Peru - Machu Picchu

Finally the time was there I was going on my HOLIDAYSSSS!!! The 8th of september I woke up in Nigeria in Lagos, then I flew back to the sandpit as crew, changed into normal clothes and gave my suitcase to my roommate. Fingers crossed that I would get on any flight, since all the flights to Europe were extremely busy. Finally I heard that I could get on the flight to Copenhagen and from there I could take KLM to fly to Amsterdam where my dear dad picked me up to drive home. I was on the road and traveling for around 24 hours before I got to my final destination. By this time you don't know what's your name anymore and you feel like a zombie!! Went to bed around 19.30 and woke up at 8am, feeling like a newborn child! The 10th was the day of the wedding of Hennie and Johan, the mother of my friends. It was absolutely stunning. The wedding was held in their garden which was transformed into this amazing white flowers venue, let's put it like this, it was the wedding of the year in my town. It was so nice to be around my family as well, since everybody got invited and we all got dressed up. There were some tears of joy and love and the party was on that night!! And since we are dutch we went home on the bike, me in my dress and heels, which wasn't the most comfortable thing to drive a bike in, but I managed.

The next day it was time for PERU!!!! With a little hangover back in the car to the airport where I met my Belgium friend Wouter. We took the KLM flight directly to Lima, the flight wasn't full at all, since we were traveling on a standby ticket as well. While we were on our way to the gate, Wouter thought it would be nice to spray some perfume, clever as Wouter is, he sprayed the perfume on his standby ticket and all the ink was gone, let's hope we still could get on the flight, haha. The crew of KLM were so nice and we had such a good flight, we slept, drank, watched movies and we laughed most of all. That's actually what we did on the entire holiday, we laughed so hard we almost cried. Just before we were landing into Lima we could see the sunset going over the Andes mountains, which was beautiful. We took a taxi to a hostel we read about in the lonely planet. By the time we wanted to go for a bite we ran in two Australians who seemed pretty drunk, that's why we asked where they went, because we wanted to go to the same place. Turns out there was a food festival going on by the beach, and we decided to have a look as well. The food was so good, we had some pork from the barbecue, in Dutch we would say 'it's like an angels peeing on your tong', sounds better in Dutch though... 

The next day we had to fly to Cusco to be on time for our Inca Jungle Track. On the site where we booked our standby tickets to Cusco it showed us that there was still loads of space available, however, once we got to the counter they told us there was only one spot left.... Oeps... But, we both got on the last two seats (thank god sometimes people don't show up or are late for their flights) so that we can get on. We even got a drink and a snack on the flight, winning!!! Cusco is located at 3500 meters above sea level, where the air is dry and low of oxygen. Normally people go to Cusco a few days before to acclimatize to the height. Wouter and I thought we would be fine (since we are in the air most of the time as well), but once we went for dinner in the centre and walked back up to the hostel, we both had to catch our breath, because we got dizzy and light headed. The company of the tour was picking us up at 4am!!! So we went straight to bed, no party today. We changed our big backpacks to our smaller ones, because during the next 4 days we had to carry them everywhere. Minimize was the key! And if there's one thing now I'am good at, it's packing my bags. I went once on a skiing holiday for a week with just hand luggage!

The first day of the track we were going to mountain bike for 55 kilometers, all the way from the one of the highest points in Cusco all the way down to 2000 meters. The view was really cool, so many mountains and you could even see the start of the Amazone as well. We wore so much protection because we were going 55/60 kilometers per hour at one point. Normally after the mountain biking we could take a bus to the next village, however, because the farmers decided to organize a strike all over Peru we had to walk about 15/16 kilometers to move from one village to the other, they blocked the roads. Once we finally got to our hostel for that night we had to change in 15 minutes because we were doing the rafting as well. By this time we were so tired, but we already paid so there we go again... The rafting was so cool, and pretty wild as well. never done something like that before. 

