Thoughts...contd.

I do not have it all figured out, but I'm trying. Things tend to get clearer, and then fuzzier and then clearer again. Sometimes I wonder if these fluctuating feelings will always be with me, or if I will grow out of it. Overall though, I do feel like I am gaining perspective. I just have to continue to step back and look at the bigger picture. It can be too easy to get caught up in the small stresses and worries of the day.

We are on the van ride back to Belfast airport. The scenery really is beautiful. It's a grey morning, but the sun was shining brightly on our way in yesterday, lighting up the bright green hills and pastures. All of my trips to the U.K. and Ireland have instilled an even deeper desire in me to really explore this place. I've wanted for so long to discover my Irish roots. I feel like it is some necessary step in becoming who I am. The transitoriness of these layovers frustrate me in a way, but I have to keep looking at the bigger picture; one day I will get more than a glimpse. If I choose too, I can come back and truly discover this place.

Maybe I'll even learn Gaelic, or "Irish," as the Irish say. ;)
Anyway...Even if they have been just glimpses, I have had many wonderful experiences so far. I've seen the sheep grazing in Northern Ireland, I've run into "wild" horses on a walk in Limerick, I've had a Jameson straight from the distillery in Dublin and I've roamed the picturesque town of Bristol in England. My little glimpes into the towns, cities and countries that I am not native of have made my world smaller and given me a window into how the rest of the planet spends their days. What a great blessing I've been given! What an adventure so far...

Thoughts...

I have 15 minutes before I need to head downstairs for the van back to the airport. Sorry Belfast, I didn't get to see you this time. When we finally got here yesterday it was 6am Newark time. I guess after 6 days off (even though they were so rushed!!) and having worked a trip that got in much earlier than this, I was more exhausted than I thought. I accidentally slept 'till 10pm Belfast time. Apparently I didn't hear my alarm. Also, they have the coolest (and perhaps too effective) wooden panels that you can slide shut over the windows in this hotel. The room can become like night whenever you need (like for the whole day yesterday!!).
I am watching European music television, my favorite thing to do in the mornings on my layovers. :) I would miss that, and other things of course if I wasn't doing this job anymore.
I've already had breakfast. I went downstairs at around 7:30am in plain clothes. It's the first time I've done that. Normally I go down early for the van and eat in my uniform along with my crewmembers (p.s. only a few hotels actually give us free breakfast, this is one of the ones that does!). I wonder if I will be more tired when I get back to NJ since I couldn't sleep through the night here. Who knows, maybe it will be the same.
Well well, that wasn't too interesting. Sorry. I've got to take off now. Wish I could just keep watching "MTV" and hang out in Belfast today. Wouldn't it be nice if we had 48 hour layovers so we could see something when we are not exhausted?! That would be cool....Maybe i'll get lucky in the winter and get some of those (we have a few in the winter time only).
Ciao for now.
R

August 4th, 2008

I have felt the sand and the salt of the Red Sea between my toes

I have been told I look more African than American
and I have bought over-priced spices at a Tel Aviv bazaar
I have been to Israel

Neither here, nor there...

What I know: right now I am home. Really home. Finally I made it back to Whidbey Island. My 6 precious days will go by so fast. I am craving cloudy days and coffee shops and walking along the beach!!! Will I get enough of it before I have to go back out into the big, bad, scary world?
Current weather: 60 degrees and partly cloudly. ;) aaaaah, Seattle.

I flew a 777 today, and other thoughts...

My life...I can't even really figure it out right now. This month has been soooo busy, I don't even know where all i've been or how the time has flown by so quickly. I haven't had a moment's peace from crew scheduling...At least I got to see Tel Aviv! AND...I can now say that I have operated a Boeing 777-200. ;) On the flight back from London-Heathrow, I worked up in BusinessFirst (which I somehow had managed to avoid on the 777 before) and so, instead of blocking (like I normally end up doing) I actually went into the cock pit when one of the guys needed a bathroom break. Normally, you just sit there and chat with the FO or the captain, whoever is up there and not in the bathroom. This time, the FO told me to take the captain's seat! I was a little unsure of that, and even more unsure of when he told I was going to fly the plane. ;) He got a radio that we need to lower down to 34,000 feet from 37,000 feet. He told me which dial to turn down to 34 and then to press the button in! YIKES. ;) I flew a 777! It was very cool of the FO to let me do that, I felt like it gave me wings for a minute. ;)

Quick Call!

