me to stop using it when my fever was over because it makes u drowsy. I knew I wasn’t supposed to use it anymore but, I just couldn’t take the sleepless hours anymore. After about 10 minutes I felt this peaceful rush through my body as it ‘shut down’. That day I slept for 15 hours straight and I didn’t regret it as I was really tired. The sad thing about this job and the schedules is that a lot of crew use medication to fall asleep.

I started drinking the medicine regularly. At some point it’s also a mind game, which means your mind will tell you that you can ONLY sleep when using the medicine. I wasn’t bothered at that time since I still had about half of the bottle left. A couple days and flights went by and I carried my medicine with me, due to the crazy schedule and lack of sleep. Again I had this empty feeling as I laid in my bed. Again I asked myself if it was all really worth it. Seeing the most amazing and beautiful places on this earth. But on the other side; often being awake for 24+ hours, entertaining people during the flight, different time zones each day and a constant feeling of tiredness during the day.

It was then time for Beijing, China. Finally, I’d get to see the great wall, which was a dream to come through. I prepared myself for the flight and went to the briefing room. A nice set of crew and the supervisor talked about the flight and country details. And then it came..”Crew, please note! You are not allowed to carry any medicines into the country”. “if you do..please have a letter from the company, which you need to arrange in advance”. These words rendered me speechless and lots of thoughts ran through my mind. I had my medicine bottle in my trolley and no letter at all. I knew that I had to throw it away, which meant  I could never use it again because you can only get it with a doctor’s prescription. Shit…How would I fall asleep? But is it worth it to get caught in China? Do they really check cabin crew at the airport? Should is just throw the bottle out and go back to my natural sleeping? And so the briefing came to an end, which meant the decision had to be made. I slowly walked out of the room, passed 4 trash bins and the last one was in sight.. A mind full of questions and thoughts, but the most important at that moment.. Throw it or not..

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..

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.

Chapter 9: THE LAYOVERS

THE LAYOVERS

After a while, I ignored this unexcited feeling. I tried to be positive and look forward to my upcoming flights. Having a positive mindset can change a lot. Of course being positive the whole time is difficult but I believe that if we lose our positivity we lose everything in life. With this mindset, I awaited my upcoming flights, my first layovers. A layover means that you will stay in the country for at least a day and that’s quite exciting right? My upcoming layovers at that time were: Canada, Morocco, and South Africa

It was finally time to start preparing for my first flight, Montreal Canada. I usually don’t know what to pack for my flight and end up taking too many clothes and shoes. On the other hand, it is important to have enough so you have choices. Canada at that time was very cold and snowy, so I needed to pack my winter coat as well. All set and ready for this 12 hour flight where you, as a flight attendant have 3 hours of rest in the aircraft. I got picked up on time and proceeded to the airport. After a while, we started the boarding and the passengers prepared for the long flight ahead. I immediately spotted this family of four with two cute little kids, a boy and girl. During the flight I spoiled the kids with a lot of snacks and every time I walked by, this little girl wanted to grab my arms and give me a hug. It was a very long but relaxed flight, all the passengers were nice and calm.

Arriving at the hotel we made plans with some of the crew to go for dinner. Within an hour we’d showered, changed and made our way to a restaurant near the hotel. Later that evening I went to the city as well and came back around 23.30h. Not too late because two girls and I had planned to rent a car and go to Quebec City the next day. What a beautiful road trip it was, we shared stories with each other and listened to a lot of music. One of the stories really touched my heart and was about one of the girls wanting to do something different, follow her dreams and live with her husband. Sadly, she was not able to do so now and was actually stuck with this job. Yes, she enjoyed this job somehow but wanted to spend her life with her husband. Arriving in Quebec was beautiful, it’s a city with European and North American influences. For me a very beautiful mixture of architecture. As the time passes by, we enjoyed each other’s company, had dinner and went home. The next day I went to the city in Montreal, which again has this mixture of architecture. A very beautiful, calm and loving city. I really enjoyed this atmosphere. As the three days in Canada flew by, it was time for my next destination: Morocco, Casablanca.

Two days later it was time for my other flight to Casablanca. During the flight, I met this loving and funny crew, who I will never forget. During the flight, we laughed so hard with each other. Also, this flight was quiet with no interesting passengers. Arriving in Casablanca, it was very hot outside and besides that, we had to wait for our supervisors because they wanted to buy some famous oil from the driver. As we were waiting this funny crew member said to me: “Daniel, I cannot believe we are buying products from the back of a car and we are talking about finesse in this company”. At that moment we laughed so hard. Other than that I visited this famous big mosque and had traditional food in a nice restaurant. You do have some nice and modern places in Casablanca but most of it is very old. 

After this flight, I only had 12 hours of rest and then I was off to South Africa Johannesburg. I didn’t sleep properly and wasn’t well rested for this 9-hour flight. Even though I was tired, I was ready for this adventure to South Africa as it was always my dream to visit South Africa. The flight was busy which kept me awake. To be honest I’d rather have a busy flight than a flight where there is nothing to do. Finally, we arrived in Johannesburg where there is this famous safari called Lion Park. Even though I was very tired, I dragged myself to go. This is the most tiring part of the job, where u had a long and exhausting flight but still want to go out and see the country. Arriving at the lion park was disappointing, it was just a very big cage with a couple of lions and cheetahs in it. Not a proper safari, like I had anticipated. Even though the tour was disappointing, we ended up playing with the baby lions, which was so magical. A real dream came true. We ended the day drinking and eating at the Nelson Mandela Square. 

