Wanderlust

I’m quite excited dear readers, that on Monday I’ll be jetting off to Dallas, Texas for the first time! When you only fly to a handful of destinations as a flight attendant, getting to go to a new one you’ve never been to before is like Christmas!

 

What’s even better is that I will get a heavenly 78 hours on the ground in Dallas (compared to the 24-36 hours I usually get in other places) to explore to my little wanderlusting heart’s content! For me, there is nothing better. I have already decided that downtown Dallas is already on the must do list so that I can visit the Grassy Knoll and the JFK Museum, plus the stockyards at Fort Worth on another day and plenty of shopping at the huge mall across the road from our hotel in between! I am going with an empty suitcase and my new Texas Lonely Planet tucked into my crew bag!

Seeing snow for the first time on Jungfrau Mountain, Switzerland

 

All this talk of a new destination brings me to my topic for this blog post though. Wanderlust. I absolutely just love that word…WANDERLUST. Doesn’t it sound magical? Exciting? Wondrous? Well, I think it does. And I suffer from wanderlust BAD!

But that is never a bad thing to suffer from I think, and I kind of wish everyone suffered from it like I do. I cannot put into words accurately the feeling of stepping off a train or an aeroplane and stepping out onto the street for your first glimpse of a new place, taking a deep breath in and being so overcome and overwhelmed with the incredible feeling that this new place, whether it is half way across the world from your home, or just a few hours way, is now at your feet and just waiting to be discovered by you. I really don’t think there’s any feeling better than that. I love the endless possibilities that come with that feeling – especially if you’re travelling solo, as I have often done – because really, it’s like that saying ‘the world is your oyster’. You can, from the second you hit the ground in that city, do whatever you damn well like there. If you want to discover the parks and gardens, you can. If you want to shop in every single clothing store, you can. If you want to eat your way through every neighbourhood, you can. If you want to museum hop or see musicals or go on a helicopter ride and take in an icon of architecture…YOU CAN. How awesome is that? Travel frees you like nothing else can.

I remember the first time I ever went to New York City as a wide eyed 22 year old. I had caught an Amtrak train from Philadelphia, got off at Penn Station in NYC and was instantly overwhelmed just with trying to find my way successfully out of the humongous station! But then I finally found a door, and pushed my way through it and got out into the sunlight and I just froze. I wasn’t in Times Square or anywhere pulsing like that, but it was still the biggest treat for my senses. I could’ve squealed. To this day I still remember looking to my left then to my right and then straight up ahead of me and not knowing which way to go to find my hostel, but I didn’t even care. I could not believe I was there and this unbelievable city was at my fingertips at last, just waiting for me to devour every single inch of it. It was amazing.

My New York City experience was a pretty extreme one, because it’s a pretty extreme place, and pretty bloody special, but I get this feeling anytime I go to somewhere new. Actually, I even get it when I’ve come back to a city I’ve visited many times before, because I get excited about being able to visit again all the shops and restaurants and beaches and events and sights and sounds that I fell in love with last time I was there.

The Vatican

I know travelling isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and not many people are as deeply passionate about it as I am, and I don’t want to push my passion onto anyone who isn’t interested, but I implore everyone to travel as much as they can for as long as they can. Have your own little wanderlust experience. It will shape your life like nothing else can. I am forever just incredulous that there is so much of the world out there that I have yet to see with my own eyes, so many foods I have yet to try, so many mind blowing natural and man made sights that I have yet to see and touch and revel in. It gives me shivers. There is just so much out there, and it is all incredible. I feel like I could travel for the rest of my life, every single day, and never be bored, and still never see everything the world has to offer. That’s what’s so great about it. It’s all just out there waiting for you to discover it.

That’s why when I was 20 years old I decided that once I finished university I would go and do a big trip. I worked two jobs and saved for more than two years as I finished studying and in April 2009 I set off on my big adventure – my very first time overseas on my own. It was scary to get on that plane and wave goodbye to my family for 3 months, but once I touched down in London, I never looked back. I backpacked all over Europe and the US, made countless friends, had endless fantastic experiences, learnt so much about the world, other people and myself, and most importantly had the time of my freakin’ life. My first taste of wanderlust. And let me tell you, I liked the taste!

