Happy Thanksgiving, Etc.

There's a lot of things I like about my job. I like that I am able to travel the world, and meet people from various backgrounds and cultures. I like that I am able to visit friends and family, that I otherwise would not get to see if it weren't for my job. I like that I have lots of time off, and that it allows me to live in a really cool city.

I don't like being treated like I am some one's servant.

Many of our lovely passengers come from cultures where anyone who works in the service industry is viewed as lower class, and therefore, shows them very little respect. Logically, I know that the reason I always strive to treat McDonald's workers, grocery store clerks, and doctors with the same level of respect is because I was raised in a culture, and, more significantly, in a family where that was taught to me. However, when I am in the midst of being called a trolley pusher and demanded to, "go get me whiskey" the logical part of me goes out the window, and I just get pissed at the level of disrespect and disregard my fellow human beings have for me. I find that this causes my anger and annoyance only to escalate as I rearrange half eaten croissants, leftover bowels of chicken marsala, and  cups filled with remnants of coffee neatly back onto the tray, because, believe it or not people, replicas of the Burj Kalifa actually do not fit back inside the clearance cart! At this point I have to all but place my hand over my mandated bright red, glossy covered lips to keep myself from screaming, "I have a freaking college degree!"

As you can tell, it's very easy for me to become consumed with the frustrating aspects of being a flight attendant, and forget to focus on all the really cool parts of this job. Several days ago I was having dinner with my fellow American friend, Maggie, and we were discussing our job. Like me, she's not exactly passionate about cleaning lavs (airplane toilets), but rather, she views each flight as a networking opportunity, and strives to have a contact in each city where we fly. How cool as that?!

After our discussion, I felt my work related attitude needed some tweaking. On my next flight, which was to Washington DC, I challenged myself to have at least one meaningful conversation with a passenger. I not only engaged in one great conversation, I had at least six! I met an American women who serves as a missionary in Thailand, working with teens who are being held as sex slaves. I cried in the galley with Woody, a 57 year old man who's best friend had just lost his battle with cancer, and told him about loosing my own mother this past year. I exchanged emails with Alca, an Indian woman who works as an engineer at the Pentagon, and I told Justin, a government contractor, who is currently stationed in Afghanistan, that I would pray for his safety. Although exhausted, I actually left both sectors of this trip in a great mood.  I never seize to be amazed by how powerful a conscious change in attitude can be!

I am not pledging to be Chatty Cathy on every single flight, because as much as I am an idealist, I'm also a realist, but I think keeping this goal in mind is a great way to find a little bit more pleasure in the actual work part of my job, which in turn will help me keep my sanity. Here's to not becoming this guy!

 

 

So besides being on my quest for niceness, there was also another major point for my journey to Washington, D.C. I met up with my aunt and uncle who live nearby in Virgina! It was great to see them, and equally as great to be in the USA.

 

Me and My Mom's Sister, Nancy in Washington, DC

Speaking of the USA, tomorrow Thanksgiving will be celebrated in the land of the free, and, unfortunately, I will not be there. Considering holidays at the Schutz's are going to be incredibly different this year, I decided to put my own unique spin on Turkey Day, and celebrate in the Pilgrim's homeland of England! I'm planning to set up my largest tepee in front of the Westminster Abbey, declare the land as mine, and invite some English lads over for dinner. A little role reversal, if you will. I kid, I kid....I don't even have a tepee.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!



Thoughts From 38,000 Feet

I'm committing a blog first, writing and publishing from 38,000 feet! No, I'm not hiding In the lav, surfing the web, and skipping out on the daily joys of delivering drinks, clearing meal trays, and answering never ending call bells. No sir, I'm actually a passenger today, flying, once again, to Illinois. And people said they'd never see me after I moved overseas!

Today I am flying on Emirates' A380 (think double decker). I am only certified to operate Boeing 777s and smaller Airbus aircrafts, and all the flights that I have taken back to the US, thus far, have just so happened to be on 777s, so this is actually my first time on the A380. So far my favorite feature of this plane is that it is equipped with wifi, therefore I bring you greetings from 38,000 feet! According to the flight tracker, I'm just about halfway to my final destination of this leg of the trip; New York.


