Door Clicking. When in Moscow.

It has been wayyyy to long since I last posted. In fact I have visited so many different destinations since I started writing about my time as cabin crew.

I have been awful at blogging since i've started flying, which is ironic as I finally have so much to write about! I am finally going to make sure I keep this up to date. Posting about my trips, and life in general as crew.

Right Now I am lying in in bed in my hotel room, a tummy full of buffet breakfast- which I somehow managed to get in the executive lounge as the staff made a mistake (I wondered why people were drinking champers, dammit)

I am ashamed to admit that I will not be venturing out at all on this layover in Moscow, Russia. One thing as cabin crew that I hate is when people get to the hotel, run straight to their room only to shut the door and not come out until the end of the layover, only to hibernate the whole time.

The only time I make an exception for these people is when they may have visited the destination on many occasions, if you're ill then of course you need to rest, or when you simply hate the destination you have travelled to.

So yup, right now my excuse is.. I have hardly any money- after being off work for two and half months with a hairline crack in my hip (not fun), its bloody freezing in Moscow, and lastly I have been before. So I am using this trip as time to recuperate and recover from an extremely busy month of flying.

The rest of my day will consist of staying as cosy and warm as possible inside, heading to the gym for a couple of hours and going straight back to my room for a power nap before my night flight back home to Dubai.

 My Moscow Experience

      Red Square- (Krsnaya ploschchad) 

Such a breathtaking space, full of amazing buildings. beautiful architecture, people from all walks of life and filled with history.
In the square you will find St Basil's Cathedral, the state historical museum, the GUM shopping center, the Kremlin Wall and the Lenin Tomb.

St Basil's Cathedral  

When I first saw St Basil's I was stunned, it looks a little like something from Disney, it reminded me of a fairytale palace. I visited it the cathedral at night time and although I was freezing myself to death it was so worth it. The photos really don't do it justice. I haven't seen it during the day but I get the feeling that if you go when it's darker it's better as the lights make the colours pop out, its so vibrant and beautiful. I din't go inside, although I know you can pay to do that. However its still amazing to just see it from the outside. This for me was the highlight of my trip.

Borsch

Of course every layover includes trying out the local cuisine. So I decided to go for some 'borsch'. originally a Ukranian soup traditonally made with primarily beetroot and a common dish in Russia.

ANNNND no layover is complete without a 'crewfie' 

Moscow was an experience, I kind of felt like I was in a time warp and I could still very much feel the fact it was a communist country. I'm glad I went out on my first layover however for now I am quite happy just chilling for once and doing absolutely zero.

Lotsa Love,

Rosie

X

#CabinCrewProblems

So i’m sure some of you who follow me on instagram or are friends with me on facebook and actually care/pay attention to what I post realise the struggle is real sometimes. When I say the struggle I’m relating to some of the day to day problems pretty much most cabin crew face working in this industry.

1.         Sleep... not enough of it, can’t sleep, too much sleep.. just sleep! Travelling through different time zones and working at odd/unsociable hours makes your sleeping pattern so messed up. My boyfriend calls me a fidget and wriggler because often I can’t sleep throughout the night and find myself up and about several times, sometimes even doing the washing and tidying at ridiculous o’clock in the morning.

2.     Maintaining a normal social life. I have a great social life... when I have the days off at the same time as my friends at least. You find yourself constantly stalking your friends rosters to see and plan when you can all next hang out.

3.       Relationships. Some people find it hard to hold down a relationship in this job, especially if your boo is in another country, now that’s tough. But often even if your other half lives here in Dubai it can still be hard. If you date crew you both may not see each other for a month, depending on what your rosters like. I personally am happy that I’m not with crew, however it is a bit frustrating when my days off only ever seem to be in the week and so seeing my boyfriend is after he finishes work and when he has the weekend off I may well be away flying.. This job can make spending quality time with your partner hard. For example I did an 8 day trip and I really missed my man but having said that it makes the time you spend together so much more special.

