June 07 Roster (Updated 27/06)

My roster for June:

01JUN HAMBURG - DUBAI
05JUN AIRPORT STANDBY 0700-1000 (PRIORITY NEW YORK)
06JUN DUBAI - PERTH (ARR 07JUN)
08JUN PERTH - DUBAI
09JUN DUBAI - KUWAIT - DUBAI (ARR 10JUN)
11JUN DUBAI - ISLAMABAD (PAKISTAN) - DUBAI
13JUN DUBAI - SINGAPORE - KUALA LUMPUR
15JUN KUALA LUMPUR - DUBAI
20JUN DUBAI - BAHRAIN - DUBAI
23JUN DUBAI - SINGAPORE
24JUN SINGAPORE - MELBOURNE (ARR 25JUN)
25JUN MELBOURNE - SINGAPORE (ARR 26JUN)
27JUN SINGAPORE - DUBAI

June is a month of reserve so I do not know what I am doing until the day before. My roster will be updated daily to show the changes.

Lagosssssss

On the Lagos flight I felt like I was a snake charmer. If someone wants something you don't hear an 'excuse me' you hear 'ssssssss'. I have never worked on a flight with such rude people before. On a plane carrying 400 people I heard 'thank you' only 6 times. From the airport our bus has a police escort and our bags go in a separate truck just in case anyone wants to steal them! The windows are blacked out so we cannot see out and no one can see in. At the hotel there is an armed guard on each floor. We can't leave the hotel so I spent the whole 24 hours in my room watching movies and sleeping. When I was handed my allowance of US$131 for 24 hours the pain of it all seemed to go away! :-)
Lagos International Airport.
The bag van.
The crew bus.
The only view I got of Lagos!

Tunisia - The Capital Of Rip Offs

I don't know what it is about Tunisia but every person the crew met tried to rip us off. Even the hotel we were staying at wouldn't give us our discounts until we made a fuss. Taxi drivers would make the fare extra if there was more that one person in the car. We tested if the shopkeepers would charge locals less. An arabic speaking crew member went into a shop and asked how much a bowl cost. 250 Dinars was the answer. I then went in and asked about the same bowl. 650 Dinars I was told! Apart from being ripped off everywhere we went Tunisia was really nice. The scenery is breathtaking around the capital, Tunis, where we stayed. On the flight over a passenger had managed to smuggle a chicken through security in his handbaggage. It escaped halfway through the flight and there were people everywhere trying to catch it. It has to be one of the funniest things I have seen at Emirates so far.
On the way to Tunis we stopped at Tripoli to drop off some passengers. The crew sat in the back row while the cleaners were onboard. L-R Hagar (Egypt), Ivana (Serbia) and Grace (Ireland).
The view from my balcony at the hotel.
The hotel's swimming pool.
Hagar, Grace and Me on our first night in Tunsia.
The first day we got 3 taxis to take us around Tunis and show us the sights.

We saw the souks (markets).
In a shop in the souk.
The famous clock in the centre of Tunis.
At an old theatre.
Another theatre.

An old church.
We had lunch in a local restaurant.
The waiters with our food.
I had a traditional Tunisian dish, lamb stew with couscous.
Later that night we went bowling. In this photo you can see Captain Erik (Canada) and Alina (Belorussia) in full swing.

I was worried about my score..... Until I saw Grace's!
Sidi Bou Said is the town we visited the next day.
This is the market street we walked up to get to the reastaurant where we had dinner.
Hagar and Grace with the view from the restaurant in the background.
Ivana, Alina, Michaela (Slovakia), Hagar and Grace at the table.

The crew before we left the hotel for the flight back. I bought a red Fez so I could have a hat like the girls.
A view of Tunis just after takeoff.
It was Hagar's last flight with Emirates so we took a few silly photos in the rear galley.
Hagar had always wanted a wand so I made her one from a straw, a landing card and some plasters. It backfired on me though when she turned Grace into...
A packet of biscuits!

Flight Map

I've just found a new website which will show my flights on a map. The link is: http://my.flightmemory.com/Tibs94 and it can also be found under the Links section on this page.

We Can Stay In Malé Instead Of Colombo! :-)

You may remember a previous post of mine entitled 'Why Can't We Stay In Malé Instead Of Colombo?!'. Well my dream has come true due to the current fighting in Sri Lanka. The company has decided it is too dangerous for our crews to stay in Colombo so we now layover in the Maldives instead. Just after takeoff a passenger collapsed and we had to carry her into the galley. We put her in the recovery position and she came round after 5 minutes. Then another one collapsed at the back! The flight over was hard work but so worth it when we arrived. The resort we stayed in was amazing. We even got transferred there by speedboat from the airport! The island we stayed on is called Bandos and it is in the North Malé Atoll. My friend Justine was on leave so I called her the night before and convinced her to book a standby ticket and come with me. We both got sunburnt but had a great time doing it!
We stayed on the big island which is called Bandos.
My bagtag for Malé.
The crew lining up to boat the boat. L-R Justine, Valentina (Italy), Sanaa (Morocco), Sara (New Zealand), Rachna (India), Hashem (Egypt), Cylinne (Philippines) and Romauld (France).
Malé city from the dock at the airport.
Me and Justine on the top deck of the speedboat.
On the way to the hotel they stopped the boat so we could see some dolphins.

Having a welcome drink.
Justine with the key. It was so difficult to unlock the door!
A view of the island from one of the bars.
The beach where the crew spent most of their time.
Me and Justine on the beach with our drinks.

In the swimming pool.
I bought Justine an icecream. She's so messy!
The pool bar at night.
This is Seabreeze cafe where we had lunch.

Sundowners bar where you can watch the sunset.
You can just about make out 2 sharks in this photo.
This is called the Sandbar. The floor is covered in sand.

The view as we left to go back to the airport.

Uganda - The Source Of The Nile

Uganda was just amazing. It's so green! We had the ambassador of Uganda to Libya on board as a passenger and he arranged an excursion for us to go and visit Lake Victoria at the point where the Nile river begins. We stayed in the capital which is called Kampala.
The flight to Entebbe is via Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. This was taken just before we landed.

Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport.
On the short flight between Addis Ababa and Entebbe we serve passengers a sandwich and cookies. The crew ate about 50 cookies between us!
Kampala, the capital of Uganda.
Entebbe International Airport. The country's main airport is in Entebbe (which is 1 hour from Kampala) because the capital is surrounded by hills.
Lake Victoria.

Our first sighting of the Nile as we drove towards Lake Victoria.
Some of the Nile rapids.
The crew in front of the rapids. L-R Reginald (Philippines), Kyung (South Korea), Laila (Czech Republic), Sirichanya (Thailand), Antoine (Lebanon) and me.
This placard is near the source of the Nile.
The girls boarding the boat which took us for a short tour.

Us on the boat.
Lake Victoria ends and the Nile begins at the rocks.
This rock is called Zero Point. It is next to the rocks shown in the above picture.

We saw a Nile crocodile!