Whats your New Years Resolution??

Hearing: Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson

Happy New Year!!!

Where ever you are I hope the New Year greets you with a glow of expectation, warmth, love, health and happiness!! My New Year will be spent in the air on my way to Colombo (CMB), Sri Lanka. Enjoy your celebrations and be safe.

I know I always make new years resolutions and do my best to stick to it. Anything and everything I've tried from wanting to stop biting my nails to trying to be more patient. This New Years Res isn't decided upon just yet though but I'll be sure to post it once I pick it. I want to hear all about your new years resolutions, or past ones you've made.

Have fun everyone!

Always
VP

Edited: My NYR's are in the comments section.

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Full flight, short trip, 1st time in galley....Oh no!!!

Hearing: Car horns and some blokes yelling at the tops of their voices down the road.

Imagine this, your in briefing and when the positions are handed out you find out that you've been given galley (the aircraft "kitchen") for the first time ever...... and that its on the aircraft with the biggest economy section holding up to 260+ pax ...... and that your full...... and that the trip will be an hour shorter than normal. *nervous laugh* Well that's what I got when I rocked up to my Bangkok (BKK) trip.

The Cabin Manager (CM) knew it was my first time so put a senior at the back with me to help me out. Thank goodness for that senior, I warmed to her immediately. She was amazing, she let me do my work and helped me without making me feel like I was an idiot, didn't know what I was doing or that she was helping me at all. She answered all my questions without sounding snobby, superior or condescending. She was sweet to the end and I'm happy to say the service wasn't a disaster and proud because I've seen it fall to pieces with seniors in the galley! Everyone worked so hard, we didn't even have time to sit down once and eat, I was lucky to have such a good group to work with on that leg.

Compared to the trip into BKK, the way back I'm sure I did a lot better though I had to keep my patience with the different senior I had to work with who preferred doing my work for me and pointing out that she was doing it with a feigned "do I mind?". Ugh!

So basically I had a crash course in galley work, I got home tired and fell into bed happy that id survived. Galley has got its pros like not having to deal with limited storage space, coaxing guests into stowing away their bags and other belongings properly, not having to deal so much with everyone's dirty trays. And it has its cons like not being able to get to speak and get to know guests or giving them a drink and seeing them happy.

From the Galley,
VP

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Merry Christmas!!

Hearing: "Dontcha" - pussycat dolls

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and all my best for the New Year!

Good news is my Christmas pressie for myself was finally getting an internet connection that i dont have to share that is in my room! And so what if its dial-up? Its still the internet isnt it? I was totally suffocating without it! Hahaha...

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you spent it with all those that are special in your life, and for those friends of mine flying, may it have been a truely 'unique' experiance.

Lots of Love,
VP

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Trafalgar Square, London

Hearing: Traffic, the chatter of people and the sound of the fountains.

Hey guys!

Its 6.35pm in London and the city is buzzing. People are everywhere loaded with shopping bags full of Christmas pressies or out hurrying to see a play at one of the theatres. There is a huge Christmas tree in Trafalgar square just behind Neslons column, flanked by a fountain on each side and lots of tourists infront taking photos. Im just sitting down enjoying a sandwich and taking it all in.

Since im on the 'long' layover of 2 days, i made sure i went out and took in more sites of London. I made a trip into Waterstones in Piccadilly which is a bookstore and one of the largest holding upto 1.5 million books - no im not kidding - it has 5 floors, a conference room, restaurant/cafe a main staircase and 2 elevators!! Naturally i had to drag myself away but not before buying 2 books and spending a good amount of time there.

I also checked out the Convent Gardens Markets which were fun, full of handicrafts and street performers, nearby there was an antiques market too.

