Off Kilter

I woke up today in Columbus, OH. I've never been here before. I have a 32 hour layover. I chose to do this trip because of the layover and in hopes to finally meet my favorite digital artist, a lady who I admire so much for her passion and love and work. Genevieve and I have been friends for almost 3 years via phone, text, IM, Myspace, Facebook and most importantly through art. I have 4 pieces of her work. One that wasn't for sell but my Rick had called her and convinced to her to put this piece for sale in a size that was insane. It's a poster sized picture of a battle that Genevieve constantly battles... her lungs. To me the picture is something that says, "this is me. there is hope." That's why I fell in love with the piece. Genevieve and I became friends around the time I was going through my divorce. I used to go to work in the morning, get my coffee, sit down at my desk and sign into my Yahoo chat. Genevieve would sometimes still have not slept since the night before creating a new amazing piece to show me that morning. She would ask my opinion on it. Most of the time the piece was perfect. Sometimes the piece would scare the hell out of me and I would tell her and sometimes she changed it to make it more subtle. Then we would proceed to pick amazing names for the pieces. It was my favorite part of my day. It helped me take my mind off my own problems. Genevieve also took a picture that my friend Stephen Boatright had taken of me and together the three of us created my favorite piece of art. The cover of my book. The final touch to a chapter I never wish to revisit.


I think it's the ugly weather in Columbus today that has me sitting here in a lump-like state. I was going through my friends status updates on Facebook and saw that my friend Nathan Lee has his album coming out on May 15. I will tell you that I will be one of the first to buy it. His music has and has always had a major effect on me. It's so raw, so honest that it makes you want to leave everything and do what you love. It's so intense that it makes your heart want to jump out of your body and go on an adventure of it's own.

I feel so lost today. I doubt it's because I'm in a new city. I think it's because I have so much time on my hands. I just read this book called Eat, Pray, Love. There is a part in there about how Americans don't know what true happiness is sometimes because we have to be constantly entertained and we can't just be in silence with ourselves. Usually I do ok with this but it wasn't always this way... and today is like old times. I can't sleep. I have no desire to do my studies, to read, to do my yoga, listen to my podcasts, work on my clients pages or go to the gym. I just want to sit in my 18th floor room and over look the overcast day and listen to U2, The Walkmen, Ryan Adams and I think I'm so emotional today that if I even played another Nathan Lee song I might burst into tears. Gosh, I'm such a girl today. I hate that. I'm glad I have the day off... I'd be a mess flying.

I need to pull myself together today by 4pm my time because I have a conference call to a new company in San Antonio that I was just hired to help. It's actually really exciting. Rick found an ad on Craigslist for a Myspace, Facebook, Twitter Guru. Being that I am that person... Rick forwarded me the link and I sent them an e-mail. I'm sure lots of people think that they are Myspace, Facebook, Twitter Guru's because they are addicted to social networking... but I take all of that to a new level. I've been making money off social networking sites for almost 3 years. Starting when Kevin Max's myspace mysteriously disappeared one night and he needed a new one ASAP. Ever since then I have a small problem dreaming and thinking in html codes. I love it. I love designing pages. I love taking ugly pages and giving them makeovers. So I had a meeting with this poster of the ad in Craigslist and it went great. Next thing I know I have been hired to re-do the pages for a 4 chain restaurant/pub in San Antonio... and to be creating a campaign to promote Aretha Franklin when she graces San Antonio with her R-E-S-P-E-C-T... then apparently after that there are quite a few more big artists that I will be working with, such as Crosby, Stills and Nash. Not too shabby for a girl who makes money off Myspace. :)

I think maybe I need some breakfast and a good work out to get my blood pumping to shake whatever is haunting over me today. I need a mood boost. If only the sun would come out. I hate that my moods can depend on weather. I feel a little helpless. I'd really like to sit by the pool in the sun and take a nap... who wouldn't?!

Well... I'm off to change my mood today.
Things you should definitely think about...
1) Buying Nathan's CD on May 15 and supporting indie music at it's BEST.
2) Pick up a new book. It doesn't have to be mine, if that's what you were thinking. :) Anybook... something that makes your brain think, opens new doors and gives you passion.
3) Check out Genevieve's art. Support indie artists. It's as good as a book. It will make your brain think and open doors and perhaps give you a passion. :)

Standby is lame.

So I am on Standby in Atlanta for flights for the next 4 hours and I don't think I will go anywhere... but you can't say that out loud because just when you say it then they send you somewhere horrible. :)
They have already put a trip on my schedule for tomorrow and I'm heading to Bogota. Yes, Colombia. Here is the deal with Bogota. I am not really excited about flying there for a few reasons.
1) the obvious situations in Colombia... drug lords, gangs, rebels, politics, etc.
2) they escort crew in an armored car with machine gunned men... (so I've heard)
3) it's a short layover. I hate short layovers...
4) I heard the passengers where very needy. boo.
5) 49 cases of swine flu here so far. crap.

Here's why I'm not too mad about having Bogota on my schedule...
1) I've never been there so I can add a new country to my list... this makes 18 countries that I have been to in 1 year. :)
2) Juanes and Shakira are from here... I dunno why that makes me happy.

So it's only an 11 hour layover so I cannot possibly get into too much trouble... but you know me... I'm sure I will find some sort of adventure to run into on accident.


As far as other things in my life... My schedule for May is horrible. I'm just glad right now that there haven't been any layoffs... but I am planning for just in case. I'm interviewing with Cosmetology schools next week and applied for financial aid and I'm applying for jobs for that time when I have to take a leave to finish school... I need a plan B. So I'm working on my back up plans to be smart.

If you know me you also know I love lists. So here are a few lists to keep you entertained.

List of Podcasts on iTunes that I am addicted to:
1) Etsy podcast.
2) Ford Models How- To
3) Apple Quick Tips
4) Threadbangers
5) Hebrew Podcast
6) LEARN Hebrew Podcast
7) Daily Audio Bible Podcast
8) YogAmazing Podcast
9) 2 Minute Photoshop Tricks

(I am ADDICTED to podcasts. It's FREE education... and for a person on the go I fill my mind, body, and soul's every day needs with my podcasts.) :)

Websites I am ADDICTED to:
1) the obvious... Facebook
2) Myspace (even though it's dying.. I still make money off it)
3) Twitter.
4) ETSY
5) Neopets... yes, it's a deep dark secret that I have a neopet and I feed it and clothe it. I've had it for 3 years. I mostly just play games on there when I'm REALLY bored.
6) youtube.com
7) threadbanger.com
8) http://poppytalk.blogspot.com/
9) http://www.designspongeonline.com/
10) http://www.re-nest.com/
11) http://thenewnew.blogspot.com/
12) http://modgreenpod.com/item/2/
13) http://shop.marketpublique.com/
14) wikipedia.com

so you are welcome... cause most of those websites will change your life. :)

also as a simple little inevitable plug to ... who else but... ME...
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6516594
You gotta check out my site. I handmake scarves. I think they are cute.... personally. :) I know it's summer in most places but buy them now for fall... Plan ahead for Christmas! :)
and last plug, I swear...
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-lone-heart-state/1049665
My book. If you order from the website you can either order the paperback and have it printed straight from the company or you can order the ebook for a little cheaper.

List of my favorite books:
1) The Biography of Pablo Neruda
2) Mandela
3) The Biography of Che Guevara
4) Stairway to Heaven
5) Clapton

So great. If you don't like to read... Listen to Audiobooks in the morning when you are getting ready. You will feel so much better about yourself and have so much more to talk to people about. I have to keep my conversations pretty broad with all my passengers... but the greatest secret is to just pretend like you know what you are talking about... if its something political and your subject in question looks confused... abort. end it quickly and tell them that it is just your personal view but you perfer not to talk about politics. haha it works! :) then I wikipedia whatever I was talking about later to see what a fool I was. :)

Ok. I will stop with the lists... I could go on all day long with the lists. Anyways... I'm bored. I still have 3 more hours to go on standby. woo hoo.
More adventures later. Peace out, JulieKristine

Being on Call...

This last week has been interesting. I've told you about the murderer, Colonel Sanders, Ricky Schroeder, and the alcohol testing. All that happened in 2 days. I'm on day 7 away from home. I was expecting to only be gone for 5 days. So I have 5 days of food and clothes packed with me. I'm trying so hard to eat healthy and on a budget and working out of an airport makes that very difficult. After I got back from Panama I had a trip that I thought would be SO easy. I thought I'd just take one flight to Detroit, layover for 17 hours, One flight back to Atlanta, sit, one flight to San Diego sleep for 13 hours and boom back to Atlanta where I would then hop on a flight to San Antonio, do my laundry, kiss my boyfriend, grab more food and head back to work. Of course in my life nothing ever goes as planned.