 

Like I said, I don’t want to push my views onto people who feel that travelling just isn’t their thing, but I truly feel sorry for those who don’t leave their own countries. They’re missing out on so much. You can’t explain it til you’ve done it, but once you have, you just know that it was a top notch decision to go travelling. Even if you think seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty or the Grand Canyon or the Berlin Wall on tv or in films is enough…well you’re wrong. NOTHING compares to being there. Standing in the middle of history, or great architecture or untouched natural beauty and breathing in and maybe even closing your eyes for a second and pinching yourself to remind yourself you’re actually there is way better than anything you could see in even the greatest of movies. You stand there soaking it in and just never want to leave.

The Washington Monument, Washington DC

I also think travel is so important because it matures you, toughens you up, opens your eyes and makes you resilient. It is very easy to adapt to travelling, and being a traveller. You suddenly know so much more about other people and their cultures and customs. You learn people’s life stories and some of their deepest, darkest secrets too. You just bite the bullet and walk down a dark alley at night to get to an out of the way hostel and you do survive! You cross borders and get pat downs in airports and are forced to wear your thongs in the shower at the hostel because the bathroom floor looks very questionable. You see a rat in your dorm and it’s gross but you just deal. You walk down busy streets – some of the busiest in the world, shoulder to shoulder with 25,000 other tourists – and you are scared someone’s going to pickpocket you but at the same time are bewildered in a good way. You are suddenly forced to deal with other languages, other currencies, complicated metro systems, tipping, being careful with your valuables, relying on the friendliness of strangers and through all this, YOU LIVE TO TELL THE TALE. I swear, it makes you a better person. Countless times since I’ve begun travelling my friends and family have asked me ‘how do you know that?’ or ‘how did you do that?’ and the answer is always that I know it through my experiences travelling. And it is stuff you would never, and will never, know unless you travel the world.

So go and do it I say. Who cares if it leaves you broke? The experience will be priceless. It will be worth it. The world is just sitting here, quietly, knowingly, waiting for you to find your time and discover it and make some kick ass memories.

See you when I get back from Dallas!

Jorgs

High above Chicago at the Sears Tower

The Tian Tan Buddha, Hong Kong

 

There's No Place Like Home

Howdy my (non-existent?) readers!

If you’ve been reading my blog from the start, you will remember that I recently made the move back to my hometown of Perth from Sydney, where my job is. My Dad and I drove all the way back to Perth – that’s 4000km for those of you playing at home – and it took us four and a half days. We saw almost 100 road kill kangaroos, drove through four Australian states, crossed three state borders, stayed in four country pubs, did hundreds of trivia questions with each other, ate thousands of lollies (okay not really, but we did have a lot!) and saw zero whales in the Great Australian Bight.

 

 

 

It was a fantastic experience. One I’m in no hurry to do again, but a fantastic experience all the same. Not too many people can say they have driven across the Nullarbor, much less in a Hyundai Getz! And we survived! I’m so proud of us. The trip reminded me of how much I mother trucking love Australia, and how amazingly beautiful it is.

 

 

 

But then I got back to Perth and remembered how amazingly beautiful my home town is too. I have always loved Perth, but it is only now that I’ve been away from it for a while that I realise fully how lovely it is. That’s a bit cliché I suppose – but hey, in a way my whole moving to Sydney experience was a bit of a cliché now that I look back on it. I really wanted to be one of those success stories. One of those people that leaves Perth and makes it big in their field and they never come back, because they’ve found such success away from little old Perth. Perth is just that place they mention (albeit still very proudly) they’re from in magazine and newspaper articles, and the media back in Perth never tire of proudly declaring that so and so is from Perth and look how famous they are now! Of course I’m mostly thinking of celebrities who were either born in Perth or trained for their profession in Perth – Melissa George, Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger, Rove McManus – but nevertheless, there are many people from Perth who are very successful and we are so proud of all of them.

So I packed my bags for Sydney thinking I was off to bigger and better things, and even though my family still lived there, that Perth would soon just be a memory. Just that place I was born and started out in. And I did find bigger and better things, but I also realised things were pretty great in Perth still too.

