Wherever You Fly...

Guess who's back!?  No worries, I didn't ditch out on my blogging yet, it was just that I wanted to take a break from hauling this laptop all around the world for a hot second.  It really has cut my time through the security line (I mean, after I cut to the front and get glares from all of the passengers in line..that saves lots of time) down by at least a good 30 seconds.
I've decided the best way to recap the last few weeks would be to give you a view of life via pictures...here goes nothin'...
Did a quick little trip out of EWR shuttling around on the 320 for 3 days.  Had one of my favorite crews to date - I love, love, love laid back crews.

Chillin' on the 320

Having some fun in the galley by giving Chris some hair

Chasing the sun all the way back to EWR

The next trip I went on was me and the guys.  Literally.  The other 3 FA's were men.  The flight deck crew was men.  Even the load factor they gave us was a man!  I was for sure the odd man...er, woman...out.  I buddied up with Ryan, the lead FA on the trip, and we ended up having a good time.  Our first layover was in Portland, OR & we were going to stay up to watch the Perseid meteor shower but the city lights & cloudy night buzz killed that idea.  However, Ryan did get up super early with me to go to VooDoo Doughnut (it's been featured on lots of travel/food shows) & then a walk through the rose gardens.  This was an especially sentimental trip for me because I was born in Oregon & haven't been back since I was 3 years old.  I actually have pictures of "baby Angie" in that same exact rose garden with my grandparents & parents, so of course I got all sappy about being there again after so many years had passed. Let me tell you, Portland for sure has it's own flavor.  The people out there are a special breed.  Cool...but special.  Maybe it's all the meth.  Yeah...it's probably the meth...

VooDoo Doughnuts

Me in the rose gardens

After a few brief days home, it was back to NYC for this little lady.  Since they assigned me a later standby report, I was able to stay home an extra night and have (gasp) a Saturday night out.  Even if I did hate myself when that alarm went off at 6AM.  I'm getting too old to not work on weekends...my poor body can't take it!

Pretzels: it's what's for breakfast

Guess where I ended up that night?  PARIS!  I missed that place & I like to think the feeling is mutual. What a fun trip it was too.  Mark (one of the French speakers) took Luis, Michael & I out on the town.  Not to the tourist places, but to see the "real Paris".  Gay district style.  Best night out I have had in a long time!  The company was beyond fabulous. These darlings had me cracking up all night. We started out with dinner at this amazing restaurant where we sat outside and drank a bottle of wine, ate bread and watched the world go by.  Dinner was Confit de Carnard (aka duck leg over slices of potatoes)  & it was to die for.  Well technically the duck did die for it...but...ok...moving on.  Next up was clubbing.  I tried to explain to the guys that going out at gay bars it the best because you get to stare at good looking men all night and don't have to worry about getting creeped on.  Afterwards we took a little stroll past Notre Dame & snapped pics while some homeless man yelled at us in French.  I don't care if he was cussing us out, it still sounded so romantic!

Sights of Paris...

...and more...

The only thing that could top that amazing dinner - dessert: Nutella Creme Brulee.  Le sigh.

Clubbing in Paris.  Yes, that is a hot guy taking a shower in a club. Hey, it's Europe!

Hugs from Mark & Michael outside of the Notre Dame

Too soon it was time to leave & come back to the states.  With the 3 ADays that I had left, I ended up with this not too shabby 3 day domestic trip.  Our second night on the road we ended up in Providence, Rhode Island & there was mad amounts of glorious seafood that was consumed.  A casserole with scallops, shrimp & lobster tail?  Oh, if you insist!

See what 5AM reports do to me?  I managed to stab myself in the eye with my mascara wand.  OUCH!

Ran into Jerome Bettis in DTW.  Nice guy.  

What to do when your ear hurts & won't pop on descent.  No, really.  The hot water helps!

The great part of this domestic trip though was getting back early enough to commute HOME.  Best part of my week???  Coming home to this...

ARCHIE!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, all of the other stuff is fun & all but NOTHING beats walking in the door to the world's happiest/most excited dog who hasn't left my side since I got back.  He's laying on me as I type this, haha.  Home at last...aahhh....it feels good.  Well, at least for a few days until I get antsy for the next adventure.  Stay tuned!

“You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed. 
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest."
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Luck Be A Lady...?!