Dinner and lunch every day was 4 courses, good thing Wouter and I love food, at one point the others gave us their plates because they didn't like it. But if you burn around 2500 to 3000 calories a day you need to eat enough to stay strong. Day 2 was hiking day like there was no tomorrow, 9 hours in total. I have never walked so much in my life! While we were walking we had a few stops as well, our guide knew so much about the jungle and the plants and surroundings, which was really interesting what nature has to offer. We tried mandarins, avocado's, cherry tomatoes and even termites, yes those really small insects, they tasted okay actually, like a sesame seed. We had a stop where our guide told us about how they make coffee and how the inca's used to life and used their resources, and also about the coca leaves. Some people didn't know what they make of coca leaves, which was pretty funny once they found out and realized they have been eating them for days in a row. We also tried the traditional clothes and even tried to do their traditional dance. Still didn't decide yet if it's Facebook proof. 

That night we got introduced as well with the Inca Tequila, and also the way they present it (def not facebook proof). That night was the only night we could go out for a bit, since the alarm went of at 7 instead of 3.30/5/6! We ended up doing karaoke and salsa dancing the night away. Day 3 arrived and we started with zip lining, 5 times in total from one side to the other. It was so nice, but you also felt pretty powerless, just hanging by a cable and hoping you will get to the other side safe and sound. After the zip lining we had to hike again for about 3/4 hours! In-between we had lunch somewhere in the jungle where we had the best guacamole I ever tasted in my life. I think Wouter and I had around 3 each, oh yeah! While the others walked to Aguas Calientes (the town at the bottom of the Machu Picchu), we decided to have another little hike to this waterfall. The guide told us that we might even see a bear and told us what to do if we actually would see one, you know what we saw, one bird and that's it!!! The waterfall was beautiful though and definitely worth it, but no bears. That night I fell asleep at dinner, all the nights were so short and we did so much during the day that I reached my breaking point, all I could think of was sleeping and I got pretty grumpy as well, which is not like me to be grumpy. 

The 4th and final day was THE day we would climb Machu Picchu! We left the hostel at 4am to be early at the bridge, the bridge to the Machu Picchu would open at 5am and then you could walk up. But there would be a line so the earlier we would arrive at the bridge the better it would be. Normally people take around 1 hour to climb the Machu Picchu and do those 1800 steps, but since I got a bit competitive and wanted to pass by everybody and be the first to arrive, we did it in 40 minutes and we were 6th and 7th to be on the top! Which is pretty impressive if I may say so, since we started in the queue as 25th! Once the whole group got on the top we had a tour around the Machu Picchu of about 1.5 hour. Which was really interesting, even though we were so sweaty and tired of walking up and so fast.  Later the guide told us, yes so after the tour you guys are going to climb that mountain, there were two mountains, one really high one and the other one a bit smaller. We thought he was joking so we started laughing and then he told us, no you actually are climbing that one as well. We asked him, how many more steps would that be? Guess what he said 2400 extra!!!!! Wouter and I looked at each other and we dropped our jaws, we were speechless. We decided to first have a proper breakfast before we would start. We told each other, lets just see how it goes and if we are tired we can always come down. However, later while we started to walk we told each other we are both to stubborn to give up so we knew we were going to climb all the way, no discussion about it. and WE DID IT, 3061 meters high! The view was stunning and priceless. This was the moment we waited for, for 4 days, this was the price! We did it, not thinking that we had to go down as well..... Which sounds easier then it was. Normal stairs you can walk down super easily, not this time, the steps were big, small, smaller and high and low, so you really had to concentrate that you would not fall down or even fall down sideways from the mountain itself. Once down, we realized that we got burned really bad and all we wanted to do was have a beer and eat. So that's what we did! The state of my feet was absolutely disgusting, don't think I have seen them dirtier then that. But so worth it! The train back to Cusco was about 3.5 hours, and once we sat down we felt how burnt we were, therefore we ordered a cold bottle of wine, just to cool down... And drink maybe. Next to use were two Mexican ladies of around 40/45 years old, they were laughing at us because we used the bottle of wine to cool down our necks. Then we started talking, and they told us that she already wanted to do Machu Picchu for 20 years, but all those years she couldn't go, so she was so happy she did it. That made me realize how lucky Wouter and I are that we just could take all those flights for so cheap, and don't have to save our whole lives to do something like climbing the Machu Picchu. We just did it. It was so rewarding, but I don't think I would do it again, it's really demanding for your body, and with no training it was hard.

