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Monday, January 13, 2014
I've had a lot more readers than usual bug me about finally getting into blogging again. I never abandoned it, just lacking some serious motivation for a few months. These things happen - but I've been keen to write a few posts for a while now, it was just a matter of actually getting all the text down from my journal to the computer, then getting the photos right to make a publishable post. The transfer from the journal to the blog is the worst part, at least for me, as I can write and let things flow with no problems. But with typing you have editing and spell checking and what not - which can be somewhat tedious. Anyway enough rambling...
So following on from the big life-changer of getting my driver's licence at the start of the year, I decided it was about time I bought myself a car. Isn't it pretty?  After I got my licence I was more than happy waiting a while and driving a hired car around before having the money to buy one, but then I found out you can't hire a car in most places in Dubai until you've had at least 1 year of driving experience on your licence. It took me 8 months to buy this for a few reasons, the main reason was that I didn't want to get out a car loan for something that will only depreciate in value over time. Also by waiting until the summer months to make a purchase a lot of the prices went down on used cars for sale, so I think getting a 2012 Mini Cooper (Baker Street edition) with only 3000km on the odometer for just under 80,000 AED cash wasn't too bad. I knew I wanted a small car, as I wasn't entirely confident in my parking skills yet, and this is perfect for me and my lifestyle in Dubai. I'm seeing Dubai in an entirely different light, and getting out of my area a lot more now and quickly filling up my time with gym, shopping at the Fruit & Veg market, cooking said produce, driving to cafes to work on my research project. I'm trialling different jogging paths around the city so I don't get bored with the same route. So if you live in the city and see a bad driver driving this car, it's likely me. I already had a mild accident in the Dragon Mart car park which was my fault, nothing major thank goodness. My January so far has been less than great. New Years was celebrated on a flight from Amsterdam back to Dubai, then I had a deadhead Milan flight (which was all kinds of awesome!) but then the night that I landed I was hit with the worst bout of gastro I've ever experienced. I'll spare you guys the very disgusting details, but it was downright brutal. I spent 5 days on the 'BRAT' diet and by the third day I was going nuts - stomach was getting better but it messes with you mentally as your taste buds crave proper flavour and spice. It isn't going to do next month's pay packet too well either - there's a massive gap of about 10 days where the only flight I've operated is a Muscat, 37 min there and 50 minutes return. It's all good though, in a way it was my body's way of telling me I needed to recharge.  
December, in contrast, was actually pretty good - I basically felt as if I was living in Europe without having to deal with the cold rainy weather on a daily basis. Hamburg (x2!), Stockholm and Vienna was full of Christmas market glory. As to which ones are the best? I guess Vienna had better handicrafts, whilst Hamburg had the better food. I'm still dreaming of the potato cakes with bacon and lashings of remoulade. There was also a stall that had cooked mushrooms - *just* cooked mushrooms - served with this creamy stuff that may have had booze in it - it was amazing. I'm so glad Christmas only comes once a year because there is no way my heart can take all that cholesterol again for another 8-9 months at least.
 
Speaking of cholesterol, my European bonanza continued in Amsterdam - the final flight of the year. The Airline added another daily flight to it's roster which is operating the Boeing, so now I can fly there on layovers again :-D I missed the place like crazy, especially the croquettes at Holtkamp, so of course I joined the queue and bought some frozen logs of goodness to take back with me to Dubai. Regardless of the weather there, I always make myself hire a bike and ride around the city, though doing so on New Years eve was a little crazy as people were already getting sloshed and setting off fireworks even before sunset. It would've been nice to have stayed for the celebrations, but alas, I had to operate AMS-DXB and the clock struck midnight somewhere whilst I was airborne.
