twinkle, twinkle little star (England and sky)

Afternoon,

For those on holiday, enjoy, while the rest of us still have to work, hehe. It has been in and out of England this month for me. Four times to be exact. Oh goodness. Up and down. A bit north, a bit south. A bit of Birmingham, Manchester(2), a bit of Gatwick. Freezing cold. Enjoying the xmas shopping. Lots of people. Lots!! Everywhere in town! English accents. English attitude. Great. Enough.

In between I did go back to Cape Town for another 5 days(since my last letter) and I'm hoping to leave for Joburg for 5 days to spent with Param and family. And I hear you ask, how do I pull this off? The sacrifices for a mending heart, to be with the beloved. I swap a flight for days off..

But actually, my highlight of today's letter, is my travels in the cockpit. I go visit the boys(pilots) often and this month has been mindblowing, something to mention. The pilots are always very willing to share where we are flying over, how fast we're going and what is about to happen next. So I was in the cockpit once when

we flew over Iran, the border of Russia, over Hungary, Prague, Athens, and every sight just took my breath away. We overtook another aircraft once (well, not once, I'm sure this happens all the time, but I was at the right place at the right time to see it for myself) and it was amazing to see how the streak of condensation behind the aircraft swirls anti-clockwise. Then one day I saw an aircraft cross our path from right to left, as I pointed it out, the captain showed me another aircraft coming from left to right, and then another going across it all. Man, this was crazy!! Soooo coool. It was this super dimensional experience, warpzone, space, 3dimensional traffic, something out of the futuristic movies:) When the captain calls you to come look in the cockpit, you know it's going to be good. So, I stepped in (on a night flight) and saw the moon. Right in front of us. Or so it appeared. As if we were flying towards it. And it became bright(the moon). Then it moved to our right. And then we turned, and it moved all the way left (if you can imagine the two windows of the cockpit being a wide screen television). Then the pilot switched all the lights off in the cockpit, and we were just surrounded by all these magical stars. High up in the air, it feels like you can touch them. As if you are part of the sky. Nothing above, nothing below. Below sometimes you can see little blops of light. And those are little parts of towns covered by thick clouds, and we perceive it as dims of light. Talking about dims. Then at that same moment, I saw an aircraft approach us again (me with my super eye sight these days. damn!! the things I've been missing out on, hehe) and the pilot switched our brights on (didn't even know planes have that). The sky illuminated. Then, wait for it, wait for it, the pilot said, a few seconds later, the other airplane flashed his brights back at us!!! WOW!! Haha, they do the same in the sky. I still love my job. I want to be a pilot.

Otherwise, I am fully enjoying the challenges and rewards Business Class offers me. It is a huge difference then the circus in economy. I finally get to use my personality. My skills.

Hope to hear back from you, if not before the end of the year....well Happy new year once again:)

Twinkled eye,
A

Go do gado (Jakarta, Indonesia, etc)

Apa kabar

Allow me to let you in on the 2 actionpacked weeks since my last letter.
So, I went to Jakarta, Indonesia and was quite disappointed that I couldn't get to any islands. They are too far by road (including Bali ofcourse:(
I just took a shuttle to town and spent time in a freakin mall. Indonesia does not seem so traveler's friendly. Traffic is madness, roads are dirty and the place is HEAVILY polluted. Quite the opposite of Malaysia. Something like India and Bangkok. I ate Gado-gado till it came out of my ears, hahaha (a salad style Indonesian dish with cold potato, bean sprouts, egg and LOTS of peanut sauce - i had this for dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner again)

I held half a million bucks in my hand, lol. Not worth much, coz 11000 rupiah is worth 1 dollar..

The Indonesians on our flight are mostly the maids of the Muslims. They are quite shy, no English and seem to all know each other and they have this funny habit of not finishing whatever liquid they've ordered, be it water or juice.

The hotel we stayed in was next to a lake, it was peaceful and green and I spent some time at the swimming pool. That's it.


Then back home, I stuck my nose into my assignment workbooks to study for my business class upgrade. After a long week of stress, hard work and doing the corporate office hours thing, I received my certificate. We were the 'special guests' at the ceremony hall.

Currently I am in Cape Town, after swapping my last flight for off days and gave Pookie a surprise visit, and the day after my arrival I went for Lasik eye surgery. I have perfect eye sight now;-) What an amazing experience!


Hope you are all doing fantastically.