I'm a little tired, and let me explain why. On the 4th I flew to Lagos, Nigeria (my first time in Africa, waahoo!!!). What an experience! My first "you're not in Kansas anymore" experience of Africa came as I went through Nigeria's tough customs and borders process...which consisted of signing my name and staff number on a yellow legal pad, and bam I was in!

After that grueling process, the 17 of us crew members were escorted by armed security guards to our hotel shuttle van, and driven safely to our hotel. Although I caught glimpses of women caring large bowels of fruit on their head, children running barefoot through the streets, and spray painted messages written on the side of makeshift houses begging others to please, "Do Not Urinate Here," I was unable to get a full few of the city as we were not allowed to open the curtains inside of the van for safety reasons. Upon reaching the hotel, we were strongly encouraged to not leave the property, again, due to safety reasons. The hotel was surprisingly nice considering the amount of poverty that surrounded it. I caught up on sleep, and enjoyed a traditional nigerian dinner, consisting of lots of meat stews and rice, with the crew at the hotel restauraunt.

On the morning of the 5th, I worked the seven hour flight from Lagos back to Dubai, where we landed at 2:00 A.M. on the 6th. I hurriedly went home, showered, packed, and returned back to the airport to board this 8:00 A.M. flight from Dubai to New York. If all goes as planned, I should be reaching St. Louis, Missouri by 6:00 P.M. tonight! I'm not sure if I've set any type of record for my world travel, but I do know I am exhausted!

Here's to safe travels, and that sleeping aid AKA Bailey's Irish Cream, kicking in....Any. Minute. Now.

Travels Home And Abroad

The above photo is a picture of the map that hangs in my room. I'm challenging myself to spend my money on experiences rather than things, so, unfortunately, this scratch off as your travel map (an awesome gift from sister in law, Jackie) is the only form of decoration that has taken up residency on my barren apartment walls. I feel like I've seen a lot of the world, but judging by all the gold, I still have so much more I have to see!

Travelling is addictive. I've never sought professional help for this issue, as I'm still able to function semi normally on a day to day basis, but it is, without a doubt, a disease. Take heart, it is not contagious, as the majority of my friends nor family, whom I have encouraged so heavily to come visit me, have not shown any symptoms to date, (cough cough). This past month's travels brought me to Zurich (Switzerland), Singapore, Melbourne, and Cairo (Egypt). Next month's travels look equally as promising with trips to Frankfurt (Germany), Lagos (Nigeria), and London all lined up.

Zurich, Switzerland

Although nothing compares to the feeling I get when I first lay my eyes on a famous landmark I've only ever seen in a text book, try a crazy local dish for the first time (and discover I actually like it), or successfully navigate through a city's public transportation system that has no English signage...sometimes I just crave a little slice of normalcy. Thankfully, I have this little corner of the world, in the middle of corn fields and open roads, that to me, is home in every way, shape, and form.

Sure, the people who are physically there change. People I love have passed away, people I love just as equally are born, but the feeling I get when I go home is always the same! Going back to Illinois may not get any new foil scratched off the map, but being there just makes my heart happy!

The actual reason for the trip to Illinois, was for my friend Allison's wedding. Allison and I met our freshman year of college, when we were both placed on the same dorm room floor. We bonded quickly, and have stuck together for six years, throughout lots of ups and downs. Unfortunately, we've had to face some pretty severe downs together during these past few months, loosing my mom in February, and sadly, her dad passing away the Tuesday before her wedding.

I am blessed to know the Lam Family. I have never felt anything but love when I am in their home. To Wayne, for giving me one of my very best friends, I will always be grateful! Her wedding was beautiful, and again left me in amazement at the amount of strength and resilience that awesome family possesses!

Getting Ready For Allison's Big Day

Besides the wedding, I spent a lot of the week doing some of my favorite activities that can only be done when I'm at home. Mowing the yard, having impromptu slumber parties with my best friends (why yes, we are 24...), eating way too much food during family dinners, going on Semi rides with my dad, attending a Spartan football game, and cramming blankets and above mentioned best friends into the back of a mini truck for a late night, country drive, were all among the list of shananagans I divulged in while visiting home. The only thing I wanted to do, but didn't get ticked off the list was new born baby cuddling....as my newest family member didn't find it necessary to enter the world until four days after I left. If she weren't sooooo freaking cute, I'd be extremely pissed at her!