Here's what really went down. I got back from Panama and headed to the training center where when available there are rooms for free for flight attendants. It's first come first serve and you get a bed and a shower for FREE. Score. So I got a room and didn't even have to check out early since it was the weekend. So I slept in until about 11 am which was just what my body needed. Little did I know I should have stayed in bed a few more hours. That morning there was tornado warnings for Georgia and some snow alerts for the next day. When I get to work they had already started canceling flights before the first snowflake was even formed.

Our schedule was showing our flight back from Detroit the next day was cancelled. So we didn't know if we were going to get stuck in Detroit or not go at all. As we go into briefing we get our re-route. It says that INSTEAD of our nice long 17 hour layover in a very nice hotel you get to sit in the airport for 5 hours and 50 minutes and deadhead on the first and only plane leaving Detroit that day. We don't have a lounge in Detroit and 5 hours and 50 minutes happened to be overnight which happens to be really annoying. So our Flight Leader called scheduling and begged for a hotel for us. Luckily they gave us one. It was going to be a very short stay but better to be warm and out of the airport than cold in the airport. So we were grateful at least for that. Well the night was already going to be long or short depending on your perspective. Immigration decides to put a 2 hour hold on the line so no one can leave and we unfortunately have 60 passengers that are supposed to be on our flight coming in from Aruba and St. Thomas. If they don't get on this plane then they don't fly home for a couple of days. So we wait for awhile. Slowly but surely they trickled on the airplane. It was finally decided that we couldn't wait anymore and we took off. This delayed us enough that now we only get 3 hours at our hotel room in Detroit. I know that I cannot sleep for such little time when I am exhausted already so I planned to stay awake until we got back to Atlanta where I would then sleep like a baby during the day at our domicile layover before our San Diego turn. I felt like death.

I made it to the Atlanta hotel at 9am and finally went to sleep around 10am. This was 23 hours that I had not slept. Maybe if I had the stamina of a 16 year old I could do this... but this old lady requires sleep. You'd think that I slept like a baby... no. I slept about 5 hours and my body just wouldn't let me stay down. I opened the curtains and it was snowing like crazy outside. So pretty. Pretty from far away. :) I hate snow... it hurts my body... I told you I was old. So I worked online and watched old movies and watched my podcasts and headed to the airport for my next flight to San Diego. It was delayed about an hour and a half. We were crossing out fingers for it to be cancelled. No such luck.

When we got to San Diego we were all tired and grouchy. We got in around midnight California time which would be 3am Atlanta time. Yuck! We got our rooms and I popped 2 melatonins so I could have a nice uninterrupted sleep...
As soon as I had finally nodded off the ice machine that neighbored my room started rumbling and it scared me so I sat straight up and I swear I saw a shadow of a person in my room. (I learned later that melatonin can give you horrible vivd nightmares.) I finally convinced myself no one was in the room with me and passed out.

8am I hear housekeeping banging on the door. Before I could even figure out where I was or what my name was they came busting in and broke the chain off the door. I guess they realized someone was in there by then and closed the door. I could NOT fall asleep after that. Around 11 I am getting dressed to go to work and they bang on the door again. I was so annoyed so I complained to the front desk so that would never happen again to a flight attendant and also they wouldn't charge me for the broken lock on the door. I head to work and we are delayed again. It takes a few days to get back on schedule after snow.

On the flight I got put to sit up front with the flight leader to work first class. Little did I know that he would make this the longest 4 hour flight. Before we even take off he starts looking at me weird. He tells me in Spanish, "Si supieras cuanto te amo." (If only you knew how much I love you). I said, "Umm... You don't know me." He said, "Oh you speak Spanish!" "yea." So then he starts talking to me in French. I told him that I didn't understand french but if what he was saying had anything to do with his previous statement that he was crazy because he didn't know me. So he's already a creeper. I mentioned later on that I was cold and he rushed over to try and warm me up. I get up and move. I try not to make this situation even more awkward because I know he is a co-worker and I know that I will have to see him again later. I tried to keep busy and moving around him at all times so that he couldn't try to touch me. He kept trying to rub my back and shoulders. As I was standing in front of the cockpit door blocking for the pilots to come out to use the bathrooms he grabs my hand to hold it. I was in such shock. Luckily the cockpit door opened and I quickly got inside. The rest of the flight I stayed in the back of the plane. I mentioned to the other flight attendant what had happened and how I just kept talking about my boyfriend and tried not to make things awkward. She said he had done the same thing last night on the way down to her. She said he had done the same as me and talked about her boyfriend and kept moving around so he couldn't catch her. haha So I was nervous to be up there alone with him. When we landed he kept trying to hug me. All the first class passengers had exited and so had the pilots so I just had a feeling that this guy was bold enough to try and kiss me or something in there so I quickly moved to the middle of the plane and said goodbye to all the passengers... (more witnesses, right?) I turned around and he was right there and he tried to grab my hand again in front of everyone. I just pretended it didn't happen and told him I needed to get my bags. He told me that he would wait for me to see if I got on my flight. I told him no thank you. He said he wanted to take me to dinner and that he would pay for my hotel. Yea, right. No thanks! So I made it off the plane before him and hid behind some passengers and waited for him to pass. whew!

I was crossing my fingers that I could get on a flight back to San Antonio that night but there was only one very small plane left to go home and it was so full. So I got stuck in Atlanta and again headed over to the Training Center. Tuesday was my day off (the next day) so I wasn't too happy about being stuck in Atlanta. Luckily I can do my laundry at the Training Center. I had to wait to see what was put on my schedule for Wednesday since I was on-call. If I got a late sign in there was still a chance I could go home for the day and even the night.... no such luck. Posted on my schedule was a 5:30 am standby. Oh Joy. So check out at the training Center is 9AM and check in time is at 4PM. So for those few hours I was lost on what to do. I found a little lobby in the training center with comfy couches and a tv with cable but no internet connection. boo. It was so cold in there and I didn't bring my jacket since I figured I'd just be in Panama and San Diego anyways... So I had my hoodie on over my head and my hands tucked in the sleeves, it was so cold. I fell asleep on the couch and was awakened by a maintenance man who handed me a blanket. I was so grateful! I wondered if they even thought I belonged there or if I was just some homeless girl. When I woke up again there was another flight attendant waiting for a room too. Finally it was 4pm and we got our rooms again. Oh Joy. By 4:30 pm I took my chances again with the melatonin, put in my earplugs and put on my eye mask and set my alarm for 3am.

At 5PM, my phone rang and I shouldn't have answered but I did. It was a sneaky, rude, arrogant bill collector who was bullying me and telling me that he was going to wage garnish my paychecks and how I had to pay him all this money up front. I offered him what I had and he told me no. I got so nervous that they were really going to start taking 25% out of my paychecks to pay this bill from so many years ago. So, being the tired, emotional girl that I am I started crying. Luckily I have he best support system. I texted my boyfriend and he assured me that the guy was just trying to scare me. I called my sister and she knows all the rules and told me that he cannot do that and that it is illegal for him not to take the money that I offered to him to pay my debt. So she called him as my representation and let him have it. He totally lied to her and to me and she cornered him and told him to never contact me again. Awesome! I'm glad I know someone who knows the law and knows how to fight.

At 6PM I had calmed down enough to realize that I hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours and that sick feeling in my stomach was more than just an uneasy feeling about an unpaid bill. So I ate yet another peanut butter and honey sandwich. I'm not quite sure how many more of those I can eat. I attempted sleep again and passed out until about 10:30PM. I couldn't fall back asleep again. So I watched old shows and just relaxed until the alarm went off at 3AM. I think I dozed off again around 2AM which made 3AM even worse. I called a cab and bared the cold and headed to work.

This is where I am right now. On standby. I'm stuck here until 9:30 I think. If I don't get called then I have to wait again until 4pm to get yet ANOTHER training Center room and hope that they don't call me out early. I have 11 hours from the time I get released until the time that they can call me again. I HATE being on call. HATE it. So I'm watching the flight attendants slowly trickle in and listening to my nemesis snore on the couch. I swear I've contemplated punching her to get her to shut up, putting food in her mouth, putting an alarm by her head... anything. It's so annoying. All the flight attendants are just looking around for who it is. I don't even have to look. I already know who it is ... I've named her the orgasmic farter. She's crazy.