Wouter and I decided that we would stay two more nights in Cusco before heading back to Amsterdam, stay there one more night and then fly back to the sandpit. First we thought we would go to Bolivia and see the salt fields, but we just couldn't. All the hiking, early nights and soreness in our legs, we basically couldn't go anywhere else. I hardly could walk the stairs up to our suite room. We stayed in a hostel but we just wanted to have a little more privacy and just be able to walk around in our underwear, by this time Wouter and I are pretty comfortable with each other, if you know what I mean. It was funny because the next day, we had breakfast at the rooftop terrace and these Australians asked if they could go to our toilet and once they got in they were like wajooooooooooooooow, this is so massive, and that all for just 30 dollars a night, however they were traveling on a low low lowwww budget, so this was heaven for them, haha. 

During our hike at Machu Picchu we met a Dutch couple and they would come to our hostel for a bite and a drink, however afterwards Wouter was so tired that he went to bed earlier, I stayed out for a bit longer and then had to mentally prepare myself to walk up to the 4th floor, again. The next day we sorted out our tickets back home, and after a 12 hour night Wouter had another nap of 3 hours! Our last night in Cusco we went for dinner in the city centre, and the food again was amazing, so much flavor and those cocktails were just the best. As we walked back to the hostel we ran into an Englishmen I met that day, so him and me decided to have a few drinks at the bar, Wouter was the party pooper (again, just kidding Wouter)and went to bed, 6 hours later I went to bed as well, so much fun always at an Irish bar. It was time to start our journey back to Amsterdam. The flight back to Lima was  pretty full, but we got on, since everything went so smooth our entire holiday. The flight back to Amsterdam as well, the crew was so nice and we had a whole row for ourselves. Then my dear daddy picked us up from Schiphzl (we came out in our matching alpaca sweaters, and even the ground staff looked funny at us, we didn't care) and we stayed one night with my parents. We woke up at 2pm!! Day gone.... We went to the beach for a bit and then we headed to my favorite restaurant in The Hague, where they have the best spareribs you have ever tried in your entire life! Such a good way to end a perfect holiday. 

Sometimes it's definitely not where you are, but it's all about who you were with. Thanks to Wouter this holiday has been the best yet. We laughed so much, and we also took care of each other. This was really our holiday and these photos just give an impression of how much fun we had. So grateful to call him my friend. We will talk for years about this holiday and it has been such an amazing experience, which the Machu Picchu as a highlight. Another world wonder ticked from the list! 

Can't wait for our next trip, which will be our skiing holiday in March... Thank you Peru for your hospitality, definitely worth going, the people are so nice and the food is just amazing. Can't believe it went so fast as well, guess it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun !! 