Last night I drove to a friend’s new home in the southern suburbs of Perth and driving this way is something I always have loved, even before I left Perth. I live in the northern suburbs so I had to go across the Narrows Bridge, over the Swan River and past the entire city skyline and Kings Park. And every time, especially at night, when Perth is all lit up and sparkling, I almost lose concentration on the road because I am so besotted with the sights around me. Perth may the most isolated city in the world geographically, but despite this it is such a pretty city, and I love gazing around at it as I drive across the Narrows. Sure it doesn’t have a huge harbour or an Opera House or an Arts Centre or a Story Bridge, but it’s still beautiful. I always find myself smiling when I see Council House all lit up in rainbow colours, ditto with the Bell Tower, when I see the lights on the trees on Fraser Avenue in Kings Park, when I drive past the South Perth Flour Mill at Christmas and it’s been decorated with lights and has a star on the huge pine tree that stands next to it, when I am coming back towards the north and I can see the War Memorial on Mt Eliza lit up. I’m making it sound all about lights, which I guess in a way it kind of is, but that is when I think Perth is most magical. It looks stunning during the day too of course, but at night time it just glows so peacefully. Perth did used to be known as the city of lights, after astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, could see Perth all lit up as he passed over my fair city in the Friendship 7 space craft in 1962. The people of Perth turned on their lights at the right time, and stood in their backyards waving torches, and he could see them all the way from space.

So I drove over the Narrows again last night after visiting my friend and soaked in the beautiful views as much as I could. It made me so happy to be back. I had missed this gorgeous place. Maybe the connection is just all the childhood memories I have of growing up around these landmarks, but I still love them just as much as a 28 year old today.

Perth isn’t Sydney and it isn’t Melbourne. Every city has its own identity and pros and cons. But I love Perth. I love that it’s not too big. I love that everyone knows each other somehow or through someone else (hence the term ‘you’ve been Perthed!’ when you meet someone who knows someone you know). I love the perfect beaches and the views of the city you get when you stand on Fraser Avenue. I love the burning hot summers (the pleasant mildness of constant 24 degree days in Sydney just didn’t do it for me! I’m way too used to extremes!) and the small town cheeriness of our suburbs. I love how there are no toll roads and that because we don’t have some things other states take for granted or have in excess – large sporting events, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, inclusion in concert tours by international artists, a super thriving television and film industry,  and (up until recently) Zara just to name a few – we appreciate and value them so much more when we do have them (who hasn’t asked a relative to bring them back a box of KK’s from the eastern states?). We love what we have and make the best of it, and sure we’re a bit behind Sydney and Melbourne, and sure there are still people who live in Perth who seem to make it their number one mission in life to whine incessantly about how boring and quiet Perth is and how there’s absolutely nothing to do here and how WA is a nanny state. But I truly believe Perth still has its little gems. There is plenty to do, if only you look for it. If you are determined to talk Perth down then you will find nothing to do. Get a little motivation and get out there and discover this city. And same would go for any city! Every city has something to see. Not all cities are mega tourism drawcards like Sydney or New York City or Paris, but every city still has things to offer residents and tourists alike.

So I’m glad to be back. Not just to be reunited with my family and friends and be able to drive around places and actually be familiar with the layout of the streets and know where I am going, but also to rediscover and immerse myself in it once again. I can’t wait to hire a bike and ride it along the beach at Trigg and Scarborough. I can’t wait to walk the tree top walk at Kings Park again. I can’t wait to go to Carols by Candlelight by the Swan again, and do my Christmas shopping at Karrinyup and feel so proud when Perth rallies together for Telethon later this year. I can’t wait to wake up to and fall asleep to the sounds of the crickets outside my bedroom window in summer, and walk around my suburb and dodge the sprinklers that are on just before dinner, or smell the barbecues cooking in backyards as summer gets going. I’ve come back at a good time – today was 32 degrees and I could just begin to feel the pulse of summer time.