On our way back to the airport, a 1-hour drive, I enjoyed the landscape of beautiful South Africa. We also did the flight briefing on the bus. Sometimes briefings are quick and nothing special, but other times supervisors talk about all the safety and security issues. Sometimes even what to do in an evacuation or medical situation. The moment they start to talk about it, I imagine all these awful things and just hope that nothing will happen on our flight. We arrived at the airport and proceeded to the aircraft. During the service, there was this Arabic kid (5 years old) and as I gave him his meal, he very rudely replied with: “no take this back, I don’t want it and don’t like it”. He even made this ‘take it back’. hand gesture. Imagine... A five year old. At that point, I sarcastically responded with: “you don’t like it? Shall I take it back?”. Like I mentioned before, often there is no need to respond to certain things.  After the service, 3 hours into the flight, we finally sat down and had dinner. While enjoying my meal, speaking to my colleagues and looking out the window, we suddenly heard this loud scream in the cabin…I looked at my colleague and said SHIT.

Chapter 8: KEEPING CALM

KEEPING CALM

I believe that the key to responding to people who are angry or disrespectful is to calm yourself and stay calm while responding. Seriously, for me, there is no point in responding angry or disrespectful back. It only drains your own energy and makes the situation worse. Clearly, the person doesn’t know how to behave, and I would like to show the person, that I grew up with manners and of course know how to treat people. When I saw this person yelling at me, I was in shock, I didn’t know right away what to say, but for sure yelling back and disrespecting him was not an option for me. So when he was finished, I looked at my colleague and then looked at him and responded with: “Sir, I believe you are waiting for your food and you are very hungry? This is not the way you talk to people, but I’m more than happy to give you our 5-star service after serving these customers in front of you. Thank you”. My good friend always tells me this famous quote: “When they go low, we go high”. Of course, sometimes we can get so angry, but if you think about it, there is really no point in replying disrespectfully. Usually, when people act like that, they don’t know better, they don’t have the proper education, are narrow-minded or it’s just a cultural thing. The important thing is to make sure you tell them, that the way they talk to you, should stop immediately.

After some hours we were flying back to our home base and the flight was peaceful. We were flying all morning and arrived home around 10.00am. I came home, took my uniform off and went immediately for a shower. This is the best part of coming home after a flight. I then jumped in my bed and answered some messages. Suddenly I wasn’t tired anymore, this feeling when you want to sleep, but you just cannot sleep. Very irritating, so started staring outside my window and thinking about certain things. I just had my first flight as a flight attendant, something I always wanted to do. I was clearly living my dream, but you know, I wasn’t excited at all. Maybe because of the customer, but I didn’t really have a feeling. What could it be? Was I just tired, but couldn’t sleep? Maybe this is not really my thing; but how could you say that after one flight? I closed my eyes and told myself that I will enjoy it more, for now, let’s just sleep.

Later that day, I woke up around 06.00pm, started texting people to know if they are in town. Sadly everyone was having flights or already on minimum rest, so they couldn’t leave the apartment. Well, that’s how my day ended, having dinner by myself and making myself tired in order to sleep. My next flight was the next day in the evening, so I decided just to watch movies, gym and stay in my apartment till my next duty.

Finally, it was time for my next flight and I started preparing myself for this flight to Karachi, Pakistan. Again Pakistan. The best thing about this job (besides seeing all the countries) is that the customer profile is very diverse. Every time new people, new attitudes and new behaviors. While preparing I was just hoping that the customers will be relaxed and kind, so not like my first flight. But on the other hand, it makes the job exciting and there is some action. Haha. I put on my uniform and headed to the airport to get on the flight. Luckily this time I got my briefing question right and we were all ready to operate the flight. The flight was full, and we started boarding (customers entering the aircraft and taking their seats) a little bit early, to leave on time. The best part of boarding or what I usually do, is to spot good-looking people, hope they sit in my zone, so I can look after them during the flight. For me that is what makes the flight exciting and fun. Of course, the crew as well. Suddenly this customer enters the flight, very cute long hair and casually dressed. Well, not in my zone, but on my side, so I had to walk by a couple of times. Suddenly the customer says not to wake her up during the flight and she wants a blanket, because it was cold. A little attitude and suddenly she wasn’t that good-looking anymore. Again a sign that beauty from the outside is important but from the inside is way more important. I asked my colleague for a blanket, but she forgot to bring it and even I forgot to crosscheck with the crew if they gave her the blanket. After 30 minutes, this customer calls me and tells me with even more attitude like before: “Uhmmm… I asked you for a blanket, it has been 1 hour already and still nothing... it is really cold here you know”. I apologized and gave her the blanket. After a while we were ready for landing and my colleague was getting the cabin ready for landing. This particular person was sleeping with her blanket over her head, so we had to wake her up by tapping her on the shoulder. We did this a couple of times by saying: “Mam...Mam...Mam”. Suddenly this customer wakes up and started shouting saying: “Don’t wake me up and that’s not how you wake me up. You have to say excuse me and don’t touch me”. I was just standing there, shocked and started laughing. You know, some people are just ridiculous and at this moment I don’t have time for this sh*t. I looked at her and said: “Mam, we are ready for landing, prepare yourself. Thank you”. Well first impression can be wrong. In this case VERY WRONG!

Again, a hectic flight, happy to be home, showered and jumped in my bed. At that point, I wasn’t really feeling the moment of excitement I should feel. I mean, I’m living my dream and still I’m not excited or enthusiastic about it. How could this be? Living an actual dream should be an amazing feeling, right? Well, I think we can be wrong sometimes about our dreams and its more than ‘ok’ to realize that something you always wanted, is not what you thought it was.