Such is the hostie life :-S Labels: Around Dubai, Holidays, Random Thoughts 7 commentsFriday, December 30, 2011
It’s been quite a 2011 for me I must say. I feel as though this year I’ve seen change between becoming someone who has been here for ‘just a few years’ to ‘an experienced Dubai resident’. And I know it's somewhat of a cliche here in the blogging world, but I thought I'd do a summary post all the same.Celebrating 5 Years  In February the blog hit the big 5 year mark. I didn’t think I’d even last 5 months. Many other blogs from others in this industry (some even from the same airline) pop up and disappear, and I never thought in the beginning that this was something I’d stick to. But the support from readers just blew me away and ultimately kept me going. The Formspring Account This blew up in size more than I could have ever dreamt of. The idea behind it was that people would ask me questions, then it would give me a few ideas as to what to write for my next post. Some of them did (The airline catering post is a great example) but mostly it’s a quick way for me to interact with you guys, as I really procrastinate with the email account nowadays. The airline Well they found out about the blog. Which as you can imagine led to a "Oh S**t” moment. But it also led to... The Geneva Inaugural  Which was certainly an experience! A tough flight, both sectors full of management (including the President of the Airline) and non-stop posing and smiling. I must have done the Arabic Coffee service 5 times out of Dubai just so this one lady with a video camcorder could get the shot correct. The atmosphere amongst the crew was simply amazing, from the Captain to the Purser to the most junior Grade II. We were also invited to the gala dinner held on the same night we landed, the first ever inaugural crew to be invited, and we felt like celebs dressed in our cocktail gear, walking down a red carpet, wine and dined on the airline’s expense, which I have never experienced before. Mostly, especially in my old job at PCEC, I was the one serving the people who were wined and dined on their employee’s expense. We were lucky if we even had more than one choice at the buffet in the staff kitchen, let alone a 3 course meal. An amazing meal at that. My inner 15 year old self almost squealed when I found out that Westlife were going to perform at the gala, and I even got to share the stage with them at some point! Talk about a good layover! New Layovers  Geneva aside, I also operated flights to Amsterdam, Guangzhou and Copenhagen for the first time. Amsterdam was spent catching up with my mate Amy from my uni days, and Guangzhou was spent sleeping. Guangzhou was one of those unique Flight Attendant moments where you wake up in a strange bed and look around the room, think "Why am I not in my room?" then check the hotel stationary to find out where you REALLY are. And you all know what happened in Copenhagen... Run Run Run...   The ultimate goal that I set myself for 2011 was to turn running from an occasional treadmill thing to a proper habit, and I’ve more than exceeded that this year. I never ran outdoors until I bought some sneakers during the Black Friday sales in New York, and I also bought a very basic pace monitor as well. It was probably the most motivating thing I could have done to kick my fitness into gear, and slowly but surely I started running more and more until it grew into an almost obsessive thing. First it was buying a new pair of Capri pants as my old ones were chaffing along the side seams. Then some good sports bras. Then more exercise pants and tank tops. Then a Garmin Forerunner for my birthday. Then it was trying out different recovery drink formulas and gels and energy bars that I would bring over from the US. Throughout all this I was pouring over my training log, seeing what was happening during my ‘off’ days, whether there was a correlation between poor running performance and lack of sleep, lack of good diet, too many flight hours. I love looking at the statistics and seeing how far I’ve come from a year ago, and I also feel that I’ve had less colds as well since taking it up and I have more energy during the morning and during flights as well, even night flights! Right now I’m booked to run my first ever 10km race at the Dubai Marathon, and whilst I don’t imagine myself having a cracking time, if I can just complete it it’ll mean the world to me because I know that I’ve come a very long way from what I was a year ago (running the 3km and getting beat by some very fit primary school kids), let alone from when I first moved here never having done any gym time before. New Places Discovered    I don’t know why I didn’t do this more often – whenever I saw 4 or 5 days off in the roster, to book a mini holiday to Europe, somewhere I hadn’t been before. Riga, Reykjavik, Bergen and Vilnius. I had a ball, and took some great photos; I just hope I can do the same in 2012. Eurovision - Dusseldorf 2011   By far the highlight of my year. I got to catch up with the friends that I made in Oslo and saw the rehearsals, went to the parties, hung out in the Press Centre, met some of the performers and had a great time. I’d love to repeat the experience in Baku, especially since I haven’t been to Azerbaijan before, but it’s looking somewhat unlikely at this stage so I guess I’ll just have to reminisce about my great week in Dusseldorf. Looking forward to 2012 So what of 2012? Well I'm not going anywhere, this job is just too good to leave! But I have decided to bite the bullet and finally try to get my driver's license. I know I have lived quite well without it for the past 6 years here in Dubai, and could get around very easily with public transport when I was in Perth, but its been 10 years now since I first took my driving test in Perth and caught air over a roundabout, which scared me a bit. I think I am ready to take it on now. There will be frustration, there may even be tears, but I know this is something I have to do sooner or later and I may as well try it now. On that note, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or other applicable holiday) and that you all have a wonderful New Year! :-D Geneva photo credit to S. Perez Labels: Airline Stuff, Around Dubai, Eurovision, Random Thoughts 4 commentsWednesday, August 24, 2011
Hey guys, just thought I'd send you a quick update. At the moment I'm on my annual leave, and in keeping up with my "Must visit a new country every 6 months" rule, I've decided to head to Reykjavik. At the moment I'm working on a draft for one post, and the Reykjavik notes for another post has gone to two pages, so there will be a decent amount of culling on my part. Today is my last day here, then I'm off to Oslo and Bergen from tomorrow. Can't wait.
