Around the East in 7days!

What's a girl to do when she suddenly finds her self single, yet again?  Road trip of course!  Ok well in my case it's gotta be a plane trip!

 

Last Saturday my best friend, John Carlos, called me during my much needed shopping therapy.  He wanted to see if I wanted to blow Dodge City, and come to Rochester, NY for the weekend, instead of moping around my apartment.  Well I didn't have a reason to stick around Chicago for the weekend, anymore.  So I rushed home, threw some stuff in my bag, and hopped on the next flight up to Rochester.  I have to admit that I am very proud to say that I made a new NON-REV record...  From my house to John's in 3 and a half hours!  When things go my way, membership definately has it's perks. 

Upon my arrival, John began to inform me of all the single straight guys that I would be introduced to whilst I was there.  John and I have always differed in our taste in men, but what did I have to lose?   Bartenders, soccer players, students, ect...  I don't think that there is anyone in the city of Rochester that John doesn't know!  John has always had a passion for telling everyone who wasn't of the homosexual persuasion about his best friend, Heather!  I think that my favourite was the bartender, on Saturday nite, at the bar downstairs from John's place.  In between my free shots, I got to stuff singles down his shirt... What red blooded American Girl wouldn't enjoy that?!?!

On Monday, John and I had planned on going to Chicago for our information picketing session at the airport.  We got on our flight to chicago almost too easy.  Just as we were getting ready to take off, the plane's deicing system failed, and we had to retrun to the gate.  The flight wound up cancelling, and we missed the whole picketing thing.  John was fit to be tied.  He was supposed to give this HUGE speach to the media. 

Instead of getting to go home and take care of some stuff before I had to go to RDU to see my family on Tuesday,  I had to figure out how I was going to get therenow!  It was the start of the holiday rush, and flights were full.  I think that I was about to have my record for the longest time to get from point A to point B!  I wound up having to take the very first out of Rochester, Tuesday morning, to ensure that I would be at the top of the stand-by list for my flight to RDU.  I had to wait 5 hours at O'Hare for my flight, after I got out of Rochester.  Even then I would have to wait for my mom to be able to pick me up from the airport.  I think all in all, it took me 12 hours to get from ROC to RDU.  My record for longest non-rev trip. Twelve hours...  It's takes less time to go to Paris!!!!!  Well at least I didn't have any trouble getting back to Chicago to my empty apartment, on friday!

REVENGE of the Armchair Pilots, Road Warriors, and the Occasional Precious!!!!

An armchair pilot is someone who thinks that they know everything about running an airline, just because they bought a ticket off Priceline.com!

Passengers are an endless source of amusement for me.  It never ceases to amaze me, how you can take a person with above average intelligence and stick them inside an airport, and they go from Einstein to Rainman, from the time it takes them to check in their baggage, untill they step on board my airplane.  Most armchair pilots act as if they have never been outside their homes, let alone seein a "real stewardess" up close and personal before!  It must be a real shock to their system, when they find out that their $100 Priceline.com ticket that they paid ALOT of money for, doesn't buy them a first class seat with steak and champaign!

Nevermind the pretentious pricks who feel that the FAA rules simply do not apply to them!  (OH... and you know who you are too!)  The one's whos only joy in life is to attempt make others around them miserable, to gratify their own pretention and self-worth.  Those are the passengers who I refer to fondly as "Precious," and I make it a point EVERY time I walk thru the cabin to make sure that they have everything they need.  (i.e. pillows, blankets coffee, tea, ect...)  I usually am in the cabin about every 5 minutes or so!  What are they going to do, write a letter to my company saying that I was TOO NICE?  HA!

Though I can't forget about the handful of my elite passengers that I have come to know on a first name basis.  When I am lucky enough to get one of my favourite Road Warriors on my flight, it makes my day.  It's always great to see familiar faces, especially in my line of work.  These are the kind of passengers that I wish were on ALL of my flights!  These individuals travel as much or more than I do on a weekly basis, and still have a pleasant and upbeat attitude.  For that they have my utmost respect!

So next time you travel, which kind of passenger are you going to be?  An Armchair pilot, Road Warrior or one of my Precious Passengers? 

My month with Captain DAVE

I have had the opportunity to fly with many memorable and not so memorable cockpit crews during my career. Here is one unforgetable story!

Once you become a line holder, you are usually co-paired with  the same captain an first officer for a month.  Which can be a good or bad thing depending upon how you look at the situation.  If you have good chemisty with your pilots, you can usually count on a month full of laughs, late nights spent at a local brew pub during layovers, and an all around fun work envirnment.  Though if you find yourself stuck with a crew that is anti-social or self absorbed, you're in for a long lonely month.

Luckily for me, that was not the case in August, during my month with "Captain Dave."  Dave was a 14 year veteren of out company, but unlike most captains with his similar senority, Dave still liked to have fun, and enjoy work, ESPECIALLY at the expense of others!  He was also one of those pilots who actually enjoyed giving enroute P.A.'s to the passengers.  After giving the normal weather, time remaining ect, he would usually tell the passengers a little bit about me, and my former career before being a flight attendant!  In the course of the month, I had been a character for Disney World, a four year High School volley ball champ for a local high school.  I was also flight attendant of the quarter.  I was getting my masters in meterology to leave the airline industry to be a weather girl on the Weather Channel, also leaving to be a back up singer for Britney Spears!  There are too many more to mention, but I think that you get my drift. 

