So I have had quite the week! I went to Toluca Mexico, and Cartagena Columbia. During my flight to Columbia I worked with two senior mamas, and even they were shocked by the crazy antics these passengers were having on the plane. Everyone was excited to get out to the Columbian version of "Mardi Gras".
During this flight I had to confiscate duty free alcohol after the group decided to share their drinks with anyone who wanted it on the plane. The passengers were playing music through speakers, yelling cheers, doing the wave, singing happy birthday to no one in particular, and dirty dancing with the elderly lady in row 5! Needless to say it was an energetic bunch. I did not sit down once during the flight, but they all had smiles on their faces and thanked us when we left.. So I guess we did a good job?
I was exhausted after this flight, but I'm sure that I'll never forget it! And I'll always remember, columbians know how to party!!!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
"I love people, and I love to travel!"
It's a joke around here that every flight attendant uses the statement "I love people and I love to travel" in their interview. It makes the interviewers chuckle every time because the voice of experience tells them that we should just wait six months and see if we still feel the same way.
During training we would mock ourselves when we didn't feel like getting up in the morning or when we would have an especially tough test. But now that I am graduated I've been thinking on that statement a bit more.
We come into training and this job with excited hearts ready to serve and excited to learn and see things. Excited to meet new people, and work with passengers from all different walks of life and cultures. As we go, we begin to take on the attitudes of some of the senior mamas and papas. We become hard and see the passengers as nuisances instead of the people providing us with an incredible job and a nice little paycheck.
I don't want that to be me. I want to live a life of joy. And I want to choose to be thankful. I'd rather be too positive than carry around the weight of a hardened heart. So here I am, resolving to love people and love to travel. Promising to myself that I will choose joy every day and shine a little light rather than bring a dark cloud onto the plane. I will break the chain of negativity. I will live full, and live free.
Feel free to remind me of this often. :)
During training we would mock ourselves when we didn't feel like getting up in the morning or when we would have an especially tough test. But now that I am graduated I've been thinking on that statement a bit more.
We come into training and this job with excited hearts ready to serve and excited to learn and see things. Excited to meet new people, and work with passengers from all different walks of life and cultures. As we go, we begin to take on the attitudes of some of the senior mamas and papas. We become hard and see the passengers as nuisances instead of the people providing us with an incredible job and a nice little paycheck.
I don't want that to be me. I want to live a life of joy. And I want to choose to be thankful. I'd rather be too positive than carry around the weight of a hardened heart. So here I am, resolving to love people and love to travel. Promising to myself that I will choose joy every day and shine a little light rather than bring a dark cloud onto the plane. I will break the chain of negativity. I will live full, and live free.
Feel free to remind me of this often. :)
Saturday, February 2, 2013
We did it.
I am sitting in the terminal at Fort Lauderdale Airport and I am so excited to get home. It has been such a ride. I haven't been able to blog in a while but I promised myself I wouldn't apologize for that. This is my blog, and I won't stress about writing, I just want to chronicle my adventures and remember where life takes me and the things I learn along the way.
The good news is that since I've written last I've become an official flight attendant!
Texie and I have had some crazy times. I thought I'd share a few highlights...
-Water ditching/slide day.
Texie was our fearless leader acting as flight attendant "a", and she seriously rocked it. Our class boldly inflated our single chamber life vests and crawled into an emergency raft in what what probably the coldest pool known to Florida! We meshed so well as a team, and our class was able to set a record in setting up the raft canopy in 26 seconds, I know it may not sound like a big deal to some, but trust us, we are a big deal. Haha. We then had to get into the pool and practice survival techniques for water. We shivering and shaking managed to stay warm together and exit the pool all smiles.
That same day we went to the airbus training center which was amazing, and we were able to practice the jump slide emergency evacuation technique. We had a lot of fun, and (mostly) managed to make it through the exercise unscathed.
-Emergency procedure exam.
This was a big one, no retakes were allowed for this test, so even if you had gotten 100% on everything before that point, if you received an 89% on that test we would have to go home. All of the stress hit us during the waiting period of that test and we cried, held each other and encouraged each other. We lost one of our best Val that day and we left training broken hearted, but ready to do it all over again the next day for the final. We all bonded together through this experience and losing someone so late in the game was very tough on our exhausted minds. But we resolved to do whatever it takes to make it through, and we did.
-Graduation.
We earned our wings! After passing the final and sitting through some tedious guest speakers we were finally able to get our ID badges, uniforms, and WINGS. We all got to write a little something about ourselves/our training experience and they read it aloud as we received our diplomas, we all were laughing so hard throughout the whole thing. After that we got to watch a video Claudio had compiled of our whole training experience, and we cried. We were SO proud that we made it, but now we had to pass our two inflight finals.
-FAM & OE
I flew to Bogota, Columbia for my familiarization flight, and although that flight is notorious for being a tough crowd, I learned so much and really enjoyed seeing the beautiful mountains of Columbia. I practiced my Spanish ( let me tell you, I need to practice more!) I even got a business card from a passenger who had been making inappropriate comments to me throughout the whole flight. Normally I would have tossed it, but I kept it as a moment of my first ever flight. Haha.