Ok, so those of you that know me and/or keep up with my blog (I like to refer to ya'll as "the chosen ones") are aware that I have bad flight attendant luck. Really, reallllly bad luck that leaves friends questioning why they fly with me and me wondering why I ever said I liked this job.  Case in point:  when I last left off this blog I was all like "I love my job!  I love Paris!  Hooray for everything!"  Then the next morning I got a phone call waking me up to let me know our flight was cancelled due to maintenance and we were stuck in Paris for another day.  Yes, I said STUCK.  Listen, I will be the first to admit that on any given day I would NOT mind another day in that grand city...however...I NEEDED to be home.  You see, I had specifically swapped out this really nice trip that started on the 2nd (with an 18 hour layover in New Orleans) for ADays (yes, I actually took someone's Adays because that is how desperate I was to get the 2nd off) on the 3rd due to the fact that there were special circumstances as to why I needed the 2nd off.  To recap...now I had to WORK on the 2nd when I was supposed to be off, my plans went to crap & now this meant I was on for 7 days straight for which I was NOT packed accordingly.  Oh, and when I got back to the States & turned on my phone I got word Cass (my sister) was in the hospital.  Are you getting a taste of my FA luck yet???  Frank Sinatra said it pretty well: "they call you lady luck, but there is room for doubt, at times you have a very un-lady-like way of running out".  He said it nicer than I do...I usually just use a word that rhymes with such things as witch, snitch & itch (which I suppose is very un-lady-like of me).

Ok, ok...anyways... imagine my shock then when I got the trip in Open Time that I was hoping for.  Late report, only working 4 flights in 3 days, worth 18 hours & home early enough to commute back to DTW.  My luck has me too wary to do preemptive happy dances, so I didn't.  Upon arriving at JFK, I watched our flight to SAN get pushed back further...and further....annnnnd further.  Ugh....now we were going to be getting in at 3AM EST and put on reduced rest.  I even warned my crew at that point about my luck - I felt they had a right to know what they had gotten into.  I AM CURSED!!!!

This is how awesome the crew was - they all didn't mind that I was cursed & were still ok with hanging and joking around and stuff.  Or maybe they just thought I was crazy and didn't really believe me.  or because I offered to share my 3 Musketeer bar.  Whichever way, they were all beyond nice to me & I was looking forward to working with them.  Ok, so I chipped away at the bad flight attendant luck a tad bit.  HA!  Take THAT!

Anyways, we finally boarded up the plane & were on our way to SAN for 8 hours of rest.  It was a decent flight & I was just happy that the people I was working with were all super chill, super sweet individuals & that most of the passengers were too tired to do any real yelling at us. We landed safe & sound & were getting off of the plane when scheduling called...and usually they never come bearing good news.  Except this time they were calling to say we got rerouted - to 11 hours on the ground so we could rest, then a double deadhead to LAS!!!  Ok, so extra sleep, getting out of working 2 flights but still getting paid, AND we get to Vegas in time now to have some fun???  Is this real life!?  This can't be happening to Angie "worst flight attendant luck ever" Zell!

All day I held my breathe...I KNEW something had to give.  Was I going to get pulled from the trip in SLC?  Which one of our deadheads was going to have maintenance and cause us to loose all of our fun time in Sin City?  This was all going too smoothly and in my favor - this doesn't happen!  But we made it to Vegas - in one piece & on time nonetheless. Then the awesome things started happening:

• We got there as Happy Hour started, so FREE drinks (and we all know I haven't met a free Chardonnay I didn't like) for the next 1.5 hours!
• Leo, the super adorable, likable, sweet & fun flight leader on our trip, was all about going out to have some fun so I had a partner in crime!
• I WON $13 for my cab ride to LGA (where I was planning on commuting out of home since the 4:30PM JFK flight was oversold) the next day!
• I had more free drinks & decided to play more penny slots & WON an additional $60!
• Sharkweek was on when I went to my room to eat my burger & pass out!  YEEESSS!!!!
• We got into JFK early & Crew Scheduling actually released me. I literally walked 3 gates over to the 2:55PM DTW flight that was boarding & got a seat home, which meant saving money on a cab to LGA as well as getting back about 3 hours ahead of schedule!

Take THAT bad flight attendant luck!!!  How do you like me now!?!?!?  Turns out, I suppose on certain days, luck CAN be a lady....even for this silly flight attendant.  I should go buy a lottery ticket.