Monday, August 04, 2008
Current mood: accomplished
So on the 31st of July I left San Antonio very early in the morning and headed to Atlanta. I was supposed to go to Pensacola, FL and back and then over to Guadalajara, Mexico. I signed in at 12:15. Well weather has been bad in Atlanta lately... We get to Pensacola and got delayed 2 hours. We finally left Pensacola and crossed our fingers that our Mexico trip would be cancelled. In Atlanta we showed the flight was still on... but that it was leaving at 9:00 pm so it was delayed 2 hours. We sit in the lounge and just watch the screens and cross our fingers... no such luck. We get up to the gate for a now 10pm departure and we eventually start boarding at 10:30. We are now at a 10 hour duty day plus 4 hours of flight... so that's 14 hours of duty... we are still ok to fly... we become illegal to fly at 16 hours... They stopped boarding midway and the tower said that the airport in Guadalajara was closed until 4am... so that put the flight going out at 2:45. So then we were definitely illegal. After having to get all the people off board... some people were soo nice about it... cause obviously its not our fault... one lady was just a rude mean woman and screamed in my face about what she was supposed to do about her 80 year old parents... heck if I know! So I called scheduling to figure out what I’m supposed to do. The lady was so rude. She said that if I left the airport without putting myself on availability then I wouldn't get paid for any of my trip. I yelled at her at told her that I didn't plan on leaving to anywhere because I cannot afford to get a hotel on what they pay me and I do not live in Atlanta. I told her I didn’t think it was fair to put myself on availability. She didn’t care. So I go to sleep in the lounge... again. I was mad because I was supposed to get a hotel and now I'm sleeping on a couch. I just really wanted a shower and good sleep since my day started at 5am.
I woke up stiff and mad and irritated. They made an announcement that they were understaffed so that anyone that picked up a trip in open time would get an additional 4 hours of pay. So I figured I’d go take a look and see if there was anything worth picking up before they called me out and placed me on the worst trip. That's when I saw Vienna! I've always wanted to go to Austria... always. So I called scheduling and fought for it... AND I GOT IT! So I had a few hours to kill before I flew out... its a 10 hour flight so I knew I needed food and sleep.
I get to briefing and everyone was much older than me... as expected. The flight leader had more work done on her face than my car has under its hood in a lifetime. Apparently she's been flying to Lima... which is the joke that flight attendants go there to get "work" done. I am always the new girl so I try to be nice and quiet and just listen in briefing. One flight attendant said she was gonna try and work in business class with the F.L. (flight leader) on the way back but wasn't familiar with everything so she might need help. The F.L. said so nicely that she was in good hands because she had taught International Business for 10 years in the training hub. I just tried to make friendly conversation and mentioned how nice that was. She turned her head so sharply at me that I thought her facelift might distort even more. :)
She said, "I did teach for 10 years but I DO NOT teach anymore because EVERYONE should already know their job." Yikes! She already didn't like me for some reason. On the plane she asks me if I know what I'm doing. I told her I'd only done that Business Elite to Europe once but that I’d figure it out. The federal air marshals knew the one flight attendant that I was working with and they said that they had fIown with the F.L. before and that she was a lesbian and the lady working in the back was her "partner". AHA! No wonder she was a miserable soul... I only have inappropriate jokes after this...so I'll stop. Even being that I have friends who are lesbians but they seem to not be as miserable in life as this 60 something year old lesbian.
The flight went well... I just tried to be extra nice to the F.L. and her "partner". We got to Vienna at about 10am and went back to the hotel. I showered and laid down for a nap. I agreed to meet one of the flight attendants in the lobby at 3 to do the city tour on the bus... I overslept in my comfy bed and got a wake up call at 3:30. We did the tour... Here are some of the pics of the bus tour... I don't remember all the names of the places or events... but a lot of this has to do with Mozart.... I do remember that. :)
After the BUS tour we had drinks in the hotel lobby with the partners and some of the other flight attendants... the girl I had done the bus tour with kept talking about going to this city hall where there was restaurant stands and big screens. So I agreed to go with her... little did I know what I was getting into. She acted like she knew where we were going... I swear.
I figured I was in trouble when she asked directions in the subway to some German guy and yelled at me to come over... She said that this guy wanted to sell us his subway tickets which were good until midnight... He only wanted 2 euros for each ticket. I looked at her and told her that it sounded like a scam. Straight faced she looked at the guy and asked him, "is this a scam?" he said no. I swear she looked at me and said, "see? He's not scamming us." So I spent the 2 euros to shut her up. Luckily in Vienna no one ever checks your tickets on subway, buses or trams.
3 hours of circles later and her talking loudly in English to Austrians and asking them where the City Hall was... we made it to what they thought was the city hall.. Stadt Halle.... this is not where we wanted to go... we ended up in the Ghetto... which is still waaay nicer than any ghetto in the US. At this point I am so hungry and so tired. I kid you not 3 hours after torture... she decides at this point to pull out a MAP! A freaking MAP! I said... "you have a MAP!?!", she said... "Well, I'm not very good at reading maps."
I told her to take the U6 back to the U3 and then get on the U2 and we'd be there... She said she wasn't getting back on the subway so she would follow the English speaking Arab at the corner grocery store's advice and take the 49 tram to the N station and walk 2 blocks. I was so angry. The only thing I could do to vent was text my boyfriend in the U.S. to vent it out. Some nice girl that spoke English again helped us to get from the 49 tram to the U2 subway and we finally made it to this place which was the Rathaus... the film festival was going on... that's what she had been talking about this entire time!!! And yes it was worth all the waiting. There was booths from restaurants of any food you could possible want served on real plates with real cups. That would never be in the U.S. we'd break out our paper plates and dixie cups :)
I had so much fun in Vienna... I saw so much... and apparently we won't be flying there after October so I got a real once in a lifetime opportunity for that trip until I transfer back to New York. Anyways... here is the view of the sunrise form my hotel.
I woke up at 7:30 am Vienna time which is 1:30 am Atlanta time... pick up was at 9:55 but I wanted a chance to walk around the hotel a bit more.
The flight was going ok until I swear I spotted a big bottle of alcohol sitting on someone's tray table. I asked the other girl to take a look and see if I saw what I thought I saw... she comes back with a huge half empty bottle of wine that someone had bought from duty free and had been chugging in the first hour of the flight. Obviously we took it away from them and finished drinking it for them... haha just kidding... we threw it out. So then this lady that was sitting next to them came in the back and told us that they were telling her to shut the F up and using profanity loudly. The more manly of the "partners" went over to them and told them that they weren't allowed any more alcohol and if we as much as heard a peep out of them then we'd have authorities waiting for them at the end of the flight or worse. After that they were all about yes ma'am and no ma'am. :)
I got back to Atlanta at 4:30 pm and ran to make the 5:20 flight to San Antonio and barely made it on... I was soo tired. Anyways. I'm "home" happy and safe. :) Until the next adventure. :)
Showing posts with label mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mexico. Show all posts
Monday, August 4, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Ike & Tina
Current mood: aggravated
It’s like Ike & Tina...
It’s a love/hate relationship with Nashville.
Please bare with my rant for a minute... I love watching live music but the scene is crazy.
Boys in their girl jeans or just looking like they crawled out of the seventies in their vintage... they want to be Jimmy Paige so badly that it hurts my teeth just looking at their greasy long matted hair.
My friend Wes Floyd is awesome. He leads the pack of DaisyCutters... They don't care about the scene. Usually in Nashville everyone is a musician so they don't barely clap at a show... they don't stand against a stage... They linger in corners judging the main act and would steal the opportunity to be in the main acts place if they could. Nashville has more talent in one speckle of the honky-tonk than the mainstream radio will play in the next 10 years... I've battled with how music works... it kills me how so many of these kids who are so talented will never make it because they don't know the right people, or they don't have enough money, or they don't play by the rules of the scene, or they just don't have the right look… or even because their lyrics are too deep for mainstream radio. What kills me about Nashville is that we all know each other from the millions of shows we go to... but the scenesters put on such a "I’m too cool for school" show that they won't even acknowledge that they know you sometimes... I've known some of these kids for 2 years and barely know a thing about them... they look like they just crawled outta bed snorted some heroine cause they are all so dang skinny too... Anyways... Wes Floyd is a pretty cool cat... he is nice to everyone and he doesn't play the Nashville game... people came out to see him and pushed against the stage and danced and jumped around... I've never seen any local act be able to do that besides Luna Halo... Maybe it was because they were dressed like cowboys and indians. :)
The other great thing about the Ville is that I have a slew of numbers I could call to go out with me... but no one to call when I needed a flat tire fixed... stinking boys and their art but no skills. :) Speaking of this flat tire... let's get back to my real story.
I had spent some time in San Antonio, got my hairs did by Stephanie and flew over to Atlanta and hopped in my car for the best road trip ever... just me and my itunes on the ibook... not the ipod cause that got lost somewhere between Atlanta and Panama City I think... :(
I made it into Nashville pretty late and was so happy to see my kitty and sleep in my own house and bed! The next day I planned to wake up early to go do a long overdue errand...
