September 07 Roster (Updated 18/09)

My roster for September:

01SEP DUBAI - GLASGOW
02SEP GLASGOW - DUBAI (ARR 03SEP)
06SEP DUBAI - HYDERABAD (INDIA) - DUBAI
07SEP LEAVE
08SEP LEAVE
09SEP LEAVE
10SEP LEAVE
11SEP LEAVE
12SEP LEAVE
13SEP LEAVE
14SEP LEAVE
15SEP LEAVE
16SEP LEAVE
17SEP LEAVE
18SEP LEAVE
19SEP LEAVE
20SEP LEAVE
23SEP DUBAI - MANCHESTER
24SEP MANCHESTER - DUBAI (ARR 25SEP)
27SEP DUBAI - BIRMINGHAM
28SEP BIRMINGHAM - DUBAI (ARR 29SEP)

Casablanca

I'm not going to tell you much about the flight, I'll just say it was so bad I'm still recovering 2 days later! All the buildings in Casablanca are very old apart from the hotels which are quite modern by their standards. We started the day by having lunch and a quick swim in the hotel pool. It was then time to go to the market so the girls could pick up some souvenirs. After we had found our way out of the maze of shops we took a taxi to a local Hammam (a bit like a lesuire centre) and had a traditional Moroccan bath. I thought it was like paying for someone to scrub my suntan off! Now I've done my first Casablanca I don't think I'll be going back again. Once is enough in a lifetime for me!
The hotel in Casablanca.
Hotel Lobby.
The hotel restaurant where we had breakfast.
The girls and I outside the entrance arch to the market. L-R Piquita (Australia), Me and Charlene (England).
Inside the market.

The view of the square outside the hotel.
All the taxis are really small. They will only take 3 people. We found this out when four of us jumped in one and the taxi driver started shouting!

The Hammam where we had our Moroccan bath.

Zakynthos Daytrip

When my friend Holly told me she was moving to a Greek island to work there for the summer she made me promise I'd visit. Well true to my word I booked my air tickets and 3 months later I was there. Due to the island being quite hard to get to when flying, it worked out that I could only spend one day there. I arrived at 10pm at night (after setting off from Dubai at 6am that morning!) and had a few drinks in the bar where Holly works before it was time to sleep. The next morning we were up bright and early and into town where we had breakfast. Then we went for a tour of the island on the tourist train. It took us to a museum (which was actually quite interesting) and a winery (which was very interesting!). :-) When we arrived back we had lunch and a quick swim in the sea. I had a 3 hour nap after this and then we went out for a meal and some drinks. The next day I was up very early early again to fly back home via Vienna.
The Olympic Airways deathtrap that I had to fly on between Athens and the island of Zakynthos.
The Garden Bar where Holly works.

Holly behind the bar.
Holly made me a special cocktail which we named the Garden Surprise.
Trainaki! The tourist train in the town of Alykes.
A greek village at the foot of the mountains.
In the museum. We both sat at this old schooldesk and it nearly broke!

Rows of grapes near the winery.
Holly was quite impressed with her wrap at lunchtime.
The beach in Alykes where we had a dip.
Holly with a can of Mythos, the local beer. We decided we would rename it Mykonos as that sounded better.
Holly at the posh (ish) restaurant where we had dinner.

Hamburg & New York Shopping Trip

I really enjoy this trip. I get to speak German, I stay at nice hotels and I get lots of allowance money. This time it was even better mainly due to 2 reasons. The first one was that fact that my friend Neill flew over from Birmingham to join me in Hamburg. I took him to see the city and we also had a meal with most of the crew at our favourite hangout, Hofbräuhaus. The next day it was off to New York for my first visit of 2 this month. The next day I went shopping with one of the other crew. After lunch in Central Park he showed me the Abercrombie & Fitch store on 5th Avenue. $168.95 later it was time for my first ride on the subway back to the hotel. On the return flight we left the gate at JFK and joined a queue of over 20 aircraft before we could take off. It took over an hour before we left the ground. A fantastic dinner in the hotel was followed by even more shopping the next morning in Hamburg. All was going well on the way back to Dubai until we boarded the aircraft and found out the smoke detector system was broken. 4 hours later (and a drinks service in the terminal!) it was time to fly home for a few well earned non shopping days!
Our Purser must have worked at Starbucks before coming to Emirates. She made the best coffee!
Neill and I on the 'wobbly' bridge that takes us from the hotel towards the city.
At Hofbräuhaus. L-R Neill, Me, Mat (New Zealand), Hye Won (South Korea), Mayank (India) and Andrea (Slovakia).
After a few more beers and wines at Hofbräuhaus.
Neill posing with me and Mat before we left for New York and he flew back to Birmingham.

I finally got Chinese in a Box! It's one thing I've wanted to do since my first New York trip and never had the chance.
Me on the ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge leading towards Manhattan.
The roadway on the Brooklyn Bridge towards Manhattan.
A view of Manhattan Bridge that I walked over last time I was in New York.
In Times Square.

Near Times Square.
The fountain in Central Park.

Getting ready to board a subway train.

Dhaka

The Dhaka flights have many rumours spead about them. We talked about these in the briefing and were told that most of them were not true. It turned out to be a really good trip. Most of the passengers are builders who work on the new building being built in Dubai. They have never been on an aircraft before and are unsure of what to do but are very polite. Dhaka is the place that crew fly to when they are short on DVDs. This trip I managed to pick up several of the latest releases and the end of season 3 of Desperate Housewives. Crew are told not to leave the hotel so we spend most of our time eating, at the pool or on the internet in the crew room which we share with several of the other airlines. I thought the trip was fine and would have no problem if it happened to appear on my roster again.
Dalida (Lebanon) and me in the Mid Galley.
Dhaka's Zia International Airport.
The crew in the hotel restaurant for dinner. L-R Anghela (Bulgaria), Nicolette (England), Dalida, Antoine (Lebanon), Captain Peter (New Zealand), Keiko (Japan), Federica (Italy), First Officer Lars (Norway), Hanan (Tunisia), Me, Marymae (Philippines) and Vanessa (India).
A street in Dhaka city.

In Dhaka they don't have sprinklers to water the bushes in the middle of the street. A man has to do it using a jug!