I don't know how he did it, but he was able to plan his P.A. for when I was right smack in the middle of the isle, doing my beverage service, so that I had nowhere to hide.  I was mortified at first, but came to be amused with all of the looks that my passengers would give me, especally after he told them that I would be a back up singer for Brittany Spears.

Noone was safe from the clutches of Dave!  You can always tell who had flown with him in the past, because when you would mention who you were flying with, everyone had their own unique story to share!

Travel Tips for venturing across the big pond!

Here's a few tips that I have learned from all of my travels:

*Don't bother going to a currency exchange to exchange your Euros for the
USD, or vise versa.  When you get to the States, or wherever you are going to, all that you have to do is withdraw money from an ATM.  That way you don't have to pay the outrageous fees that the F/X charges.  Also use your credit cards whenever possible.  (This is what I do whenever I go to Canada, and it saves me alot of money and hassle.)

*During your flight to and from the U.S. drink PLENTY of water.    By preventing dehydration, you also cut back on alot of the effects of jet lag as well.  Wear loose fitting shoes and clothing.   Also make sure to stretch inflight to prevent deep vien trombosis. Use ear plugs to reduce the plane noise. 

*Remember it's an 8 hour flight to come across the pond, being comfortable is the key to happiness.  I suggest upgrading to at least business or first class if available.  There is a world of difference between coach and first class on international flights, and I always find it to be money well spent! 

*Have an extra certified copy of important documents like your birth certificate, proof of citizenship, ect.  Just in case... 

*Remember that you can't bring any perishable foods intoor out of the US Especially  not any meat products.  We don't want foot and mouth disease in our country!

*To clear US Customs you will need your passport, a completed US customs declaration card and a i94(if you are not a US citizen) form.  Depending on the mood of the customs officer, they may or may not stamp your passport.  If they don't, you can ask them to stamp it for you. If you want a US stamp in your passport! (I ask for a stamp whenever I go to Canada...  Hey why not right??)

I haven't seen London, but I've seen France... WELL sort of...

When I decided to go to Paris to visit a once close friend of mine...  I had no idea, that I would be spending 8 hours at the Charles De Gaull International Airport, because I got stood up!  You can go to and from Paris in a single day, and I proved it!

I AM CANADIAN! (Having fun with the OTHER Americans!)

If you ask anyone from Canada what their nationality is, they would most likely say that they are American...  How can this be true...  They don't even live in America? 

They don't live in the United States, BUT they do live in North America, thus they are Americans.  They also quickly point out that they are nothing like those of us from the States.  They like to point out that Canada is completely different from the U.S.  Other than our T.V. shows, cartoons, the Gap, Banana Republic, Mc Donalds, Sears, Walmart, KMart, Starbucks, Burgar King, KFC, ect...  Canada is quite different from the U.S.

The few cities that I have been to in Canada, (Ottowa, Toronto,ect), have an European flair and flavour this is lacking here in the States.  Then there is Montreal.  That city is in a catagory all on its own.  Montreal is NOTHING like the rest of Canada, and the people there pride themselves on being that way.  With their own French dialect (le Quebecqois), and heavy European influence, being on Montreal feels almost like someone dropped you off in a lost section of France, that was stuck in the middle of North America.  In spite of the Anti- U.S. sentiment shared by most of the residents of Montreal, I have to say that it is one of my favourite cities that I have visited thus far.  Having had the oppourtunity to spend some time with an aquaintence who was born in raised in Montreal, I was able to see Canada, and Montreal.  Not from the view point of an outsider, but to be immersed in his culture, which was so unlike my own.  Canada and its people are so much more than funny hats and accents, hockey fiends, maple leaves, pountine and steamies, lumber jacks and moose.

Being a flight attendant, I have had the oppourtunity to interact with people from all over the world.  Though it has all been from the saftey and familiarity of my own homeland.  It wasn't untill I visited Montreal, did I see just how ethnocentric and typically American I really am.  I was in a way the American Stereotype.  No matter how much I tried to hide it, the red white and blue showed right through me.

SOOOO sorry for the inconvience!

Have we become so complacent that we are more worried about missing choir practice, or our favourite show, rather than making it to our destination safely?

This past week, I was working a flight from Chicago to Champaign, IL.  Normally it's about a 28 minute flight at the most.  Pretty painless right?  Well not this day...  We had just taken off from O'Hare and were climbing to our short cruising altitude, when my flight crew expearienced a malfuntion in one of the indicators that tells them how much fuel we have on board the airplane.  Thus, just to be safe, we had to turn around and go back to Chicago to have the aircraft checked out.  Without knowing how much fuel we had on board, or if it was LEAKING, the safe thing to do was to turn around.  My crew called me briefly to tell me the situation, and that we were going to be having a normal landing back at O'Hare.  This was the LAST thing that I wanted to hear, because I knew that my day was going to be even LONGER than it already was.  AS we got closer to O'Hare, my captain made an announcement to the passengers telling them what was happening, and that we were turning around.  That was then that the complaints starting coming my way...

"WHY can't we just go to Champaign, don't we HAVE enough gas to get there?"

"I CAN'T believe this!"

"What's going to happen NOW?"

Most everyone was more upset that we were going to be late, rather than the fact that it's better to get some place safely than not at all, because we crashed due to a potential fuel leak!  It turned out that there was nothing seriously wrong with the aircraft, and as soon as we were checked off, we went on our merry way back to CMI!