Anyways... I have 3 more on call days, then I am going to head down to Nashville for my friend Jess' wedding and then restock on food and head BACK to atlanta for SIX more on call days... I miss my boyfriend so much. I'm so over being on call.

And oh dang, the creeper flight leader just showed up. Well wish me luck. I'm grumpy enough today for some confrontation. Should be interesting

Yesterday

Current mood: adventurous

I was twittering most of what happened yesterday but I thought I
might connect the dots for you. It was quite eventful. So I was flying
in from Panama. The flight itself was pretty uneventful. When we landed
I had this super strong feeling that I was going to be chosen for the
random drug testing. I don't know why. I just had this feeling.



So we land and as soon as the plane door opens there were customs
people and apparently fbi guys waiting on the jetway to check
everyone's passports. That never happens.... or at least I've never
seen it happen. So I was at the back of the plane just chilling and
waiting for the longest deplaning in history and missed most of the
action. Apparently they were searching for a specific gender and race
and letting everyone else pass. The girls picked the next "passport
suspect" in line and he didn't look nervous because he couldn't see
what was going on. Once they found him they threw him against the
jetway wall took his coat off him and handcuffed him and took him away.
Everyone was so confused. Even us. We had no idea what was going on. So
we all go to clear customs and immigration ourselves but the one flight
attendant stayed behind to help a passenger get her cellphone back that
she had left on the plane.



After I clear customs and immigration there is a Delta person waiting
for me to be random alcohol tested. So crazy. I think I have ESPN. :)
So I head to the A concourse to go blow in a machine to prove I hadn't
been drinking before 10am. haha As I'm waiting for the elevator I see
Colonel Sanders... I am not joking. He was wearing the suit, the tie,
the glasses, the cane, and the KFC pin. His wife was in a wheelchair
and he was walking slow with her down the concourse. Everyone was
shouting, "Colonel Sanders!" And he was waving. Now my mouth was
dropped open and I just stared. I had thought he died. I wiki-ed it on
my phone and he did die. So who is this old man walking around the
airport impersonating the KFC guy? It was like seeing the ghost of
Elvis. :)



I get into the elevator with one flight attendant and I was telling her
how this had been the weirdest day of my life and it was just starting.
She laughed. Now when we get into the elevator to take us to our Flight
Attendant lounge, we have to swipe our badges and punch in a code to
take us there. Well I thought there were only 3 levels to the
airport... um no. The elevator this time opened to some part of the
airport abyss with pipes and a worker singing "Welcome to the jungle"
to us. So crazy.



I finally make it to the drug testing area and I blow in the machine
and told the lady of all my events of the day. She was laughing so
hard. Obviously I passed the test. I went to grab some food but the
flight attendant who had stayed behind to help the cellphone lady found
me in the lounge and told me she has asked the customs guys what had
happened and why that guy was arrested. He told her that the man was
wanted for murder. woah.



Anyways... my day was pretty much uneventful after that. I was going to
try and go to TX before my flight the next day but all the planes were
back up due to weather so I stayed the night in Atlanta at the Delta
dorms. Not bad because now they have wi-fi. I wish they had that when I
was in training, would have saved me a lot of money. Tonight I'm
heading to Detroit then to San Diego. Nice long layover... enough to
work out and sleep a lot. Hopefully they won't be as action packed.





Ps. the day before yesterday I had Ricky Schroder on my flight from San
Antonio to Atlanta. The one flight attendant went crazy over him. Guess
she grew up watching Silver Spoons. :)

Scam company of the year goes to: T-MOBILE!

Current mood: aggravated

So I work as a flight attendant for the very few of you that
didn't know... and as a side gig I run myspaces for people. I design
them and keep them up so I need constant internet connection. While I
am in Atlanta I can work by picking up an internet hotspot. So this
story goes back to May of 2008. I was based in New York at the time and
we fly out of 3 airports. Each airport has a different hotspot. So I
signed up for Boingo which was 9.99 I believe a month with NO CONTRACTS
and I signed up (reluctantly, I might add) to T-Mobile for 19.99 a
month. Now I have to admit that I have not always had the tightest
reign on my money and I can be a little absent minded about signing up
for contracts such as this T-Mobile incident.

In June I got transferred to Atlanta and the Hartsfield Intl Airport
supports both Boingo and T-Mobile. So I called and tried to cancel the
more expensive service... that being of T-Mobile. This is where I
discovered I was on a contract for a year. If I canceled this service I
would be charged $200. So I kept T-Mobile and being that I preferred
Boingo I kept Boingo until about November.



In November I thought well I need to start taking better care of the
money that I barely have so I canceled Boingo and started using my
T-Mobile account. Little knowing that it would have been cheaper to
keep paying full price for both services. In my head it made sense to
pay one account for $19.99 and use it rather than pay for both. Simple
math, right? Wrong.



In December I notice a withdraw from my account of $44.95 for a
T-Mobile hotspot. I thought that was peculiar and made note that it was
probably some scammy fee that was hidden in the contract for the new
year or something stupid like that. I made a mental note to call them
and ask them about it but I forgot as I usually do.



Today, In February I notice another $44.95 withdraw from my account for
a T-Mobile hotspot. This time it affects the rest of my bills being
that I alloted (like any normal person) a certain amount to each bill
and just like the rest of America and the world right now I am on a
tight budget. So the $300 that was set aside for my car payment has now
been tampered with because someone took more than was budgeted. Yay for
overdraft fees!



So I call up T-Mobile. If you have a customer service number you
probably want it to be a very clear number to prove you have good
service. Well I could barely hear them through the static so we were
off to a good start. I got transferred 3 times until I got connected to
the right guy. I tell him the situation and he tries to figure out what
was going on. He seemed completely baffled at first just as I was. He
tells me that I acquired roaming fees.



"Roaming fees?!", I said.



"Yes."



"Sir, I go to work at the Atlanta Airport every time and log into my
account in the same way every time on the same Airport web page every
time. Sometimes I get a $44.95 bill sometimes I get a $19.95 bill.", I
said.



He says, "Do you sit in different places of the airport? Like outside
the airport or in a different concourse or a crown room or a starbucks?"



"No. I go into the A concourse, I go downstairs to the flight attendant
lounge and I even sit on the same couch every time. It's yellow so I
know its the same couch. And I have never been to a crown room and I
cannot afford starbucks when you are withdrawing $44.95", I said.



"Do you notice a different screen when you log in?", He said.



"No, sir, I've never seen any other page besides the airport page that
has a T-Mobile button on it which I proceed to click every time where I
log in and do my work."



"Well you've been roaming."



"What? Seriously? Same yellow couch every time. I don't even roam from that couch."



So we proceed to fight back and forth for 30 minutes relentlessly.



I ask him if perhaps he could admit that it did seem weird and that
maybe there was some sort of kink in his system. He said that there was
no way that his system would be wrong. I asked him if he had 100%
confidence that his company didn't make a mistake. He said yes. He said
he believes ONE HUNDRED PERCENT in his company. I said "Wow, I don't
even believe that much in my company. That's amazing!" (I kinda said
that a little sarcastically though). :)

Finally when I realized he was getting me no where I asked to be transferred to his supervisor. I waited about 5-10 minutes.



The supervisor gets on and tells me go to the hotspot web page where it
clearly tells me all the roaming locations. Sure enough. It did. But do
you think I was surprised that they covered their own butts? Of course
not. I'm growing accustomed to fine print backstabbing me months down
the road. I tell him that I think that what they are doing is shady. I
told him that his customer service is also shady. I told him that for
future reference that T-Mobile should talk to the Atlanta Airport and
have a place where when you login it tells you that you are roaming...
whether it's a click box or whatever. But in my understanding if I see
a T-Mobile button for wireless internet hotspot, I think. HEY! I pay
$19.99 for that service I must be able to login here. And sure enough
it logs me in with no problems. I don't think about roaming fees in the
biggest airport ever. In fact I haven't thought of roaming fees since
the late 90's and early 00's when I used to have a T-Mobile phone which
I canceled over 7 years ago and have been a faithful and happy
Cingular/ AT&T customer since.



So I told him all that and I also asked him when my exact sign up date
was because it doesn't tell me on the website when I login. It just
tells me that I have been paying them for nothing for 9 months. He
muttered and stuttered around and said "... Um... I think it might be
in May." I said, "You THINK? no. Not good enough. I need an exact date
so I don't get charged any shady $200 cancellation fees." He told me to
cancel my account before May 17 and that he would also give me a free
month of service in March. I told him that would be fine especially
considering that I will never logon to my T-Mobile Hotspot again. I
will be going back to simple Boingo that has no roaming fees for half
the price.

