Giving Thanks Christmas 2010

I guess I should have written this blog in November, but I wasn't feeling quite so Thankful in Indy on Thanksgiving! So, I am just a little late, but is getting written before the end of this wonderful year.

I am thankful for:
My husband, who is dealing very well with our time apart and helping me to make this job easy, by taking care of so much when I am away. Also, for being there with open arms when I come home.

My family, who I love very much.

My girls, who I am so very proud of, because y'all have developed into fabulous young ladies. I love you both with all my heart!

My sister, my bestest seestor the best ever! Thanks for the laughter and wiping my tears.

My Son, his wife and especially the birth of our first grand baby this year! The girls and I got such a bonus when I married your Dad.

My friends, the old ones who know this is something I have always wanted to do, and have been a huge voice of encouragement! Thanks Kimmie, Olive you!

My friends, the new ones that I have met over this past year and offer that shoulder, laughter, and support in this craziness that we call
Airtran! I love you all! (especially Christy for jokes and laughter, Ron for being one of the greatest, Heather for being the sweetest, Jackie for the understanding and grounding conversations, Nessa for it all!, Diana for teaching us all and continuing to be there for us all, my future buddy bidder and Senior Papa Bob, for my best layover so far, Rachel who is like my daughter even though we talk about things you wouldn't talk to your Mom about, and everyone else in our awesome training class!

Kathy and Neybleth who have picked up the slack for me and kept my businesses running smoothly. I couldn't have done this without them!

I am also thankful for all the maids who stock my home away from home with clean sheets, coffee, and shampoo.

My own bed and pillow, that is made even better because the love of my life is there to snuggle with on those 10 or so nights I get to go home!

My awesome dog that greets me with love, no matter what time I come home!

Facebook, that allows me to keep in touch with everyone and let's me not feel alienated out here on the road!

My alarm, that keeps me on time and to my gate and the van on time!

This is just a small amount of all I am thankful for, I am sure I will be adding on to this list before the end of this year, but this year has been one of the best so far and I am Very Very Thankful!

It's Christmas Time... Or is it?

Being a Flight Attendant is a great job most of the time, but the hardest part is not being in control of your time. Well it's Christmas time and this reality is a little difficult right now. I have my Christmas Traditions and they are having to be tweaked a little this year. Starting Christmas Eve, my kids have always returned from The Campbell's to come home to me. That is when they opened their one Christmas Eve present...their Christmas PJ's. Then Christmas morning we would wake up and they would open thieir Santa presents, while our Christmas breakfast casserole was in the oven. The day is then filled with family activites, like going to the Hildreths for lunch and dirty Santa, then the Wills family get together. Well, needless to say, this year things will be different! I'm not off on Christmas so I needed to figure out when we could all get together. Not easy with 12 people, most of them young adults! The only day that would work was the 18th, which happened to be my sisters Birthday, also. She was going to be at the lake, so we decided to have Christmas there. Which this seems like a great idea now, because of several reasons. We will all be able to turn off and spend the time together, which is the most important thing at Christmas time or ANYTIME for a flight attendant who loses out on special times with friends and family so much during the month. The other good thing for doing it down there is I can relax and not feel in control of it all. We will get together and all work together to pull it together.
All of this being said, I know it is going to be hard being alone at Christmas and not being with my family, but I can hope to be flying with a good crew and it will be better than expected. I did stumble upon someone on the trade board that wanted to trade the 24th for 30th. I traded real quick with her and now get to spend Christmas Eve at home.
Time is precious and the key (whether you are a f/a or not) is to make the most of your time with your family and close friends!

Crazy People, not just the normal Passenger!