I've been living in Nashville for almost 2 years... and I still have a Texas drivers license with my old married last name and I was fat. I've been trying to get a new license for awhile and every time I go to the DMV in Nashville which happens to be in the ghetto then somehow I am missing some document and can't stay. UGH!
So I woke up kinda late but made it out the door and stopped in to visit my friend Rachel at work and surprise her. We talked forever and I sat in the office where I had been fired by the witch and I was soo glad to be out of there. I also learned that the witch had quit and got a new job and had recently been fired from that job... wow. what goes around comes around? hmm.. So I realize that on my way to the DMV I forgot my passport since I don't know where my birth certificate was... So I had to drive all the way back home again to get it. I noticed my tire was low and I made a mental note to fill it up as soon as I got out of the DMV. I'm driving along the back roads back to the DMV with all proper documentation and BOOM! POW! KABAM! My tire blows out... I'm in the middle of nowhere. I pull over. It's hot.
I had to call my good friend Reese in Mobile and my ex boyfriend Gabe cause they were the only ones I know that had any previous experience with cars... both said they would talk me through how to change the tire. Both asked me where my car manual was... which was NOT in the car of course... umm... yea... so I'm wearing 4 inch heals and capris and I'm dressed up cause I'm gonna take a AWESOME drivers license picture since I'm not that fat married girl anymore... I am NOT dressed to change a tire... especially for the first time... So I take a deep breath and start to unscrew the thingy to get the tire out and see if the jack is underneath... I hear some cars pull over... Thank the LORD I am a girl... and thank the LORD I was wearing heals. :) 2 guys in separate cars pull over... I am prepared just in case they are bad guys... I mean... I am a flight attendant... so anyways... the one guy was a car mechanic... a car mechanic wearing a hairnet... but good thing too because I have special tires on my car and there was no way I would have had the tools to change those... so the guy has it done in like 10 minutes. I was sooo grateful. He followed me to the gas station and put more air in my front tires for me... All I had was $11 so I gave it to him and thanked the man wearing the hairnet.
I attempted the DMV thing AGAIN... I get there and she tells me that my comcast bill was NOT good enough as proof of residence because I don't have the complete cable package because I don't have a home phone. I flipped out! I told her that I've been living in that city for 2 years and I don’t work there... and I am never ever there... she told me that I could go to the bank and get a statement printed and then stamped and then initialed... how does that prove where I live?! I dunno! So I did that... I was livid... I was sure that the next thing she would say was that I didn’t have enough money in my account to have a TN drivers license. haha
Anyways... I finally got back AGAIN and waiting and got my license... they hand it to me... it's the ugliest effing picture I’ve ever seen. I look like my chin was growing the biggest pimple ever because there is a red dot on there... and then I look and she messed up and put the wrong birthday on there! SCORE! New picture! So now there is a decent picture and I have the stupid license! It's about time. Next time I am going where all the illegals go and have it the same day... they don't require ANY documents. :)
So lets talk about that evening... sweet Jimmy Gnecco. Last year I waited for Jimmy Gnecco in the 18 degree weather outside for THREE hours in line... It was totally worth it... and I reject cold weather... I absolutely hate cold. This time we had bought pre-tickets and got inside and it was sweaty hot. Like bad. He just likes to make us suffer. My friend Breann, a fellow flight attendant joined me and Stephen Boatright and my favorite and only Belarusian, Lena... my partners in crime. :)
We listened to Jimmy enchant us with his amazing voice... Gosh. The next day we slept in.... packed up my apartment a little and I don't remember what else but we went to see Wes Floyd play... Which is where I started this little/long blog. :)
Skip ahead... It's Thursday and I don't know if I have to go back to work Friday night or Saturday because I am on call on Sat, Sun & Mon. If they give me a late sign in on Sat then I get to sleep in my bed one more night... if they don't give me anything then I have to be there by Friday midnight... which is the worst. So Friday around noon when I finally woke up... I checked my schedule and low and behold there was a rotation posted... 8am Saturday standby... that's as bad as it could get... which means I have to still leave Friday night... the only other option would be to take the first flight out in the morning and get there by 8:17 and be 17 minutes late... that is no good. So I hurried and got my laundry done, did the dishes, packed my suitcase, showered, went to the grocery, packed some more moving boxes and hopped in Lena's car with Breann to be dropped off at the airport. WHEW!
I promised Bri a good time at the Atlanta lounge... AKA my temporary home away from my "homes". So we ate Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches and hot chocolate courtesy of my great boyfriend and we watched PS I love you on my MacBook... so far so good... except we go to sleep and the cleaning crew comes in and decides to make life miserable. They dragged the metal chairs across the floors and I know they were swinging them around... I know this because it sounded like the end of the world in percussion. I refused to open my eyes because I knew I would absolutely loose it on one of them... and they probably know how to fight better than me. There are about 5 flight attendants sleeping in there... I try and wait out the racket so I can get at least 2 hours of sleep before I have to get up and get dressed for standby... They start vacuuming around my head and bumping the couch on purpose with the vacuum. I started doing my yoga breathing to help me calm down... I kept my eyes shut tight to avoid hurting someone... They were in there forever and I barely got one hours worth of sleep. I was not a happy girl. I come down to the A lounge by 8am and I supposed to be on standby until noon... at 9am my friend Devin texts me and says he's in the airport so we go upstairs and visit him and his friend before they board to take off to Honduras.
Right as I am going downstairs back to the A dungeon I get a call from scheduling telling me that I have a flight. So I go downstairs to check the rotation and its a Salt Lake City turn... which just means I go to salt lake and back again and be back in ATL by 7:30pm... no biggie except I'm so tired that I am starting to feel ill to my stomach from exhaustion.
Our flight is delayed due to them upgrading the B757 to a B767 so that everyone could get on... The flight was going good until this wacko jacko wannabe in her 40's tells us that she lost her luggage on board and she needs to find it so she can run off the plane to catch her connection... we understand so a flight attendant proceeds to ask her questions so we can find her mystery luggage. FA= flight attendant & WJ= wacko jacko.
FA: "Where are you sitting?"
WJ: She looks at all her boarding cards... about 3 or 4 of them from previous flights and just baffled says "I dunno"
FA: "Ma'am... what seat did you just stand up from?"
WJ: "I cant remember"
*sigh*
FA: "What does your suitcase look like?"
WJ: "It's black with a polka dotted pink ribbon on it.
FA2: "No ma'am... that's MY suitcase."
WJ: "oh. Well I think my suitcase might be orange then."
FA: "Lets just go look for it."
They look forever and cant figure out where she put her suitcase... we make PA's asking passengers if they knew who this lady was or if they remembered seeing her with her luggage somewhere.
After the WJ looked in every overhead bin 3 times and looking at every tag on every bag over 3 times... and after concerned passengers ask us why this lady is flying alone... she finally finds her bag... guess what? It's over the seat she was sitting in... and guess what? It's blue.
I just don't have enough patience for that stuff.
We land... we board again to go back to ATL... everything is normal until they announce that the weather is bad in ATL and we don’t have enough fuel to keep circling the airport so we head to Nashville to refuel... only me... I swear.... only me would they linger my comfy bed in front of when I had one hour of sleep... I could SMELL my house I was so close. Some passengers just wanted to get off in Nashville because that was their final destination anyways... but we weren’t allowed because that would delay us even more... In Nashville my flight leader tells me that there is a passenger in 17A that only speaks Spanish and if I could go explain to him in Spanish what was going on... well he ended up being from Chile... Temuco to be exact... so it was like finding a long lost family member...even though we had never met before... we talked about all the good Chilean things. :)
Finally back in the air and we got to Atlanta at 10 something pm... more than 3 hours from the time when I was supposed to originally be in.
So I am tired... tomorrow I go to Guadalajara... which I’m not too excited about... but whatever... I am about to attempt sleeping at the A lounge tonight... I'm scared...
I will see you in the air.... peace out!
It’s like Ike & Tina...
It’s a love/hate relationship with Nashville.
Please bare with my rant for a minute... I love watching live music but the scene is crazy.
Boys in their girl jeans or just looking like they crawled out of the seventies in their vintage... they want to be Jimmy Paige so badly that it hurts my teeth just looking at their greasy long matted hair.