Whale Shark swimming in the Phillipines

Most destinations we fly to there are certain things that the crew like to do. For example hanggliding in Rio de Janeiro, walking up Table mountain in Capetown, taking massages in Bangkok, visiting the Opera House in Sydney, and I can go on and on.. But now you have an idea what I mean. We have a new destination since a few months, the new Cebu/Clark trip. First one day to Cebu and then you fly to Clark the next day where you stay another day in Clark before heading back to the desert. In Cebu there are two things EVERYBODY likes to do, one is seeing the waterfall and some islands, and secondly swimming with whale sharks! Of course I like seeing waterfalls and islands, but when do I get another chance to actually swim with whale sharks, so my decision was made pretty easily. We got to the hotel around 5pm and we had to get up around 2.30am to meet down at 2.45 and leave the hotel at 3am, the ride down to where the whale sharks would be was about 3 hours!!! So we got prepared, I had my own pillow with me (obviously) and some earphones so I could take a nap on the bus. We were with 6 of us, 5 girls and 1 guy (who is a semi-girl haha). We arrived at the spot around 5.45am, and we could see the sunrise. I have seen many sunrises but this one was different, the colors all together were truly magical. I just stood there for a minute taking in the moment that I was in, and feeling truly blessed I have the opportunity to be able to do something like this with work. Around 6 we had a little briefing, of things to do and things not to do while swimming with the whale sharks. We were not allowed to touch them or get closer then 4 meters. Obviously they touched us and we did get closer then 4 meters. As we were in the boats going to the 'interaction area' we could already see some whale sharks, and they are massive!!! So once they told us we could go in the water I put on my goggles and got in the water slowly, kinda scared but very curious as well. The first time I looked underneath the water it scared me big time. There was one whale shark on my right and then once I looked on the left there was another one, really close-by!!! I wanted to scream but I couldn't, also because it was just unreal having those animals so close to me. It was one of those moment that you can take a hundred photos but all of them won't do justice for the experience and the feelings you felt at that time, it's hard to describe... Some girls I was with did not get the same feeling I guess, they were complaining the whole time, and at one point I just told them to stop complaining about things that it was cold and they couldn't take their phones on the boat. But not for Merel !!! I was loving every second of it. The bus ride back to the hotel took about 3 hours again as well, just had enough time to sleep for 3/4 hours before the flight to Clark. That flight would only take about 1 hour so it wasn't that long. Some people would climb the volcano in Clark but apparently you can't do that during rain season. So that was a shame, I just slept a lot, chilled and relaxed. It's been definitely an unforgettable experience, and I do have some photos that I can look at and think about this amazing day, and I will think about it for a long time!!!! Thank youuuu Philippines <3 xoxo until next time..!

From Bangkok to Amsterdam, Osaka, Athens and Warsaw in 20 days..

What a few weeks it has been. Started this month in Bangkok, the flight was amazing, sometimes you fly with crew and it just works. We were joking around all the time and the atmosphere was just incredible. It's always to chill in Bangkok and lay down by the pool after a massage. I was so excited because after this flight I was going on holiday back in Holland, and I was so looking forward just to spend some time with my family and then go to Solar festival in the south with Evelien, who unfortunately resigned. The weather wasn't the greatest the first few days in Holland. Evelien and I were so lucky during the festival because the weather was absolutely amazing, just some sun and a nice wind once in a while. The festival itself was unbelievably good, the people were so nice, everybody was just having a good time. It was refreshing to spend more then 1 day in the Netherlands, and I forgot how chilled everybody always is. What happend on my flight back to the desert can be read in the previous blog, you need to read that one, you will be in shock!

After my holidays in holland I had to go back to work, it was good that this was a good flight, one I was trying to get already for 2.5 years, and now it was finally time for OSAKA, which is in Japan, for the people who don't know (don't be ashamed, I didn't know this place even existed before I started flying). There are so many Japanese speakers on this flight because not many Japanese speak English. The whole service is different as well, including the food. We actually serve real sushi on the flight, how crazy! Not that I like sushi, but in case somebody does. Once arrived at the hotel in Osaka we made dinner plans. We were with 3 from the cabin and then the flight deck, who went back to the hotel after dinner. The 3 of us decided to go to one bar one of them heard about. It's always those 'one bars' where you have the best night outs. We had so much fun, the music was incredible, people so nice and everybody was just dancing and having a good time. So we ended up getting back to the hotel pretty late, so much for planning a full day of sightseeing, not, I just couldn't.... So I stayed in Osaka and walked around there for a bit, before heading back to the hotel to sleep before my flight back.