As usual I do my civic duty to share with you about the corporations
who are ripping off the little people and the crazy things that get
made up as you reason with these poor saps. Don't use T-Mobile. If you
google T-Mobile Customer Service you get a LOT of threads of unhappy
people talking about that specific corporation being a scam. They
haven't heard the last from me... and neither have you. :)

Important travel tips from an Insider

Current mood: awake
Things you must know and prepare for when flying:
Whether you are flying to the ends of the earth or just a 30 minute flight, I'd like to give you some tips to help your travel life be more enjoyable.

1) First things first. Just common knowledge that sodas make you more dehydrated. When traveling you must stay hydrated. This is not a joking matter. My water intake is probably 4-5 liters a day. (your bladder does grow, don't worry)
So skip the cokes and ask for water. Also, just plan on not gorging yourself on peanuts and biscoff cookies... so throw a couple of trail mixes or granola bars in your bag. Definitely splurge and buy a bottle of water once you get through security. Don't depend on my cokes and peanuts to fill you up. Prepare your bags as if this were a road trip... pack snacks, buy waters, bring entertainment!

2) Remember those little metal skeletons that outlines what size our carry-on items should be back in the day? Let's get back to that. You are allowed ONE carry-on item... (something that fits in that metal skeletal briefcase) and one personal item. A personal item would be your purse, manbag, laptop bag or diaper bag.... something you can't live without. Keep your coats on your lap until everyone has put their bags away... this makes sure there are no delays due to bags having to be checked since your coat took up space. Actually use that space under the seat in front of you. It's there for a reason and I know your feet don't actually stretch that far.

3) When you get on an airplane... you MUST not be territorial. You have to share this metal tube with anywhere from 100 people to 250 people. Keyword SHARE! That overhead compartment above your seat... guess what? It DOES NOT belong to you.

4) Don't think your flight attendants are very friendly? Did you say hi to them or smile, or even acknowledge them? You'd be surprised how frequently we get ignored... people won't even make eye contact with us... which leads me to number five.

5) The engine is very loud and when you are looking down at your book, playing a game or whatever and you order a drink... guess what? I cannot hear you. I have learned to become a very good lip reader for beverage selections. If you mumble or don't look at me, I can't help you. Will it kill you to take your earphones out for a second to make a 1 minute conversation with me?

6) Be polite... not just to your flight attendants but to other passengers. I promise I had to give a lady some courtesy lessons the other day. It's sad when a mother had to be taught how to say 'please' & 'thank you'. She just straight up told a passenger to move out of his seat to accommodate her baby. I told her that a "please" and asking instead of demanding would get her a lot farther.

7) Let's talk about complaining to your flight attendant. I understand you have had a very long day and you probably didn't get where you wanted to go as fast as you thought... or maybe TSA took some of your stuff coming through security, or maybe a gate agent didn't book you next to your friend or parent... but we have no control over that. I swear! We don't have secret powers that the gate agents don't... we don't have control to give you any free flights if you cry loud enough. Our primary purpose is your safety... then we hydrate you (preferably with water) :) It is most likely that we have had a much longer day than you on much less sleep and food.... and we really didn't get paid for the entire work day either... so let's think about that. Our maximum duty day is 16 hours. That's a lot. That does not include the time before sign in that we had to do our hair and make-up, get dressed, eat, commute... some flight attendants commute from the east coast, west coast, europe or even japan... it could be that your flight attendant hasn't slept in 24 hours or eaten in 16 hours.

8) So far this may all seem negative to you, but here is something you didn't know... we like to talk to passengers... especially nice ones. We'd prefer to talk to you after our work is done though... We have a mission to accomplish and once it's accomplished we like to talk to people... We meet some of the most interesting people on flights. We like to talk about things that don't involve flying or the merger. Most flight attendants are extremely well educated. Most of them have degrees, speak various languages and some work real jobs, like real estate agents, lawyers... they work as flight attendants for fun on the weekends.

9) We like to laugh. We need to laugh to stay sane. If you joke with us... most of the time we get it... if you are actually funny of course. We also like tips. I know $7 domestic beer is ridiculous... But $7 liquor or wine isn't too bad... considering the quantity you get... and tipping is customary anywhere else on alcohol... why stop on the plane? We didn't have to add the special lime/lemon twists to it. :)



examples of starting your flight out on the wrong foot:
- walking up to a flight attendants without so much as a smile or hello and handing her your trash.
- complaining that you haven't eaten since lunch/breakfast/dinner.
- ringing your flight attendant button before the seatbelt sign is off... that sign is for us too, you know.
- ringing your button to ask us what's for dinner.
- walking out of the bathroom and informing your flight attendant that someone really made a mess in there or that you couldn't find the button to flush the toilet, then just walking off. that is disgusting.
- ordering hot tea on an hour long flight.
- setting your body bag of a luggage on the floor when you are a big strong man/woman and asking the very small petite flight attendant to put the bag away and just walk away. this isn't valet and you didn't tip me. we also don't get paid during boarding... and that is the hardest part of our flight.

examples of a smooth flight:
- load in, drop your nice small bags under your seat or in the bins.
- sit down. read your book.
- turn off your electronic devices. not a joke.
- take your earphones out when talking to the flight attendant.
- make eye contact.
- listen to the PA's so you know your snack and drink selection.
- actually have a snack/drink selection in mind when the flight attendants asks. We have 150 more people to serve after you in 30 minutes. IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT ORDER MORE THAN ONE DRINK ON A FLIGHT UNDER AN HOUR WHEN THERE ARE PEOPLE BEHIND YOU THAT MIGHT NOT GET SERVED IN TIME. So rude.
- talk to your flight attendant... we are people too. Ask them about their cats... haha



I think that about wraps it up... I'm sure there is way more... but just fly smart. Flight attendants and passengers will thank you.

sincerely, your insider ;)

T.G.L.F.A.B.

Current mood: cooky/wacky
(The Glamorous Life of a Flight Attendant Blog)

So starting on Christmas day...
(first things first... you must know that as an Atlanta flight attendant we have 6 "A days".. which is on call days... they can send you anywhere at any time for 6 days)
... So ok, Christmas Day. I was on my first A day and I got scheduled standby for 4 hours until 11pm. So I got there in the morning from TX and chilled all day... I watched movies on Netflix, crocheted some scarves, finished my Mandela biography, and chatted with friends. I didn't get called out for anything. So day one was over and I checked my schedule for the next day and it said I had standby again for day 2. I was irritated but whatever. So I slept in the lounge in a smelly little room... by little I mean maybe 5 ft x 5 ft with 2 small plastic reclining chairs in them. They smell weird and they are creepy. But I slept in there until about 9 or 10 am... not very comfortably... but better than the couch. I wake up, do my airport beauty routine put on some jeans and check my schedule again. It tells me I have standby on day 2 and day 3. I check open time (which tells us which trips need to be covered for the day) and it shows all these amazing trips. I called scheduling and asked them for one of those good trips. The guy tells me I can't have any of those trips because I am the only flight attendant in the lounge that can be used for more than 4 days... I kinda didn't believe him... and I let him know that I was on to him. I told him I commuted from Texas so I needed a bed and shower at the hotels... he asked me if I had considered moving to Atlanta... I told him I had a family. haha whatever. It is not his business where I live. So then I told him that if I was on standby for one more day then I would start to smell soon because I needed a shower and I cannot afford a hotel every night I have A days. He didn't care about my body odor.

So I'm sitting around in my jeans and t-shirt watching Netflix... and the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport kicks me off the internet. I call them. I pay for that internet... I should be able to use it anyway I want. Here is basically my conversation with the internet tech guy after we established introductions.

Me: "So I have a boingo account and your internet keeps kicking me off, and I pay for it and I need to have it urgently."

Guy: "ok lemme check a couple things... ok here you are, I see your screenname"

Me: "Listen, I really need y'all to stop kicking me off. I'm here all the time and the internet is the only thing that keeps me sane... for the safety of my passengers, I need the internet back."

Guy: "Where are you?"

Me: "Downstairs"

Guy: "um... why? where?"

Me: "A concourse, Flight attendant lounge. I am a flight attendant sitting on stand by and my only contact with the outside world is your internet. I need it. Please give it back."

Guy: "ok, lemme see what I can do"

Me: "Listen, I don't have windows down here, I don't even know if the suns out... I need the weather bug back, I need my netflix back. I am going crazy."

Guy: "hahaha ok, your back on, reboot and your good to go"

Me: "Thank you so much sir, my future passengers thank you too."