Summer in Perth is magic. I’ve missed it dearly. And while I will keep travelling away from it constantly with work, forever changing time zones and hemispheres and climates and summer clothing to winter clothing and back again, I will make sure I lap up every single second of that long glorious Perth summer I’m about to find myself in. I cannot wait.

Your proud Perthite,

Jorgs

Love affair of the week

Today I thought I’d write about a recent love affair I’m having…with Samantha Wills jewellery.

Thanks to the fabulousness of Instagram, a few months ago I discovered this line of jewellery. I already knew the name as I had seen it in many magazines, but lately Sydney born Samantha Wills has really taken off, and a hashtag search of her name on Insta instantly bombards the searcher with many gorgeous pictures of her gorgeous bracelets, bangles and my favourite, her rings.

The most popular is undoubtedly the Bohemian Bardot ring, and I instantly fell in love with it. There are so many beautiful colours it comes in, so, because I am a bit wary and challenged with technology, therefore don’t buy a lot of things online, I went searching in stores for these rings because I decided I had to have one.

 

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any in the colours I wanted, so I finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago and ordered one from an online boutique in Sydney. It arrived by the time I had moved back to Perth and I am LOVING it sick right now. It was $70, which is probably a bit excessive when I am not too well off in the first place, but I am also a firm believer in spending your money on things and experiences that make you happy. No matter how much it costs, if you are happy with it, it’s been money well spent (I guess this is how I justify all the money I spend on travelling the globe!).

So I used this excuse again earlier this week when I was browsing the actual Samantha Wills site late one night and ordered myself the Wanderlust nameplate necklace and the Wanderlust bangle. The necklace is beautiful but the bangle is STUNNING. It is inscribed with the French ‘Va explorer’ on the outside and ‘I am Wanderlust – I long to touch every corner of the globe’ in English on the inside. Quite simply it is the most accurate description of me I could probably ever find.

They both arrived within two days of my having ordered them, and, like my Bardot ring, came in a soft little drawstring bag to keep these beautiful treasures safe and then placed in a lovely carved wooden box.

Money well spent I think!

 

 

 

 

If you haven’t heard of Samantha Wills before today, go and check out her site at samanthawills.com and salivate over all the gorgeous pieces like I did. And maybe treat yourself to one too!

Jorgs

*This is not a paid endorsement…I just really love my Bardot ring, just like everyone else does who owns one and posts about them on Instagram!

The City of Angels

Ahhh my favourite hang out. I love Los Angeles because it’s a little bit crazy. So much cool stuff is there – Hollywood, Disneyland, major league basketball and baseball, seriously good shopping, everything! I am never bored there. Since I started going there as crew I’ve done it all (although I’m yet to go to an NBA game, but it’s on the list!). But I’ve also taken some sweet side trips during my time there too…

A little bit of home at the Chinese Theatre on
Hollywood Boulevard



One time I caught an Amtrak train to San Diego. The time we get to spend in LA on our layover (or ‘slip’, as crew call it) is only about 35 hours, which isn’t very long when you factor in getting to and from the airport, sleeping, eating etc, so when I caught the train from LA to San Diego I only got to spend an afternoon and a night there. I could’ve stayed overnight in San Diego and gone back to LA the following day, but I was paranoid about missing call time to go back to the airport (train strikes! Forces of nature! Any possible thing that could go wrong and prevent me from getting back to LA in time to sign on to work, I’d thought of, because I’m super paranoid and weird like that). So I didn’t stay over night. But I still saw a fair bit of San Diego, which only took about 2 hours to get to from LA on the train.

Killer views of the Pacific Coast on the
way to San Diego

And Amtrak is lovely – I’ve ridden it many times in the US. I’ve done almost the entire east coast of America that way, and loved it, so I stick my hand up and say I am very pro Amtrak, definitely. I should do their advertising for them! It’s safe, clean, fast and cheap – AND they have power points and free wifi at every seat! How could you get any better!?

Anyway, San Diego was sick! Kind of a smaller, scaled down version of LA. But not so scary. LA can be a bit grimy and eye popping, a real land of extremes, but San Diego was its quieter cousin. I had a great time wandering around the Gas Lamp District, which was buzzing with gorgeous outdoor restaurants and bars and souvenir shops. I also wondered down to the water front and did some shopping downtown. I’d love to go back and see the San Diego Zoo, and Balboa Park, and have some real Mexican food – as I’ve been told it is top notch in San Diego! Hopefully one day I can go back and do all this!