I have less than an hour to get ready, for Tel Aviv! Looking at the crew list, some of them have 2 zero's before their employee numbers! (It's a very senior trip). I hope I am awake enough for this trip. I got back from a week in Germany to visit my sister (of which i hope to tell about soon) the day before yesterday. Yesterday I was assigned airport alert at 11am (too early for us international flight attendants) and they assigned me a domestic base pairing--an Aruba turn. As soon as I rushed to the plane and got on board the rain started. Not just regular rain, the plane was rocking back and forth at the gate as the flash floods and wind poured over us. Somehow that big metal bullet feels more like a toothpick in that moment. Of course we were delayed, 2 and half hours to be exact. And I got back from that turn after midnight. So here I am, still tired and half planning to go to the Jersey shore and I get a quick call to Tel Aviv. Okay, gotta go hop in the shower, no time to spare. ;)

To tide you over...

Here are two videos I took of the horses I happened upon (in a neighborhood by the river) while exploring Limerick. :)

Limerick

There once was a land named Limerick

A girl called Rebecca was in it

She found herself there

A dream unaware

With green hills and cows like cinnamon.

Okay, so now I've written a Limerick in Limerick. ;) It's not funny and it probably doesn't even rhyme right, but at least I tried. I have to sleep a little, and then I have lots of tales to tell! Stay tuned... :)

"Flight attendant Blankinship?," "Yes?," "We have an assignment for you."

Sometimes I feel like I am spy or work for the government the way that the voices on the other end of the phone line have control over my life. ;) Reserve life. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before. Actually, let me tell you; Initial Training was like nothing I've ever experienced before. After explaining the 4 1/2 stressful weeks to my dad he said, "Gee, that sounds like boot camp!!"
Maybe that's why I feel like I'm a part of some big family. Every time I see another flight attendant, whether from my company or another one, I know we have something in common. We've lived through some of the same nightmares, for maybe some of the same dreams. My dream is to travel. At the same time of course, I have to have meaning in my life. I have to be successful creating exchange programs and enabling people to travel and discover themselves in a new place. I will do this, if reserve life doesn't allow me to do it, then I'll have to find a different way...The funny thing is, I don't know if I can imagine life without the benefits of this job. I don't know if I can imagine a "normal" sleeping schedule, or weekends off? They say that once this job gets into your blood, you're done for. You really can't do anything else, or at least, you choose not to.
I wish I had a crystal ball... How long will I have to be on reserve???
p.s. They called me for Belfast. ;) (Why not Rome or Milan? Oh well...;)).

Why am I awake right now?

Besides the normal reasons why I am still awake at 2:30am, this time I am awake because when I got back from my trip to Edinburgh I went to sleep thinking that I would take a 2 hour nap and be able to wake up and go on about my day. For the first time I didn't set an alarm. What was I thinking? Did I think I would feel rested after 2 hours sleep after having started my day at 1am Newark time? Needless to say I woke up confused, wondered why it was dark out, how long had I been sleeping, when did I fall asleep...I realized that I was still asleep from going to bed at 2pm and then hoped that it was at least the middle of the night so that I could just try to sleep for a little longer and get up early. Guess what time it was? 10pm...Ooops. I had slept for 8 hours. I am sure that at this point, after 1 year of flying through random times zones, and now constantly forcing myself to sleep and wake up at completely opposite hours, my body does not even know what to do. Normal sleeping schedule...hmm, what would that be like??? It's been such a long time...

June 29th 2008, Journal Entry from Geneva Layover

It's 5:19 in the morning, Swiss time. I was awakened from a deep sleep at 4am when a crowd of drunken club-goers started shouting and singing on the street below. Note-to-self: Request a room higher than the 2nd floor. After our 2 hour delayed arrival yesterday, and feeling so exhausted, I forced myself to get up (around 5pm) and go out to see where I had arrived to. Damn! It was so beautiful! I wish I had gone straight out and just laid on the grass by Lake Geneva. There were so many people about. All along the lake there were beautiful parks, restaurants, cafes and places to just chill. I ran into a crewmember out there and we walked around some more. I wanted to find what appeared to be a church in the distance, so we walked together to find it. We ended up finding some cool off-the-beaten-path restaurants and cafes along the way. I will definitely go back and hang out at one of those places next time. After finding the "church" (I think it might have been a museum, I'm not sure), we walked back towards the hotel and ate at my crewmember's favorite lebanese place. I had Shawarma (yum) and fresh Ayran (yogurt drink that I learned to love in Turkey). (yum yum!!). On the way back to the hotel I spotted a market selling Efes beer. We bought two and enjoyed them back in the crew room at the hotel. The guy did us a favor to sell them to us after 9pm (we bought them at 9:05pm). Apparently you can only buy alchohol in restaurants or bars after that time.