For my OE (basically the final exam where you must work a flight while being evaluated) I flew to NYC, and we were delayed to depart because the weather was bad in New York. When we finally got our passengers aboard and in full compliance ( it's TOUGH getting those famous New Yorkers to turn off their phones!!!) we headed to the sky. For some reason a rumor had started among the passengers that there was an issue with our planes landing gear. I was able to reassure the passengers that everything was okay, and return smiles to their faces which made me proud and excited for my job. Later in the flight I met a Jewish family traveling with their son. While doing service they asked if I knew if the snacks were kosher and I told them I wasn't sure, but I handed the snacks over as they asked and they taught me which ones were. I served them and continued on with the rest of my duties, toward the end of the flight the man asked me if I knew where they could write in about the service on the flight. They explained that they were impressed by me and that they wanted to tell the company what a good job I was doing. His wife took my name down and it completely made my night. To have a compliment given on my very first flight made me feel like I am right where I am supposed to be. I was also able to go into the cockpit for a few minutes to bring the Captain and First Officer some coffee, the 180 degree view at night of the clouds around us, and clusters of lights that looked like golden stars underneath us made for an incredible view. After the flight my OE instructor told me that I had passed and my heart was so glad, because I was already in love with this job.
Texie are here in the sky now as I finish this post and we are SO proud to be wearing our wings! Kaycee Donahue here we come!!!!
The good news is that since I've written last I've become an official flight attendant!
Texie and I have had some crazy times. I thought I'd share a few highlights...
-Water ditching/slide day.
Texie was our fearless leader acting as flight attendant "a", and she seriously rocked it. Our class boldly inflated our single chamber life vests and crawled into an emergency raft in what what probably the coldest pool known to Florida! We meshed so well as a team, and our class was able to set a record in setting up the raft canopy in 26 seconds, I know it may not sound like a big deal to some, but trust us, we are a big deal. Haha. We then had to get into the pool and practice survival techniques for water. We shivering and shaking managed to stay warm together and exit the pool all smiles.
That same day we went to the airbus training center which was amazing, and we were able to practice the jump slide emergency evacuation technique. We had a lot of fun, and (mostly) managed to make it through the exercise unscathed.
-Emergency procedure exam.
This was a big one, no retakes were allowed for this test, so even if you had gotten 100% on everything before that point, if you received an 89% on that test we would have to go home. All of the stress hit us during the waiting period of that test and we cried, held each other and encouraged each other. We lost one of our best Val that day and we left training broken hearted, but ready to do it all over again the next day for the final. We all bonded together through this experience and losing someone so late in the game was very tough on our exhausted minds. But we resolved to do whatever it takes to make it through, and we did.
-Graduation.
We earned our wings! After passing the final and sitting through some tedious guest speakers we were finally able to get our ID badges, uniforms, and WINGS. We all got to write a little something about ourselves/our training experience and they read it aloud as we received our diplomas, we all were laughing so hard throughout the whole thing. After that we got to watch a video Claudio had compiled of our whole training experience, and we cried. We were SO proud that we made it, but now we had to pass our two inflight finals.
-FAM & OE
I flew to Bogota, Columbia for my familiarization flight, and although that flight is notorious for being a tough crowd, I learned so much and really enjoyed seeing the beautiful mountains of Columbia. I practiced my Spanish ( let me tell you, I need to practice more!) I even got a business card from a passenger who had been making inappropriate comments to me throughout the whole flight. Normally I would have tossed it, but I kept it as a moment of my first ever flight. Haha.
For my OE (basically the final exam where you must work a flight while being evaluated) I flew to NYC, and we were delayed to depart because the weather was bad in New York. When we finally got our passengers aboard and in full compliance ( it's TOUGH getting those famous New Yorkers to turn off their phones!!!) we headed to the sky. For some reason a rumor had started among the passengers that there was an issue with our planes landing gear. I was able to reassure the passengers that everything was okay, and return smiles to their faces which made me proud and excited for my job. Later in the flight I met a Jewish family traveling with their son. While doing service they asked if I knew if the snacks were kosher and I told them I wasn't sure, but I handed the snacks over as they asked and they taught me which ones were. I served them and continued on with the rest of my duties, toward the end of the flight the man asked me if I knew where they could write in about the service on the flight. They explained that they were impressed by me and that they wanted to tell the company what a good job I was doing. His wife took my name down and it completely made my night. To have a compliment given on my very first flight made me feel like I am right where I am supposed to be. I was also able to go into the cockpit for a few minutes to bring the Captain and First Officer some coffee, the 180 degree view at night of the clouds around us, and clusters of lights that looked like golden stars underneath us made for an incredible view. After the flight my OE instructor told me that I had passed and my heart was so glad, because I was already in love with this job.
Texie are here in the sky now as I finish this post and we are SO proud to be wearing our wings! Kaycee Donahue here we come!!!!
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