Meanwhile, have any of you seen anything like this at your airport? An entire shelf of Tang? They also had a whole shelf dedicated to Powdered Milk, all in the Duty Free section of the Terminal 1 at DXB, nestled along the cigarettes, booze and cosmetics. I remember being stunned seeing massive bags of Persil washing powder being available for sale here once, and thinking "Why would someone buy washing powder at the Duty Free?" Only in Dubai! Labels: Around Dubai, Holidays, Random Thoughts 6 commentsTuesday, February 08, 2011
Believe it or not, today marks the official 5 year anniversary of Tampax Towers, my lovely writing home! To be honest with you all, I never for a minute expected it to last this long. I thought it would be just a hobby that would die off with a lack of posts, destined for blog purgatory like many other attempts in the past by many of my colleges and fellow hosties.So just a few statistics for you all –
In 5 years of being a flight attendant... 
And some highlights of my Dubai Journey -
But to cap off an amazing 5 year journey, I just wanted to say one big massive THANK YOU to everyone who has ever linked to, read, commented, sent emails to, recommended and sought this blog for advice or juicy gossip. Without your constant support I would definitely have not been able to keep it operable for as long as I have. I can reassure you all that my years of banging knees with the meal and bar cart are still fun and enjoyable and I'm not going anywhere... Here's hoping to the next few years of shenanigans! Images courtesy of FashionPeach, N. Bruce Labels: Airline Stuff, Around Dubai, Eurovision, Galley Gossip, Layovers, Random Thoughts 11 commentsMonday, January 24, 2011
Reason 376 why I love living in Dubai...Any other part of the world, Graffiti is used as a form of vandalism, with some insolent 16 year old tagging any building they can find with their name/nickname/profanity. Whilst this artist is in no way the same league as Banksy, I still like the fact that they used the spray cans to spread good will amongst the residents of my local hangout, Al Nahda. Definately made me crack a smile after a long run at the local park.  I know its a good 20-30 days late, but Happy New Year :-D Labels: Around Dubai 0 commentsTuesday, December 14, 2010
Hey guys, just a quick update on how things are going over this end of the world...At the moment I've just completed a massive week of turnarounds - two Hyderabads, Mumbai, Dammam and Damascus, with only a day of to split them. I'd been very fortunate until now to avoid the dreaded 5-turn streak but sadly December was my month to cop it. I was actually kind of relieved to not have to pack the suitcase for a week, before the turns I had a Bangkok-Sydney-Christchurch (which was a whopping 8 days away from base!) then after giving my washer/dryer a workout I had 7 days leave, followed by a snowy Paris. Fun times all around...  I had a lovely catch up with Ben, and finally got to meet the famous motherofSodwee :-D Lots of eating to be had, including this yummy beef tatare from a Bistrot-whos-name-escapes-me, followed by hot chocolate from Cafe Angelina which totally rocked my socks off, followed by a Charlotte Framboise and for the finale - some squidgy chocolate cake baked by motherofSodwee herself! Talk about First Class hospitality! Never had anyone bake me a cake before!!! I was, and still am, very much impressed. So were the crew who operated back to Dubai and shared in the hospitality with me :-D At the moment I've really gotten into jogging, which I never thought I would ever do. Before when I did some cardio at the gym it was 30 min of walking on the highest incline at the gym, followed by 15 minutes on either the elliptical or the bike. Now I'm actually starting to explore the Al Nahda area a bit, though occasionally I still have some random guy drive up to me, then follow at about 5kph, but when they realise I've got my headphones in and realistically it could be an hour before I quit they give up after about 5 min. I'm not wearing anything super revealing - elbows and knees are covered, and the same thing has happened before when I was living round Sheikh Zayed road, so I guess its just one of those things I have to deal with. And people wonder why the country is suffering from an obesity crisis?
 How can you not have a nice stay when you have this message to greet you as you put on your outfit for the day?  Oz getting his pose on in Central Park...Aside from that, nothing much has happened, except I'm trying to fight a minor cold. No fever, no body pain, but runny nose and itchy throat. To much exercise maybe ;-) Next layover is a 48 hour Mauritius, which I have just learnt is now city-based, so looks like I will have to become well acquainted with the pool whilst the rest of the country is enjoying the beach and 28 degree weather. Oh well :-( Labels: Around Dubai, Galley Gossip, Layovers, Random Thoughts, Work 7 commentsSaturday, October 09, 2010
So the past week and a half for me has been very hectic – first I had one of my best friends from Perth visit for two nights, and we managed to pack in a ton of stuff within the short stay that he had. Less than 24 hours after Paul left, my Dad arrived, and whilst it wasn’t a complete disaster like last time it still had its fair share of mishaps, including but not limited to...