We landed in the early morning, then I went to bed for 5 hours, I was so tired. Then my friend becky came over and we realized that we both had the next 3 days off together. And days off together most of the time means, GETAWAYYYY! We were looking around where we could go, somewhere not to far, still a nice destination and once we got there it had to be cheap! If we would have stayed in the desert we also would have spend money so we thought, why not go to Athens. It's only a 4 hour flight, we both never been and both interested enough to check out this European city. Within an hour we decided to go to Athens, and not short after that we booked our tickets for the next day, as if we booked a bus ticket. Becky and I were going to Athens!!! The flight going wasn't busy at all so we had the whole row for ourselves. We got to the hotel around 3pm, we changed and it was time to find out what there is to do and see in Athens. As we were walking to the city centre we could already see the Acropolis on top of a hill, and I must say, it just looked unreal. As if we were in a Hercules movie. We went from a nice terrace drinking a beer to this rooftop bar having a mojito. Time to go back to the hotel, have a shower, change and go back to the centre again for some dinner. As we were walking around we were just wondering around, seeing which places are nice to eat. Then we found this little street which was going up by stairs, and on the side people were sitting on a cushian having a drink and something to eat, it looked so cute, with all these plans going over the street as a roof. Just beautiful. We found a nice rooftop restaurant just below the Acropolis, it was dark by this time and it was an amazing view to look over Athens with all the lights and the mountains. But by the time we were finished we decided to have one last drink at another rooftop bar and then head to bed, because we were already awake for a long time, and we wanted to make the most out of the next day. We woke up around 9.30 and were on our way to the Acropolis around 11, the queue to get tickets was massive, but fast. We walked around the Acropolis for around an hour just being amazed that it was so old and still standing most of it at least. The city of Athens is such a nice city, busy but nice. So many good places to sit, have a drink and purely watch people. Becky found on trip advisor this Wine Deli Bar, it took us a while to find but it was definitely worth the wait. It was sooooo good, we could try 4 different types of white wine before we had to decide which we wanted to drink, then we ordered a plate with all different types of cheese, pastrami, fruit and different types of dressings. It was just perfect, the wine was amazing and in combination with this deli plate, just perfect! That night we were planning to find out how the party scene would be in Athens. And to be honest with you, it was nice but not like wow this is the best party city I have ever been. I'am sure there are clubs around, but most people were just chilling with a drink in their hands and did not even bother dancing. So then I asked a bartender where we could go for a dance, so we ended up at this really greek bar where people were dancing, winning! At one point we got so tired from walking in the sun all day, those wine, and then the cocktails, it was time for bed. The next day was already the day we were getting back home. It was a bit stressful for me if we would get on the flight, but we managed, woehoeee! Thank you Athens for your beauty, history, hospitality, lovely wine and the many restaurants and bars, we did not expect Athens to be this amazing. So definitely a recommendation here!

Today I'am in Warsaw in Poland. The flight was good, all my colleagues in business class are girls, so no drama haha! This city is surprisingly pretty cool as well. I'am sure I would enjoy this more if I wouldn't be this tired. Think I'am already awake for around 20/21 hours, and I cannot wait to go to bed! So I am going to sleep.. Good night everybody!

Awkward Situations...

With this job you sometimes come in to situations, where you afterwards think, oef I wish I handled it in a different way. I have seen people, thought they were pregnant, had a big discussion about it with the crew to ask for a second opinion, and yes I have asked a non pregnant woman if she was pregnant. It's so hard to see sometimes if they have wide clothes on. And it is for us very important to know if somebody is pregnant or not, because you never know what might happen once we are in the air.

Especially in bc you need to think more about the things you can say or want to say, there is a big difference in that. Some male passengers cannot define the difference between being nice and being flirty. Most of the times it's not what you say but how you say it, and with a smile you can say a lot and they still would not have a clue if you're serious or not. I have had guys coming up to me and ask for my number, which is then pretty awkward, and what do you do? I used the boyfriend excuse a few times, then they told me oh tell your boyfriend he is a lucky man, then I thought of course I will tell him, once I actually have one haha! It's not good to lie, so sometimes I told them as well that I wasn't interested and that's not a good idea for me to give my contact details.

One time when I flew to Frankfurt, there was a happy couple sitting opposite of me during take off and landing. They told me they went to Mauritius together and had such a good time. Within 3 hours, from landing getting to the hotel and getting on the wifi, the guy has send me a message on Facebook! WHILE HE WAS WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND! How weird is it for this guy to really look at my name badge and look me up on Facebook and even dares to send me a message saying, next time you're in Frankfurt let me know and I can show you around! Well, how about no?!

