Next month I will be going to… Chicago, Illinois USA (Layover) New York, USA (Layover) SEP Recurrent (Annual Exams) Karachi, Pakistan (Turnaround) ANNUAL LEAVE Mumbai, India (Turnaround) Islamabad, Pakistan (Turnaround) Starting off the month is a very exciting layover to Chicago, Illinois! I have slowly been ticking off all of the US destinations on the Emirates network and I only have two more to visit – Chicago and Seattle. I’m really looking forward to visiting Skydeck Chicago and Cloud Gate ‘The Bean’ as well as trying the legendary Chicago style deep dish pizza. Next up is a layover to N ..read more

Howdy y’all! Finally a destination where we are allowed to leave the hotel room, and I could not have been more excited to be in Dallas, Texas. I have wanted to visit Dallas for a long time now and really soak in the cowboy/western atmosphere! The flight over from Dubai was 16 hours and we arrived into Dallas Fort Worth International Airport just before 4pm. Surprisingly, I wasn’t that tired, so I decided to go to the nearby Galleria Mall. I thought I would have a look around and get some food as I always prefer to eat outside rather than hotel room service. The mall was lovely and had a huge ..read more

I am back from my unpaid leave and have lots of flights this up-and-coming month… June 2021 Roster: Jakarta, Indonesia (Layover) *Deadheading one-way* Tel Aviv, Israel (Turnaround) **This flight was cancelled** Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (Turnaround) Dallas, Texas USA(Layover) Kabul, Afghanistan (Turnaround) Mahe, Seychelles (Layover) *Swapped this flight to Prague, Czech Republic, which I was then removed from because the passenger load was too light :(* Lots to look forward to this month as my roster finally looks pretty full and somewhat pre-Covid-like! Starting off the month, I have a very exci ..read more

As I briefly explained in my previous post, I took a month’s unpaid leave and decided it was about time to go back home to London! It had been over 7 months since I last saw my family, and nearly a year since being back home, so I was very excited to finally get back on British soil. Currently, the UAE is on the UK’s red list which means, people who have been to Dubai in the last 10 days, are not permitted to enter the UK – unless you are a British citizen and then you have to isolate for 10 days in an airport quarantine hotel. As this was not an option for us, we decided to spend a couple of ..read more

For Eid al-Fitr, my husband and I went to Sharm El Sheikh with his family for 4 nights and had the most incredible time. In Egypt, Eid al-Fitr is a huge celebration, and lots of people travel both in and outside of Egypt with their families. We were worried that it would be extremely busy and flights would be full so we reserved our hotel one month in advance and made sure we booked confirmed flight tickets (rather than staff standby ones!). We arrived on the first day of Eid and flew from Cairo International Airport. We stayed at the Xperience Kiroseiz Parkland hotel which is located by Naama ..read more

Next month is a slightly different roster! I have decided to take ‘Unpaid Leave’ for the entire month. This is a relatively new opportunity which has been encouraged to crew since COVID hit last year. Due to the impact of COVID on the aviation industry, flights were suspended and ultimately, there were too many crew. Every month, we are asked if we would like to take unpaid leave. This whole month is completely unpaid, but you are free to do whatever you wish, you can stay in Dubai at your accommodation, or travel anywhere – as long as you return to work as normal the following month. Having t ..read more

In April 2021, I will be flying to… Brisbane, Australia (Layover) Lahore, Pakistan (Turnaround) Male, Maldives (Turnaround) Rome, Italy (Layover) **I swapped this for Warsaw, Poland** Starting the month is a 24 hour layover to Brisbane, Australia. I was heartbroken when I saw this on my roster as I haven’t visited Australia now for over 2 years and I have been dying to go back, but I knew we would be staying in a strict quarantine hotel where we wouldn’t even be allowed out of the room! So close but so far. I really hope I can come back here and visit properly as I would love to go to the Gold ..read more

In March 2021, I will be flying to… Bali, Indonesia (Layover) **This flight was cancelled and removed from my roster** Hyderabad, India (Turnaround) Dallas, Texas USA (Layover) Stockholm, Sweden (Layover) **I swapped this flight for Copenhagen, Denmark** Kicking off the month was a flight to Bali, which was very quickly removed! I was really surprised to see Bali on my roster as I wasn’t aware that flights had restarted there, so I wasn’t very surprised when it was later removed. Such a shame though as I would have loved to have gone back there. Next up, after a quick turnaround to India and b ..read more

In January and February, my husband and I had some annual leave so we decided to visit his family in Alexandria in Egypt. I absolutely loved my time in Alexandria back in July 2020 so I was really excited to visit again and see more of the city. After spending time with family, we ventured into the city and did a full day of exploring. The weather in Alexandria was great – around 16-18 degrees in the daytime, with glorious sun. Down by the sea it can get chilly and at night it can be very cold too as most of the buildings do not have central heating. Sunny Alexandria Alexandria Stadium Alexan ..read more

Back in January, my husband and I visited Cairo for a few days with family and had a wonderful time. My husband is Egyptian, from Alexandria so we were staying in Alexandria for a couple of weeks and then travelled to Cairo by car. The drive from Alexandria is just over 2 hours. The weather in Egypt in January is beautiful. In the day it is mild with sun and at night it becomes a little bit chilly. It is a great time of year to visit Cairo and sightsee as the temperature is comfortable and there are not many crowds. Al Azhar Park We stayed in the Safir Hotel Cairo which was located right in th ..read more