As if things couldn’t get any worse – I operated a Hyderabad flight on Wednesday and on decent into Dubai I had trouble equalising my ears. It was strange because I hadn’t had a cold for at least 2-3 months, so I didn’t know why they’d be acting the way they did. At about 5000 feet they eventually pressurised, but afterwards I was VERY dizzy and had the most excruciating pain in my right ear. Went to the doctor who said I had Barotrauma and a bit of bleeding in the middle ear, and said I couldn’t fly for at least 3 days, but to expect the problem to clear in a few weeks. A FEW WEEKS!!! Nooooooo! So crappiness aside, I did have a great time with both Dad and Paul, and one of the things I did with both of them was take them to the world famous Burj Al Arab. I hadn't been there before, despite living in Dubai for almost 5 years, so I was extremely excited to see what it was like and whether it lived up to the hype. The afternoon tea is the cheapest way you can gain access to this iconic building, and it's definately piqued my interest as to what the rooms are like. Will have to wait until next summer though to afford it.   The beautiful atrium, said to be the world's tallest (but isn't everything in this city?)    Only the best afternoon tea will do for my Dad.  Paul and I at the Sahn Eddar lounge.   Sandwiches and Scones. The passionfruit jam is absolutely amazing, it may even inspire me to make my own sometime!  The cappucino comes with a choice of Vahlrona chocolate or Gold dust on top, so I decided to go with the gold just to see what it was like. The cappucino didn't taste any different (Though dad was quick to quip that it tasted a lot like money...) and I kinda wished I had the chocolate dusting instead. Now if only I can find a way to stay there on the cheap... Labels: Around Dubai, Random Thoughts, Work 7 commentsWednesday, July 14, 2010
So it's about time for a Dubai post, I mean with all the flying I do overseas I do spend a lot of time relaxing and eating here. And the focus of my post today is the city's newest and most anticipated attraction, the Burj Khalifa.Ever since I moved to Dubai I have seen the tower grow seemingly overnight. I was lucky that with my first apartment being in the heart of Sheikh Zayed road, with a little neck-craning I could see the tower. It was also universally known as the Burj Dubai then, and when they announced the name change 4 years after moving here, I was a little shocked. Even now I still end up calling it the "Burj Du-Khalifa". But anyway, when it first opened, I knew there was no chance in the first month I was going to be able to get a ticket to fit within my flying schedule. Then it shut down for a while, and with regular trolling of the UAE news sites I saw that a few months later it re-opened. I booked my ticket, and 100dh later I had my Burj Khalifa experience.   The entrance is within the Dubai Mall, which is super handy if you don't have a lot of time to visit Dubai and want to get in a few touristy stuff without travelling too far. To get to the actual tower you take a lot of travelators, and projected on the walls are all these video graphics showing the history of Dubai, from the pearl farmers, to the abras, the bedouins, falconry, and showing modern Dubai, including the construction boom, to ladies shopping, and even a local in a khandoora with his Blackberry...        It's very beautifully done... So after the travelator section you then enter a kind of mini-museum, which goes into immense detail about the tower and how it progressed from a concept drawing to what it is today. Every challenge that needed to be overcome was featured, such as how to maximise the view for the residents of the building, to wind aerodynamics, and it was interesting to see that many of the ideas were taken from nature, such as the triple-lobed base of the building being inspired by the Hymenocallis flower.     There was also a tribute there to the construction workers who were of course a huge part of the creation of the building. I have never seen anywhere in Dubai that paid tribute to the workers that built the buildings so it was wonderful to see the Burj Khalifa feature a permanent memorial.  The Address hotel, Souk al Bahar, and the Dubai Fountain   Business Bay and beyond. You can still see spots of desert amongst all the construction noise.  Dubai Mall  Sheikh Zayed Road  Jumeirah Beach. Sadly with the haze you couldn't see the Burj Al Arab. So there you have the Burj Khalifa experience. If you need some tips, try and go in the winter time so you can avoid the haze and fog which completely ruins the magnificent view. And definitely buy a ticket in advance - otherwise you're paying 400dh instead of a 100dh ticket. Despite how amazed I was by the place I still didn't think it was worth 400dh. If you plan in advance though it's a great way to spend the afternoon. And where else can you go to the toilet 424m above sea level??? Labels: Around Dubai 8 comments |