So then around 1pm (3 hours before sign in) I hear over the loud speaker that scheduling has already used all of their standbys and are asking for volunteers. I walk to the front desk to see what I can do. They tell me that I might need to put on my uniform cause things are a little crazy... understatement of the day.

3 hours before sign in scheduling started to call me to help them board airplanes because some flight attendants hadnt come in yet. So I walk in 3 inch heals with al my bags to the other side of the airport. Do you think anyone called me to let me know that the Flight attendant had shown up already before I had gotten there? No. So I trekked across the airport just to go straight back down to the lounge. Then they call me to send me a on a crappy domestic rotation for 3 days. I told the guy (with a little bit of attitude) that I was told earlier that I was the ONLY person in atlanta that could fly for more than 4 days, and I was sure that they could find someone for a 3 day trip. :) They said they couldnt and I fought some more but he told me I was definitely going to Indianapolis... sigh... so I go to find my crew... then I hear my name on the loud speaker... scheduling wants me to call them... they say that they changed their minds and want me back on standby. I snort out a laugh and try not to say 'I told you so'.... but I go back to my couch to not loose my place in the lounge.

Now to save you the reading and exhaustion I will tell you that over the next 8 house I was sent out on over 5 different assignments and taken off these assignments. I was being put through phsycological testing and I lost. I was so tired and fought for my rights. I probably spend one solid hour on the phone just with scheduling alone off and on. Ridiculous! To make a long story short, I ended up with a long layover in San Diego that night. I slept for about 15 out of 22 hours. I needed it after that day.

This is a VERY long story... so I'm trying to cut it short...
We had a medical emergency on the red eye from san diego to atlanta... got in at 5:30 am and then slept for about 2 hours in the lounge then got sent out on a 3 day domestic trip.... with a short layover in new orleans and a short layover in raleigh, nc... unfortunately i'd never been to any of those places and I didn't have enough time there to go explore... so I will have to go back. Finally after all my 6 days were up and scheduling couldn't physically use me any more I got to go to TX.

On the plane back to TX, I was sitting in the back of the airplane on the jumpseat... just tired as anything.... and a passenger in the last row looks at me and tells me... "I dunno who's bag this is, but its in my spot." I told her it was my bag. She said oh. Then muttered something about supposing she'd just put her bag under her chair. Note to YOU as future flyers... the compartment over your head does not have your name on it... You can put your bag anywhere past first class if your flying coach... just as long as the bins close... but really someone should be enforcing the bag size... it used to be only the size of a briefcase... people are bringing on body bags... and 2 or 3 of them. So that spot in front of your legs... yea that is yours for luggage... you can fight for that spot... but the overhead... its supposed to only be for overflowing luggage... in a perfect world. :)

I was so happy to be over with it all and to have new years off! I got to spend New years with my man in san antonio and with some good friends. Definitely a good way to start off the year... and with rockband 2. :)

So my next set of A days started on the 3rd... and my birthday is the 4th. I had International standby on the 3rd but didn't get called anywhere... They already assigned me a trip on the 4th... which is now... to Managua, Nicaragua... so we shall see what is to come... I still have 3 more days after that to come... who knows what will happen.

A Technomadic Thanksgiving Story

Current mood: adventurous
So on Tuesday, November 25th the Abates (that's my family in case you didn't know I had a last name... my dear myspace friends), The Babcocks (that's my sister's new last name and her husbands always last name), The Breeden (that's my boyfriend), The Snavely & the future Mrs. Snavely (that would be my boyfriends best friend and his new fiancee) & JoAnn... sorry I don't know your last name (that's my little brother's girlfriend), we all met at my sister's house for an early Turkey day celebration.

We all work and we are very busy people... so we ordered the turkey from Grady's BBQ... :) Let me tell you that if the Abate/Babcock sisters decided to make a turkey (as we have done before in the past) it would be awesome... and it was! So to save time this year, we bought a delicious one. Then I ordered a delicious pumpkin cheesecake pie. Oh gosh. Yum. I made sweet potato casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, green been casserole, pumpkin bread muffins, some pre-made rolls and some canned cranberry sauce... and yea... ta-DA! We had a FEAST! I wish our parents could have been there to see us... they would have been proud of us.... minus the christmas tree. They might be proud of it next year when it's my sisters turn to decorate it. :) Sorry Jer! :)

Jeremiah (my brother) & JoAnn (his girl) cleaned up the kitchen like nobodies business... and we sat by the fire (with the door open, cause it was hot) and watched a Christmas movie... not THE Christmas Story though... but there is still plenty of time for that. Anyways... we had an amazing pre-Thanksgiving.

Jeremiah (my brother) & JoAnn are heading to Dallas to spend it with her family, Bethany (my sister) & Jer are heading to Colorado to spend it with his Grandma, & Steve & Mere (the future mr & mrs) are heading to Arizona I think it was to spend it with her family... meanwhile the mister and I are both stuck working. Guess you can't beat everything.

So I flew out of San Antonio on Wednesday, November 26. I finally got my SA parking pass so I can drive myself to the airport now. I'm such a grown up... I know. :) Then I got a first class seat to Atlanta. My friends were all in Atlanta because we are all newer, so yuck. So we watched the news about the Mumbai hostage situation and hoped our flight attendants got out since it was the same hotel that we stay at when we layover there. Luckily they have all been contacted and accounted for. So yet another thing to be grateful for on Thanksgiving.

So I slept on the couch in Atlanta and woke up at 5am from the loud flight attendants... but whatever. My sign in was at 7:30am... first stop Philadelphia. Now it was surprising to me that we were so full on all of our flights... but I found out why later. So the first flight was pretty easy... everyone was surprisingly drinking a lot... which I found odd considering it was 8am. I had a couple of first time flyers on board who were sweating profusely from being so nervous. There were TONS of kids on board. I would have thought we were flying the plane directly on magic mountain.

On the way back to Atlanta we had more first time flyers and a lot more drinkers and WAY more kids... it's like they were multiplying. These people haven't been flying at all or in a long time because mid-flight they asked if their kids could go sit in the cockpit with the captain. I informed him politely that we haven't done that since 9/11 and that on their way out they can say goodbye to the pilots and maybe take a picture with them in the cockpit. whew.

I can normally finish a beverage service pretty fast... like 30 minutes for 130 people. That's with 2 flight attendants. But with all these kids and first time flyers and drinkers it took me 3 times as long!
Every kid wanted apple juice, which we didn't have... so the parents weren't sure if they would like cranapple... so I'd have to pour a taste sampler for each kid... wait a minute for them to swish it around in their little mouths and wait for them to decide if they wanted a full cup of the juice. It was like a wine tasting for kids and instead of me being at a fancy restaurant... I was on an airplane... and my clients weren't paying me or ordering fancy named wines... it was cranapple juice to 5 year olds. sigh.

On my way down the aisle with the 100 plus pound cart I get stopped by who I like to call the "two toothless wanders" who wanted to put their drink order in before everyone else... I told them I'd be right back and get to them in order. So by the time I get to the aisle in front of them and next to them and they are yelling out their drink order to me... I was being patient and helping out everyone in order then I got to them. The first guy asked for a Gin on the rocks. I told him it was $7. He looked at his friend and asked him why he had to pay for it if he was in first class (mind you that they were sitting behind the exit rows in the middle of the airplane). I got the giggles and so did everyone around him. His friend informed him that it wasn't first class. He said "oh, well then make it a double and then whatever my friend wants." So I make their drinks then he yells to his friend who is 5 rows in front of him if she wanted a drink to. I PROMISE you that he yelled 5 rows, "Hey! Betsie! Do you wanna drink too?" As he holds up his drink on the rocks proudly. She yells back that she does indeed want a drink and to make it a rum. I was almost in tears holding in the laughter. I've never quite seen anything like that in my plane. So I deliver her the drink.

Before we had taken off there was a girl near the back who had been sick in the bathroom... she was sitting next to her husband and new baby. Right before we land she was right back in the bathroom again... After we land she was in there again. They were the last people off the flight. I had given her sprite and checked on her through the flight. I finally asked her husband if she was ok... he just laughed and said yes that she was just hung over. I felt a little less sorry for her after that. The whole time I had been concentrating on not breathing when she walked by in case she had the flu. ugh.