Next up was St. Pauls Cathedral. At first i wasnt going to go in but boy am i glad i changed my mind!!! It is truely worth a visit. Stunning frescos adorn the dome on the inside and the climb to the top (they arnt kidding bout those stairs) offers breathtaking 360-degree views. Altogether it just blew me away. As a bonus, there was a childrens choir practicing and i sat down a little bit to listen, they sounded wonderful. A little tip, if you do want to take a peek inside the cathedral but dont want to climb to the top then go after 'closing time' when its open for service, you can go in and see the inside though it would probably be rude if you walked around or didnt stay. But i reccomment the climb. :)

The front of St. Pauls decorated for Christmas and some side views.

Some views from the top... ;)



And now, after milling around between Piccidlly Circus and Leicester Square, im going to watch Harry Potter 4 since i dont know when i'll get the chance to again. And for those of you groaning over my lack of culture and wondering why i dont go to the theatre instead a simple, albiet silly, explaination exists; i havent looked into which plays would interest me and im not going to go and watch any old one just for the sake of it.

Always
VP

P.S I havent forgotten bout the photos from my last trip, and i will be doing some serious updating to catch up.

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Brrrrrr.........

Hearing: The faint hum of the PC

Hello all!! Guess where i am? The hotel lounge in Toronto, Canada and for the record its 3.03am!!! Well quite a lot has happened since my last post but i wont bore you with too much writing as i have photos but i'll have to upload them when i get back to the sandpit.

My trip home was fantastic, not long enough but still managed to catch up with a bunch of gfs over brunch, chat into the wee hours with the Cookie Monster, visit our lovely harbour and of course buy all the Picnics, Cherry Ripes and Pizza Shapes i could fit into my luggage!!! It was great!!!

Then something changed and all hell broke loose...im exaggerating of course...My flight out of Syd got cancelled due to an electrical storm, it was rescheduled for the next day at 6.30pm only it got delayed again by and hour. Then my connecting flight also got delayed which landed me in an airport waiting and waiting about to have a nervous breakdown cuz i was due to be on a flight out to FRA in a matter of hours and calling my friend in tears asking her to call in sick for me, naughty i know but desperate times call for desperate measures, if the flight hadnt been cancelled i would have been home a whole day earlier!!

So that managed, i was put on a 9 day trip to Brussels (BRU) and then Toronto (YYZ). Imagine, i was barely home for a day and had to unpack and repack for 9days! So being at my wits end i didnt pack enough snacks, or another pair of shoes (walking around for hours in boots is not fun), or my credit cards/bank cards...(i can feel all the heads shaking from here, in my defence though, i did pack them in a bag i was taking but didnt take the bag...truely a ditzy moment) and therefore was left with only about 70 or 80 Euro on me.

Anyways, its all sorted now. I was lucky and have a great crew that really get on well. BRU is an amazing city, very beautiful, famous for chocolates so i was in heaven! But i'll let the photos do the talking though im not sure they'll do it justice. We also decided to make the trip into Amsterdam by trip, a 3 hr ride for 40 Euro, as the cabin manager was familiar with it and could show us around. All the crew, bar 2 girls who had gone home, the captain (CP) and first officer (FO) went. It was so worth it!! The city was alive with people everywhere since it was the weekend and the coming Christmas holidays had brought out the night markets, decorations and festivities. Again i took lots of photos there, our group actually blocked a bridge at one stage we were so busy taking photos!

And now im in Toronto. Our plan was to go to Niagra Falls but being so cold we decided against it. Both prior cities were cold but YYZ...whoa!! My gf and i had the bright idea of taking a walk to see the city...hahaha we froze our butts off!!! No joke!!! Our butts were litrally numb it was so cold!!! But we braved the weather (stupidly), went down to the harbourside and checked out a few places before seeking refuge in the shopping centres, some hot soup and delicious coffee...i told my friend were should be certifiably insane...i think some of our crew would agree. I havent taken much photos here but i'll post some anyway.

In the meantime, my friend has just joined me not being able to sleep herself so till next time i hope all of you are nice and warm. Take care, VP.

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