Tuesday, December 23, 2014

December 23 - Bos LGB OAK

Wow what a crazy day.  Dad flew up at 6am this morning to hang out with me.  I met him at Donna's (his favorite place) for breakfast.  Around 11, I was assigned a trip so I got ready and then dad and I wandered out for a little while until it was time for my flight.

Trip:
BOS: LGB: OAK then 20 hour layover in Oakland and the reverse trip tomorrow, ending with a red eye back.

The trip turned into a nightmare when we landed.  After we made the, "welcome to Long Beach" speech... the Captain comes on the PA saying "sorry everyone, there was last minute weather to pop up and we had to divert to Ontario."  Apparently, that's Ontario California.  I didn't know that was a place.  People were pissed.  We ended up sitting in Ontario for 2 hours.  Half of our plane decided to find their own way home from Ontario and 80 out of 150 people eventually took off with us to Burbank.  From Burbank, the airline provided them all buses to LGB.  I have no idea what happened to passengers with connecting flights.

We also had a couple in the middle of the cabin who only spoke Chinese.  When we got to Ontario, they didn't understand what was happening and kept trying to hand us their passports.  I used google translate to communicate for them to stay on the plane.  I spent the next 2 hours trying to find someone who could translate for me.  We called China Air, American Airlines, asked passengers, text friends and finally posted on facebook.  A complete stranger from another airline called me and was able to speak to the passengers.

The night was crazy, but my crew handled it amazingly.  The Captain kept coming out and telling everyone what was happening and that he was working on things.  The In Flight Crew was working hard to really help passengers.  It was great to see such good teamwork.

Now tomorrow, we have to take a van Burbank to Long Beach, Deadhead to Oakland, work the Oakland Long Beach flight and then work the red eye from LGB back to Boston.  it is going to be a Long day, BUT I just realized it turns this trip into a 20 hour 2 day trip, which is OK by me.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

December 17, 1014

Finding time to blog is harder for me than I was expecting.  After a crazy day, I want to sit back, relax and unwind... not relive my crazy day.  Today was one of those such days.

Rewind.  I bid for a 3 day trip (per diem adds up).  Yesterday was rough because we had 4 flights.  BOS: BUF: BOS: JAX: FLL  Long day, but most of our passengers were nice and we had a little break between BOS: JAX so we were able to grab food and relax.

Once in Ft. Lauderdale, my friend Kayla picked me up from the airport and we went out for dinner and drinks with a few of her friends.  One of my favorite perks of this job is being able to see friends and family.  We had a great time at SouthPort, but I probably had a few too many beers (or I was too exhausted) because I don't remember much of what I said, whoops.  I hate getting old.

Today, Kayla and I ran errands.  We stopped for breakfast and had the craziest experience.  I feel like all of my blog posts get Super long and I'm not sure how to stop that, because when I tell a story... I think it's pretty good.  So here's our breakfast story:

We stop into a diner I found on Yelp.  Great reviews.  We walk in thinking, "this looks perfect".  A mildly attractive waiter comes over, leaning in pretty close by Kayla's face and welcomes us to the restaurant while staring very intently at us as he talks.

He comes back to take our drink orders.

Me:  "can I have a decaf coffee?
Waiter:  "sure, why are you drinking decaf?"
Me:  "I've been trying to give up caffeine"
Waiter:  "Really?  me too!"  >high five< "and I gave up alcohol and sex.  I've been celibate for a while now.  Are you spiritual?"
Me thinking... well that's a weird question... and did he just tell me he's celibate???  What does "spiritual" mean exactly?  AND if I say 'no', he's going to feel like a dummy, so I say, "Sortof.  I mean, I read a book on Mindfulness recently."  Ok, so the book I read was about meditation, but same thing.  Sort of.

Well mentioning "mindfulness" was the wrong thing to do.  He was So Excited I knew about it.  He invited me to a mindfulness seminar with him tonight and then told me all about this 3 level program he's doing.  "But I'm not allowed to even tell you this much about it"  He asked me if I'd like to go through "level 1" with him.  Meanwhile, poor Kayla is like "um, can I just get my coffee?"  A few minutes later, a guy comes in selling roses (all of this sounds like something from the Twilight Zone to me as I'm writing it), he asks if any of us would like to buy some and the waiter says, "I would, but that would be too forward."

Coffee finally comes.

The waiter comes back to ask for our order.  Kayla asks him, "should I get the black bean omelet or the healthy choice omelet."  Again, this must've been the wrong thing to say.  He delves into, "I am a biology major and a wellness coach.  i know my body from top to bottom on a molecular level.  like with a car, you can give it synthetic oil or cheap oil and they both do the same thing, but I give my body synthetic oil because i know it's better for me."  I had to stop myself from saying... "so.... should she get the black bean omelet or the healthy choice one".  They proceeded to have this lengthy discussion about which omelets were better and she finally ordered the black bean one.  I'm still confused as to which omelet equated to the synthetic oil.

After we eat, I go to the bathroom.  When I come out, I see the waiter standing in the corner by the bathroom and I think "why is he standing in that corner, there's nothing there."  Until he approaches me and I realize why.

Waiter:  "Next time you're in Ft. Lauderdale, would you like to get together?"
Me:  "Oh thank you, but I'm dating someone."
Waiter:  "Well it could be casual."
Me:  "Maybe you can give me the information on the mindfulness seminar."
And I walk away.

Kayla is sitting at the table, wondering why the waiter never came to get our credit cards to pay lol.  When he gets back from asking me out, she walks up to the counter to pay.  He hands her her card back and then completely side swipes her to walk over to the table to hand me my card.  Well... he had printed out his phone number and wanted to hand it to me.  He told me to text him for info on the seminar.  Lol.  Nice.

Weirdest lunch ever!!!!

Kayla and I went to Walmart after we laughed hysterically about the whole situation for a good 15 minutes and we shopped for ugly sweater stuff for at least an hour.  We grabbed a bunch of stuff and headed home to work on her costume.  Here are a few pictures!  All in all a Great layover.  See, now this post is Forever long and I didn't even talk about the absolutely insanely crazy flights we had today!  I'll have to save that post for tomorrow.