Another visit to Duane at the front desk

I've decided that I will never get to fly to Canada. I got switched to Watertown/Pierre again last night. woop.  I got to the airport way too early, and happened to have Harry Potter in my bag.  Em won't start to read Twilight until I agreed that I would read Harry Potter so here we go.

Turbulence on the Saab isn't fun. Especially at take off and landing.  I thought my stomach was going to jump out of my throat. I hate turbulence, especially having to act like its not affecting me so I don't freak out the 6 kids sitting in front of me, that was tough.

I wore my leg warmers, and let me tell you they are fantastic! Even though it was 25 degrees warmer last night and this morning that it was two nights ago, it still helped!

My crew was cool, Kim was the First Officer, super nice. And Jared was the Captain, he's orignally from England.  He says that his favorite place to fly to is Kitchner because it reminds him of the place he grew up.

On the way home this morning, there was a kid crying the entire way back and I felt sick the entire time.  I've decided that I can't drink Pepsi on the plane anymore, I go to bed with a huge headache and go home the next morning wanting to throw up. 

I never knew that ironing boards could have cool covers.  The Days Inn in Pierre has a different one for each room I swear! Since you've already seen the bed spread here are a few of the ironing boards for you!

I thought the sun would never rise

Merry Christmas!!! Last night I flew to Hibbing and Thief River Falls.  If I could take tips from people when they bought alcohol I would be a much happier person. It's so hard to give it back :/  Opening the door to let people out in Hibbing was cold, you know, just -16 out.  This morning I thought my ankles were going to fall off they were so cold (but I got leg warmers for christmas woot!) We stay at the 7 Clans Casino when we get to TRF, I walked into my room and it was freezing. So I just blast the heat and wear my socks to bed.  I wake up at 3am feeling like i'm on the beach in Mexico so I get up and turn the air on.  I think I got 3 hours of sleep.  This is also the hotel where we get a hot breakfast that is ready for us in a to-go box.  Instead of getting two eggs, hasbrowns, toast and sausage patties..I open the box to find mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, peas and a ham sandwich.  There was more food in that box that I could ever eat. It was 5am, I can't eat that early in the morning. The ride back was pretty normal.  I was walking down the aisle picking up ( a squirrel just jumped off the roof and onto my deck and it scared the crap out of me) garbage, and a lady stopped me to ask what lake we just flew over.  haha I had no idea where we were, and there were like 50 lakes below us. I thought it was funny.I sat in row 1 for about the last 15 minutes of the flight, staring at the sun, waiting for it to rise.  It was just sitting there, it wouldn't rise, i swear i was staring at it the entire time and it was just hanging out below the horizon. So I got bored looking at it so I started to try to figure out where we were when I saw Cooper High School.  The two awkward circles of the building.  And then I saw the Lions sledding hill so we flew over my house!

High Speeds

The month of December I was scheduled to do High Speeds, or CDO's (Continuous Duty Overnight.)  This means, I fly out of Minneapolis between 9 and 10pm and get to my destination a little before Midnight.  We stay in a hotel for 3-5 hours and then leave first thing in the morning. In Iowa we leave at 5am.  I really don't mind doing these, I get to be home during the day and its nice since its Christmas Break for my friends so I always have something to do!  I don't like working on friday and saturday nights though.

Here are the cities I have been to this month. Hibbing, Thief River Falls, Bemidji, Jamestown, Devils Lake, Mason City, Fort Dodge, Watertown, Pierre AND I have to go to Thunder Bay Canada three times this week.  My favorite place to stay so far has to be Thief River Falls, they make you eggs and sausage in the morning! 

It's been super cold and windy the past couple weeks, and when we fly to mason city and continue onto fort dodge to spend the night, there might be a passenger in row 1, where the door is.  And I have to leave the door open for passengers to get out.  So the passengers in row 1 tell me they are cold, but they aren't the ones standing in the doorway with a skirt on :)  (i'm hoping for ankle warmers for christmas)

I flew to Pierre, SD twice this past week. On wednesday we had a lady who had a service dog on the plane with her.  She looked just like annie just a little bit smaller.  We get a crew car once we get to the airport, the Captain always drives it to the hotel.  The one problem is the the trunk  and doors were frozen shut.  We finally got the doors open but the trunk wasn't going to open. We stay at the Days Inn.  The pillows suck, the towels are scratchy, and  there is a creeper at the front desk that doesn't talk but always has three chocolate chip cookies out for you ( we don't take them.) This is where my first bed spread picture is taken at.

Bed Spreads...

I've decided...since I will be spending 20 out of the 30 days in a month, in a hotel bed, I'm doing a series on bed spreads. More to come..

They don't believe in hot water in Texas

Saturday, the one day I didn't want to work because of a friends going away party, I got called for a 2 day trip.  I was so upset I was moping around before I had to leave the house.  I got to the airport an hour earlier than I was supposed to. Still trying to figure out how long it takes for me to get to the crew room from my house.  On a Saturday at 4pm, it takes less than an hour.  