But some awkward situations are quite funny afterwards. The other day I had a guy on board and I just recognized him, but I just could not place his face. So I went up to talk to him and I told him, I have seen your face before, but I just don't know where. Then he told me he was on a TLC program, so then I said, oh yeah that must be it, which show were you on? Where he responded, the undateables... OEPS! haha, undateables is a program about people who have a special disease or something in a way that it is hard for them to get a date. Only thing I could think of saying was, sooooooo did it work out? Because he did go on a date during that episode, haha. However, I felt a bit awkward, not knowing what to say haha! He was pretty chilled about it, thank god!

This morning I got in a strange situation, I went to Holland for a week for my holidays and last night I flew back. I was still so tired so before we even got a meal I think I slept for about 45/50 minutes. Then I had something to eat, brought my tray back to the galley so I could sleep more. While I was dreaming I felt something warm on my right upper leg, thinking it was just my phone which got warm because it was under my blanket and I was listening to music. But then I realized that my phone was in the seat pocket in front of me so it couldn't be my phone. While I was slowly waking up I looked down and I couldn't see anything on my blanket, then I realized that the guy next to me has put his hand underneath my blanket on my right upper leg!!!! And his leg was all at my side as well. Because I had the H seat, I was next to the aisle and I put up the arm rest so I could sleep against it with my pillow. My first reaction was OMG just happend?! I just pushed his hand away and hit his leg so that it went back to his side. How sick people can be. I went straight to the seniors on board, changed my seat, because obviously I didn't want to sit next to him anymore. So while I grabbed my stuff the purser went to talk to him in the galley in the front. Later then came to me to tell me what he said. He denied it, obviously, but they told me that while they were talking to him he was shaking so he knew exactly what was happening and they he would be on the radar now.

Definitely not a nice way to end my holiday... But everything is fine with, just scared me!

So I learned today first of all, not to sit next to a guy, unless he's good looking, wrap my blanket around me like a tortilla so that no hand can get onto my body,  and make photos if something like this happens again! Haha just kidding. Stuff like this happens... Just never thought it would happen to me. Anyway, it is a good story in the end...

Awkward Situations...

With this job you sometimes come in to situations, where you afterwards think, oef I wish I handled it in a different way. I have seen people, thought they were pregnant, had a big discussion about it with the crew to ask for a second opinion, and yes I have asked a non pregnant woman if she was pregnant. It's so hard to see sometimes if they have wide clothes on. And it is for us very important to know if somebody is pregnant or not, because you never know what might happen once we are in the air.

Especially in bc you need to think more about the things you can say or want to say, there is a big difference in that. Some male passengers cannot define the difference between being nice and being flirty. Most of the times it's not what you say but how you say it, and with a smile you can say a lot and they still would not have a clue if you're serious or not. I have had guys coming up to me and ask for my number, which is then pretty awkward, and what do you do? I used the boyfriend excuse a few times, then they told me oh tell your boyfriend he is a lucky man, then I thought of course I will tell him, once I actually have one haha! It's not good to lie, so sometimes I told them as well that I wasn't interested and that's not a good idea for me to give my contact details.

One time when I flew to Frankfurt, there was a happy couple sitting opposite of me during take off and landing. They told me they went to Mauritius together and had such a good time. Within 3 hours, from landing getting to the hotel and getting on the wifi, the guy has send me a message on Facebook! WHILE HE WAS WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND! How weird is it for this guy to really look at my name badge and look me up on Facebook and even dares to send me a message saying, next time you're in Frankfurt let me know and I can show you around! Well, how about no?!

But some awkward situations are quite funny afterwards. The other day I had a guy on board and I just recognized him, but I just could not place his face. So I went up to talk to him and I told him, I have seen your face before, but I just don't know where. Then he told me he was on a TLC program, so then I said, oh yeah that must be it, which show were you on? Where he responded, the undateables... OEPS! haha, undateables is a program about people who have a special disease or something in a way that it is hard for them to get a date. Only thing I could think of saying was, sooooooo did it work out? Because he did go on a date during that episode, haha. However, I felt a bit awkward, not knowing what to say haha! He was pretty chilled about it, thank god!

