Jetlagged

Hearing:

Ive been waking up at 8am for the past 2 days now. Its kinda annoying cuz i get sleepy way too early too and kinda good cuz i get a lot of stuff done. The flight home was ok - our CM was a bit skitzo on the way back, he kept on at us for every little detail, i think he was probably just tired as he mellowed out a little after he got some sleep onboard.

Checking out Trays comment in my last entry reminded me of a few more things to add to Flying 101, hers being a big one. The last thing FAs want to do is wake you up to put your seatbelt on. Its really simple, the seatbelts can be extended and you can still sleep comfortably with them on - trust me I've done it. The other thing i hate to mention, especially when it applies to business and sometimes first class pax is this. Don't touch the bread! Allow me to explain. When we do a meal service, very often we provide a variety of bread for pax to choose from and it is usually presented in a bread basket. You point, we use a tong and put it on your bread plate. Simple. But i have lost count of the times pax touch the bread. Its gross guys, even if its the bread your taking, the person next to you will still be grossed out, just don't do it.

Catering is a big issue onboard. Cabin crew are not responsible for how many chicken, beef, or fish meals we get so when we say sorry is Veg or some other meal ok, don't throw a tantrum, really there is nothing we can do. Catering give us a certain number of each choice depending on how many pax we have and its not always possible to give you your option - this applies to all classes. I can only suggest you check in early and get the seats at the front of the cabin as usually the service starts there.

One thing that makes me love some pax is when they get out of their seat and come to the galley either to throw something out, return a coffee cup, or ask for something. Its really nice especially on long flights. It gives them a chance to stretch their legs and gives us a chance to sit down and not trip over feet in the dark. Sometimes if we're busy we might just ask what seat your in and say we'll bring whatever it is you want to you, but either way you've saved us half the trip and made our job that little bit easier.

Right so I'm off to make lunch, its a bit early but i can watch The O.C. while its simmering on the stove and it should be nice and hot by the time I'm hungry. Ciao.

VP

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Arriving at Kingsford Smith

Hearing: traffic, mum and bro chatting.

Im home! Yay me.

This morning i woke up to my neighbours cat waking me up. She jumped on my mums bed thinking it was empty but found me there sleeping in. She gave me a startled look before dashing out the door. Not a bad way to wake up, the smell of brewed coffee waiting in the kitchen isnt bad either...heehee.

Arriving into Sydneys airport on a jumpseat was a very different experiance to arriving as a pax. Needless to say i was grinning from ear to ear as we came into land. The girls with me stated the obvious "So your excited to go home huh?" LOL! yeah, just a little.... *grin*

We passed several Qantas kangaroos, taxied in towards our gate and prepared for the shlep through customs and quarantine. My mum and bro wanted to come to the airport to see me arrive with the Captains and crew but since it was the 1st time and i wasnt sure how things would go i told them not to. Walking out of arrivals was weird though, familiar sights for people and my home airport but different in that ppl kept looking at us as crew and trying to figure out which airline we were.

We got to the hotel which was so cool. Right in the heart of the city and just a step away from Circular Quay. Perfect. But i didnt stay there. I checked in, took a shower (shoulda slept as per mums advice) and headed out home. Ahhh....its good to be home. Mums cooking is on the stove ready getting ready for lunch and im posting this up after a good chat with my bro and mum. I might head back to the hotel tonight with them or maybe tomorrow, will see how it goes. Either way i love getting paid to be home - nothing can top this!

VP

P.S. I almost forgot to mention this. One of my guests in business class was the contreversial Mufti of Sydney Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly. (Heres the article the Sydney Morning Herald wrote about his arrival yesterday.) He was very well behaved and actually didnt say much.

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Flying rules and flying home

Hearing: traffic

After doing two long turnarounds i realised i hadn't been adding to my Flying 101 rules. What brought this lovely post back to mind? Well, i yet again saw a pax go into the lav without shoes. I have been a FA in all classes, First, Business and Economy and it continues to baffle me why people don't wear shoes into the lavs.

On one flight a colleague of mine couldn't resist asking a business class pax why they were going barefoot, his reply, it keeps his feet cool...well that's all well and good but seriously...gross!!! Dude its filthy in there! Yes the cleaners clean it, we clean it too but its not going to be like home and you cant trust the pax who used it before you. Ive seen how gross they can get and trust me i will never even go in there with socks let alone barefoot.

The other thing i have to mention is for people with aisle seats to be careful of their heads, elbows, knees and feet. I know the seats are cramped and its so easy to stretch out into the aisle but just so you have been warned, you will end up with a bruise somewhere. We try very had to maneuver our carts so we don't hit anyone but the carts are heavy and sometimes we do have accidents. When the cabin is dark its even worse, we can barely see where we're going and tripping over your feet isn't fun for us nor you.

Right so those two rules off my mind now i can say this....I'm flying home tomorrow!!!! I'm operating my first flight into Sydney and I'm so excited. I cant wait to be paid to go home LOL!!! I was also just thinking about how weird it will be to be arriving at Sydney Airport as crew and going through immigration, customs and walking out those doors in arrivals as crew and in uniform...Bizarre. Ive only ever gone through as a pax and only ever watched other airline crew come through. Before i was crew i used to wonder what it would be like and i guess now will be my opportunity to walk in their footsteps and experience the whole thing myself. Should be interesting.

VP

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If you've eaten the whole cow, why leave the tail?

Hearing: Bliss - Hinder

Some days are just good.

I spent most of yesterday with my friend K. We spent the first part of it chatting over coffee and picking up a few groceries and then it turned into a race to get a decent set of speakers for my lappie. I spent sooo much...I didnt just buy speakers but also an external HDD - a Western Digital MyBook 500GB one to be exact. The 1st set of speakers i bought turned out to be the wrong ones, more suited to a home theatre than PC. I was going to just postpone returning the set when K told me of a Swahili saying "If you've eaten the whole cow, why leave the tail?" so we raced back to the shopping mall to exchange, finally found the one i was after (Philips) bought it, installed it and turned the music up LOUD!!!

I was so happy finally having loud music i lost no time dancing around my room with K laughing his head off at me. My flatmates wore grim expressions while passing on their congrats over my new purchase. LOL! But i promised them id be good, no loud music unless both were on layovers or out...

Its not that i spent money yesterday that made it good, it was everything, good friends, good luck, fun childish banter. And of course being the nerd i am, i was looking forward to finally being able to back up all my files and reformat my lappie and get it performing well again.

VP

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Pantip Plaza

Hearing: How long - Hinder

Im on 2 days off atm. I arrived back from BKK 2.30am this morning and slept in till 1.30pm today....naughty i know. I was very tired from my lack of sleep with weird flight times and flying back to back (i had DAC just before BKK). Anyways, in BKK i headed out to Pantip Plaza with my CM. Its a 5 floor haven for everything IT related so naturally the nerd in me was very excited and eager to check the place out. I was particularly interested in seeing how much an external HDD would cost for my laptop. Long story short, i ended up with a massive headache, my CM too. There was so much to look at, so many prices, brands, customisations etc it got confusing and a bit daunting. I decided i would postpone buying the HDD and instead bought a tiny new 1GB Kingston Flash drive which only set me back 390BHT! Despite the headache i think Pantip is going to be one of my favourite places.

VP

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