So I was obviously sitting in the crew room freaking out about the meal service in first class that I never got to do in training, hoping that the other flight attendant would want to do first class the entire time so I wouldn't have to worry about it, and to my luck it was true! I got to be the aft flight attendant the entire time! But I did watch what she did to make the meals so I knew what to do if i ever... had to do it.

The flight to Austin, TX left at 6:41pm.  It was a full flight, that means that I had 64 passengers staring at me doing my demo with the emergency equipment.  It was horrifying.  When you work the aft (back) of the plane your jumpseat is snug right between 20b and 20c. I had absolutely no arm room.  There was a mom to my left, and an 11 year old boy to my right, who had an anxiety of flying. I thought he was going to throw up on me!  And most of the time, when there are alot of kids on a plane, they stick the families in the back. So I also had 13 little kids SCREAMING through most of the flight. I hate kids.

Back to the meal service in First Class.  Since it was a later flight alot of the passengers in first class fell asleep, that means...they don't get their meal. So..there were 4 meals left, just..sitting in the oven.  We gave 2 of them to the pilots, and then, the other flight attendant and myself got to sit and enjoy a little meal! It was so good!  It was a steak teriyaki lo mein type dish, with salad and a dinner roll. And the desert was the best, it was cinnamon apple cheesecake.yummm.  One disappointment during the flight was that catering sucked and only put ONE can of ginger ale on the plane.  So I had to drink water. I went to the back of the plane to do my check and make sure everyone got off.  I can't tell you how many pringles were smashed into the carpet.

We got off the plane finally, it was almost a 3 hour flight, but it seemed like it was only a half hour.  We stayed at one of the Marriot Hotels in Austin.  It was pretty nice, we got their business class rooms or whatever they call them, which consists of a king bed ( i think, all i know it was huge) a couch and a desk. We also got balconies!  But since it was past 11pm but the time we got settled I went straight for the bed and started reading.  Twilight...I'm obsessed. Thanks mal!  My wake up call wasn't as early as the one for Cedar Rapids, this time I got to sleep in til 5:30am! Woo!

The plane ride back was pretty normal, we served breakfast..which i also got to eat. It was a cheese and bacon omelet with sausage and potatoes. The potatoes were pretty nasty so I left them on the plate. With a croissant and fresh fruit!  While I was sitting up in the galley eating my breakfast, hiding it behind a cart so the passengers couldn't see. I was staring out at them and the passenger in 3c was sleeping with his eyes open, it was the single most akward thing i'd experienced. I was creeped out by it! Again since it was an early flight alot of the passengers were sleeping, this made my service alot easier because i didn't have to make as many drinks. There were also about the same amount of little kids on this flight as there were on the way down there.  And the little girl sitting in 19a with her mother was throwing up the ENTIRE time.  It was gross but at least she got it in the bag each time.While i was crunched back in my jump seat, the lady to my left was saying that she had the Miley Cyrus's interior designer, design her daughters room. Her daughter was maybe 8 or 9. 

Once we got back to Minneapolis we had a schedule change.  We were supposed to fly to LaCrosse, WI and back and be done for the day.  Of course that didn't happen.  They sent us to Cedar Rapids and back instead, and me only me got called to do an extra trip to Eau Claire and back by myself.  It was snowing at this point so that meant an hour delay for everything.  At least we were pulled away from the gate so I was getting paid.  We just hid up in the galley by first class so the passengers couldn't yell at us.  There wasn't anything interesting about this flight, it was full, thats about it.  On the way back it wasn't full so I got to hang out in the back by my jumpseat but sit in a real seat during the flight and eat my lunch.  I think half the passengers on the plane were freaking out because they all had connections to make and they weren't going to make them. But we handled it pretty well.  We get to push most of that stuff on the gate agents.

So that got over and now it was time for me to fly to Eau Claire.  I raced to the gate because I was close to missing it because of all the delays, but don't worry the plane wasn't even landed yet. I think I stood there for 20 minute before it even came in.  A family of three walked into the gate area, all wearing green bay packers jerseys.  The teenage boy was yelling at his mom because she made him leave the bar area while there were still 15 seconds left in the game.  When they saw that the plane wasn't at the gate yet the mom just started flipping out. So excited to be stuck in a metal tube with them 10,000 feet in the air.  The packers lost, I heard so they were grumpy, great.  

Once the plane got in and all the passengers were off I went down the jetbridge to get on the plane.  The flight attendant told me that a passenger threw up when they landed. It smelt so bad, sooo bad.  The cleaning guy did a pretty good job at getting it all, but it still reaked.  I had 20 passengers on this flight, and I forgot how loud the Saab was.  When I made my first announcement in the air, about using cell phones and how the service was only going to be on demand since it was a 25 minute flight.  This guy half way back was giving me weird hand signals so I went back there.  He was saying that he couldn't hear what i said, he said, "what, was that an announcement telling us we were making an emergency landing." as he was smiling the entire time. I told him he could use his cell phone now and if he wanted anything to drink let me know. Then being all cocky he told me, "Actually it was the portable electronic device announcement, and we can use cell phones that aren't in a transmit mode."   He told me that he rides this plane all the time. I couldn't tell if he was making fun of me or not.