This morning I got in a strange situation, I went to Holland for a week for my holidays and last night I flew back. I was still so tired so before we even got a meal I think I slept for about 45/50 minutes. Then I had something to eat, brought my tray back to the galley so I could sleep more. While I was dreaming I felt something warm on my right upper leg, thinking it was just my phone which got warm because it was under my blanket and I was listening to music. But then I realized that my phone was in the seat pocket in front of me so it couldn't be my phone. While I was slowly waking up I looked down and I couldn't see anything on my blanket, then I realized that the guy next to me has put his hand underneath my blanket on my right upper leg!!!! And his leg was all at my side as well. Because I had the H seat, I was next to the aisle and I put up the arm rest so I could sleep against it with my pillow. My first reaction was OMG just happend?! I just pushed his hand away and hit his leg so that it went back to his side. How sick people can be. I went straight to the seniors on board, changed my seat, because obviously I didn't want to sit next to him anymore. So while I grabbed my stuff the purser went to talk to him in the galley in the front. Later then came to me to tell me what he said. He denied it, obviously, but they told me that while they were talking to him he was shaking so he knew exactly what was happening and they he would be on the radar now.

Definitely not a nice way to end my holiday... But everything is fine with, just scared me! If his hand would have been anywhere else I would have pressed charges.

So I learned today first of all, not to sit next to a guy, unless he's good looking, wrap my blanket around me like a tortilla so that no hand can get onto my body,  and make photos if something like this happens again! Haha just kidding. Stuff like this happens... Just never thought it would happen to me. Anyway, it was a good story for this blog!

Officially Business Class Crew now

My second month of flying business class, and what a difference its been. It's so much better, I also feel cleaner, since you deal with less food obviously, and nobody putting their food on the ground, finally!!!!! On the 380 the maximum capacity of passenger you can have is 14, instead of 427 in economy, where on the B777 if it is full you can have a maximum of 21 passengers. Still better then economy. This is because on the 380 you have more crew and are the areas divided between 6 crew, therefore you only deal with your passengers in your area. If you work on the left, you do not deal with the passengers on the right. This way you build up something with them because they will see your face only.

The passengers itself are different as well, you are more one on one with them so you can actually get to know them, and so many have amazing life stories. Especially when you do the lounge, the bar on the A380, people come there to have a talk, and since I can talk to a tree, this is no problem for me.

I have met an elderly couple, where the husband moved to Australia in 1951 with his 8 brothers and sisters, and from the 9 children, 8 of them became billionaires. He loved to talk about it, originally dutch but now with a very Australian accent. Him and his wife were traveling back to Holland for their annually trip with the brothers and sisters and all of their children, I think he told me they are with 120 people all together. How amazing, if you're that age and you can afford for the whole family to fly business class and do a small euro trip.

There was a local guy from Dubai who climbed the 7 highest mountains in the world. He just came back from Alaska to climb a mountain there, and now he was flying back from Toronto to Dubai to go back to work. Can you imagine, climbing the 7 highest mountains in the world, that's so cool !

On my previous flight I was talking to a heart surgeon, who was born in New York and originally from India, and now living in Singapore. He gave me a little lesson about the heart, which was very interesting and then I asked him about the bars in New York where only the local New Yorkers go to, he made an email for his cousins, asking them about the best bars in New York and put me in the CC.

It's just so interesting that there are so many different stories from all these people, and these are just three examples of all the interesting people I have met so far in Business Class. I can honestly say that I feel more comfortable working in business class, I can joke around and they would understand them as well! Where some times in economy they would look at me as if I was speaking Chinese.

Obviously every cabin have there nice passengers, but their also less nice passengers. From spoiled arabic ladies who have their servants flying in economy and they treat you like one as well. Then it is hard to not say anything and remain calm, because you want to say so many things, but you just can't because it is business class.

The food is so good as well, having a nice meal from shrimps to lamb and beef, or a nice salad or soup, you can choose. Good thing I am not a big dessert person, so I am not attracted to those at all. I know it sounds very sarcastic, but it's actually true, not a chocolate and dessert person. But if you have a bag of paprika chips, those are mine and mine only....

Birthday month.....