Lots of love
A

MaLayLekker (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Selamat Sejahtera

I've just stepped into my apartment a few hours ago from Kuala Lumpur and am jotting this down, as I'm leaving again for Indonesia tonight.
We had 2 days in KL, but I spent one curled up in bed with period pains unfortunately:( In the evening the girls dragged me out for some shopping at an Asian mall and Malaysian food and big coconuts (the coconuts in KL are tasteless, taste like water, although they are huge and full of lots of juice - not recommended)

The Petronas Twin Towers are really spectacular..



The next day, we went on a private tour to Templer Park, which is apparently the oldest rainforest in the world (according to the tour agents). It was a nice drive, the weather was a type of 'perfect' I don't think I've experienced. There were beautiful waterfalls and pools and because it was Sunday, a lot of people were braaiing and swimming. There were monkeys everywhere. (no, real ones), hehe. Then we went to the Batu Caves. These caves are massive and takes you a few hundred steps just to get up there. The inside is filled with Hindu temples. Well, the whole sight is actually a Hindu happening. So, it was busy and buzzing.



The flight was awesome. Malaysians seem well-mannered, not demanding and very friendly. KL is clean, traffic runs smooth and things aren't expensive. A crewmember and I feasted on some streetvendor openfood, supercheap, living in the moment and praying for our health of the next day. That's about the only daring thing I did on this trip - beside walking around at the Batu temples with a big yellow-and-red dot on my forehead from the 'blessings' I got from one of the Indians:). It was overall a good trip, hard flight to get - but I got my London/Gatwick swapped for it, whoohoo! Also, tonight's Indonesia was a swap for Shanghai.

I thought I shall also share that the last few days of my reserve month (which I survived!), I went for a beeeg party - yes, I got also drrrrrunk (for a change), wildly, just to get pulled out for a London/Heathrow flight after 4 hours sleep. I was still spinning and slapping myself in the face. Could've lost my job if they did one of those random drug/alcohol tests on me, heehee. But hey, in these 'grown-up' years, it's nice to be irresponsible once in a whiiiiile (sorrie ma).

Hope you had a laugh
Missing you all, missing home, missing the ones scattered all over the world

Mmmwah
A

standby me (going nowhere slowly)

Hello's

So....ja...
With the ending of the Holy Month of Ramadan (a Muslim thing, where they -even us in public- are not allowed to eat, drink, smoke or swear during hours of sunshine)I thought that finally I could go out for a party (all clubs closed during the month of Ramadan). But no. After my return from New York, for about 11 days I lived like an owl. Slept during the day and stayed up at night. The first few days, I recovered from jetlag and then after that I accustomed my bodyclock for what was to come... standby. I am on reserve this month. Which means, I don't have a roster. But I get rostered for hours of 'standby'. Where I have to be at home and wait for a call if they need me. And seeing that most of my standby was put anything from 10pm-8am, I changed my sleeping patterns. And thus began a vicious cycle. Of either watching the sun go up, or the sun go down, but never seeing a bright day. Headaches. Everyday. Luckily my flatmate was up with me at the same times, and sometimes we'd go to the beach after midnight. I got called out once, for Nagoya (Japan) and got ready excitedly and picked up, to find at arrival that the freakin' bus driver didn't put my suitcase in the bus:( This led to me being offloaded and put on airport standby (you wait at the Crew Center and if anyone fails to pitch for their flight, you go in their place). This standby month happens every 7 months. So every 7th month, I have reason to hate my job. You have no life. You can make no plans. It messes with your psyche.

Some good news is: that I got accepted for an upgrade to Business Class!!:-) My training is next month for 5 days. Also, I got relicensed. I had to pass 2 days of practical and theoretical exams last week in Safety and Emergency Procedures (SEP). Also, have applied for a facilitator's position and have been shortlisted. Emirates runs this award programme, to motivate and inspire people in the company. And I have applied to facilitate this. Wish me good luck. Interviews will be Pop Idol style, haha.

A few days ago, Goldfish (a South African dj band) played in Dubai and Paula and I went to watch. The event was HUGE!! It was truly spectacular. We were up till 5am and the next day I flew to Johannesburg. Goldfish was on that flight, whoohooo!! In fact, they were right in my area. They missed their Cape Town flight. I dragged them to the back, introduced them to the crew and had a photo session.

Haha. Pookie flew up to visit (on very short notice). Au, that was awesome! I feel blessed and fortunate to have a man like him in my life:). Had a wonderful time.

So....ja.. Just thought I'd keep you updated while the cycle continues. Hooohooo!

