Melissa's Flight Attendant Blog

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Right, so after arriving into Dubai from my London flight (which was REALLY bad) I had less than 9 hours to get ready. (Well, there was less than 9 hours between the arrival time of the London flight and the departure of the Vienna flight, so in reality, taking into account it took DXB a whopping 1.5 hours to locate my suitcase, I had about 6 hours to myself in my apartment, 3 of which was spent sleeping) I was VERY tired, and considered calling sick, but alas upon reflecting on how little flying I had done, I needed the $$$ and operated the flight. Plus I'd never been to Vienna before.

It was worth going - even though it was pouring down (one of the locals had told us the previous week was 39 degrees Celcius, which didn't amuse us) the city was still amazing, so full of that European architecture you can only dream about living back home.

Went out with 2 of the crew, Stephanie and Laura, Steph was in the same position as me and had never seen the city before, whereas Laura had and just wanted a walk. The one thing I wanted to do most in the city was go to a classical music concert of some sort. My dad brought me up on classical music, and yeah many high school years were spent practicing Beethoven on the piano. Steph was keen, but Laura wasn't, so I was glad that someone actually wanted to go.

Steph and I under our umbrellas

The Stephansdom on the Stephansplatz.

The Hofburg Palace, home of the Habsburg emperors until early last centry. And also where the concert was being held.

The amazing stage (actually the entire building was very plush and in very good condition)

Percussionist getting cheeky with the conductor

So, after an amazing month of flights, I'm now on Reserve until mid-September. I go back to Perth for 2 weeks, and I have another Business Promotion at the start of September, but I've already done one turnaround and things look to be headed in that direction. I remember my last reserve period, Karachi, Kuwait, Karachi, with a few BP events thrown in for good measure. Will keep you guys posted if I get anything half-decent.

Labels: Layovers

Posted by Melissa at 1:18 pm

2 comments

The most stunning shopping plaza I have ever seen, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. Houses Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, and also a McDonalds

An octagonal building! You don't find these everywhere... Battistero di San Giovanni, said to be the oldest building in Fiorenze, in the Piazza del Duomo

Vanessa posing with the Rape of the Sabine Women, by Giambologna, at the Loggia dei Lanzi

At first I thought that his parents made him wear those sock with sandals, then I noticed that neither parent was doing it. So yeah, I know when I was was his age it was daggy, didn't know it was cool all of a sudden. Maybe I'm showing my age.

A replica of Michelangelo's David outside the Palazzo Vecchio, on the Piazza della Signoria. Didn't know where to find the original to be honest (But later found out it was at the Galleria dell'Academia, and that photos are, apparently, not allowed anyway)

This month I was blessed with what is probably the most coveted flight in our network for crew to operate. For 1.5 years I've been bidding , and finally I scored the 4 day Milan. The flight over was heaven - 26 passengers on 42 seats, all other classes were chock-a-block. It is hard work, don't get me wrong, we had 2 services to do in 5.5 hours. But the cool crew and lovely passengers were a perfect start to things.

So what do you do with a 4 day Milan layover? Get out of Milan of course! I also bid for Venezia this month, but didn't get the flight, so I had to go during my stay.

You can't go to Venezia and not ride a gondola. From left, Karmela, me, Yasmin, Paul, Abigail (Philipines) and Vanesa

The Ponte de Rialto from the gondola

Our driver, and in the background is the place (I think it's a prison but I'm not entirely sure) where Cassanova was held

So, next post should be Florence and Milan. Blogger decided to be a pain to me today, this post alone taking 5 hours to complete from all the uploading I had to do. Enjoy and take care...