Inside Pauley Pavilion

Another time I hopped on Amtrak I went to Westwood, which is where the University of California, Los Angeles is. Now I follow NCAA gymnastics, and the UCLA Bruins are one of my fave teams. Never did I think I’d ever get a chance to go and see a meet in person, but the stars aligned and in January of this year I had an LA trip over the weekend of the Bruins first meet of the season. Even better, they were competing against the University of Florida Gators, undoubtedly my favourite team in the NCAA. I could not believe my luck!

The trek to Westwood was pretty long – Amtrak is great, but sometimes I do wish I had the guts to drive a car in America, because it would be so much quicker sometimes! – but totally worth it. It took a taxi ride, two trains, a bus, a lot of walking and a stop over between trains in a veryyyyyy sketchy neighbourhood called Van Nuys, but when I walked onto the UCLA campus it was all worth it. I had my ticket, was wearing my Florida hoodie, and I was ready to cheer on the Gators (and the Bruins a little bit too!) inside historic Pauley Pavilion. Anyone who knows their NCAA basketball or gymnastics knows that Pauley is something pretty spesh. And it WAS.

 

The Gators won that night, and later went on to win the NCAA championship in April for the second year in a row. I felt so lucky I’d gotten to see an NCAA gym meet in the flesh – the atmosphere was incredible inside Pauley, and the gymnastics on display so impressive – and even luckier that I could go simply because my job took me to LA on many occasions. I was getting paid to go to LA and watch my favourite sport and wonder around the beautiful UCLA campus in a happy daze! How lucky is that?

Jorgs

Florida's Bridget Sloan - one of my favourite gymnasts of
all time and a 2008 Olympian - on floor exercise



UCLA's Sam Peszek - also a 2008 Olympian - on beam





Warm and fuzzy flying tales

Apologies readers if I sounded a bit bitt-ah in my post about how to not annoy your flight attendant. Sometimes I imagine how I sometimes feel is how people who work in retail tell me they feel.

Honestly, I adore my job. To teeny tiny pieces. Right now, I wouldn’t trade it for any other job in the world.

So I also wanted to tell you of some happy and funny experiences I’ve had on board.

Earlier this year a woman and her daughter boarded the economy cabin bound for Los Angeles, and the daughter came up to me and asked if it were possible for her mother to have a window seat, as she had never been on an A380 before and wanted to look out the window.

Later on during boarding, the mother informed me it was her birthday and she was uber excited to be on board today, as her daughter had only surprised her that very morning with tickets to New York. She bubbled over telling me how it was her first time overseas and when I asked her if she was only going to New York her daughter covered her mother’s ears and quickly whispered to me that they were also going to Paris, where they were going to have dinner on top of the Eiffel Tower.

What an awesome thing to do, and what an awesome daughter, I thought to myself. The mother’s excitement was contagious, and knowing how much I love travel, I was so pleased she was finally getting the opportunity to go overseas for the first time (she was probably in her fifties or sixties), and so I wanted to make it extra special for her. I had a quick word to the manager and he gave me free reign to give them a bit of special treatment. Out came some first class champagne, noise cancelling headsets and a sweet first class amenity pack each. Cue more excitement. It was adorable.

Throughout the flight I would walk past their seats occasionally and see how they were doing, finding it very hard to pull the mother’s attention away from the overwhelming choice of cool movies and tv shows to watch on the inflight entertainment, or from discovering what was in her amenity pack or mulling deeply over the economy class menu. She made me smile.

Later, I went up to the flight deck to ask the flight crew if maybe they could make a little PA for the birthday girl when we landed into LA. They said they would try their best, and that she was welcome to come into the flight deck and have a look around when we were on the ground.

In the end they didn’t make a PA wishing her happy birthday, but I still was able to take her up to the flight deck, via the first class cabin so she could have a squiz at its opulence, and let the Captain and his officers show her what was what up in the pointy end of the plane.