 

Taylor Marie...Named After Grandma Gail Marie

I jumped right back into the swing of things after I returned to Dubai, and departed for a six day trip to Singapore and Melbourne. I've already been to both places, but there's still tons to see and do in each city. In Singapore I visited Universal Studious, which was much smaller than the one I've been to in Orlando, but was still super cool. In Melbourne I met up with two of my Disney friends, Erica and Jess for dinner, followed by drinks on a rooftop bar.

Jess, Erica, and I in Melbourne.

And now for the rando of the week....my friend Sara and I attended a Harlem Globetrotters basketball game in Abu Dhabi this week. Never had that one on my bucket list, so I guess I can add it and tick it off all in one!

Obviously, it was a private event!

Hope you all have a great week =)












If There Are No Photos...It Never Happened

Let's face it, most days I change time zones more than I change underwear. There are times when I go to fill in my weekly calendar, to record the events of a past week, and there are entire days that, due to travel, simply never happened. It's weird. Without my iPhone, camera, and weekly planner, I'd be lost! So with no further ado, I present my week in pictures. In my book, if there are no photos, then it never happened!

I hung out with my pal, Georgina, at the Dubai Sailing Club Beach, where her and her parents are members. Yes, we did have to drink with with our pinkies out the entire day!



One of my friends from Fort Lauderdale, Victoria, recently moved to Dubai and also began working for Emirates. It's been super fun to have a familiar face over here! Last week we met up with another American for drinks, and basically just did 'Merican things!

I traveled this week, once again, to the east coast of Australia, this time to the city of Brisbane. Three other crew members and I spent the day exploring the VERY hilly city, via bicycle. Bicycling helmets are strictly enforced in Brisbane, but who wouldn't wanna rock one when you look as cool as me in one?! And as for the sweet basket on the front, I had to ask for that specially!

 

The next day I traveled, for the first time, to Singapore. Another flight attendant and I spent the day walking around the city, which is seriously the cleanest city I've ever been in! We checked out lots of really cool gardens and city landmarks before finally giving into our exhaustion and calling it a day.

In Front Of The Singapore Flyer



 

And yesterday afternoon I arrived safely back into Dubai, where I met up with friends for a late dinner. At least I think I did...we didn't take any pictures :)

 

Have a great week!

It's Pronounced MelBORN...

This week's trip was a bit of a long one! I was gone for a total of five days, visiting Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Melbourne, Australia, back to Kuala Lumpur, and finally heading home to Dubai.

I was extremely exhausted when we reached KL on the first day, however, I forced myself to stay up for several hours in order to have a proper night's rest. Two other flight attendants and I went into the area known as Little China Town, where the roads were lines with street vendors selling everything from fake name brand purses to copy watches. I bought a few Christmas presents and may or may not be the new proud owner of slightly fuzzy versions of  Water For Elephants and Burlesque.

The next day we flew to Melbourne, and after a great night's sleep I met up with Erica and Helen, two of my favorite Disney friends. Side note, layovers are 100 times more fun when I get to meet up with friends, and have my own personal tour guide(s) for the city I am visiting. We started off the day with an awesome brunch at a local pub/cafe. After devouring a delicious avocado and poached egg on sourdough, we walked around the city for a bit. Melbourne is an incredibly artistic community. The alleyways are all filled with awesome graffiti, talented musicians seem to be found on every street corner, and in one specific case we witnessed a man creating living art.....er something artsy like that.

Live Art In Melbourne....Pelicans Dine Free At This All You Can Eat Bread and French Fry Buffet


Our next stop after brunch was to Luna Park, Melbourne's most famous theme park which has been in operation for 100 years! Judging by the amount of jostling that occurred while riding the largest wooden roller coaster in the park, the exact same rides have also been in operation for 100 years. Having the slight fear that the ride could split into two at any given moment, actually made the entire experience that much more fun!

Erica, Helen, and I at the Entrance To Luna Park.
 

The next stop on the Tour de Melbourne was to the St. Kilda Breakwater Wildlife Area, where, word on the street is, some wild penguins make a daily appearance. Apparently ,they were vacationing with the 'roos from Sydney, cause they certainly never showed their little tuxedod selves to us! Regardless, it was a great walk by the sea, and it was a cool view of the city!