My friend Wes Floyd is awesome. He leads the pack of DaisyCutters... They don't care about the scene. Usually in Nashville everyone is a musician so they don't barely clap at a show... they don't stand against a stage... They linger in corners judging the main act and would steal the opportunity to be in the main acts place if they could. Nashville has more talent in one speckle of the honky-tonk than the mainstream radio will play in the next 10 years... I've battled with how music works... it kills me how so many of these kids who are so talented will never make it because they don't know the right people, or they don't have enough money, or they don't play by the rules of the scene, or they just don't have the right look… or even because their lyrics are too deep for mainstream radio. What kills me about Nashville is that we all know each other from the millions of shows we go to... but the scenesters put on such a "I’m too cool for school" show that they won't even acknowledge that they know you sometimes... I've known some of these kids for 2 years and barely know a thing about them... they look like they just crawled outta bed snorted some heroine cause they are all so dang skinny too... Anyways... Wes Floyd is a pretty cool cat... he is nice to everyone and he doesn't play the Nashville game... people came out to see him and pushed against the stage and danced and jumped around... I've never seen any local act be able to do that besides Luna Halo... Maybe it was because they were dressed like cowboys and indians. :)
The other great thing about the Ville is that I have a slew of numbers I could call to go out with me... but no one to call when I needed a flat tire fixed... stinking boys and their art but no skills. :) Speaking of this flat tire... let's get back to my real story.
I had spent some time in San Antonio, got my hairs did by Stephanie and flew over to Atlanta and hopped in my car for the best road trip ever... just me and my itunes on the ibook... not the ipod cause that got lost somewhere between Atlanta and Panama City I think... :(
I made it into Nashville pretty late and was so happy to see my kitty and sleep in my own house and bed! The next day I planned to wake up early to go do a long overdue errand...
I've been living in Nashville for almost 2 years... and I still have a Texas drivers license with my old married last name and I was fat. I've been trying to get a new license for awhile and every time I go to the DMV in Nashville which happens to be in the ghetto then somehow I am missing some document and can't stay. UGH!
So I woke up kinda late but made it out the door and stopped in to visit my friend Rachel at work and surprise her. We talked forever and I sat in the office where I had been fired by the witch and I was soo glad to be out of there. I also learned that the witch had quit and got a new job and had recently been fired from that job... wow. what goes around comes around? hmm.. So I realize that on my way to the DMV I forgot my passport since I don't know where my birth certificate was... So I had to drive all the way back home again to get it. I noticed my tire was low and I made a mental note to fill it up as soon as I got out of the DMV. I'm driving along the back roads back to the DMV with all proper documentation and BOOM! POW! KABAM! My tire blows out... I'm in the middle of nowhere. I pull over. It's hot.
I had to call my good friend Reese in Mobile and my ex boyfriend Gabe cause they were the only ones I know that had any previous experience with cars... both said they would talk me through how to change the tire. Both asked me where my car manual was... which was NOT in the car of course... umm... yea... so I'm wearing 4 inch heals and capris and I'm dressed up cause I'm gonna take a AWESOME drivers license picture since I'm not that fat married girl anymore... I am NOT dressed to change a tire... especially for the first time... So I take a deep breath and start to unscrew the thingy to get the tire out and see if the jack is underneath... I hear some cars pull over... Thank the LORD I am a girl... and thank the LORD I was wearing heals. :) 2 guys in separate cars pull over... I am prepared just in case they are bad guys... I mean... I am a flight attendant... so anyways... the one guy was a car mechanic... a car mechanic wearing a hairnet... but good thing too because I have special tires on my car and there was no way I would have had the tools to change those... so the guy has it done in like 10 minutes. I was sooo grateful. He followed me to the gas station and put more air in my front tires for me... All I had was $11 so I gave it to him and thanked the man wearing the hairnet.
I attempted the DMV thing AGAIN... I get there and she tells me that my comcast bill was NOT good enough as proof of residence because I don't have the complete cable package because I don't have a home phone. I flipped out! I told her that I've been living in that city for 2 years and I don’t work there... and I am never ever there... she told me that I could go to the bank and get a statement printed and then stamped and then initialed... how does that prove where I live?! I dunno! So I did that... I was livid... I was sure that the next thing she would say was that I didn’t have enough money in my account to have a TN drivers license. haha
Anyways... I finally got back AGAIN and waiting and got my license... they hand it to me... it's the ugliest effing picture I’ve ever seen. I look like my chin was growing the biggest pimple ever because there is a red dot on there... and then I look and she messed up and put the wrong birthday on there! SCORE! New picture! So now there is a decent picture and I have the stupid license! It's about time. Next time I am going where all the illegals go and have it the same day... they don't require ANY documents. :)
So lets talk about that evening... sweet Jimmy Gnecco. Last year I waited for Jimmy Gnecco in the 18 degree weather outside for THREE hours in line... It was totally worth it... and I reject cold weather... I absolutely hate cold. This time we had bought pre-tickets and got inside and it was sweaty hot. Like bad. He just likes to make us suffer. My friend Breann, a fellow flight attendant joined me and Stephen Boatright and my favorite and only Belarusian, Lena... my partners in crime. :)
We listened to Jimmy enchant us with his amazing voice... Gosh. The next day we slept in.... packed up my apartment a little and I don't remember what else but we went to see Wes Floyd play... Which is where I started this little/long blog. :)
Skip ahead... It's Thursday and I don't know if I have to go back to work Friday night or Saturday because I am on call on Sat, Sun & Mon. If they give me a late sign in on Sat then I get to sleep in my bed one more night... if they don't give me anything then I have to be there by Friday midnight... which is the worst. So Friday around noon when I finally woke up... I checked my schedule and low and behold there was a rotation posted... 8am Saturday standby... that's as bad as it could get... which means I have to still leave Friday night... the only other option would be to take the first flight out in the morning and get there by 8:17 and be 17 minutes late... that is no good. So I hurried and got my laundry done, did the dishes, packed my suitcase, showered, went to the grocery, packed some more moving boxes and hopped in Lena's car with Breann to be dropped off at the airport. WHEW!
I promised Bri a good time at the Atlanta lounge... AKA my temporary home away from my "homes". So we ate Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches and hot chocolate courtesy of my great boyfriend and we watched PS I love you on my MacBook... so far so good... except we go to sleep and the cleaning crew comes in and decides to make life miserable. They dragged the metal chairs across the floors and I know they were swinging them around... I know this because it sounded like the end of the world in percussion. I refused to open my eyes because I knew I would absolutely loose it on one of them... and they probably know how to fight better than me. There are about 5 flight attendants sleeping in there... I try and wait out the racket so I can get at least 2 hours of sleep before I have to get up and get dressed for standby... They start vacuuming around my head and bumping the couch on purpose with the vacuum. I started doing my yoga breathing to help me calm down... I kept my eyes shut tight to avoid hurting someone... They were in there forever and I barely got one hours worth of sleep. I was not a happy girl. I come down to the A lounge by 8am and I supposed to be on standby until noon... at 9am my friend Devin texts me and says he's in the airport so we go upstairs and visit him and his friend before they board to take off to Honduras.
Right as I am going downstairs back to the A dungeon I get a call from scheduling telling me that I have a flight. So I go downstairs to check the rotation and its a Salt Lake City turn... which just means I go to salt lake and back again and be back in ATL by 7:30pm... no biggie except I'm so tired that I am starting to feel ill to my stomach from exhaustion.
Our flight is delayed due to them upgrading the B757 to a B767 so that everyone could get on... The flight was going good until this wacko jacko wannabe in her 40's tells us that she lost her luggage on board and she needs to find it so she can run off the plane to catch her connection... we understand so a flight attendant proceeds to ask her questions so we can find her mystery luggage. FA= flight attendant & WJ= wacko jacko.
FA: "Where are you sitting?"
WJ: She looks at all her boarding cards... about 3 or 4 of them from previous flights and just baffled says "I dunno"
FA: "Ma'am... what seat did you just stand up from?"
WJ: "I cant remember"
*sigh*
FA: "What does your suitcase look like?"
WJ: "It's black with a polka dotted pink ribbon on it.
FA2: "No ma'am... that's MY suitcase."
WJ: "oh. Well I think my suitcase might be orange then."
FA: "Lets just go look for it."
They look forever and cant figure out where she put her suitcase... we make PA's asking passengers if they knew who this lady was or if they remembered seeing her with her luggage somewhere.
After the WJ looked in every overhead bin 3 times and looking at every tag on every bag over 3 times... and after concerned passengers ask us why this lady is flying alone... she finally finds her bag... guess what? It's over the seat she was sitting in... and guess what? It's blue.
I just don't have enough patience for that stuff.
We land... we board again to go back to ATL... everything is normal until they announce that the weather is bad in ATL and we don’t have enough fuel to keep circling the airport so we head to Nashville to refuel... only me... I swear.... only me would they linger my comfy bed in front of when I had one hour of sleep... I could SMELL my house I was so close. Some passengers just wanted to get off in Nashville because that was their final destination anyways... but we weren’t allowed because that would delay us even more... In Nashville my flight leader tells me that there is a passenger in 17A that only speaks Spanish and if I could go explain to him in Spanish what was going on... well he ended up being from Chile... Temuco to be exact... so it was like finding a long lost family member...even though we had never met before... we talked about all the good Chilean things. :)
Finally back in the air and we got to Atlanta at 10 something pm... more than 3 hours from the time when I was supposed to originally be in.