Toedeldoe
Hugs,
A

a legal alien (New York & Connecticut)

Hey there,
how are you doing?

So, just after I landed in Dubai from Cape Town, I went to New York the next day and stayed there for two and a half days. My flatmate, Paula joined me as a passenger and stayed in my hotelroom. It was RAD, a mini-holiday. This time around, I saw a little bit of nightlife, went to a few pubs and spoke to Americans that always guess us to be British. It rained, and saw the steam come out of drains.

We also went to Connecticut (just outside New York) to go visit a friend of mine (Tony) and experienced the suburbia side of America as seen on movies (man, everything there feels to me like living in a movie). Tony showed us the beach, we drank some beer in a pub (I had the most amazing beer ever - Blue Point. It is an ale and the aftertaste is blueberry), and we had a braai (whoohooo). We did some groceries shopping for this, and it was again such an awesome experience, finding different and interesting things. Then to my amazement, Tony took us to the self-service check-in counter, where we scanned and weighed our own stuff. It was cool! Even experienced the self-service petrol station:).


Back in NYC, walked around for many, many avenues, popped into the Apple store to see what that is all about, went around Time Square again, and ended up in Wholefoods at Columbus Circle where Paula and I went crazy. Everything there is organic, healthy and supercool. We bought bags full of turkey, bacon, chicken (all vegetarian), interesting kombucha drinks, I found Blue Point there and bought a 6-pack, a few organic facial products and some sushi for lunch. It was WONDERFUL!! Paula even took me into Abercrombie & Fitch (the American "lifestyle" clothing shop). What an experience. You walk in, and EVERYONE who works there, is beautiful, happy, dancing to the loud banging music, smells of strong perfume and by the time you exit, you remember that it was sunlight and normal life outside, hehe.

So, new respect to America (I used to be a bit negative towards it)
Best of luck to them in choosing a new president.

Anyways, for now, I'm on standby for the rest of the month - which means I don't know when I'm going and I don't know where I'm going. It's a crazy life:)

Loving it

Toedeldoe,
till next time

A

howzit my bru (Cape Town)

On the 28th of September, I returned from a 9-day holiday in Cape Town. 28th Sept 2007, exactly a year ago, I left South Africa to join Emirates. Can you believe it, a year has gone - my first anniversary. How nice to land and find out your country is without a president, hehe.

Apologies for the people I didn't get to meet. I honestly didn't make an effort, as I wanted to see my Pookie and my mom and just needed a holiday. It was great seeing the ones I did though. So, Pookie and I zipped around town with our bikes (me on the Yammie this time:), ate out a lot, had a fabulous National Braai Day with a whole bunch of people we didn't know, he showed me a few new venues in gorgeous Cape Town (like Juleb), I did my usual shopping (things you don't find anywhere else - like All Gold tomato sauce) and we had the Rubik's Cube party (getting dressed in 3 different colours, then ending up in one colour by swapping with others). It was marvelous fun as usual - Cape Town is just absolutely the best there is out there:) As much as I love it, I'm not sure if I'll go live there again, or at least soon. It is lovely visiting.

That's that.
How are you all doing?

Loving life, grateful for everything and focusing on abundance
Hugs to y'all
A

Ps. no photos, didn't even take camera:)

Hakuna Matata (Dar E Salaam, Tanzania)

Jambo
and karibu my friends

I just returned from a short and very sweet trip - to Dar E Salaam, Tanzania. One of those experiences which showed me once again that you do get what you ask for and guidance is always around. Internet research didn't help me much on what to do there and the hotel concierge said everything is far:( But I was hungry to explore and didn't know where to go. So I just walked out of the hotel, to be swept off my feet by a cheery Rastafarian called Simba (which means Lion in Swahili by the way). He took me to a stinky, dingy fishmarket and I ended up sitting with him sharing dinner in a chaotic place (that they call a restaurant) while learning a bit of Swahili. I greeted everyone staring at me (as I was the only whitie ofcourse, hehe). The food was rather, well, unique. I got on REALLY well with Simba. He caught on to my sense of humour almost instantly and his English was superb!

With an allowance of 78500 shillings, I felt like I hit the jackpot (but just sounds a lot, heehee - although I only paid 100 shillings for a boatride)... Which lead me to the other side of the Peninsula (looked like an island from the view of the hotel) where I went to Sunrise Beach. A jampacked dala dala (minibus taxi as we know it, but this one is African style man) dropped me in the middle of somewhere, and I just followed my nose down to the seaside (1km walk) where I spent a glorious day with Jimmy (another Rasta that I met on the beach). We went for a dip in the gorgeous lukewarm ocean, a long walk along the beach (which we almost had to ourselves), fresh coconuts and playing with (few) days old little baby goats. It was wonderful!