The plane ride back was pretty much the same but with 4 less passengers. I was super tired by this time and grateful that it was only going to take 20 minutes, I decided that I wasn't even going to get up and ask people if they wanted water. I was just going to sit in my jumpseat.  So there I was, just sitting in my jumpseat, i decided that i should look out the window and see if I could see Minneapolis, to know when to make the descending announcement.  I got up, forgetting that when you get out of a jumpseat the seat folds back up, and i sat back down, but landed on the floor.  I hit my arm on the seat when i was falling, I have two 4 inch lines of bruises on my arm, its gross.  It hurt so bad, I wanted to cry, so i just sat there.  Luckily the passengers were mostly seating in the back so no one saw me.  Even though it made a huge noise no one said anything.  I was so glad it was the end of my day.

Cedar Rapids..

I'm on my overnight in Cedar Rapids, IA. There is absolutely nothing to do here.  When we were driving to the hotel in the shuttle the drive was telling us all about the city when the flood happened.  It honestly reminds me of New Orleans. All the houses are boarded up, you can see the water lines, and the businesses are empty.  I wanted to go out and take pictures of the houses but my day got screwed up and I didn't get out. When i have another over night here I will be sure to take pictures and post them.  We are staying at the Crowne Plaza tonight, I've never had an entire hotel room to myself! It's kinda scary? But it's a super nice hotel and I have two beds, which one to sleep in? I've been here since 12:30pm and now its...6:30 and I just figured out how to work the wireless. sweet.

The CRJ-900 was CRAZY this morning. The flight was 37 minutes. That means no time for me to know what the heck I am doing! Everyone boarded so fast.  My instructor went over paperwork and other procedures with me here at the hotel once we got here.  I'm hoping tomorrow goes better, I have three legs to figure out this plane! And the worst part is I won't even be back on it for at least another month! 

I got my December schedule yesterday, thinking I was going to be on reserve because of my seniority being...young.  Nope, I got a high speed line! AHH!  That means, I am on continuous duty over night.  Fly out of Minneapolis at 8pm, and get back to Minneapolis in the early morning.  Don't know how I feel about this except...I get to be on the Saab the entire month!! YES! And I get to do two flights into Canada.

I have to wake up at 3:30am tomorrow so it's time for bed! Goodnight!

First Flight

Friday I had my first OE (operating experience) on the Saab 340.  It was my first time on a prop plane.  We flew to Lacrosse, WI and then onto International Falls, MN later that day.  The plane was pretty full on the way to Lacrosse with 26 people!  The pilots though it would be funny to get on the PA and let every passenger know that it was my first day, I got a few claps haha.  The flight into Lacrosse was smooth until we started to descend, then it got bumpy, scary.  I thought it would be hard to do service during the flight but when i stood up it didn't even feel like we were flying.

We had about a half our layover in Lacrosse, the pilots came out of the flight deck and sat down with us in the cabin, they were super nice. I found out that the captain is a cousin of a girl I went to high-school with.  He told me that there were about 9 things that were broken on the plane but we were still OK to fly, I wish he wouldn't have told me that.  I guess a lot of the Saabs were broken that day, some flights were canceled because of it

After we flew back in Minneapolis we had a 2 hour layover before we left for International Falls.  I just sat in the break room, nothing interesting happened.  We switched onto a different Saab for this flight, and again, there was stuff that was broken.  The gate agent told me that there were going to be 7 passengers, only 3 showed up and they all sat in the back.  It was kind of fun only having three passengers, because they slept the entire time and we just hung out in row three drinking ginger ale.

Flying into International Falls was beautiful, the sun was starting to set!  We were supposed to have another half hour layover in International Falls but the pilots wanted to go home so I had literally 5 minutes to do everything! It was insane.  Once again we boarded on 3 passengers, who all sat in the back.  This flight home I had to do everything by myself.  At the start of our service we take out a anti bacterial wipe for our hands, not even looking, I grab a sugar packet instead ( thinking it was the wipe) tear it open and sugar goes EVERYWHERE!  Thankfully no one saw. 

Then we landed back in Minneapolis, finished some paper work and went home!  I would say my first day was great and I was more prepared than I thought I was.  Tuesday I do my OE on the CRJ-900.  We fly to Cedar Rapids, IA and spend the night there, 16 hours in IOWA, what to do?  We get up the next morning and fly to St. Louis and get back home pretty early, I'm nervous for it!

Here are a few pictures from the last day of training and Friday morning when we met in the parking ramp!

A Great Idea

I went into school today to pick up the frames I was supposed to get two weeks ago (oops).  Before I even got a foot into Colleens office she said, "What's this I hear about you being a flight attendant?" So I had to explain myself.  I was in Business of Photography about a year ago, and a teacher had gone around the class and asked everyone what we wanted to do when we graduated.  When it came around to be my turn I said, " I want to be a photographer, a flight attendant, and marry someone with a french accent." Pretty much all that was said back to me was, "You can't do that."

Well.  I will.

Maybe not the whole marrying someone with a french accent, but someone who can fake one?

So Colleen came up with a great idea for me to do a blog about being a flight attendant and a photographer.  Every where I'm sent, I'll take one picture and post it.