So I am tired... tomorrow I go to Guadalajara... which I’m not too excited about... but whatever... I am about to attempt sleeping at the A lounge tonight... I'm scared...
I will see you in the air.... peace out!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Guadalajara, the SA zoo, & San Juan
Monday, July 21, 2008
Current mood: rejuvenated
July 15- 19
I already blogged about Guadalajara... but I have one picture to share and add to the collection of hotel sunset views... my new favorite. :)
I got to San Antonio on the 17th after Guadalajara and went to the zoo with my boyfriend, Rick... the zoo is my happy place. I love the zoo! The San Antonio zoo is actually a pretty good one. There is a butterfly exhibit where you can walk in and they can land on you. I’ve only been to one other one and I believe it was in Costa Rica which definitely kicked SA's butt. It was a really, really hot day out but we had fun.
We saw some monkeys and I’m pretty sure that they were on something... the one kept licking the wall which reminded me of Super Troopers... "the snozzberries taste like snozzberries"
the other one was just staring at us with his teeth and hair and eyes all crazy-like...
Anyways... that was all about the zoo...
The next day I went to San Juan, PR. And we had a whole soccer team on board... it's only a 3 hour flight and they drank every drop of liquor we had on board throwing out hundreds and pulling out their credit cards... apparently they had left Puerto Rico as the biggest loosers of the league and they were gone for 18 days and came back number one! So they were celebrating and inviting us to these parties... half of them looked like David Beckham... when we landed they were all pretty intoxicated and everyone was waiting for them and they got a huge applause when they came out of the airport and there were cameras to interview them... they interviewed us since we were their flight attendants... we dodged all the questions from the boys about where we were staying and blew off the parties... they wouldn't remember us anyways. haha Anyways... they entertained our night.
I woke up and had such a nice view from my hotel.
Something was wrong with our plane so we were delayed about an hour and we weren’t sure if we were even going to go out. But we finally made it back to Atlanta then rushed to go to Richmond and then back again... then I rushed to get on my plane to come to San Antonio... So from 7:45 am until 10 pm I was in uniform. I was tired. but like my friend DJ says... no one ever wants to hear how tired you are. ;)
I’m just chillaxin today and hopefully I get to get my hair done tnight... then fly back to Atlanta to hop in my car and drive to Nashville the 4 hours... and I’m so excited to wear different clothes and shoes and sleep in my bed and start packing up my apartment. whew! That's about it for now.
Current mood: rejuvenated
July 15- 19
I already blogged about Guadalajara... but I have one picture to share and add to the collection of hotel sunset views... my new favorite. :)
I got to San Antonio on the 17th after Guadalajara and went to the zoo with my boyfriend, Rick... the zoo is my happy place. I love the zoo! The San Antonio zoo is actually a pretty good one. There is a butterfly exhibit where you can walk in and they can land on you. I’ve only been to one other one and I believe it was in Costa Rica which definitely kicked SA's butt. It was a really, really hot day out but we had fun.
We saw some monkeys and I’m pretty sure that they were on something... the one kept licking the wall which reminded me of Super Troopers... "the snozzberries taste like snozzberries"
the other one was just staring at us with his teeth and hair and eyes all crazy-like...
Anyways... that was all about the zoo...
The next day I went to San Juan, PR. And we had a whole soccer team on board... it's only a 3 hour flight and they drank every drop of liquor we had on board throwing out hundreds and pulling out their credit cards... apparently they had left Puerto Rico as the biggest loosers of the league and they were gone for 18 days and came back number one! So they were celebrating and inviting us to these parties... half of them looked like David Beckham... when we landed they were all pretty intoxicated and everyone was waiting for them and they got a huge applause when they came out of the airport and there were cameras to interview them... they interviewed us since we were their flight attendants... we dodged all the questions from the boys about where we were staying and blew off the parties... they wouldn't remember us anyways. haha Anyways... they entertained our night.
I woke up and had such a nice view from my hotel.
Something was wrong with our plane so we were delayed about an hour and we weren’t sure if we were even going to go out. But we finally made it back to Atlanta then rushed to go to Richmond and then back again... then I rushed to get on my plane to come to San Antonio... So from 7:45 am until 10 pm I was in uniform. I was tired. but like my friend DJ says... no one ever wants to hear how tired you are. ;)
I’m just chillaxin today and hopefully I get to get my hair done tnight... then fly back to Atlanta to hop in my car and drive to Nashville the 4 hours... and I’m so excited to wear different clothes and shoes and sleep in my bed and start packing up my apartment. whew! That's about it for now.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Guadalajara, Mexic0
Current mood: thirsty
ATL/LAX/ GDL
So Guadalajara is a different breed of flights. I'm going to call it the West Palm Beach of the 3rd world countries. There were so many old souls on my flight. At this point I don't know what day it is without looking at my schedule. I don't know what time it is or what time zone I am on.
According to my rotation, we signed in for duty in Atlanta at 7:30pm and flew to Los Angeles at 8:30pm. 4 hours and 30 minute flight of people who are kind of crazy and we get to LA at 10 pm CA time. We get a 3 hour sit before having to take the next flight out to Guadalajara. I got in a little nap. As we walk upstairs to the gate we hear them making announcements for people who speak English over the age of 15 to volunteer to sit at the exit rows. This is a bad sign that they can't find 12 people who speak English.
I am the only Spanish speaker on the flight. As we board I look down the aisle to see people carrying their suitcases on their heads... Not just suitcases but boxes tied with strings, & trash bags full of clothes. I was halfway expecting to see chickens in cages on their heads. Some bags were too big and I told them I’d have to check them or put them in the closet if there wasn't enough space... They put it on their laps and asked to carry it like that... umm not gonna work. They put it on the floor and put their feet on it... again... not gonna work. I finally convinced them that I wouldn't loose their bag and found space for it in the closet.
Everyone was in the wrong chairs. I had to maneuver them all around which wasn't easy cause they don't move around very fast. I was tired before we ever left the ground. The rest of the flight was easy except for the part I dreaded which was passing out the immigration and customs forms. No one ever knows what nationality they are and a lot of them don't know how to read and write. I just cannot physically fill out all those forms for them all... So we managed the best way we could since I was the only Spanish speaker... We landed at 6:20 am. It's 7:20am Atlanta time, which means I worked for 12 hours. We finally got to the hotel and I started some good old 90210 re-runs... which makes me think of my friend Bri. Ha! I’m going to bed until 1pm and then head out for lunch and some shopping in Mexico! :) I'll be back in the US tomorrow.
I went to lunch with my crew and that's when I found out that Whitney Houston had been on our flight from Atlanta to LA. GOSH! I wish I woulda known that before. I used to love her. Well the girl has some pipes but she really has gone down hill just like Mariah. Two extremely talented people that just can't keep it together... Anyways... I did a little shopping... picked up a little something for the mister and went to the pool with one of my crew members that was Italian. We had the best talks and we swam on the roof top pool. I met a girl from Chile... which is rare cause I never find Chileans anywhere but Chile. :) She was really nice. I fell asleep by the pool cause the lounge chair outside was way more comfortable to that thing in my room that they are calling a bed.
I have a really hard time understanding why very expensive hotels don’t have complimentary wi-fi. Because I still manage myspaces it's mandatory I have wi-fi and in these fancy hotels it costs me $15-$17 for the day! Seriously?! Holiday Inn and Quality Inn down the street are offering it for free. I just don't get it. I’m just gonna have to put that expensive internet into my budget. Stupid.
On the flight back to LA the old people had multiplied and so did the number of people who couldn't read or write... or even know what nationality they were. I don't know if this was right but I just started asking them to what country they pay their taxes to... that seemed to help a little... One particularly baffling old man couldn't read or write... or he was just lazy because I asked him his address in California and he pulled out his CA drivers license... I was trying to hold in my emotions when I saw that... How the HECK did he get a license in Cali if he can't read or write? I hope he was just lazy or I'm completely baffled by our system in the United States.
We survived that flight with about 30-45 minutes rest before we got on the 767 heading to Atlanta. We were so tired. No one got good rest because of the beds and because of the kids that had ran up and down all the halls on every floor about midnight. This time on the LA-ATL flight I learned to ask in advance if there were any famous people in first class... my flight leader said there was and she whispered "Hal Holbrook"... who the heck is that?! I IMDBed him.. yes I just made that a verb... here is what I found... now he does look familiar: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001358/
Anyways... I was in the back galley and the cupboard door was open and I leaned to get something out of my bag and came up with such a force that when I hit the corner of the metal tipped cupboard I knocked myself backwards and almost passed out. I was almost in tears... I have a unicorn sized lump coming out the front of my forehead now ... thank the Lord for bangs! I worked for 12 hours with very little sleep or sit time... so my ankle is really screwed up. I'm glad for my break in the ville coming up so I can try and rest it by the pool in between packing. :)
I'm in San Antonio today but tomorrow I go to Puerto Rico. My little flight attendant video is doing pretty good on youtube... I have almost 300 plays... funny stuff! More adventures to come... :)
ATL/LAX/ GDL
So Guadalajara is a different breed of flights. I'm going to call it the West Palm Beach of the 3rd world countries. There were so many old souls on my flight. At this point I don't know what day it is without looking at my schedule. I don't know what time it is or what time zone I am on.
