Making Waves: May 2014

May.

*PHEW*

Just give me a second to catch my breath.

Where to even begin?

This month has be CRAY. It "supposedly" has 31 days in it (trust me I checked the calendar to make sure because jet lag and lack of sleep IS making me stupider), but for me it has gone by unbelievably quickly.

So much has happened in May. It's been a whirlwind and I've barely kept up with it.

To break it down simply into dates:

3-5: Paris

7: Graduation.

9: Sandance.

10-15: Istanbul, Turkey.

17-18: London, Heathrow.

20-22: Shanghai, China.

23: Justin Timberlake!

26: Islamabad (Turnaround).

28: Delhi (Turnaround).

28: Kings of Leon!!! (Yes, the same day as my Delhi flight).

29: Trevor Noah!

30-31: Hong Kong.

As you can see, I had a lot going on in a very short space of time. This meant very little sleep, depleting them savings, a LOT of travelling in between, and tons of new memories for this Dubai experience I'm currently on.

To start off I went to Paris on what is now my 4th trip. Instead of going out, I decided to spend the 24 hours in the hotel sleeping and saving the allowance we got, so that it could go towards my funds for the rest of May's would-be expenses. Yes, I did nothing in Paris. Not a big deal. Trust me when I say it won't be the last time I get rostered for that flight.

Not the biggest fan of French food, but when it comes to bread, these people know what they are doing!

Two days later I was up bright and early and got all dressed up to head to Training College for my graduation with all my batchmates. We got a brief chance to catch-up and see some familiar faces for the first time in the 6 months that we had started flying.

It was a quick congratulatory ceremony for all of us, followed by cake and a copious amounts of photo's. The best part for me was that I was able to get them to change my country to 'South Africa' when they announced my name. I was born in the US (meaning I have the benefit of travelling on a US passport, and am registered on the system as a US citizen) but I wanted to have that photo of my name immortalised with the South African flag above it because really, that's my home.

That night we all went out and celebrated our graduation, hopping from one place to the next, just dancing our way into the early morning, and I kicked off what would be the month of many late nights, and a total lack of sleep!

My fellow Saffas, Tanith and Jade!

That Friday night I headed to my first Sandance, a concert festival that happens often here in Dubai on the beach of the famous Atlantis on the Palm.

The show included the Pet Shop Boys and Fat Boy Slim, but my sole (excuse the pun) reason for going was to see Goldfish, my beloved South African band who were performing right here in Dubai!

BEACH PARTY!

The Pet Shop Boys are weird, man.

Majority of the crowd had no idea who Goldfish was, but everyone walked away saying how awesome they are!

That guy knows what I'm talking about.

Fat Boy Slim was just insane!

I may or may not have stolen a balloon from Fat Boy Slim's set.

AND I walked away with a souvenir!

The one thing all of my friends and I were looking forward to with May is the fact that our probation period is now over. This means that we can leave the UAE on days we are not scheduled to be working; we can bid for flights we want; we can swop our flights with other crew of the same qualifications; and we can actually go on leave!

As you probably know by now, for my first leave I went to Istanbul with Mishqa and Yazeed. I know what you're thinking: "You've been saying how much you miss Cape Town, and the first chance you get to leave, you don't even go home?!"

I know, I know. It pained me to do so!

But the timing for Istanbul just made sense, which I will explain in a later post.

So for those 5 days of leave, I went on holiday to what is now one of my favourite cities in the world!

You'd think with it being a holiday and all that I would have had time to rest, but no sir. We walked a TON.

We saw everything in that very short space of time.

We ate a lot and slept very little, meaning I came back from my "vacation" exhausted, and had to be up practically the next day for a flight to London, Heathrow.

This time around, I knew I was heading to London, so I texted my friends to let them know ahead of time.