4.     Grooming... Not that I haven’t always been well groomed, of course I have! But you have to make sure your nails are perfectly manicured all the time with a minimum of clear nail polish, your hair has to be tidy and up to standards- no hair die/highlights etc... It can get tiring sometimes and I really want ombre hair right now.. see #cabincrewproblems

5.       Health- there’s no doubt about it your health will suffer. Lack of sleep, being exposed to the sun, radiation and working at high altitudes in a dry environment does wonders for your health... just kidding. I have never felt so unhealthy in my life, I suffer from psoriasis as it is and since moving to Dubai and working it has got so much worse, no amount of cream helps. My fitness regime has suffered big time, back in the UK I was working out near enough every day and felt great, now I am lucky if I get three workouts in a week. Someday’s youre flying all day and get to a destination and just collapse in the hotel bed, or you go straight out to explore and maximise the 24 hours you get in that place (if its a 24 hour layover).

6.      Reputation.. For some reason we as cabin crew have a reputation for being somewhat ‘loose’, it really annoys me because actually not all of us are like that. It can be applied to anyone in any career, I think it’s just because there’s a lot of us. But yeah not all of us are wild sexual animals who sleep with anyone and everyone around the world.

7.      Tights, pantyhose, stockings.. whatever you want to call them. Laddered tights is the bane of my life.

8.         Memory. In this job for some reason your memory seems to suffer big time. The amount of times i’ve arrived back into Dubai seen a friend and they’ve asked me where i’ve just come from and I cannot even remember. Goodness knows why but sometimes you just can’t think straight.

9.       Drinking. Often you just need a good stiff drink (or five) after a tough flight. Working in the hospitality industry can drive you to this... especially when you’re stuck with passengers for 15-16 hours on a busy US flight.

 10.       Not really having a proper ‘base’.  Although Dubai is meant to be our ‘base’ I can honestly say I don’t know where my real base is, I spend more time travelling and in other countries than I do in Dubai. On average I roughly spend 8 days in Dubai each month. Don’t get me wrong I love travelling and working but sometimes you just want to be on ground for a few days to sort shit out.

Tuk Tuk's, Amazing Temples, MBK A Shoppers Heaven, Thai Spa's, Strong Cocktails, Khao San Rd.. Welcome to Bangkok

Okay so I have still yet to post all about my training at Emirates and most of the events/nights out/ and meals that I have had so far in Dubai.

But seeing as I have started flying now, I really couldn't resist writing about my first operational layover, in Bangkok, Thailand. (My supy flight on the A380 was to London Heathrow, originally supposed to be France however it got changed and on the B777 was a Dehli turnaround).

Back to the important stuff.. BANGKOK.

The flight to Bangkok was about 6 hours something I think, it was a full flight if I remember correctly (I apologise if my memory is a little hazy, all the flights seem to blur into one!) It was a night flight and so we departed Dubai at 3.05 am which meant I had to check into the e-gate at 1.05am. Due to the time of the duty I was on a rest day the day before and had tried to sleep throughout the day setting my alarm for about 11.15pm to get up and get showered and ready... but of course I was too excited to sleep. To be fair it didn't help that my body clock was already messed up from staying up all night through till 8am after Halloween oops!

When we arrived in Bangkok it was 12:22pm local time and the crew and myself were all pretty tired, we checked into our rooms at the Holiday Inn on Silom Road and went straight to bed. At one point I was in two minds as to whether I should just man up and go straight out and explore. But it seemed the right thing to do to try and get a couple of hours kip before heading out.

In the end myself and two other girls both from the UK decided to meet in the lobby for 6pm, we then went to the hotel buffet where I just had a water as I didn't feel much like eating (for once!).

We had decided to take a Tuk Tuk (which btw is the best mode of transport like ever!) to Sky Bar, which is at Lebua Hotel. I had seen a picture of the bar on Instagram and the picture alone was enough to make me want to go.

Amazing eh?!

See.. Mini disco ball, absolute rave!

The Tuk Tuk ride was awesome, I named ours the party Tuk Tuk, cos it had a mini disco ball in it and the lights were flashing like a disco, our driver was crazy too- it was such a laugh!

When we got to Sky Bar the view was absolutely breathtaking, it had such a chilled atmosphere with a touch of glamour and the added excitement that the Hangover Part 2 was filmed there.

Just a quick tuk tuk selfie before Sky Bar

My cocktail 'Hangovertini'

My new Tuk Tuk driver frieeeennnndd

Emily's cute polaroid pic at Sky Bar

The view from Sirocco (the restaurant next to Sky Bar)

Such a ridiculous view of Bangkok

More Sky Bar shots

Another tuk tuk pic

So chilled at the top

Inside Sky Bar

Our drinks

I decided to order a 'Hangovertini' which is the cocktail that was specifically designed for the Hangover film cast during the filming. It was delicious, and thank goodness it was for the price I paid! But the view by itself made it so worth it, the cocktail was just a special added extra!