She came out a few minutes later with tears in her eyes and just about wetting herself. She fell all over herself in thanks, telling us we’d made her day and started her trip off amazingly. But really, she made my day. It’s passengers like that that I love. I love to make people happy, and help them out if I can, and it makes me feel good if they’ve had a great experience.

For that and so many other reasons, I love my job to bits.

Your friendly flight attendant,

Jorgs x

How to make your flight attendant not hate you

I read this article recently about how you, as a customer, can make the life of your bikini waxer easier. It’s pretty gross the things they have to deal with and I totally sympathised and thought it was fab idea for an article because there are just some people out there dumb enough to not shower before they get a bikini wax.

So I thought hey Jorgs, the public needs to know how they can make the life of a flight attendant easier too. And so this blog entry was born!

It never ceases to amaze me just how many people leave their brains at home when they go on a holiday. They completely forget to pack it. It’s the only reason I can think of for why they suddenly can’t read the ‘push’ sign on the toilet door, or think it’s okay to change their baby on a tray table THAT PEOPLE EAT FOOD OFF.

So here, dear friends, is how you can make your flight attendant not hate you (and not gossip viciously about you in the galley with his/her colleagues):

1)      Remember that there are other people on this flight too. If the plane is delayed and you are going to miss your connection, you’re not the only one facing this predicament. Chances are about 43946389578934 other passengers are too, and they’re not chasing down every crew member asking the same question in the hope of getting the answer they want. THE GROUND STAFF ARE ALREADY WORKING TO GET YOU ONTO ANOTHER FLIGHT. DON’T GET YOUR KNICKERS IN A TWIST.

2)      Don’t change your baby on the tray table. Or the seat. Or the floor. OR A CREW SEAT. There are change tables in the bathrooms. Seriously. Oh and don’t even think about handing me a dirty nappy and asking me to dispose of it for you. Ditto with bags full of vomit.

3)      Wear shoes to the bathroom. Don’t go in there barefoot. Or even with socks on. Most of the time that’s just water on the floor that people have splashed out accidently as they wash and dry their hands, but it’s still gross. Oh and there are certain cultures that wash their entire body from head to toe in those bathrooms with that water. WEAR YOUR SHOES.

4)      Don’t be a dickhead and drink too much. You’re an embarrassment. The crew will hate you.

5)      Also, don’t drink too much and then also take some kind of sleeping pill or the like. It almost never ends well.

6)      Don’t let your child crawl and play in the aisles when the meal cart is out. We don’t really want to run over little fingers or toes, but if we do, well, that’s your fault for not having any common sense and keeping your child out of the way for what is really only a very short time in a very long journey.

7)      Don’t bring a carry on that weighs 40 kilos. And then expect me to help you get it into the locker.

8)      Don’t freak out when you cannot put your bag in the locker directly above your seat because there is no room left. It’s not the end of the world – you CAN put it in another locker. And if you’re not happy with that, well, you should’ve boarded earlier.

9)      Try as best you can to keep your hands, elbows, knees, shoulders, feet and heads out of the aisle. The crew are going to be running up and down it about 65786948 times throughout the course of a 14 hour flight.

10)   Don’t come rushing up to the galley screeching that we missed you with the meal service when we have disappeared with our cart. We’re just re loading. These carts can’t fit 300 trays in them, only about 50. We will not forget you. You will get a meal.

11)   When you hand back your meal tray to me and you’ve stacked everything super high and neatly because you think it’ll be helpful – it’s not. The trays have to go back into the cart the same way they came out, so I have to dismantle and level out and flatten everything you just stacked up so that I can fit your tray back in. And definitely don’t pile two trays worth of cutlery and dishes onto one tray and then hand me the other empty tray. Again, you’ll just see me dismantling everything and putting one trays worth of stuff back onto that empty tray you just gave me so I can fit both trays back into the cart.

12)   When the seatbelt sign is on for turbulence or anything else, don’t get up. It’s on for a reason. You’re not special. You’re not exempt from this rule. Stay seated.

13)   Don’t annoy the crew when they’re having a quick break or bite to eat. They deserve a rest too.

