Emirates is known for having the best in-flight entertainment, but I doubt this is what passengers had in mind when they boarded this flight! Watch 75 members of the Baylor University Men’s Choir perform their rendition of Smokey Mountain’s “Da Coconut Nut” as a thank you to the crew for their hard work onboard.
Layover Life: Shanghai, China
My life is one big adventure, and the time I got to spend in Shanghai, China definitely reinforced that! A week or so ago, I asked you guys on Instagram to tell me what I should do there because it was my first time visiting the country. Tons of suggestions poured in; Old Town, Yu Garden, Jing-an temple… but the most common response I received was The Bund!
I couldn’t disappoint you guys, so I went with a colleague shortly after we landed in the early evening. It was quite busy, but the view made up for the large crowds. As soon as we got there though, we could tell we were in for an interesting night- people kept staring at us and asking us to take photos with them!
After walking around the area for a bit, we tried to find a place to eat. There weren’t many restaurants where we were and when we did come across one, we couldn’t read the menus or communicate properly with the restaurant staff. The customers inside each of the places we checked out laughed at us, but we couldn’t blame them for our inability to order food. We were laughing at ourselves too!
Two restaurants and a 20 minute walk later, we stumbled upon a place called TongLe Yuan YuJia (I probably spelt that wrong). Using random hand gestures, pictures and google translate, we eventually placed our orders and received what we hoped was chicken and pork. With only chopsticks to eat with, you can imagine how out of place we looked. While you’re at it, try also imaging my facial expression when our server showed us to the toilets after we ate. There’s a first time for everything, but I never thought I’d ever have to squat and use a porcelain hole in the ground!
From there we went to grab ice cream at the Bund before heading back. The problem? It was 37 °C out, and the ice cream melted in our hands as soon as we left the parlour. We were covered in chocolate and vanilla, which drew more stares and laughter from the locals. Oh boy!
We decided to call it quits shortly after that, but then ran into the issue of grabbing a taxi. It took us a while to find someone who knew where our hotel was. The first cab driver we tried couldn’t understand us, but he did put the radio on and joined us in belting out Imagine Dragons’ “Believer” while he made a few calls. We were in stitches.
The following day I met a bunch of our crew in the lobby of our hotel. We decided to go to the “underground market” together. Similar to the shops in Bangkok, Thailand I found myself negotiating prices for things I didn’t need and ended up walking away with a pretty decent Emirates Airbus A380 model aircraft for 3x less than its price in Dubai. While it was a steal, fitting it into my suitcase was a real challenge. Moral of this story? Pack less clothing on layovers!!!!!!
The rest of my day was spent sleeping before the 9 hour flight back to Dubai and taking in the view from my hotel room. Oh the places I get to go!
Next Stop: Toronto, Canada
IG: @LipstickAndLuggage
YouTube: @LipstickandLuggage
FB: @LipstickandLuggage
Twitter: @KelseyBelleDXB
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Disclaimer: My posts are my personal views and and do not represent the views of my company.
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August Roster (2017): Reserve month!
It’s August, and my reserve month is here. This means that I have very few rostered flights, and that I can go anywhere in the world at almost anytime!
Each night, my roster will change around 6pm for the following day. Based on Emirates operational needs, I could be scheduled a day off, a flight, airport standby or cross-qualification standby.
- Day off = No assigned duty.
- Airport standby = Requires Cabin Crew to report to the standby lounge at departures. The purpose of airport standby is to have crew at the airport and readily available to operate a flight should a colleague be late or report sick, a flight is cancelled or rescheduled, extra crew are needed because of a load change (more passengers hopped on the flight than expected)…etc. For all airport standby duties, crew need to pack enough clothes for the longest multi-sector (approx. 8 days) and for all weather types. This is because we could be pulled out for almost any flight (depends on our legalities).
- Cross-qualification standby: This is home standby. Cross-qualification means that crew are able to operate on both the Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 aircraft types. During this assigned duty, crew are expected to have their uniform ready and luggage packed, because Crew Control could call us at anytime to ask us to report for a flight. We can be chilling in our pjs, watching tv and doing as we please, but we must answer the phone when and if it rings! If we receive a call, we will be given enough time to get dressed, do our make up and make it to our assigned flight.
Sometimes, for example, if we operate a ULR we will be given two days off before and after the flight because of legalities. On occasions like this, I may be given my schedule for the next few days in advance instead of having to check my roster each night.
Cabin Crew are given one month of reserve each year. It is usually assigned at random, but crew can request it too.
Hopefully some cool adventures await me in the month ahead! 🙂
Next Stop: Dhaka, Bangladesh
IG: @LipstickAndLuggage
YouTube: @LipstickandLuggage
FB: @LipstickandLuggage
Twitter: @KelseyBelleDXB
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Disclaimer: My posts are my personal views and and do not represent the views of my company.
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Layover Life: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ahhh Amsterdam- you pleasantly surprised me! Although it may have poured rain on our parade in the beginning, we stuck it out and made the most of the cooler weather, and ended up having a great evening in the city.
It was my first time visiting, so I had to visit the red-light district and surrounding area. When we arrived, we witnessed a crazy thunderstorm! It’s been awhile since I’ve been in one and actually loved standing outside underneath the train station waiting for it to pass over.
Our first stop was a circus themed restaurant called Casablanca. There is a small theatre at the back of the restaurant where small groups can watch a magic show. Unfortunately for us, we arrived too late in the evening, so we were only able to grab some wine and some cheap eats before making our way along Amsterdam’s UNESCO protected canal ring.
We thought about doing some sort of tour when we stumbled upon a pretty affordable canal cruise. No questions asked, we jumped on board!
Although it was a rather gloomy day, we made the most of the experience. It was probably one of the best ways to see the city!
Next Stop: Shanghai, China
IG: @LipstickAndLuggage
YouTube: @LipstickandLuggage
FB: @LipstickandLuggage
Twitter: @KelseyBelleDXB
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Disclaimer: My posts are my personal views and and do not represent the views of my company.
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New work with CS Toledo
As I’ve shared with you before, I used to model back in the day! Since moving to Dubai, I’ve revisited these roots and have had the pleasure of collaborating with some pretty talented people in the fashion industry!
I recently had the pleasure of working with CS Toledo. Not only is he an amazing person and talented photographer, but he is also a phenomenal makeup! See for yourself:
Next Stop: Shanghai, China
IG: @LipstickAndLuggage
YouTube: @LipstickandLuggage
FB: @LipstickandLuggage
Twitter: @KelseyBelleDXB
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Disclaimer: My posts are my personal views and and do not represent the views of my company.