All that and the endless amount of men flyers that I saw just wearing cut off tank tops and wife beaters... I knew there was something up.
Then I found out that our company had run a $79 special to fly on Thanksgiving. Oh Ok. Now I understand. :)

So I grab my food and head to the next gate... I'm DC bound. At the gate I encounter way more children under the age of five. At this point I've come to realize that America has been procreating excessively for the last 5 years... only starting 5 years ago. I hadn't seen any kids over the age of 5. I've also come to the conclusion that there must be a lot of disfunctional families in America so people are pre-drinking in order to deal with them. So that's my conclusions. :)
As I was sitting there I overhear a conversation between 2 young mothers about the recent politics. The one Caucasian momma is from where else but ALASKA! What are the odds... and the African American momma is from Boston. The Boston momma brings up Palin to the Alaskan momma. I flinch. I watch out of the corner of my eye.

Boston: "So your girl Palin is from Alaska"
Alaska: "yup! She's my girl!"
(I roll my eyes at the idiocracy of it all)
Then they end up in deep conversation of the candidates and neither one of them is well informed. I had to leave.

So here I am in DC. I've watched 2 movies and 2 episodes of Friends... this is pretty much what I'd be doing on Thanksgiving anywhere... I ordered room service and worked on my computer... the world is at peace. :)
I hope we have just as interesting of a day tomorrow as we did today. It was so funny and entertaining.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Coffee Interuppted

November 3, 2008
Current mood: awake
I'm sitting in the flight attendant lounge next to the industrial sized coffee machines which have a sign taped to them. "Out of Order." As I sit here sipping my hot chocolate I see the flight attendants walking by with faces of disappointment... some with scowls. I wonder how many customer service complaints we will get today and how many will be directly linked to the coffee outage in the flight attendant lounge. If I were management I'd get right on that.

I got into Atlanta last night from San Antonio because I had to be signed in by 6:40 the next morning... which means I'd be "couching it". I always have the hardest time falling asleep here. The lights are blaring & so is the television because half of our flight attendants have hearing problems... or they just don't know how to work the tv. When I sleep here I usually maybe get a rough 3 hours of sleep. Sometimes I see friends the next morning & I wish I didn't. I'm not a morning person & I don't drink coffee... not a good combo.

I don't really mind it that much... I like to complain about it though. I get a lot of work done when I sleep here. No distractions when I work... only distractions when I sleep. I catch up with old friends, pay my bills, organize my music & pictures, and network online.

I really cannot believe that I have worked here this long so far. Time really flies when you fly. My lifestyle has completely changed this year although the goals have been the same all along. Get back on track. I used to have a cute apartment outside of Nashville with a fireplace that I would light even at the slightest hint of frost. I used to go to work 8-5 and then do my online work then go to live shows with my best friend in Nashville. I had 2 cats to come home to and a steady schedule. I have never been a schedule kind of girl.

Nowadays I have everything in storage. I sleep on couches & hotels. I am sometimes in 4 different states in one day. I don't pay rent. I don't pay utilities. I get to see all my friends all over the world... schedule permitting. I have a drivers license from Nashville & an area code from Texas... from when things used to be a little different.

Besides the obvious perks of my job... I have the best perk ever. I love to people watch. People are so funny. Co-workers are the most entertaining people to watch... some are stressed, tired, grouchy & others are too perky for their own good. They must have sat next to the industrial sized coffee machine when it was functioning.

Dakar, Senegal & Johannesburg, South Africa

Current mood: exhausted
Dakar, Senegal
09.29.08
09.30.08

I got to briefing and my crew was pretty junior... the most senior person had been flying for 15 years i think... that's not a lot in the airline industry. I was the only person that hadn't done this trip before though. They were all very friendly and everything went well. The flight to Africa was pretty empty & pretty easy. We had a few Muslims on board who couldn't eat until sundown because of Ramadah.

We got into Dakar at 4am which was about midnight Atlanta time. It was a through flight which means that only about half of the passengers got off in Dakar & the other half were heading straight to Johannesburg, South Africa. So we had to wait until the other crew came to relieve us since we cannot leave a plane full of people without a crew. So we waited by the door halfway between the air conditioner and halfway between the humidity of the night sky in Africa. As we finally started going through the airport there were a lot of people who were begging for stuff and following us. No shoes, skinny, tall, dark people with missing teeth and friendly faces. They call everyone sister and love to practice their English. It was about a 30 minute drive to the hotel and I was trying to get a feel for the city, the country & continent but it was so hard since it was so dark outside. The crew told me that the road we were on is new... it used to be a dirt road. The hotel is pretty nice.

We checked in and I came up to my room but my door was already open. So I peak in and whisper hello and wait for a response. The pilot sees me and comes in and checks under my bed, curtains, closet and other small dark spaces to make sure that no one is in there... luckily there wasn't. So I talked on the phone to my boyfriend for a minute then I couldn't sleep so I walked down to the crew room and there were probably 3 other crews from our same airlines there as well. So it was cool talking to everyone... A lot of the people knew each other cause they always do this trip. We walked outside and watched the sun come up as the kids were running up the stairs in training for soccer and marathons. I finally headed upstairs to sleep. I was told that we were going to meet at 1:30 in the lobby to go to Goree Island (the slave trade island) or to the market. I was soo tired and was happy when they told me that they weren't going to go until later... so I slept in till about 2pm... Which was a nice 8 hour sleep. So I put on my swimsuit and headed down to the pool. It was soo nice! The pool is right on the beach and all the crews were out there.

We decided to go to Goree Island on Thursday when we come back... and go to the Market later that same day. All we knew is that we wanted to be back in the hotel by sundown because today is the last day of Ramadah and we were told that today everyone was to slaughter a sheep at sundown and we sure didn't want to see that. So our driver who is a friend of all the crews came to pick us up around 4pm to go to the market. I exchanged my dollars for Francs CFA and we headed on our way.

The market smelled of body odor, urine, rotten eggs and human feces. It was horrible but once you start walking you don't notice it as much. The ground was muddy and dirty and everyone is yelling "sister!" at you trying to get you to look at their stuff. We were told to barter about half of what they were asking for and our driver told us he would translate but wouldn't barter for us because he didn't want the people to feel like he was betraying them with Americans. So we shopped around and I got some cute necklaces for my best friends for a pretty good deal. There was a hut where they had the most amazing paintings and apparently one of our flight attendants married the painter awhile back and now he lives in the US but still has his painting hut at the market.

I kept seeing these little mahogany hippos that were so cute. There was tons of alligator purses, shoes and tons of ivory jewelry. It was all beautiful but sad. So I go to this one place and see the hippo again and the guy tells me 30,000 francs... I told him that the guy down the street was selling the same one for 10,000 francs so his was too expensive. So he tells me he will sell it to me for 20,000... I told him again that the guys' was 10,000. So he asked me if my final price was 10,000 and I told him no because that guys starting price was 10K and I knew I could get it down over there... so I got it for 8,000 francs. Not bad at all ! :) You can buy masks for any kind of luck you want and bracelets made of elephant hair. There are little cute kittens everywhere and people following you so you buy whatever they are selling. We made it back to the car unscathed. Our driver told us that tonight is not the night for slaughtering the sheep... He said that some people do it for good luck but it is mandatory for all Muslims to slaughter a sheep exactly 2 months from today. So on December 1 every Muslim must slaughter a sheep as a sacrifice. Any man that has more than one wife must sacrifice a sheep for each wife. If you aren't married you must still sacrifice a sheep because you have a job with an income. That's what I understood from it all at least. Very interesting. So it is 8pm now and I must wake up at 2:30am for a 4am pick up and we head to Johannesburg, South Africa... another 8 hour flight and 24 hour layover. I'm excited!



Johannesburg, South Africa
10.01.08
10.02.08

Jo-burg was very nice! The part where we stayed was modern and clean but I was told that the appearance is very deceiving because it is the rape and murder capitol of the world. They rape women for sport. I was also told to keep the stuff even in my room locked in the safe because a lot of people have gotten robbed from their room. How horrible because it is a very very beautiful hotel. The weather was perfect and it reminded me of Southern California. We got in at 4pm and headed to dinner at this place that flight crews always go to and they know us there. They take good care of the crews there. We had steak but they also serve ostrich & gazelle. I didn't have the heart to try it. I was so tired so I passed out in the most comfortable bed and woke up at 6:30 am. I didn't sleep well in Dakar & worked all night so I could have probably slept my entire layover away but I had big plans for the morning so I forced myself out of bed and into the shower.