According to my rotation, we signed in for duty in Atlanta at 7:30pm and flew to Los Angeles at 8:30pm. 4 hours and 30 minute flight of people who are kind of crazy and we get to LA at 10 pm CA time. We get a 3 hour sit before having to take the next flight out to Guadalajara. I got in a little nap. As we walk upstairs to the gate we hear them making announcements for people who speak English over the age of 15 to volunteer to sit at the exit rows. This is a bad sign that they can't find 12 people who speak English.
I am the only Spanish speaker on the flight. As we board I look down the aisle to see people carrying their suitcases on their heads... Not just suitcases but boxes tied with strings, & trash bags full of clothes. I was halfway expecting to see chickens in cages on their heads. Some bags were too big and I told them I’d have to check them or put them in the closet if there wasn't enough space... They put it on their laps and asked to carry it like that... umm not gonna work. They put it on the floor and put their feet on it... again... not gonna work. I finally convinced them that I wouldn't loose their bag and found space for it in the closet.
Everyone was in the wrong chairs. I had to maneuver them all around which wasn't easy cause they don't move around very fast. I was tired before we ever left the ground. The rest of the flight was easy except for the part I dreaded which was passing out the immigration and customs forms. No one ever knows what nationality they are and a lot of them don't know how to read and write. I just cannot physically fill out all those forms for them all... So we managed the best way we could since I was the only Spanish speaker... We landed at 6:20 am. It's 7:20am Atlanta time, which means I worked for 12 hours. We finally got to the hotel and I started some good old 90210 re-runs... which makes me think of my friend Bri. Ha! I’m going to bed until 1pm and then head out for lunch and some shopping in Mexico! :) I'll be back in the US tomorrow.
I went to lunch with my crew and that's when I found out that Whitney Houston had been on our flight from Atlanta to LA. GOSH! I wish I woulda known that before. I used to love her. Well the girl has some pipes but she really has gone down hill just like Mariah. Two extremely talented people that just can't keep it together... Anyways... I did a little shopping... picked up a little something for the mister and went to the pool with one of my crew members that was Italian. We had the best talks and we swam on the roof top pool. I met a girl from Chile... which is rare cause I never find Chileans anywhere but Chile. :) She was really nice. I fell asleep by the pool cause the lounge chair outside was way more comfortable to that thing in my room that they are calling a bed.
I have a really hard time understanding why very expensive hotels don’t have complimentary wi-fi. Because I still manage myspaces it's mandatory I have wi-fi and in these fancy hotels it costs me $15-$17 for the day! Seriously?! Holiday Inn and Quality Inn down the street are offering it for free. I just don't get it. I’m just gonna have to put that expensive internet into my budget. Stupid.
On the flight back to LA the old people had multiplied and so did the number of people who couldn't read or write... or even know what nationality they were. I don't know if this was right but I just started asking them to what country they pay their taxes to... that seemed to help a little... One particularly baffling old man couldn't read or write... or he was just lazy because I asked him his address in California and he pulled out his CA drivers license... I was trying to hold in my emotions when I saw that... How the HECK did he get a license in Cali if he can't read or write? I hope he was just lazy or I'm completely baffled by our system in the United States.
We survived that flight with about 30-45 minutes rest before we got on the 767 heading to Atlanta. We were so tired. No one got good rest because of the beds and because of the kids that had ran up and down all the halls on every floor about midnight. This time on the LA-ATL flight I learned to ask in advance if there were any famous people in first class... my flight leader said there was and she whispered "Hal Holbrook"... who the heck is that?! I IMDBed him.. yes I just made that a verb... here is what I found... now he does look familiar: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001358/
Anyways... I was in the back galley and the cupboard door was open and I leaned to get something out of my bag and came up with such a force that when I hit the corner of the metal tipped cupboard I knocked myself backwards and almost passed out. I was almost in tears... I have a unicorn sized lump coming out the front of my forehead now ... thank the Lord for bangs! I worked for 12 hours with very little sleep or sit time... so my ankle is really screwed up. I'm glad for my break in the ville coming up so I can try and rest it by the pool in between packing. :)
I'm in San Antonio today but tomorrow I go to Puerto Rico. My little flight attendant video is doing pretty good on youtube... I have almost 300 plays... funny stuff! More adventures to come... :)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Mexico City
Current mood: distressed
07.09.08
ATL-MEX/MEX-ATL
I show up to briefing always nervous and a little excited to see who my crew is and who i will be hanging out with or avoiding for the next 2 or 3 days. :) By the numbers on the schedule it looked like everyone was pretty young and fresh on this crew... it was indeed true! The flight leader came in all frazzled bedazzled cause it was his first time to be flight leader and it happened to be on an international flight. Poor boy.
All the people are on the flight and all the bins are closed and we are about to close the doors... so we think. This lady comes running up from the back of the plane hysterical... from what i understood from her babble... she said that she had left her little pink bag with her bracelets and cash at McDonalds in the main atrium... the other side of security.... We are at the E concourse... on the plane... she has to go back through D, C, B, A, T, and Baggage claim! I asked her how much money was in there and she said $2,000. I was like... um.. WHAT?! I forgot that the Mexicans come over with tons of cash to buy stuff... ridiculous... I woulda strapped anything over $100 to my boobs... cause I will definitely not be leaving those anywhere! :) So we tell her to get her passport and boarding pass and run like crazy and if she misses this flight she can get on the next one... At this point she has completely lost sanity and has disrupted the entire plane. Then she cannot find her boarding pass or her passport... What the heck?!
Finally she gets everything together and runs...
Luckily for her we were waiting for 4 more passengers with connecting flights and she made it back in time... She found the bag. She found her bracelets. No cash was to be found. Duh. I felt sick to my stomach for her. She asked if there was anything we could do for her... like lost and found... I was like... umm... cash is untraceable... there is no proof it is yours... and no proof that it doesnt belong to that person that has it... unfortunately she made a really dumb mistake... of course i was way more sympathetic to her... but there really was nothing we could do for her. The other flight attendant just gave her a big hug and told her how sorry we were for her.
The rest of the flight was a breeze...
We get to Mexico... every time I go to mexico I can never go out and do anything. But this time we had an 18 hour layover and I was feeling good.. so we (me and my 2 other crew members) went out and explored the city. We had so much fun. We bought trinkets and I translated and bartered for them. It really pisses me off that their prices raise when they see Americans coming... I like to call them out on it. I get that they are making a living but so are we... I dont have any pesos, dollars or euros to spare! We ate a great dinner for 5 bucks and found a great bakery that was soo good and soo cheap very close to our hotel. We saw a parade of a military school and the police were out thick with their machine guns and bullet proof vests... about 5 policia per block. Really crazy. We asked what the parade was for... half the people had no idea... the rest guessed it was for a war memorial but couldnt name the war... excellent... way to go guys. :)
After dinner we went back to the hotel.. most hotels we stay at have a crew lounge where flight attendants can check their emails and hang out... friggin AirFrance was in there partying like rockstars... I felt like an old lady cause i was just irritated by their cigarette smoke in a non-smoking lounge and their stupid french accents and stupid 10 bottles of wine and large amounts of cases of beer and cheap disco music playing. The one guy comes up and says something in French... I just stare at him... do I LOOK like I know what the crap he was saying? um no. So he figures out that I do not speak french... and proceeds to ask me in broken spanish how long i was gonna be on the computer... I had barely been there for 5 minutes but I had enough of the French. I'm so not racist... just tired and irritable. I went to my favorite place at my hotel... my bathtub... I love the bathtub in Mexico...
Sleep... 4 hours later... wake up... yuck.
I woke up extra irritable and just prayed that I would have patience for people today... I barely made it. I made it back without killing anyone or physically injuring them...
My mom always said that if we are having a bad day to sit down, breathe, eat a snickers and drink a pepsi and your day gets better... I talked to Rick and luckily he finds my grumpiness humorous... and I finally found a way to make change and get me a mr. pibb. I crashed for an hr nap on the dreaded couch before our next 2 flights...
when I woke up my day really did get better because my flights were cancelled and I still got paid for them... So now I will sleep at the lounge tonight and have the dr appt tomorrow morning for my spider bite... which is not really getting better... the swelling and fever are gone but the actual bite is considerably larger than before... and we realized that there are actually 2 bites... one big one and one little one which are both bigger... I hope they can give me a shot or something tomorrow... cause its gross. I head back to Mexico city again tomorrow... now I know where to go... but I heard something about Aztec ruins and I would like to go see that for sure!
...until next time!