14)   No, we do not do a 16 hour total duty to Los Angeles and then turn around and fly straight back. Think about it, before you ask this question.

15)   If you wanted an aisle/window/exit row/business class you should’ve got to the airport early and asked at check in or paid for the privilege. We cannot work miracles for you, especially when the flight is completely full.

16)   In the same vein, if you wanted a vegetarian/kids/diabetic/gluten free/fruit platter/low sodium/from the tree of Narnia special meal, you needed to order it beforehand. Like, 72 hours before your flight beforehand. Or, god forbid, when you actually booked your ticket and there was an option there to choose your meal. No we don’t have extras on board. It isn’t my fault you forgot to order one. And we’ll only make you up something from another class IF there is spare and IF the galley operator in that class is kind enough to do so.

17)   Don’t get up and down out of your seat every five seconds for the entire journey. You’re in the way. Just get the stuff out of your bag that you need and be done with it.

18)   Don’t be afraid to use your call bell. They’re there for a reason. But also, don’t overuse it. And teach your kids that that is the one button that doesn’t need to be pressed on the entertainment handset.

19)   No it’s not safe for your child to sleep on the floor. Would you like her to get kicked under a seat and trapped there in the event of an emergency? Would you like her to get trampled in an evacuation? Would you like her to fly up into the air in severe turbulence and smash her head on the ceiling because she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt because she was on the floor? No, I didn’t think so.

20)   And finally, the most important one of all. Don’t talk/sleep/read during the safety demonstration. It’s very rude. You’re gonna wanna know where that life jacket is in an emergency, but if you’re talking right the way through the demo, well, I’m just sayin’, some crew might just be tempted to leave you behind if something dire did happen. Because you obviously know ALL there is to know about getting out of the aircraft quickly in an emergency.

I think that’s about all. Get to your seat as quickly as you can when you board and we’ll start off your flight on the right foot. Remember, when push comes to shove a flight attendant is there to save your life, not be your servant. Don’t treat them like something you’ve stepped on.

Happy flying!

Jorgs

 

 

Pumpkin spice ALL THE THINGS!

Anyone who follows me on social media knows that I love me a pumpkin spice latte. I love them like it’s nobody’s business. I seriously just love them. I remember trying one the first time I went to America in 2009, and thought not that much of it, but then in 2013 when I first started going to LA for work and tried one again, well, I guess my taste buds had matured because I stood on the footpath outside a Starbucks and just stared at my cup, thinking to myself ‘where have you been all my life?’ and savouring the spicy, pumpkin-y flavour swirling around in my big gob.

Pumpkin spice goodness AND Disneyland?! *brain explosion*

Ever since then anytime it is fall (or autumn for us Southern hemisphere dwellers) in the US and I am there, I must have a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. They’re just addictive. Apparently they’re super bad for you and pack a whole lot of calories and actually have no pumpkin whatsoever in them, but I don’t care. I love them.

They also come in iced frappucino form because a hot pumpkin spice latte isn't awesome enough

Seems like the rest of America does too. I think Starbucks started a trend, because everything you buy to eat or drink between roughly the end of August and November in the US seems to be pumpkin spice flavoured. For reals. I bought a pumpkin spice biscuit the other day. I tried pumpkin spice flavoured Snickers.  You can get pumpkin spiced bread and pumpkin spiced bagels. Pumpkin spiced Oreos and pumpkin spiced Krispy Kremes. And every other conceivable place that makes coffee has a pumpkin spice latte on offer.

It’s fantastic.

I know it’s all very white trash of me, and I have seen so many little memes on Instagram and such that are all like ‘How do you know when it’s fall? Honey, it’s when Starbucks starts serving pumpkin spice lattes’ or ‘If you look in the mirror and say pumpkin spice latte three times, a white girl will appear in ugg boots and yoga pants and tell you everything she loves about fall.’ It cracks me up. And just quietly, I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t like to wrap their paws around a grande pumpkin spice latte when it’s chilly outside.

 

So that was all this blog post is about. My love of pumpkin spice lattes. That’s it. Just had to get it out. I will be sad when fall is over in the US and Starbucks stops serving this deliciousness.