Yeeeeeey it was finally June, my birthday month! A month of some good destinations, some Amsterdams and a little holiday with my birthday twin, Maki. We met on a Madrid flight when we found out that we have the exact same birthday and even the same year, then we made a deal, we are going to celebrate our birthdays together at a cool place. Last year we went to Malta, which was amazing. This year we first wanted to go to the Maldives, just relax and chill. But as you might expect, the Maldives it pretty expensive. Then we decided to go to Barcelona, we both love Spain, the food and as well all the sangria we can get there. Last minute we got more days off, then we took a spontaneous trip to Mallorca. I landed from Amsterdam on the 16th in the morning, packed my bag, had a few hours sleep and then on my way to the airport, where Maki landed around 1pm and our flight was at 3.45pm, so she was rushing and pretty tired. We both ate on the plane, had a little baileys before we slept around 3 hours. Once we got to Barcelona and our hotel we were both really tired, but it's our night so we got ready and went to the W hotel, close to the sea. I asked the dj if he could play a birthday song, but he couldn't,,, boringgggg! My dutch friend Florien knows almost everybody in Barcelona so she gave me a number of one of her friends who always throws a good party. so around 1.30am we went to Shoko, a big club at the beach side of Barcelona. The queue was MASSIVE, I swear, there were around 75 people waiting to get in, so I called this friend, and he comes up and grabs my hand and just pulls me inside together, obviously, with Maki, so no queue on our birthday! That club was amazing, we were next to the dj just dancing the night away. At one point we were so tired so we left and went back to the hotel. The next day we just went to the beach and chilled and eat more ham then we already did, and we made a promise to eat ham every single day, so we did. That night we went to bed early because our flight was in the early morning with Vueling (as I can honestly say to you it's been a while since I have been with a low cost airline, so I got prepared). As always I take my pillow with me and also my eyeshades for a 30 minute flight, haha, some people looked a bit strange at me, but they were probably just jealous of all my preparation, haha.

We got to Mallorca really early, we could check in already at the hotel so that was really nice. We changed and then went to look for a nice beach where we could take a nap. The beach was absolutely stunning, water was clear and blue, it was a bit crowded but the beach wasn't that big either so then it looks busier. It was a Saturday night and we decided to have one more night out and then we would just chill and sleep. We went to Pacha, a big club they also have in Barcelona, Ibiza and Dubai. The music wasn't really what we were looking for so we just called it a night around 2am. The music was better in the taxi ride home then in the club itself. The next days we just went to a different beach every day, read my book, listened to music, taking naps on the beach, going for a swim and having nice lunches. It was so nice and relaxt. Just two girls having a chilled holiday and all we did was talk, eat ham and mini salami's. The last day we went back to Barca to spend one more day there before we were heading back to the desert that night. But from all the naps we took on the beach, at one point we got so tired in Barcelona that we went to the Arc de Triomph park to take our daily nap. That night we flew back to Dubai, both with a really good tan.

My next flight was Amsterdam, already looking forward for this flight for the past 4 weeks, because I planned a post birthday party, were I would see so many friends of mine who I haven't seen for ages. I couldn't sleep the night before the flight because I was so nervous that I would miss my alarm, and then I started thinking, what if the flight is delayed, and so many other things that could go wrong. The flight itself was nice, busy but nice. Flights have been better since I moved to business class. Once I got to the hotel I slept for an hour, then got ready to go for dinner with my parents, brother and his girlfriend, before the party started! Everything went so well, I want to thank everybody who took the time to come and see me that night, friends are forever. I had to call sick for the return flight back to Dubai, food poisoning. Once you start throwing up in combination with diarrhea you are not allowed to fly for the next 48 hours. I had to stay another 2 days in Amsterdam. I flew back to Dubai on Monday night in Business Class because I was not operating. I got back to Dubai yesterday morning. All feeling well and better. My next flight is on Monday to Paris for 2 days!!

Today is a special day as well, not a good day. The 29th of June is the day I had my car accident, and today it's been 6 years. So much can happen in 6 years. I'am not gonna think about the negatives too much, just another eye opener moment that you have to enjoy life to the fullest.