I met the captain and one other flight attendant and 2 other hotel guests in the lobby and we hopped in a van where they took us to a wildlife reserve park to go on a open aired jeep safari. That is hands down one of the coolest things I have ever done. I had a cheesy grin on my face for 4 hours. If you didn't know... I LOVE animals... when I was little my dad would bring home stray animals and we raised ducks, turkeys, rabbits, parakeets, chickens, doves, quails, a dog that lasted only 2 days. My dad brought home an egg one time when I was little and we hatched it in the incubator. It was an alligator. I named her Princess. I was 5. We also ended up with a fruit bat for a week, a seagull for about a month and a few other random animals that we were always healing and taking care of. So I love to go to the zoo. I could go everyday and watch the animals. I LOVE the zoo. So ANYWAYS... I was excited to go to the safari and see a lion! The reserve is 1500 acres. We hopped in the open aired jeep and right away saw monkies running across the road playing before we even got halfway own the road to the entrance.

We bounced down a paved little road and off the in the distance we saw 2 giraffes. I was thinking that my day couldn't get better than seeing a giraffe in the distance in its natural habitat. Then the driver zoomed off the road and up the hill so we were within 20 feet of the giraffes. Pretty much the coolest thing EVER. He told us some interesting giraffe facts and we zoomed off again. We saw some deer looking things all different kinds some with horns some with none. Then we saw a gate inside the reserve and he pointed and told us that the lion pride lived inside there. We saw signs to roll up your windows and close your doors... seeing that we had none of those I got very nervous. I was told that a few months ago the owner of the reserve had a stroke and fell out of his car and the lions ate him. You think I'm kidding but it is true! Usually when a lion eats a person they kill the lion but they did an autopsy on the remains and found out he had the stroke so the wife of the man let the lion live but they moved the lions to a different reserve since it had the taste of human on him.

So as I am looking through the gate searching for a lion the driver takes us inside the gate. I was so nervous! After driving awhile we see them! They only feed the lions on Sundays... luckily it wasn't Saturday. :) I didn't think we would get to go very close to the lions seeing that they eat animals as big as me but we did! We drove right up to the big daddy lion and his 3 lionesses. We were so close I could have reached down and touched them if I thought it worth while to loose an arm. Our guide would make a noise with his mouth and then they would get up and move. I was almost shaking I was so scared... but the whole time just grinning. My jeep mates just laughed at me like I was a little kid... but I felt like a little kid all giddy to see a lion. We stayed there awhile then took off and saw some smaller cages where they had 4 more lions who were younger and he was training them to be a pride to let them go in the other reserve. He can’t have two prides in one park because they would kill each other. Farther down the road there was another cage with 3 lions... very young. They were white lions with blue eyes. They were gorgeous! The male didn't even have his mane just a little mohawk which made him the coolest lion EVER. They came right up to the fence when the guide called them and they seemed very playful. I really wish I could have played with them.

Farther down we saw wildebeasts and birds and more deer things and gazelles and impalas (not the car). Then we drove down and saw the rhinos! I thought they would charge at us because they got up and never let their backs be at us... they followed us for a while and made me quite nervous. They were cute though... in a rhino kind of way. We saw some zebras and ostriches and another giraffe who came right up to us. It took about 4 hours total and it was the best 4 hours of my life. A lot of the animals are pregnant and they said that the babies will all be born in November or December. I want to come back in December on a Sunday to see the babies and watch the feeding!

We headed back to the city. It was about an hours drive from Joburg to Keugorsdorf where the reserve was. But on the way it was nice to see more of South Africa. It was so modernized and its about 50-50 white and black people. The city itself is huge and there are a lot of very nice homes, a lot of prefabricated homes and on the other side of the road were just slums... I mean MILES of houses made of tin and sticks. Very sad. It was just so diverse the rich and the poor... they live side by side but so very differently.

When we got back to the hotel I went for dinner with the captain who I had flown with to Alaska a couple of months ago. We had a burger then headed upstairs and we had to leave at 3:15 to go back to work. The flight was full and we had a group of 70 people from the same company who had been given a company cruise to Jamaica. They had a LONG way to travel. See we fly from Joburg to Dakar and we get off the plane but the passengers stay on because they get a new crew to Atlanta. So each flight is 8 hours... not in including the 2 hours they sit on the ground in Dakar for refueling and new crew and fresh food. Then most of them have connections in Atlanta. So they easily have well over 24 hours of traveling. Some of the people in the group had never flown before. We had a lot of heavy drinkers on the plane and had to cut quite a few of them off. They ran us ragged. Well right in the middle of crew breaks I was in the back galley and just walked in the bathroom when I hear very loud pounding knocks on the door. I was like what the heck!? I JUST got in here! So I open it and apparently a passenger passed out with her eyes rolled in the back of her head and the flight attendant helped catch her so she didn't hit her head on the door. Well it took her about 5 minutes to come to and were all scared but we are well trained and we asked her all the necessary questions and she ate a cookie drank some water and OJ just in case her sugar level was low or she was dehydrated. Then she started puking. So we called for a doctor on board and luckily we had 2. They came back and we gave the our medical kit and they took her blood pressure and everything and finally she was ok. She was so very pale. We don't really know what happened to her but she was fine after awhile. Very nerve racking.

We finally landed and we were so happy to be done with that flight. It was 1 am but the night was FAR from being over.



Dakar, Senegal
10.03.08
10.04.08

I'm just gonna say what happens in Africa stays in Africa. I was the only person who was in my right mind so I was baby sitting all morning long as people were "relaxing" after a hard flight... which was interesting because it was like taking care of my parents since they were all in their 40s and 50s. We met up with the New York crew and hung out in the captains room then decided it was a good idea to go swimming at night. It was the best idea ever... for the most part... until someone slipped and fell. We stayed up past 6am I'm sure and then finally passed out once everyone was tucked in bed safely and alone! :) My boyfriend texted me and told me my storage unit had been broken into in Nashville which just makes me angry because that is everything I own. They think nothing was stolen but now I have to fly to Nashville to go check! So I dropped my Copenhagen trip because I have to take care of that and have time to rest before my next trip.

I woke up around noon when my phone rang and my crew was calling to wake me up to go to the pool. I fell back asleep until almost 2 I think and then headed to the pool to sleep. It was overcast but breezy and very nice. Our crew and the NY crew was out there and we laughed about the night before and ordered food to our poolside & oceanside lawn chairs... aww what a life. :) We stayed there all day. I wanted to go to Goree Island but couldn't get any more recruits and I sure as anything won't be going anywhere alone in Africa... especially on Friday which is the day of prayer for Muslims and they are all in the streets walking in lines to I don't even know where. So the pool was a good alternative for me anyways. I'm going to have to do this trip again because there is so much more to do and it is sooo fun... as long as you have a good crew anyways...

Now I'm just chilling and waiting until midnight tonight which is our pickup time and we have one last flight back to Atlanta... I keep hearing that this is the hardest flight to do because people are tired and grumpy after 16 hours of flight. We get in at 8am tomorrow and I have a lot of calls to return and I have to go to Nashville to check on my stuff... but luckily I get to see my best friend... so that's cool :) Anyways... Africa was fun. I had a blast! I'm ready to be home for sure. 6 days with limited internet and expensive phone service is rough for me. :) Sorry for all of you who texted and called while I was gone. I know it rang but I can't afford to talk to you while I’m here. I'll call you back. I promise. :)

hello again... it’s me

Current mood: bouncy
so! I haven't blogged in forever. I've just been traveling, reading, designing, & doing wedding stuff... not my wedding stuff... but my little's sisters. Pictures are all up on her page and it was an amazing wedding and now we have a new addition! new addition being the groom... not a baby on the way... no waaay... not yet anyways. :)

So anyways... there is A LOT going on in my life. I've been doing everything above that I said... plus branching out into some new ventures that will be announced later as things are more solid. as if i needed more ventures :) got plenty of ventures... and adventures.

I'm finally starting to get back on my feet after working this crazy job. Just if you didn't know... It's official that I have no address. I moved from Nashville... everything is in storage. On my days off I go to TX and refuse to actually live there since I've already done that twice but I couch surf on my best friend's couches since my sister is a newlywed and well... that's just not fair to anyone. :)

So I tried to open up a PO Box in San Antonio but little did I know that you must have proof of residence to do this. Why would I need a PO box if I had a residence? So I asked the lady what I would do if I did not have a residence but just needed a place to send my mail to. She gave me a snotty look and directed her attention to my mister (a.k.a. my boyfriend) and said, "is she kidding?" I told her my story and why I didn't have a home and she just told me flat out that I don't qualify. Apparently homeless people don't get mail. :( So my mail goes to a friend of a friend’s house. ugh.