07.09.08
ATL-MEX/MEX-ATL
I show up to briefing always nervous and a little excited to see who my crew is and who i will be hanging out with or avoiding for the next 2 or 3 days. :) By the numbers on the schedule it looked like everyone was pretty young and fresh on this crew... it was indeed true! The flight leader came in all frazzled bedazzled cause it was his first time to be flight leader and it happened to be on an international flight. Poor boy.
All the people are on the flight and all the bins are closed and we are about to close the doors... so we think. This lady comes running up from the back of the plane hysterical... from what i understood from her babble... she said that she had left her little pink bag with her bracelets and cash at McDonalds in the main atrium... the other side of security.... We are at the E concourse... on the plane... she has to go back through D, C, B, A, T, and Baggage claim! I asked her how much money was in there and she said $2,000. I was like... um.. WHAT?! I forgot that the Mexicans come over with tons of cash to buy stuff... ridiculous... I woulda strapped anything over $100 to my boobs... cause I will definitely not be leaving those anywhere! :) So we tell her to get her passport and boarding pass and run like crazy and if she misses this flight she can get on the next one... At this point she has completely lost sanity and has disrupted the entire plane. Then she cannot find her boarding pass or her passport... What the heck?!
Finally she gets everything together and runs...
Luckily for her we were waiting for 4 more passengers with connecting flights and she made it back in time... She found the bag. She found her bracelets. No cash was to be found. Duh. I felt sick to my stomach for her. She asked if there was anything we could do for her... like lost and found... I was like... umm... cash is untraceable... there is no proof it is yours... and no proof that it doesnt belong to that person that has it... unfortunately she made a really dumb mistake... of course i was way more sympathetic to her... but there really was nothing we could do for her. The other flight attendant just gave her a big hug and told her how sorry we were for her.
The rest of the flight was a breeze...
We get to Mexico... every time I go to mexico I can never go out and do anything. But this time we had an 18 hour layover and I was feeling good.. so we (me and my 2 other crew members) went out and explored the city. We had so much fun. We bought trinkets and I translated and bartered for them. It really pisses me off that their prices raise when they see Americans coming... I like to call them out on it. I get that they are making a living but so are we... I dont have any pesos, dollars or euros to spare! We ate a great dinner for 5 bucks and found a great bakery that was soo good and soo cheap very close to our hotel. We saw a parade of a military school and the police were out thick with their machine guns and bullet proof vests... about 5 policia per block. Really crazy. We asked what the parade was for... half the people had no idea... the rest guessed it was for a war memorial but couldnt name the war... excellent... way to go guys. :)
After dinner we went back to the hotel.. most hotels we stay at have a crew lounge where flight attendants can check their emails and hang out... friggin AirFrance was in there partying like rockstars... I felt like an old lady cause i was just irritated by their cigarette smoke in a non-smoking lounge and their stupid french accents and stupid 10 bottles of wine and large amounts of cases of beer and cheap disco music playing. The one guy comes up and says something in French... I just stare at him... do I LOOK like I know what the crap he was saying? um no. So he figures out that I do not speak french... and proceeds to ask me in broken spanish how long i was gonna be on the computer... I had barely been there for 5 minutes but I had enough of the French. I'm so not racist... just tired and irritable. I went to my favorite place at my hotel... my bathtub... I love the bathtub in Mexico...
Sleep... 4 hours later... wake up... yuck.
I woke up extra irritable and just prayed that I would have patience for people today... I barely made it. I made it back without killing anyone or physically injuring them...
My mom always said that if we are having a bad day to sit down, breathe, eat a snickers and drink a pepsi and your day gets better... I talked to Rick and luckily he finds my grumpiness humorous... and I finally found a way to make change and get me a mr. pibb. I crashed for an hr nap on the dreaded couch before our next 2 flights...
when I woke up my day really did get better because my flights were cancelled and I still got paid for them... So now I will sleep at the lounge tonight and have the dr appt tomorrow morning for my spider bite... which is not really getting better... the swelling and fever are gone but the actual bite is considerably larger than before... and we realized that there are actually 2 bites... one big one and one little one which are both bigger... I hope they can give me a shot or something tomorrow... cause its gross. I head back to Mexico city again tomorrow... now I know where to go... but I heard something about Aztec ruins and I would like to go see that for sure!
...until next time!
Monday, June 9, 2008
19F a sad seat
Current mood: sleepy
Sunday, June 8, 2008
ATL-PHL-ATL-MEX
After a long day yesterday I slept in the crew lounge in the A concourse on the couch. I passed out but kept waking up unsure of where I was and where I needed to be at what time. I also kept waking up scared that somebody would say something to me about sleeping there all night.
In New York we were not allowed to sleep in the lounges so I would set my alarm for 4:45 to wake up before the Field Service Managers would come in so that they wouldn't know I was sleeping there. Apparently in Atlanta they don't care if you sleep there. In Atlanta there are people who pretty much live there. Cool.
So I finally got up around 8 and got dressed and freshened up and found my friend Abi in the lounge. We got breakfast and caught up on good times. My check in and briefing was at 11:20 am so I closed my eyes again for about another 45 minutes. I found a couple more friends in the lounge... Orit and Ahmad, neither which I had seen since training. So that was cool. I met my crew in briefing and they were all very young... apparently they were in the same class and good friends with my crew from yesterday. Funny stuff!
Boarding my Philly bound passengers with minimal stress, the boarding doors are closed, the safety video is playing the larger lady in 19F signals at me. She asks me if she can go use the restroom. I tell her that if she could please wait until we reach 10,000 ft because we are in critical seat belt time. We aren't even allowed to walk in the aisles during the safety video. She motions that she needs to throw up but she can wait. Question mark. Let's talk about this. 1) Who controls their puke? 2) I am sitting directly in front of 19F and I am facing her... I would hate to have an excorcist moment on me mid flight on the first leg of the day. So I make sure that 19F has a barf bag handy and I strategically watch her during take-off. As soon as we reached 10,000 she was in the bathroom. I asked her if I could get her any crackers or ginger ale... and I felt especially bad for her since I just lived that about 2 days ago. She told me she couldn't keep anything down but had just started chemo and it makes her really sick. I felt so bad for her that I almost cried... and I do not cry. The little old man in 20C needed extra attention because he couldn't walk well so I made sure to take care of him... During landing I watch 19F again just to make sure I stay puke free again. :)
The boarding door opens and everyone exits and my little old 20C passenger has to stay on until the wheelchair comes down. Well we wait... and wait... and no chair. Finally a gate agent comes down to ask if everyone is off... I tell her... "Um, NO. I'm still waiting on my wheelchair for 20C." With her Philly attitude she tells me that the chair has been waiting at the top of the jetway. I snap back that a wheelchair at the top of the jetway does me no good when my passenger can barely walk to the boarding door of the plane. She tells me that it is too hot to bring down the chair. I flipped out. Are you kidding me? It will take 20C thirty minutes to make it to the top of the jetway. Is this wheelchair made of wax that it will melt in heat? Is my gate agent made of wax? I told her in a very firm voice that the chair better be down there because my passenger can't walk. She makes it obvious that she rolls her eyes and shoots me a nasty look. Bring it!
We start boarding again and immediately I have a seat duplication. No problem. I get that solved with the other gate agent over the phone and done. Success. A few minutes later I get 2 older passengers that ask me where their seat is. 17 E & D. My plane is a regular Boeing 757. I have rows 1-9 in first class and then it starts up at row 19 in economy. There is no row 17. There isn't even a row 18. I'm baffled. So I go back up to the gate phone and call the agent back. They are on the wrong Atlanta bound flight. Whew. Boarding door closes. Safety Video plays. We pushback. I walk through and sit down. Again I am facing 19F. I notice 19F. She is a young pretty little blonde girl and she's looking out the window and tears are falling down her cheeks. I've been there before... many a times... leaving parents, friends, family, & boys behind... I've shed many a tear in the window seat. She tears up the entire take-off and after 10,000 feet she is still shedding tears so I go to the bathroom and bring her more kleenex's. The look of gratitude she gave me almost made me cry... I understand her.
I think I'm just getting emotional... whether from exhaustion or I finally grew my heart back after working for the temp agency and misplacing that heart somewhere in Nashville. I actually cared about people. I'm so proud of myself... temporarily though... it ends later in this story.
Two flights done and one more to go... the longer one. Mexico City... again. We grab some food, eat in the E lounge. There I run into Abi, Aritrea, Sean & Jalal. Small world! My flight takes off at 7:30pm... We eat, get to the gate... and nothing. The flight has been moved. So we look at the screens and it says our flight is delayed until 9:30pm. Heck! No fair! So we go back the the E lounge and try to figure out how we can stay awake and how we can drop the trip with the scheduling and rest requirement rules. No such luck.