Wow, this job is giving me a different perspective on the people out there! Can you say crazy? First of all, I must put in my two cents about flying and the etiquettes to follow.
From the mouth of THE Flight Attendant and what we wish we could really tell you:
There are some things that flight attendants are responsible for, SAFETY is number one on that list. That is why you MUST have your seat back and tray tables in the FULL UPRIGHT and LOCKED position for taxi, take off and landing! That is why YOU MUST have your frappin' purse or backpack or sack of food, or dog or whatever is at your feet, UNDER the seat in front of you! That is why you must not have your cell phone on! We do make fun of stupid people who do not follow these rules, because we make an announcement telling you to do these things at least 5 times before you are even settled in your seat. The rules are not different from airline to airline, so why do these people fail to follow these rules? These rules are set forth by the FAA- the seat back rule for instance, it's not because you might get hurt leaning two inches back in your seat- it is because the passenger behind you can not evacuate as easily if your seat is reclining two inches. Have you ever tried to get up and go to the lavatory with the seat in front of you reclined? Or what about the Dad who is mad the ENTIRE flight because we asked him to push his backpack under the seat in front of him? He glared at us and spoke ugly to us from Atlanta to Houston and THEN got off the plane and complained to the gate agent about us- Hey, Stupid- your wife and son could not get off the plane as quickly in the event of an emergency if they had to step over all your s**t!!!
Other things are simple too- your cold, wear proper clothes on the plane! The 10 year old boy sitting with his dad, doesn't want to rub up against your naked butt! I understand you may have a career that encourages you to dress that way, but on the plane you WILL be cold, and oh by the way....WE DON'T HAVE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS!
In addition, you are all bringing too much stuff on the plane, so please don't complain to us when your HUGE suitcase won't fit in the overhead bin or we don't have anymore room. Don't ask us to lift that 70 pound bag and then get mad when we won't. THAT IS NOT OUR JOB!
Don't call us racist when we ask that you follow our rules! Just because you are Asian or White or Black- we are all created equal and we are ALL asked to follow the same rules!
If there is a mechanical problem and a delay because of it, do you want to fly with a broken plane? I don't, and neither do the pilots! So don't complain.
If there is weather and we are delayed, do you want to take off in a thunderstorm? I don't and neither do the pilots! So don't complain.
Do you realize what these delays mean to Flight Attendants? We are working on the average 10-14 hours a day- (many of which your average reserve flight attendant is not getting paid for)we usually have between 9-12 hours of rest, so if the flight is delayed we work longer hours and our rest period is reduced. You however will be on vacation or to your own bed as soon as we get you there. We will be the ones hurt the most with the delay. So please don't get an attitude with us, we are on your side.
Some other quick do's and don'ts we have experienced, and my f/a friends can add more:
1. while you are waiting 3 hours for our delayed flight at the gate- GO TO THE BATHROOM, don't wait till you are on the plane to blow our bathroom out. It stinks and we are in a small area with no ventilation! Our spray only can mask so much.
1.(a)While we are on smell- take a bath before the flight or wear deodorant and DON'T remove your shoes...again, our spray can only mask so much!
2. Don't get drunk and fondle the stranger next to you and cry when we put your purse in the overhead. We will have you escorted off the plane.
3. Don't bring your own Crown Royal on the plane and then tell ME your not going to give me your cup.
4. Don't offer to switch your seat with the lady in front of you and then complain to the gate agent that I MADE you move. Or lie about the whole situation in order to get a free ticket.
5. Do have respect for all the flight attendants who are there for your safety and follow the rules without us having to come around and risk our safety to tell you what we have already told you 10 times.
6. Don't get up during taxi, take-off, and landing- we are required to call the captain and he is required to STOP the plane- that only adds to our delay!
7. Do bring a jacket or dress appropriately- the plane will be cold and it will be hot!
8. Please realize we do not get paid a whole lot and your comments, thank yous and plain old fashion curtesy, makes our day.
9. Do remember that everytime we step on our plane- 9/11 is a memory that weighs heavily on every flight attendant and we take our job for your safety seriously.
We trained really hard for 4 weeks and only 30 minutes was spent learning how to pour your soda!

Non-Rev Travel to NYC

This week was my first four days off in a row, so what did I decide to do??? Get on a plane, of course. Our trip was planned for Portland, Maine; however it seemed as though everyone's trip was going to be Portland Maine on Monday. So we switched gears and headed to New York City. We had to fly to Ohio first, CAK to be exact! Lloyd didn't know if this whole non-rev travel is really worth it at that point!!! It all went smoothly once we went around our elbow, we ended up getting to the city about the time our originally scheduled flight was to get into NYC.
We stayed in Chelsea, and absolutely loved being in that area. We were away from all the touristy areas and had lots of choices on restaurants. Our hotel was perfect and within walking distance of everything we cared to do, or at least a short cab ride. I knew Lloyd would love going to see the Intrepid, so we did that while we were here. I like looking at the planes and zipping through. I am not a big museum person....Lloyd is! We spent a huge amount of time in the Natural Museum of History in London. Psst...I didn't tell him there is also one in New York! Yesterday while we were eating pizza in Little Italy I decided to call about flights. It seems when our reservations were changed at the airport- the CSA forgot to re-list me on the return flight. I was afraid of that! We went ahead and had the res agent on the phone list us on the 7am flight out of La Guardia. That means a 5:15 car pick-up....YAWN! Lloyd is REALLY going to get a feel for what this job is all about! Last night we had the best Mexican food I think I have ever had (don't tell La Parilla)- we ate at Dos Caminos and it was a 10!! We called it an early night since the car is picking us up so early and my alarm clock will go off at 4:30AM. Well, lets see, how lucky are we. We get to the airport early because the car showed up early and we were ready early. We get up to the Customer Service counter to get a boarding pass. The 7 am flight is cancelled, says the CS Agent! Wow, what can we do? It doesn't look good he says, as he is typing away. Me, ever so quick on my feet says, "what about the 6am flight??" He looks at the screen and tells me 20 people are on standby and they are boarding- can we run? We get up to the gate and we are the last 2 people to get on the plane....Guess we are lucky! I also guess we will be buying tickets from now on, it was too much of a close call for my hubby who has to be at work tomorrow!

It's my life

Where do I start? I just turned 45 and have embarked on a new chapter in my life. I am doing something I have wanted to do since I was a teenager and all I wanted to do was get out of Marietta. Things happened along the way that I wouldn't change (other things happened that I would rather forget) but it all got me to this point. First of all, I have the most wonderful children, a loving husband, and I love my hometown, so I am glad I never left. I was able to buy a travel agency, start my group the Pink Suitcase Sisters (more to come on that later) and now I am a Flight Attendant. I love this job, not only is it something different everyday, but it is something different every flight. Which those who know me well, know I strive on change and pretty much caios. I know most people aren't like that and would rather know where they are going and what they are doing from hour to hour, but so far I am loving this. I love going to the computer and finding out that my next adventure is to Flint, the entertainment capital of the world. ( That is for my buddy Nicholas Demore' , who made last weeks trip to Flint a blast.)
So now you know I am waking up in Michigan, as of yet I don't know where I will go to sleep tonight. Airtran has me "on call" till Sunday night, so they can send me somewhere tonight, also. My husband appears to be doing well with this new transition. I don't know if it is because he sees my excitement and he is so secure with us or if it is because our insurance just went from 900 to 300 or if it's because I am getting a pay check finally! Probably all the above, in addition to the fact he is working hard and making progress on our house remodeling.
So all in all this is what my life is about for now. I am loving it!