Rahma had already made plans to go out of the city for the weekend; Jarryd and Ryan are back in Cape Town; Aura has moved to New York; but luckily Sarah was still in town (albeit the very opposite end of the city, which meant a LONG travel time on the tube).

I bumped into a fellow batch-mate whilst there, and we caught the Underground together.

Another Saffa crew I met just a few days before this flight also happened to be there.

As Sarah would be at work from 11am, and I was still up from the flight, I decided to stop by Leicester Square first.

When Ryan was there, he bought himself a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows jersey. At the time I was still undecided about whether or not I wanted one.

Later, when I saw him wearing it in photo's, I had instant regret. So I made sure to pick up a hoodie version of it for myself this time around.

This time I also went to check out the M&M store to see what it's like inside.

Then I was off to Greenwich to meet up with Sarah.

Whilst I waited for Sarah to get off from work, I explored around the city, stopping by the market, the parks, the University, the National Maritime Museum, and also the actual location of the GMT - Greenwich Mean Time, which is located at the Royal Observatory.

This is the GMT. Standing here basically means you're in the middle of time!

Don't you wish UCT had such a massive park to chill on when you're bunking class?

When Sarah finally finished work at 5pm, she took me around, stopping at the famous O2 arena, the Emirates Air Line gondola lift, and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

At this point, all I could think of was "Cabin crew, prepare for landing".

The Olympic Swimming Pool where Chad Le Clos beat out Michael Phelps for the Gold medal!

Another day well spent in London town. I really have grown fond of that city!

Next up I was off to Shanghai, China. The crap thing was that we arrived on a day where the city was basically closed due to some conference. All the major sightseeing attractions were unaccessible, so instead of going out, I decided to treat myself to a much-needed back massage from a tiny Chinese woman named Cherry. Don't be fooled by their size though. They may be tiny but damn those women are strong!

One of the cool things about that hotel is the electric window blind switch next to the bed. At the push of the button it would be nighttime in my room! :D

I had forgotten that with China being China, basically all of social media is blocked, which meant no Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, or even this website! And with me being the social media butterfly that I am, trust me when I say I was happy to be leaving Shanghai!

The very next day after getting back from Shanghai, I was off to Abu Dhabi for a concert to go and check out none other than Mr Sexyback himself- Justin Timberlake! You can read about this and the KOL concert here.

After that I had two turn-around flights. Normally I would moan about having to do turn-arounds, but after this long, tiring month, you can't even imagine how grateful I was for them. I didn't have the hassle that came with packing and getting ready for a trip, or having to make myself go out and see a city.

The tough part came when I did my Delhi flight. I was up by 1am that morning, returning home around 2pm. I slept for a few hours and then rushed to get to Atlantis the Palm (the same place where Sandance was held) to go and see the Rock Gods that are Kings of Leon!

Even though I was on the verge of falling asleep by the end of the show, I had the BEST time seeing them perform again.

The next day I made my way to Mall of the Emirates (which is all the way on the opposite side of where I live) to go and see stand-up comedian Trevor Noah perform here in Dubai.

It's actually the second time he's been here. He was here in March for 3 sold-out performances, none of which I could attend because I had flights, so I was super happy to hear that he had been brought back by popular demand for another 2 sold-out shows!

I took a fellow Saffa with me, along with Salma, my Egyptian friend whom I've converted to being a Trevor fan!

It was so lekker to hear him make jokes about home and reminded me of how South Africa really is the playground for comedy gold.

The show ended roughly 10pm, and I rushed back home to go and get changed for my 8 hour flight to Hong Kong.

I almost never made it to that flight as I only had a 30minute window in which to get dressed and get there. I have never gotten done so fast in my entire LIFE.

Luckily I did and (THANKFULLY) I had an awesome crew and an easy flight there.

Back in January, Hong Kong was actually my first operational flight, meaning it was the first flight I did officially marking me as operational cabin crew.

I was too exhausted to leave the hotel, and I slept most of my time there, which I really didn't mind at all!