The Girls and I....And Melbourne, Boats, and Water

Before we all parted ways, we ended the day by sipping some apple cider, and splitting a basket of french fries at a riverfront pub. Yum! It was a great day of site seeing, and was SO fun to catch up with Erica and Helen after nearly two years of separation!

 

The last day of the trip was spent back in Malaysia. I had been warned throughout my entire trip to be careful in Kuala Lumpur, as a common crime trend there involves motor cyclist speeding by the sidewalks, grabbing purses (often dragging the purse holder as well), and then speeding away. This girl is NOT a fan of becoming a statistic, so when another crew member and I decided to go on a short walk to see the famous Twin Towers, I was careful to bring only as many accessories as I could stuff into my bra. I knew all those years of practicing with socks would pay off one day!  

 

Fitting Two of the World's Largest Towers and Myself  Into The Same Picture...NOT An Easy Task

We landed back into Dubai yesterday afternoon, and I think it's safe to say this five day trip wore me out! I laid down at 5:30 p.m. for a short cat nap...and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6 A.M. this morning. Well, I'm off to gather more nuts and berries....

 

Have a great week, everyone! 

Russian Roulette and Safe Skydiving

After spending a grand total of 24 hours in the city of Moscow, Russia one sentence pretty much sums up my experience, "Moscow...where the weather and people are cold!"

Now, maybe that's a bit of a generalization, but compared with the friendly faces I had just encountered in Germany last week, the majority of passersby on the street just seemed downright angry. Maybe it was because they were cold. I would have been more than happy to ask them what they were all so upset about, however, English is not widely spoken in their neck of the woods, and they definitely weren't too happy about me speaking it to them with my speedy northern American accent. Despite the overall lack of smiling faces and English signage, I still ventured out into the city with the crew and attempted to take in the local sites.

I use the word attempted because after taking a ten minute shuttle bus and completing a thirty minute walk, we approached the famous Red Square, only to the discover that a sold out festival was taking place inside the area. This resulted in our only views of the Cathedral of Saint Basil the Blessed, a landmark that I've always thought of as the real life Candy Land, coming from slight glimpses I was able to catch from slits in the tall barricades. Unfortunately, the only photo I have of the cathedral comes from a dinky post card, courtesy of the hotel gift shop. Here's hoping for better luck next time...



The Amazing Photo I SHOULD Have Taken In Front of St. Basil's Cathedral

Although we never made it inside the actual Red Square, we were still able to see the surrounding area, which was filled with loads of really cool historical landmarks and buildings with amazing architecture. Naturally, I did my fair share of whining about the cold, however, it was actually nice to stand outside in September without sweating, unlike some places (ya, Dubai, I'm talking about YOU)!

Outside The Red Square (St. Basil's in the distant background).

I landed back into Dubai late last night, and after a quick sleep, I met up with my friend Rajeev for another adventure. Today's quest led us to iFly, an indoor skydiving simulator. I've actually already been real life skydiving back in 2010, so perhaps I did this whole thing in reverse order, but, as I'm sure you've probably noticed, I've always been a little unconventional! It was somewhat similar to skydiving, as in I had the same amount of saliva being violently flung all over my eyelids, and in both experiences the wind just perfectly caught my already chubby cheeks, giving the illusion that my face was, in fact, just as wide as it was long! Real life skydiving had a much cooler free falling feeling, however, it also came with the slight chance that I could die. The skydiving simulator felt more like I was just standing in front of the world's most powerful fan, however, it was in a fairly controlled and safe environment. Life is all about give and take, folks. :)

Inside the Skydiving Simulator

"Life is an adventure, not a predicament." -James Broughton



Have a great week!

I've Come From A Land Down Under

G'day Mate! Just returned home from one of my best layovers to date: Sydney, Australia! Visiting Australia has always been a dream of mine, but in recent years it has become more of a priority since meeting one of my best friends while interning at Walt Disney World, Dean, who was born, raised, and currently lives in Sydney.

Dean, being the awesome friend that he is, took off an entire day of work upon hearing the news that I'd be gracing his city with my presence, and planned a jam packed day of adventure and site seeing. We started off our day with breakfast at a cute little cafe close to my hotel. As all world travelers know, days of non stop adventure are only successful if you begin them with a carb overload. Therefore I had no other choice, but to indulge in one of the world's largest slices of banana bread known to mankind. Yep, it was delicious!

