diablo

The smell of lilacs fill the air. The warm breezes caress my skin. The sounds of multiple languages in awe of the iconic monument fill my ears. After a two hour walk around Paris, I paused to enjoy a from age crepe while the sun set behind my and the Eiffel tower stood in front of me preparing for the evening. To think, I had to drag myself out of bed to enjoy these moments.

The journey over was not a pleasant one as I was assigned to work in the back with one of the most awful flight attendants I have ever encountered. She yelled at me and rolled her eyes, asked me if I was domestic which I about slapped her for that one. Horrible, horrible woman who not only fought with me but with passengers and with another crewmember. She was named Diablo at the end. I told her that I preferred a cart to pick up service items with and she grunted and told me that she was going to pick up instead. I told her to knock herself the fuck out, and then I throw in the towel on working. I am keeping her name on my board as a do not fly with.

Paris is lovely but the flights, let me tell ya, not always worth it.

paris

The smell of lilacs fill the air. The warm breezes caresses my skin. The sounds of multiple languages in awe of the iconic monument fills my ears. After an two hour walk around Paris, I paused to enjoy a fromage crepe while the sun set behind my and the Eiffel Tower in front.

a box of triscuts

My days off were in line to go to Dubai to visit this new wonderment of the world as well as my friend, Turiya. I awoke at 0630 because the flight the night before was full and proceeded to JFK. An hour or so on the subway took me to the air train and then to terminal 4. I checked in for the flight which mysteriously oversold in the wee hours of the night and was told to come back at 1030 for the verdict. I didn't get on. So there I stood in one of the largest airports in the world pondering where my rollerboard filled with summer clothes and I should go. From terminal 4 to terminal 1 to terminal 3 then terminal 6, I searched out a sunny destination which was boarding soon and not flying to Florida. No luck. I went back to the subway with a couple of blisters from my fabulous heels and stopped to find out if the flight to PDX was open. An hour and forty minutes later, I was at my home airport, my own turf and awaiting my flight home. I ran into a friend who got me into the exec lounge and had a few cocktails prior to my flight. A first class seat inabled my rest on the quick flight into Oregon.
I was able to "spread the love" on this visit by staying with different friends each night. Some may call me a nomad with my suitcase in tow, I just call it the usual routine. The first night I stayed at Hotel Duffin, the next was spent at fireman and yoders residence, the third on an air mattress at Mr May's and the fourth at Porter's home. Tonight I return to the pearl to have an easy access to the aiport which is almost impossible to get a ride to.
It has been a fantastic visit, although not planned it has been well received by my soul. I saw a lot of my friends, the piece of the puzzle missing from NYC, and in the spreading of love took my box of crackers (a pressie for Turiya) on a tour of a couple airports and a lot of homes.

pope walk

I am heading home on this glorious spring day, airtrain to train, train to the E, the E to the 6, and then walk home. This is my routine which usually takes an hour and half. Well, the damn E train is held for some damn reason so after sitting there for 10 minutes, I connected to the B one stop and then swapped to the F. I ended up on 63rd and Lex, which for some reason I thought my run into the train I needed but no. Up three flights of stairs to street level, I decided to embrace the day and just huff it home. Along the way there were tons of NYPD and road closures. It was while I was on 66th, I realized the Pope was hanging out in the neighborhood. I ended up getting the low down from the officer who stopped me to take a pic of my "Oregon Girls Rock" t-shirt or maybe just my boobs, and he told me the main man of the Catholic world was finishing up at the UN and then headed this way. I decided to make my way home instead of standing around waiting to get run over by the Pope-mobile.

practice italian under the buddha

I somehow managed to have a whole day to myself, no visitors, no flying, and no dog walking. I didn't know even what the hell I should do with myself until I remembered I needed to finish my envelope day of me. It was a gift from my mom for my birthday with little journeys such as getting coffee, flowers. mani/pedi, etc. So I set off to pamper myself. The phone of course rang while I was getting a manicure for a couple emergency walks so I hopped down south and took care of them then returned to my me day. I came home, got dolled up, and headed to the Hudson Hotel for a cocktail. Two champanges and people watching later, I headed to Tao` for some sushi. I ordered at the bar as it is impossible to get a table without a week's reservation, and the guy next to me started chit-chatting away. The next thing I knew, I was at there table under the Buddha have cocktails with a bunch of watch manufactures or something. I didn't really get what was going on but the rest of my dinner and dessert was free and I got to practice some Italian because my would-be suitor was from Florence!!
p.s. not hot and nothing came of the evening except a story

nothing but two feet and a metro card

I sold my car Tuesday, my baby, the first car I bought brand new. I hadn't driven it in months and while driving it back to the city with Carol in the passenger seat, I experienced the usual road rage. I don't even like driving but there was something about giving the keys to the buyer permently which made me sad.

Carol is in town for the week, actually she just let the island to try and catch a flight home. We have had a nice time and I have been spoiled shitless with nice dinners and the usual mom kindness.