I would LOVE to come to this place again. If we arrive on-time and it's beautiful weather like it was today I might do the boat tour one of my co-workers told me about. It's an all day tour that stops and different places along the lake, even some very cute little towns on the French side.

Alright, I guess I'll try to "sleep" now 'till our 7am wakeup call. (Doesn't feel like that's going to happen, well at least I had a snack comprised of hot chocolate from the hotel in Berlin, a bagel from the plane and honey from the hotel in Dublin. ;) At least i'm not starving now. :)

p.s. Observations: I had no idea there are so many Turks in Geneva. They were all over the place at the lake (I can always spot them :)). There were also a LOT of africans. There seemed to be more Americans wandering around then the average European city too. What are they doing here? Not a bad place to come and work if don't say so myself. ;)

June 5th 2008, Journal Entry from Lisbon Layover

Sometimes life is just purely and simply; good. I can't describe it or exactly explain it, but this was one of the best layovers I've had. We arrived late, waited for our rooms, I got to my room, took off my lanyard and realized my Crew ID was missing. I immediately went back downstairs to see if it had dropped anywhere, in the elevator, in the lobby, outside... I asked the front desk if they could call the van driver to see if it was there...After my 4 hours of sleep and having wandered around Lisbon in search of mom's pottery, I got back to the hotel to find out that someone had found my ID! I'll have to find out in the morning where it was exactly. Anyway, I saved 50 bucks and a lot of hassle.

Halfway through my 4 hour nap (on this wonderful, most comfortable Sofitel bed) I started hearing what seemed to be a parade outside. At first I thought, "this must be where the 'summer festival days' originated that I've had to put up with in the Ironbound," but then I realized that it sounded like protesting. After finally dragging myself out of bed, I felt a little guilty hurrying past the protesters to find the olive dish for capri, "the-dish-that-got-away" for mom and "the-dress-that-got-away" for me. Finally, I had luck with some pottery but couldn't find the infamous dish or the bright blue dress I'd seen in the window last time. Then I came back to meet the crew (most of them) for dinner. We relaxed in the lobby bar, and then headed out to a family-run, small restaurant that Odete has been going to for years. This hole-in-the-wall "cantina for well-being," or however it was translated, had absolutely the best food I've had so far on my trips to Portugal. I wish my mom had been there. The food went well with the good conversation and atmosphere. We took up one of the maybe 5 tables in the place. We spent hours devouring appetizers, salad, bread, cheese, shrimp, clams, wine, fresh fish, pork, strawberries, dessert, coffee, liqueur... and then the cute little restaurant owner did not want a dime from us. I think that makes the top of my list hospitality-wise. I just have never seen anything like it. He did not even know us, and he only knows Odete from when she comes into the restaurant. We left him a tip of 20 Euros. I feel that wasn't enough for all the hours the 5 of us sat there and all the delicious food we consumed, but I think he knew how grateful we were. We all gave him hugs and kisses as we left. After that, we walked "home" from the Barrio Alto and now here I am making an account of the day and getting ready for a good night's sleep after a very satisfying layover. Goodnight!

p.s. the van driver was the one who found my ID and made a special trip back to the hotel to bring it to me. the protesting had been about low wages, and although this had been a pure and good layover, the flight home was something out of the twilight zone. We all agreed it had to be the most unruly, unnappreciative and rude group of people ever gathered on one flight. :) That just goes to show how nothing is guaranteed in this job. It's all a gamble, you've just gotta cross your fingers and hope for the best! :)

p.p.s. you know you're a flight attendant when you've verbally referred to the hotel as "home." (yes, I've done it).

Welcome to my new blog. I will try to get this together so that it makes some sense... ;)

(picture: perfect flower, short san fran layover).