 

Known as 'The Dome' at Lebua, there is 'Sirocco' a fine dining restaurant, which is right next to Sky Bar, we wandered over and got some amazing snaps from there too!

 

 

Taken from the website as this picture is much clearer- Sirroco

 

'The Dome' at Lebua, where Skybar and Sirocco are!

 

 

Sirocco, next to Sky Bar at the Dome, Lebua.

 

My 'hangovertini' was bloooody brilliant.

 

 

 

So after Sky Bar we decided we wanted to go to Khao San Road as it would be rude not to, after all it is famous for those backpacking/traveller types for 'finding themselves' so I was told. I can't really say I found myself there, I felt at home there- why would I not when they were selling 'really strong cocktail'. We walked up and back down the road, giggling at some of the things we saw, older Thai women coming up to us plonking funny hats on our heads trying to sell them, which to their delight I bought my mum one (no regrets). Trying to sell us wristbands with words such as 'I love big jizz' on them, and many more hilarious things. I don't think there were any moments that we didn't get offered the chance to see 'really good ping pong show', or handed a card to see a sex show.

 

 

The road was bustling with people from all over and I even spotted some Brits- best way to describe them typical 'lads' wearing their string vests looking like idiots and absolutely smashed going wild over the fact they could drink a bucket full of the cheapest cocktails you could wish for. Nonetheless can't say I wasn't excited over my Mai-Thai bucket that Elizabeth and I shared, can't even remember how much we paid but it was dirt cheap- I think we even haggled the price down a bit!

 

 

We had our drinks in this bar ^^ note the fact it says 'Golf Bar Cocktails Very Strong, We Do Not Check ID Card & Restaurant', that cracked me up.

 

 

After this and just generally soaking up the party atmosphere in Khao San Rd we unfortunately had to make our way back to the hotel, via Tuk Tuk of course, ready for our flight to Hong Kong the next day.

 

As Hong Kong wasn't a stopover flight I have nothing to write about as we only stayed in the crew lounge at the airport for four hours before getting back on the plan to fly back to Bangkok for another 24 hours there.

 

For my last day in Bangkok myself and Emily had breakfast at the hotel buffet which was lovely, feeling very stuffed and absolutely shattered we just about dragged ourselves to the mall, known as 'MBK'. Oh my goodness it was something else, you could haggle down the price for pretty much anything, floors and floors of little stalls, to shops that were selling the most real looking Mulberry, Prada, Michael Kors etc- you name it, fakes. There were handbags, purses, watches, just everything imaginable. I personally found myself absolutely amazed by the technology floor, and ended up spending most of my money in there. I bought two selfie sticks, cos obvs one isn't enough, but giving the pink one to my sister in law. I succumbed to pressure and bough my mum a pink beats pill, okay its a fake but for 14 quid I won't mind too much if it only lasts a couple of months, the sound quality sounds awesome and it looks so cute.

 

I bought a trillion other things too, little souvenirs for gifts, a pashmina to use as a throw on my bed, thai looking table runners for my parents house, one for my dressing table in my bedroom and other little decorations for my family.

 

All in all MBK was literally like my heaven.

 

After quite a long day we were going to see if we had enough time for a famous thai massage which everyone raves about, and most of the crew had gone for. However we just wouldn't have had enough time, so instead we got our nails done at a spa by our hotel called Burberri (I think). I got cellac on my own nails and had a French manicure, it came to about 13 or 14 pounds in total, which is very good and they look great! 

 

Next time I am in Bangkok I want to go to Patpong, Soi 11, go to the floating market, see the Grand Palace and Big Bhudda and do more sightseeing and maybe less shopping!

 

All in all I had a great time in Bangkok and cannot wait for my return!

 

The only thing I didn't like was I felt the streets were a little dirty and after seeing a few rats that kind of put me off, but I guess that's what is so different about Bangkok, it really is just so different to Dubai and England.

 

 

Cutest little kid pulling some moves on Khao San Rd

 

Beautiful temple we walked past on Silom Road

 

Such gorgeous colours

 

Next time I want to see more of this..

Wires galore, in Bangkok.

 

 

XoX