After breakfast we headed down to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where we stood and admired the 440 feet high structure safely from the ground...and then decided to connect a bunch of harnesses onto ourselves and scurry to the top of the bridge that is famously nicknamed "The Coathanger." Before I continue, let me explain a little something...I have a very real fear of heights, now I know, I know, what a ridiculous statement for someone who spends the majority of her time well above 30,000 feet. For whatever reason, airplanes don't bother me, it's roofs, cliffs, the clear plastic step out box on the observation deck of the Sears Tower, and things with ledges I could fall off of that freak me out! And yes, bridges just so happen to fit into this category as well.

So after arriving at the bridge climbing facility, Dean and I were issued grey full body suits (grey in order to camouflage ourselves with the bridge, and minimize distractions to drivers on the bridge), and instructed to remove jewelery, hair pins, and anything else that could do some serious damage if dropped from the top of the bridge onto innocent pedestrians below. Usually, one bridge climbing leader takes up groups of twelve people at a time, however, since Dean and I are international celebrities were the only ones who registered for the 9:40 A.M. session, our small but mighty group consisted of just the two of us.

The climb was not nearly as scary as I had planned it out to be in my head! We were hooked to safety harnesses throughout the entire trek, and actually spent much more time walking on an enclosed slope than actually climbing up steep stairs. Despite the strong winds that greeted us at the top, the view of Sydney was incridible. We were able to see the entire harbor, the Sydney Opera House, and most importantly, the building where Dean works! Fear of heights, you are dead to me!

After our climb, it was time to refuel again, so we grabbed a quick lunch at a local Australian pub before taking a short ferry ride across the harbor, and ended up at Wild Life Sydney, a zoo featuring a wide array of native Australian creatures. We saw wallabies, wombats, crocodiles, and my personal favorite, Koalas. Unfortunately, the Kangaroo exhibit was temporarily closed for "refurbishments." Suspiciously enough, the gift shop was running a special on Kangaroo jerky.... The best part of Wild Life Sydney? Being able to speak Steve Irwin style for an entire two hours! Right, Dean?

After hanging out with the koalas, who just so happened to be in the midst of their mating season (with every lustful stare I went into a slight panic that Sir Treehugger was about to leap off his branch and have his way with my golden locks), we drove down to the famous Bondhi Beach. It's currently winter in Australia, but that didn't stop up from ending our fabulous day with ice cream cones on the beach =)

September cover of Knock Knees Weekly

The only thing on the Sydney Itinerary that did not get crossed off was me taking Dean's car for a whirl on the left side of the road. Although he was completely willing to turn over the keys (I really have no idea why), I decided that due to rush hour traffic coupled with the fact that I'm not exactly a great driver on the right side of the road, I'd go ahead and skip that little activity. All in all, first trip to Australia=a success!

 

And now a word from Grief Watch 2012. This past week marked the sixth month anniversary since we lost mom. If found, please return to...I kid, I kid. It wasn't a horrible day, but I noticed, and she was on my mind more than usual that day. Part of me is really proud of how well we've all done in the past six months. Part of me is just really, really sad that six months have passed since I woke up to an email from my mom. The email was in response to me telling her I had lost the slip of paper that had my current address written on it. She shared with me this vital information that, being the great mom was was, she had filed away. She then wrote, "Little girl, didn't I ever teach you to memorize your own address? Have a good day, pumpkin!"

Always the care taker.

 

Part of me is mad, but a bigger part than that is just really grateful. Grateful for all the mom love I do have in my life, like my aunts and my mom's close friends who continue to send me emails to check on me. And my friends' moms from all over the world, many of whom I've never met, sending me sweet notes, homemade pillows, tea sets, angel necklaces, and most recently an authentic Australian bracelet (thanks, Mrs. Morgan), just to let me know they are thinking of me. I'm grateful for all my friends and family who let me cry and reminisce as much as I want to. Grateful for all the signs that my mom continues to give me, just to let me still know she's around, like my hotel room number I was assigned on the night of her six month anniversary, 1415 (her cell phone was ***-***-3114, mine was ***-***-3115). Overall, the past six months have made me realize just how cool it was that I got to spend 24 years being raised by someone who seeped kindness, loved everyone, and just overall excelled at life, and despite how many more "six months" go by, I STILL get the priviledge of calling her my mom! And for that, I think I will be forever grateful!

 

Have a great week!