4-12

Trip 4 Day 12
Well I will have to say that my body has finally thrown in the towel and is used to only spending every third night its own bed. I am wrapping up my marathon of flying here in ol' GLA, one of my favorite hotels and favorite little countries. I say that I deserve a nice trip after the crap of the last three. The only spoiler on this trip is the crazy "new people don't know anything" pusrser with large hair. What's funny about her is that she doesn't know anything about the plane we are on, and opps...if you hadn't been such a bitch, I would lend you a hand. Instead I just pretend to be as dumb as she thinks I am. Her aside, the crowd I had up in first class was so much fun, it's nice to have a good group. Majority of them were traveling together and were diplomats of Scotland. I even got a pin from them and my photo taken with everyone. There was one lady (not with the group) that showed me her briefcase upon boarding and told me to kill anyone that came near it as it was valuable manuscript. Ok lady! What was odd is that she was personally escorted off the plane once we arrived. I didn't recognize her name so either she was the transporter or penned under another name.

Carol arrives today to enjoy my upcoming time off. Little does she know that she is signed up for walking pooches both days! Should be good fun as I am taking her downtown to check out Wall Street, etc. And then she will stay and go with me on my next journey.

strange

I have a friend who is a flight attendant and she hates it.
Oh, yeah?
Don't you hate sitting in a strange pub in a strange city talking to a stranger?
"Not at all, you just described why I love this job."

it just gets better and better

So here I am in BRS, hoping to visit the city of Bath as found in my 501 must visit locations book, yet I sit here in my room. I got over the fact that my day off had been taken away and that I had to not only dog walk but work a flight. I missed the initial call from scheduling at 0830 even though the phone was right near my head. I got up at 0930 and began my day. On my way to walking the pooches, I found the highlight of the last 48 hours, a place that only serves Mac and Cheese. Yes, I sat down and carb'd up to walk them dogs and climb the two five story and one three story walk ups. Beth called my day, the buns of steel day.
I made it to the airport with the practice of yoga breathing through rush hour and people shoving and hitting my roller board. I boarded the plane an began to work, luckily I am first class galley so I was very happy in my position and my aisle gal is great as well. Fast forward six hours and we are beginning our descent. But oh, no what's that...we are being diverted to BHX because of fog. I won't drag you through the four hours we sat on the ground not knowing anything with a plane full of people we couldn't let off. The weariness of being up for 24 hours was too much for me so I yelled at each crew member and told them I wasn't doing a damn thing. Finally we took off and unfortunately our jump seats were facing the customers so for an hour, it was everything I had in my to keep my eyes open. Six hours past the time we were supposed to be at the hotel, we arrived and I have been in bed ever since.

movies...uhm..no

So what happens when I get only an hour of sleep the night before working a nine hour flight? It takes three cups of coffee to wake up and to function properly, well that didn't happen all day. While we were waiting for the aircraft, I was informed that the inflight entertainment was on the fritz. I thought I had the magic touch but found out after we took off that I didn't have any touch at all. So picture an eight hour flight with nothing to entertain anyone, in the middle of the day. Adults turned into children with their wining and content asking of "how much longer?", "where are we?". And every time I, or another crew member passed by 8C she had some dumb question for us. "I have 40 minutes to connect to Boston"...I told her good luck with that knowing full well she won't make it. "Can you ring my husband?" How would you like me to do that ma'am. "Don't you have phones in the cockpit?" I just walked away at this point. "Can you save the pull tabs from the soda cans?" This one didn't get asked to me, because I would have told her where she could shove those. The saving grace of the flight were the two rows of hotties. The other people, well let's just say if I need to evacuate the plane, I would save the row of hotties first.

To top off my trip, I was met by the lady with the clipboard instructing me to go the clinic for a drug test. An hour later after blowing in a tube and peeing in a cup (hard thing to do on demand), I called to block in and was given the news that my break started right now and I would be working again tomorrow.

travel guides

I have been mighty homesick lately, I am not sure if it comes from the sudden quiet that is around me or just that I haven’t been home in a while. There is usually only one day a week that I feel ache of Oregon but this week I have felt it many more times. It took me forever to get home from my last trip and when I did, I collapsed on my bed after my shower to wake up fourteen hours later. The rain dripped on my windows as I checked my schedule to find I had airport alert for the evening. I had anticipated working because of a gut feeling and on the way to the airport; I got a call for LGW. I will admit that I have become a bit spoiled lately with really great trips and need to keep in mind that I have to pay my dues every once and a while. I was glad to have my favorite position but traded a girl who didn’t want to be the purser.
So here I am in the oh-so-familiar hotel room at the airport. I am grateful that I brought with me, my favorite birthday gift…Rosetta Stone Italiano! I have been practicing a way. And even recited “la donna magino” as I ate my soup for dinner and lei beve as I sipped my latte.
The only thing that has relieved my homesickness on this trip was looking at travel guides at the bookstore. The places which still await me keep me going strong.