But then I guess I can just take up drinking the gingerbread lattes they start serving at Christmas time instead.

 

Long Haul Life

Oh my gawwwdddd I was so nervous for that first A380 flight. I was going as a ‘spare’ to Los Angeles but was still expected to sit at a door, serve all the passengers and do everything all the other crew did. When I first got on board I reminded myself just how long 14 hours was to LA, but the whole thing went pretty damn fast in the end, probably because I was so busy and had so many new things entering my headspace, begging to be remembered. I was fortunate enough to get to sit in the flight deck for landing into LAX, which was awesome, albeit not very scenic, as most of LA is concrete concrete concrete and just grey grey grey. But it was still awesome, sitting there quietly behind the flight crew, watching as they maneuvered this massive beast of a plane, carrying 484 passengers, 4 pilots and 22 cabin crew, onto the ground so smoothly it might as well have been a feather.

I was absolutely shattered by the time we reached LA. I think I may have even nodded off for a bit on the crew bus to the hotel. I know I slept for a solid five hours when I got to my room. I just couldn’t do anything else – I could barely move, let alone go out shopping or sightseeing. I HAD to sleep.
 

Of course this meant I was awake, like, the whole night, but that was okay. Most things in the immediate vicinity of our hotel were still open, so I went shopping with the other newbie on my flight, and treated myself to many things from Victoria’s Secret, Sephora and Nordstrom, amongst other stores (and this trip was over my birthday, so I was totally allowed to splurge hehe). Ever since that first LA trip I never buy anything in Australia anymore – clothes, make up, shoes, gifts, linen, even some food – I buy it all in the US. It’s sooooo much cheaper, and the choice! Ahhhh! It’s heaven. I never come back from an LA trip with any of my allowance left over. Or with an empty suitcase.

When in London...

So I made the grade on that LA trip, and they let me graduate! My first roster was awesome and I was frothing at just thought of getting to go to a few places I’d never been to before (side note: the A380 only services a handful of routes, I guess due to its size, and because I’d been to London and Los Angeles years before in my own time, the only new places I was going to get to go as a crew member on the A380 were Dubai and Hong Kong.) Most of the trips were 3 or 4 days away from home all together, but a London trip was epic in that we first flew to Dubai, spent some time there, then went onto London, and then came back to Dubai before returning to Sydney. All together it was an 8 day trip. I would come home from these trips feeling like I had been away for 3 weeks – and my luggage certainly indicated I had! But hey, who can resist the lures of Oxford St and Harrods shopping when in London?! You only live once.

London trips were my absolute fave, but to date I have only had two, sadly enough. But they were fantastic. I wouldn’t sleep at all in London – I just slammed back the Red Bull and got out onto the streets and into the fresh air to wake myself up and headed off sight seeing, shopping, seeing shows on the West End, walking all over that beautiful city, and catching the tube anywhere I couldn’t, or was too tired, to walk to. I absolutely adore London, and have ever since I first laid eyes on it the first time I went in 2009, before my first Contiki tour. I just love how it’s so elegant and chic, how it’s so clean and well kept, and how there is gobs and gobs of history and things to do there. Sure, the weather is mostly shithouse, but you can put up with that. And when the sun is out and it reaches more than 20 degrees celcius, all the Londoners get their kit off and sunbake in the parks and gardens. I love it! They’re so deprived of warmth and sunshine there, but they make up for it in so many other ways. If it weren’t so expensive and far away from Australia I could totally see myself living there. Of course now that I’m 28 (and still seriously poor, even living in Australia), I’ve probably missed my chance to ‘do the London thing’, but as long as I can visit every now and again I’m happy.

I heart the tube



A glorious day to walk up the Mall towards Buckingham Palace

 

On the London Eye

Now that I have been flying long haul for more than a year I have done my fair share of Dubai, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. Because I never get to go to London anymore, Los Angeles is now my favourite. Soon I will be starting to fly to Dallas on the A380, and I have many, many plans to do some epic sightseeing and side trips to other cities when in Dallas, so stay tuned for what I am sure will be many Dallas themed blog posts!

 

 

Jorgs