Around 9:20 we have the plane boarded and ready to go. Starting beverage and dinner service my beverage cart breaks... Bad. So I'm doing that alone and kinda stressed but fine... every single can of coke fizzed like it had been shook up for days. I hate that. Makes my job take forever. Everyone was sooo needy! Everyone wanted 2 drinks and I was doing it alone. I'm on my 12th hour of work and already tired. A lady keep pestering me that her headphones aren't working and proceeds to yell at me while I'm serving drinks about how we always say we will fix it but never can. Um I'm not a freaking mechanic, electrician, or a person that gives a crap right now. Her yelling on my left side... the right side was being yelled at too by an impatient passenger who wants her special meal right way. She said if she didn't get it now then she wouldn't even have time to eat it... Does it take you 2 hours to stuff some nasty meal down your throat? There is a lot more details to this flight but its all along the same lines of needy people... I stopped caring. After 14 hours I just shut down.
Made it to the hotel. Bubble baths help calm. So now I'm heading to sleep. I only have one flight and then I get to home to Nashville! :) Haven't been home in over 30 days! Can't wait!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
ATL-PHL-ATL-MEX
After a long day yesterday I slept in the crew lounge in the A concourse on the couch. I passed out but kept waking up unsure of where I was and where I needed to be at what time. I also kept waking up scared that somebody would say something to me about sleeping there all night.
In New York we were not allowed to sleep in the lounges so I would set my alarm for 4:45 to wake up before the Field Service Managers would come in so that they wouldn't know I was sleeping there. Apparently in Atlanta they don't care if you sleep there. In Atlanta there are people who pretty much live there. Cool.
So I finally got up around 8 and got dressed and freshened up and found my friend Abi in the lounge. We got breakfast and caught up on good times. My check in and briefing was at 11:20 am so I closed my eyes again for about another 45 minutes. I found a couple more friends in the lounge... Orit and Ahmad, neither which I had seen since training. So that was cool. I met my crew in briefing and they were all very young... apparently they were in the same class and good friends with my crew from yesterday. Funny stuff!
Boarding my Philly bound passengers with minimal stress, the boarding doors are closed, the safety video is playing the larger lady in 19F signals at me. She asks me if she can go use the restroom. I tell her that if she could please wait until we reach 10,000 ft because we are in critical seat belt time. We aren't even allowed to walk in the aisles during the safety video. She motions that she needs to throw up but she can wait. Question mark. Let's talk about this. 1) Who controls their puke? 2) I am sitting directly in front of 19F and I am facing her... I would hate to have an excorcist moment on me mid flight on the first leg of the day. So I make sure that 19F has a barf bag handy and I strategically watch her during take-off. As soon as we reached 10,000 she was in the bathroom. I asked her if I could get her any crackers or ginger ale... and I felt especially bad for her since I just lived that about 2 days ago. She told me she couldn't keep anything down but had just started chemo and it makes her really sick. I felt so bad for her that I almost cried... and I do not cry. The little old man in 20C needed extra attention because he couldn't walk well so I made sure to take care of him... During landing I watch 19F again just to make sure I stay puke free again. :)
The boarding door opens and everyone exits and my little old 20C passenger has to stay on until the wheelchair comes down. Well we wait... and wait... and no chair. Finally a gate agent comes down to ask if everyone is off... I tell her... "Um, NO. I'm still waiting on my wheelchair for 20C." With her Philly attitude she tells me that the chair has been waiting at the top of the jetway. I snap back that a wheelchair at the top of the jetway does me no good when my passenger can barely walk to the boarding door of the plane. She tells me that it is too hot to bring down the chair. I flipped out. Are you kidding me? It will take 20C thirty minutes to make it to the top of the jetway. Is this wheelchair made of wax that it will melt in heat? Is my gate agent made of wax? I told her in a very firm voice that the chair better be down there because my passenger can't walk. She makes it obvious that she rolls her eyes and shoots me a nasty look. Bring it!
We start boarding again and immediately I have a seat duplication. No problem. I get that solved with the other gate agent over the phone and done. Success. A few minutes later I get 2 older passengers that ask me where their seat is. 17 E & D. My plane is a regular Boeing 757. I have rows 1-9 in first class and then it starts up at row 19 in economy. There is no row 17. There isn't even a row 18. I'm baffled. So I go back up to the gate phone and call the agent back. They are on the wrong Atlanta bound flight. Whew. Boarding door closes. Safety Video plays. We pushback. I walk through and sit down. Again I am facing 19F. I notice 19F. She is a young pretty little blonde girl and she's looking out the window and tears are falling down her cheeks. I've been there before... many a times... leaving parents, friends, family, & boys behind... I've shed many a tear in the window seat. She tears up the entire take-off and after 10,000 feet she is still shedding tears so I go to the bathroom and bring her more kleenex's. The look of gratitude she gave me almost made me cry... I understand her.
I think I'm just getting emotional... whether from exhaustion or I finally grew my heart back after working for the temp agency and misplacing that heart somewhere in Nashville. I actually cared about people. I'm so proud of myself... temporarily though... it ends later in this story.
Two flights done and one more to go... the longer one. Mexico City... again. We grab some food, eat in the E lounge. There I run into Abi, Aritrea, Sean & Jalal. Small world! My flight takes off at 7:30pm... We eat, get to the gate... and nothing. The flight has been moved. So we look at the screens and it says our flight is delayed until 9:30pm. Heck! No fair! So we go back the the E lounge and try to figure out how we can stay awake and how we can drop the trip with the scheduling and rest requirement rules. No such luck.
Around 9:20 we have the plane boarded and ready to go. Starting beverage and dinner service my beverage cart breaks... Bad. So I'm doing that alone and kinda stressed but fine... every single can of coke fizzed like it had been shook up for days. I hate that. Makes my job take forever. Everyone was sooo needy! Everyone wanted 2 drinks and I was doing it alone. I'm on my 12th hour of work and already tired. A lady keep pestering me that her headphones aren't working and proceeds to yell at me while I'm serving drinks about how we always say we will fix it but never can. Um I'm not a freaking mechanic, electrician, or a person that gives a crap right now. Her yelling on my left side... the right side was being yelled at too by an impatient passenger who wants her special meal right way. She said if she didn't get it now then she wouldn't even have time to eat it... Does it take you 2 hours to stuff some nasty meal down your throat? There is a lot more details to this flight but its all along the same lines of needy people... I stopped caring. After 14 hours I just shut down.
Made it to the hotel. Bubble baths help calm. So now I'm heading to sleep. I only have one flight and then I get to home to Nashville! :) Haven't been home in over 30 days! Can't wait!
Friday, June 6, 2008
Mexico City
Current mood: drained
I finally made it to Mexico... Well let me tell you... that when I do things... I don't do things normal like the rest of people. I like to go out with a bang. This time it was an unplanned bang. wait. that just didn't sound right at all. You know what I mean so I wont try and reword that and make it even more awkward. I will just tell you my little story and newest adventure.
So yesterday I got to Atlanta from Orlando and I texted my friend Diane to see if she was in Atlanta. She was and she said she'd come pick me up for dinner then drop me back off at the airport so i could go on my morning trip to Mexico.
We went for sushi and it was soo good. We had soup and sushi rolls and I was in HEAVEN.
Maybe about 4 or 6 hours later I was not so much in heaven. I was back at the airport puking my guts out. I fell asleep in the lounge couch and woke up in time for work. I still felt bad but figured I'd be ok. Cause sometimes you just have to puke it out and your good to go. Lovely topic... I know. PS. I HATE talking about body functions... hate it.
I get on the plane and meet my crew and they are all pretty nice. Well there was a 5th flight attendant... which was a surprise... she was a load factor... i forgot what that means from training... but basically she was helping out cause we had a full flight. It was great cause I was not at my best today. I felt blah still but I'm a trooper so I kept going. The flight was boarded and the door closed and the flight leader and this 5th flight attendant got into it. Apparently the 5th girl thought she was the bomb-diggity and wanted to run the entire show on the plane. She rubbed all of us the wrong way... but still... i was glad she was there because as soon as the plane started to take off i had to run to the bathroom again. The plane took off with me inside the bathroom. Lovely.
So I come out and start to help set up for serving dinner... the smell of the food was making it way worse. I got halfway through dinner and started on the drink cart and had to excuse myself again. This is when my crew realized that I wasn't doing well. I regained composure... fixed my hair and tried to serve drinks again... I only got about 2 rows down and I had to excuse myself... again. This time was the worst because for 10 minutes there was really nothing left in my stomach except the 2 sips of ginger ale i drank to help calm it. So I had passengers banging on the door cause I had been in there so long while I was just trying stop dry heaving or trying to figure out which end it was gonna come out of. (graphic... I know... I'm sorry)
The pilots asked if I wanted just to go back to atlanta with them but I told them I was sure I'd be fine after a good nights sleep. Well load factor number 5 was just doing a Mexico turn on her Adays (on call days) which means she was not laying over with us... she was going to go straight back to Atlanta... She was trying to convince me to go back so she could have the layover. Heck no. I knew exactly what she was doing... I may be sick as a dog but I wasn't born yesterday. Meanwhile my crew kept approaching me and telling me that no matter what to not let her convince me to switch with her cause they hated her already and didn't want to layover with her or fly with her tomorrow. She kept complaining because she was being over worked because they were basically minus one crew member since I was in the bathroom the whole flight... Well since she was just a load factor (extra person) we weren't technically short a person... such drama! I hate drama... no lie.