Besides the homelessness and hectic schedule and new "ventures" I am starting to financially catch up on life... Next month I can actually contemplate paying a credit card bill from 2 years ago. (Don't even ask about my credit.) So I called this one card that loves to call me about 10 times a day. I just wanted to see what the damage was and what my options for next month are... The Lady tried to convince me to give her $500... right then... yeah. No. I told her I'm tired of eating ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches but next month I might be able to do something... I told her the most I could offer right that second was $100. She put me on hold to talk to her boss... He gets on the phone. He is a jerk. He tells me that I HAVE to give him $500... I tell him that it's impossible to give what you don't have and that again... $100 is what I can give him. He gets mad at me and we bicker back and forth and he gets angry and he tells me to just forget about it and hangs up. Now if I tried to give you $100... would you take it? I still don't understand what happened.

Ok so life is interesting. My boyfriend has been an amazing support to me and keeps me sane. He's a crazy one which another reason we get along so well...

Another quick story. My boyfriend said something let's just say... not so smart the other day... and I laughed at him (like a good girlfriend) and he retorted back. "So I'm dumb. Blog about it." haha that makes me laugh... a lot. Then my mister sent me this link of something I should make:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Laptop-Compubody-Sock/
He said if I owned this we might have never met. Since we met by sitting next to each other at the airport and comparing computers. haha..


Anyways... that's all I have for now... I'll try and be better about blogging. For sure. :)

PEACE LOVE AND FRIED CHICKN!

the july 26th movement and red literature

Current mood: awake
I have had a couple of quite normal flights latelywhich is great for my soul but quite boring to blog about. I've been reading Che Guevara's biography. Mostly cause I know a little bit about him and what I do know wasn't answering my questions of why kids are walking around with Che Guevara shirts on. I'm halfway into the biography now.... (it's 800 pages) and I can relate to his sense of passion, his nomadic lifestyle, his non-materialism, his sense of not knowing his full purpose in life and thinking there is something bigger and better out there. I admire his passion. I admire his get up and go attitude. He did more by the age 39 than most... his actions are just controversial... but here's the thing... he killed a LOT of people... he didn't like Americans... so... as cool as it is for you to wear your Che shirt... maybe you should do some research before you just start walking around with a "logo". Anyways... besides me getting all parent-y about that... here's my BIG pet peeve.

I've been reading this book for almost a week...and its a big one so it doesn't fit into my suitcase... so I have to carry it. Coming back into the USA from Mexico I went through customs and immigration and the immigration guy gave me a hard time about the book. He asked me very rudely why I was reading a book about a communistic murderer. I told him it was history. I left it at that. He just gave me attitude and I kept walking after he stamped my papers. A few days later I'm coming back through immigration after returning from Costa Rica and low and behold there is my same immigration man. He looks at me and says, "Well there's my little communist friend."

Last time I checked the US was still a free country. I told him again that it is history. And he said, "you realize he wasn't a good guy right?" As if I was an idiot. Back in the 1930's and 40's Guevara would cross over to other countries' borders and he would get his "red" literature confiscated but I think that we've come quite a way since the 30's and 40's in a 3rd world country... or have we? Well needless to say I still have my book and next time I'm coming through with a Mao Tse-Tung and Lenin book. :) haha So what if I have a little obsession of reading about communists?! I am NOT a communist in any sense and I don't see the need to defend my literature even if I were. Excuse me for trying to educate myself. :)

ANYWAYS... I got a hotel yesterday because I am on call for the next three days... It is very draining to be on call... I'm serious! You can't plan for where you are going and you don't know until the last minute. They could send you on an all-nighter to Japan or just down the road to Alabama... You just don't know. So anyways, I got my room and ordered pizza and fell asleep before the pizza guy got here. Which was like 6pm. haha So I ate and then passed out again. I slept from 7pm until 8am. 13 hours. HECK YES! :) I got one of the last rooms because the hurricane evacuees are all heading to Atlanta. Our weather isn't looking that great either and rains are predicted which means it will be an interesting evening for a girl on standby... a.k.a. ME!

4 more days and the whole clan heads to Michigan for my sister's wedding... when I mean clan I mean family... not my communist clan. :) geesh. This is the second Abate sibling wedding... mine being the first... but this one will actually last so I deem it the actual FIRST ABATE SIBLING WEDDING. (my last name is Abate for those of you who didn't know... but don't go stealing my identity or anything.)
Well I better go get dressed and head to work before they kick me out of my room. Check out is in an hr and I’m still in pijamas. :)

peace love and fried chicken!

2008 Olympics-- Just a war between China and the US without bombs.

Current mood: accomplished
So I spent a week in Nashville with my boyfriend and my friends from Sweden and my best Nashville friend, Lena. We had so much fun but you know how I love to procrastinate packing... I hate packing. You'd think I'd be used to it by now...
So we waited until the last day to pack... I really didn't think I had a lot of stuff... apparently I've accumulated quite a few things in the last 2 years since the day that I showed up to Nashville with just the things that fit into my mustang.

There was no way that we could finish packing in the one day so Rick moved his flights back one day and I had to cancel going to Ireland... which was sad but much needed since I had to be out of my apartment that next day. We spent 2 solid days packing and cleaning and moving everything into storage. Unfortunately I had 2 cats that liked to lay on every piece of furniture I owned so my cat allergic boyfriend had a very hard time breathing. We thought we were gonna have to take him to the hospital one night. He was wearing a face mask to help him breathe but cat hair had gotten inside the filters. Poor guy! There is no way I could have moved and gotten everything done without him.

So I officially have no residence and no ties to Nashville except for my storage unit. I also have no place in Atlanta but the airport. So I'm gonna see how long I can go without paying rent to help me catch up on things... Maybe 2009 will bring me an address... I'm not complaining at all because I have tons of places I can go and sleep... and I fly for free so I can go anywhere at anytime... but it's nice to have a place of your own where you can dance in your underwear while singing along to Backstreet Boys & Brittney Spears at the top of your lungs into your hairbrush... oh wait... i don't do that... I'm a grown up now... but I'd like to have that option, maybe... :) I realize how important it is to have a place to retreat to alone... to create, to write, to think... It's been a very emotional week for me. Some days I feel defeated... some days I feel empowered. Life's a roller coaster... especially when you are a girl... cause we tend to be a little more sensitive some times...

All my ties are finally cut with my ex husband too cause my name is off everything he had and I have my own last name on everything again. This is a very good thing. It's easy to forget I was married cause I'm emotionally unattached from it even though I know I am still healing... but I get constant reminders every day of those three years of marriage and 4 and a half years of commitment. For example today... I'm sitting at the San Antonio airport and behind the gate agent's counter there is a pillow that says "peace"... this is no ordinary pillow... this pillow is THE pillow that was hand made for me and given to me as a wedding present... What are the odds that it's sitting underneath the San Antonio airport ticket counter today? I am pretty sure I had either sold it at a garage sale or gave it away to the Salvation Army. I will just use it as a sign that I'm moving on and am better without my old life and old reminders. I did promise myself I would never move back to this silly city but everyday my ties get stronger and stronger here.

September is going to be a good month... busy as anything but good. I got the days off I needed to go to my little sisters wedding in Michigan... I'm so excited about that! I got the days off to come to San Antonio for my sister's reception in Texas and also the day off for my boyfriend's birthday. So I'm happy. I also picked up a trip to Africa. It's six days away from the U.S. and I get to spend two nights in Dakar, Senegal and one night in Johannesburg, South Africa. I never dreamed in my life I'd get to go to Africa! I'm so nervous but so excited! I was hoping to go to Chile this month because it is our Independence week... but that isn't going to happen... Maybe next month... summertime is best anyways because all the fruit and veggies are so fresh and cheap. YUM!

I've been so lazy with my Hebrew lessons and with my writing... Now that the move is out of the way I am hoping to somehow get back into the swing of things. I'm starting my myspace things up again and this fall I will start working for my favorite singer/ songwriter Reese Browning again. I forgot how much I missed music. It's my passion for sure... I have to remember that flying is a job and a life-style but it isn't my life. I don't want to end up like these old women who have nothing else but flying.

Anyways... that is just a little update from me... I've been off work for two weeks and start back up at 5:30 am tomorrow morning on domestic standby... yuck! Hopefully I will get a good trip...somewhere sunny for a long layover. Crossing my fingers for Hawaii as always. :) Life is good... I wouldn't trade it with anyone else for anything... well maybe on the days that I feel homesick... wherever home may be... but that only lasts a minute. :)

I'll be back with more updates soon. All my love!
julieKristine

Vienna, Austria

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. :)

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.

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... :)