I tried to drink water... I ate 2 small bites of bread... to no avail. We finally land and as soon as I disarm the doors I run back to the bathroom. We finally get everyone off and that stupid woman comes up to me again to convince me to trade with her. I say no... Then she tells me that she is gonna put in for short pay cause she worked hard and she can get more money out of it since they were "short a crew member" (aka me.) I almost flipped out on her. If I had any strength left in my body I would have puked whatever was left in me on her face! I'm just trying not to die and she's trying to make money off of me. Unbelievable! I told my flight leader and she said not to worry cause she won't let that get approved... she will fight so that load factor wont get an extra dime.
As we go through customs and all I felt pretty good. We get outside and one of my crew members lights a cigarette. I thought I would die... My stomach hated her. I stayed strong and held in my cookies (obviously figuratively) but all the while searching for a plan b in case my iron jaw plan didn't pan out the way i thought it would... We get in the van and the flight leader pulls out a bottle of "crew juice". Try to not laugh please. I've heard rumors of this crew juice... but I've never actually seen it done. It is an empty bottle of 1.5 liter water with red wine, champagne, oj, cranapple juice and vodka. One smell of that and I was frantically searching for another plan B. The mere thought of any of that mixed together made my stomach churn... but the smell... oh gosh.
If you have ever ridden in a taxi cab in NY you might have an idea of what riding around in a van in Mexico City feels like. I was counting the seconds before I puked... I should have sat in the front seat. It was the longest van ride ever. I started getting hot and clammy all of a sudden... so I asked for the gray bag that my alcoholic flight leader had stored her crew juice in... So I've already been named Pukey. Excellent. So how embarrassing that I'm puking in a gray bag in front of strangers that are my coworkers and I'm sitting next to the van drivers 5 year old son.
We finally made it to the hotel... Holy Moly. AMAZING! My room... gorgeous. It over looks Mexico City... which is not so gorgeous... and my bathroom was to die for. Biggest bathtub EVER. I didn't care about any of that. I made some hot tea and sipped on that and dodged for the bed. I passed out for 4 hours and just felt so week when I woke up. So I know I have to work on my myspaces... I go down to pay for internet in my room and get some gatorade and pretzels and a sprite... all the remedies my mom would have given me if she were here... So it's been an hour since I ate the pretzels and gatorade. They stayed in place where I put them so far... in my belly! Good news. :)
The view from my 9th story room was blah. I mean... well the city is dirty and smoggy. And its night time out right now... I've never seen such a big city so dark before... no street lights and barely any building lights. Its very odd. Anyways... I have to wake up at 4am to work tomorrow... 3 trips... so I better be in tip top shape. Heading in the direction of the big bath tub now and sleep... Sorry for the graffic-ness of my blog today. :)
I'm heading back to the US tomorrow... then back to Mexico City the day after... I hope there is less drama and less of everything else... I'd like to actually go out with my crew to dinner and enjoy the city on the street level this time.
Sleep good my dear myspace friends. All my love...
I finally made it to Mexico... Well let me tell you... that when I do things... I don't do things normal like the rest of people. I like to go out with a bang. This time it was an unplanned bang. wait. that just didn't sound right at all. You know what I mean so I wont try and reword that and make it even more awkward. I will just tell you my little story and newest adventure.
So yesterday I got to Atlanta from Orlando and I texted my friend Diane to see if she was in Atlanta. She was and she said she'd come pick me up for dinner then drop me back off at the airport so i could go on my morning trip to Mexico.
We went for sushi and it was soo good. We had soup and sushi rolls and I was in HEAVEN.
Maybe about 4 or 6 hours later I was not so much in heaven. I was back at the airport puking my guts out. I fell asleep in the lounge couch and woke up in time for work. I still felt bad but figured I'd be ok. Cause sometimes you just have to puke it out and your good to go. Lovely topic... I know. PS. I HATE talking about body functions... hate it.
I get on the plane and meet my crew and they are all pretty nice. Well there was a 5th flight attendant... which was a surprise... she was a load factor... i forgot what that means from training... but basically she was helping out cause we had a full flight. It was great cause I was not at my best today. I felt blah still but I'm a trooper so I kept going. The flight was boarded and the door closed and the flight leader and this 5th flight attendant got into it. Apparently the 5th girl thought she was the bomb-diggity and wanted to run the entire show on the plane. She rubbed all of us the wrong way... but still... i was glad she was there because as soon as the plane started to take off i had to run to the bathroom again. The plane took off with me inside the bathroom. Lovely.
So I come out and start to help set up for serving dinner... the smell of the food was making it way worse. I got halfway through dinner and started on the drink cart and had to excuse myself again. This is when my crew realized that I wasn't doing well. I regained composure... fixed my hair and tried to serve drinks again... I only got about 2 rows down and I had to excuse myself... again. This time was the worst because for 10 minutes there was really nothing left in my stomach except the 2 sips of ginger ale i drank to help calm it. So I had passengers banging on the door cause I had been in there so long while I was just trying stop dry heaving or trying to figure out which end it was gonna come out of. (graphic... I know... I'm sorry)
The pilots asked if I wanted just to go back to atlanta with them but I told them I was sure I'd be fine after a good nights sleep. Well load factor number 5 was just doing a Mexico turn on her Adays (on call days) which means she was not laying over with us... she was going to go straight back to Atlanta... She was trying to convince me to go back so she could have the layover. Heck no. I knew exactly what she was doing... I may be sick as a dog but I wasn't born yesterday. Meanwhile my crew kept approaching me and telling me that no matter what to not let her convince me to switch with her cause they hated her already and didn't want to layover with her or fly with her tomorrow. She kept complaining because she was being over worked because they were basically minus one crew member since I was in the bathroom the whole flight... Well since she was just a load factor (extra person) we weren't technically short a person... such drama! I hate drama... no lie.
I tried to drink water... I ate 2 small bites of bread... to no avail. We finally land and as soon as I disarm the doors I run back to the bathroom. We finally get everyone off and that stupid woman comes up to me again to convince me to trade with her. I say no... Then she tells me that she is gonna put in for short pay cause she worked hard and she can get more money out of it since they were "short a crew member" (aka me.) I almost flipped out on her. If I had any strength left in my body I would have puked whatever was left in me on her face! I'm just trying not to die and she's trying to make money off of me. Unbelievable! I told my flight leader and she said not to worry cause she won't let that get approved... she will fight so that load factor wont get an extra dime.
As we go through customs and all I felt pretty good. We get outside and one of my crew members lights a cigarette. I thought I would die... My stomach hated her. I stayed strong and held in my cookies (obviously figuratively) but all the while searching for a plan b in case my iron jaw plan didn't pan out the way i thought it would... We get in the van and the flight leader pulls out a bottle of "crew juice". Try to not laugh please. I've heard rumors of this crew juice... but I've never actually seen it done. It is an empty bottle of 1.5 liter water with red wine, champagne, oj, cranapple juice and vodka. One smell of that and I was frantically searching for another plan B. The mere thought of any of that mixed together made my stomach churn... but the smell... oh gosh.
If you have ever ridden in a taxi cab in NY you might have an idea of what riding around in a van in Mexico City feels like. I was counting the seconds before I puked... I should have sat in the front seat. It was the longest van ride ever. I started getting hot and clammy all of a sudden... so I asked for the gray bag that my alcoholic flight leader had stored her crew juice in... So I've already been named Pukey. Excellent. So how embarrassing that I'm puking in a gray bag in front of strangers that are my coworkers and I'm sitting next to the van drivers 5 year old son.
We finally made it to the hotel... Holy Moly. AMAZING! My room... gorgeous. It over looks Mexico City... which is not so gorgeous... and my bathroom was to die for. Biggest bathtub EVER. I didn't care about any of that. I made some hot tea and sipped on that and dodged for the bed. I passed out for 4 hours and just felt so week when I woke up. So I know I have to work on my myspaces... I go down to pay for internet in my room and get some gatorade and pretzels and a sprite... all the remedies my mom would have given me if she were here... So it's been an hour since I ate the pretzels and gatorade. They stayed in place where I put them so far... in my belly! Good news. :)
The view from my 9th story room was blah. I mean... well the city is dirty and smoggy. And its night time out right now... I've never seen such a big city so dark before... no street lights and barely any building lights. Its very odd. Anyways... I have to wake up at 4am to work tomorrow... 3 trips... so I better be in tip top shape. Heading in the direction of the big bath tub now and sleep... Sorry for the graffic-ness of my blog today. :)
I'm heading back to the US tomorrow... then back to Mexico City the day after... I hope there is less drama and less of everything else... I'd like to actually go out with my crew to dinner and enjoy the city on the street level this time.
Sleep good my dear myspace friends. All my love...
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