I hope to go there again soon. Dar E Salaam has a lot to offer (apart from Kilimanjaro)... you just have to listen around. And it is really beautiful. Zanzibar is only 2hours away by boat...

I won't have any more news till next month... will be coming down to Cape Town soon..

Asante
You all take care now

Kwaheri,
A

Alta in Malta (Malta)

Bongu!!

Finally I got to go to Malta!!! (Malta is in the Mediterranean sea, near Italy) and at first it was everything I thought it would be (after meeting Maltese in Dubai, and doing a bit of internet research), but MAN, did this place blow me away! It is a strong mixture of Italian and Arabic (the language especially) and the buildings are built from limestone, which gives the cities this distinct colour (boring yellow, clay-brown) but not boring at all. To me it felt like Venice and Mauritius combined (and is now my favourite layover) The weather was gorgeous again! Summer, hot and sticky. No wind. Just perfect. The hotel we stayed in in Sliema was LEKKER! We had our own balconies and I spent mornings reading my book there (we had a two-day stay).

So off I went to the city called Valetta (on the bus I met 2 Afrikaners - WOOW) and just got lost in its identical streets. I was in awe that people live like that. Almost like Venice, just without the water. People sitting outside on the street chatting to neighbours, fat aunties gossiping the day away, a man talking out loud on his phone and gesturing aggresively, laundry hanging, even the streetlamps hang from a wire in the middle of the street above everything else. The buses and public transport are oldschool (Cuban style). It is amazing! I walked down to the harbour and watched the sunset. Men (as gorgeous as ever) flirt openly. Just like the Italians. I would go live there:)

The next day, another crew member (Swedish) and I took a boat cruise to the island Comino. At Blue Lagoon we swam and snorkeled the afternoon away in crystal blue water. Also took a speedboat to the stunning caves that surround these islands. It was something out of a movie. With these experiences, I simply am so grateful for having this job:)

I explored some more around the hotel's area in Sliema and St.Julians. There is actually a little beach just down the road (as in 30meters away). Ag, Malta is so cool.

I was going there again on the 8th (it's a rare flight to get, especially the 2day one), but someone was desperate to go home, so I swapped her flight for mine. So next I'm visiting a place in Africa. Keeping the news for later:)

Caw for now
A

love you long time (Venice, Italy)

Ciao signore e signori

I went to Venice twice this month, with a visit to my sister in Joh'burg in between and thought I'd write the news in one letter:)
I love Italy!! The best place to do people watching:) So often you'll see an old Italian lady just watching people from the window or balcony of her first floor apartment, the sound of bikes and scooters, flowerpots, laundry, a couple having a passionate argument in Italian and being sunkissed in that gorgeous weather.

And yes, Venice is magnificent! Romantic, with a slight arrogant humbleness, expensive and just ultimately unique and beautiful to the eyes!! Pictures and movies do illustrate it well, although it is definitely worth going there to see for yourself. The doves are almost like the cows in India - you have to walk out of THEIR way. Haha. And tuna sandwiches are big!! I know it might be silly to mention now, but one day you'll laugh when/if you see it and remember my words;-) These guys are not shy with their fillings.

A bunch of us went into Venice all the way to San Marco. Saw the Basilica di San Marco, walked over Rialto Bridge and did all the usual things tourists do:) Venice is blooming awesome! No wonder so many architects and builders try to copy it. And it is so rich with history and left with all those stunning buildings which are constantly being restored..

On the way there on the watertaxi (there are actually stations where you get on and off, it's like a bus station), we would see men on their little boats or sometimes even just standing at the stations or anywhere possible - fishing. A funny sight.

Back at the hotel (we stayed approx 7 kms away in an area called Mestre), I decided to go to the Italian supermarket again. I'm becoming fanatic about different countries' shopping venues and styles.

Wonderful and fabulous!

Ciao!!
A

08_08_08 (Beijing, China)

Hallo

Yes, I was there. In Beijing on the day of the opening ceremony. And we met judges and opening participants on our flight and the spirits were high. Even though the weather in China was very misty, we organized a tour to the Great Wall, which gave it a mystical effect;) After being physically attacked by hawkers afterwards, we went for lunch and then our tour guide offered us a free tour to the Tea Garden. Here we were taught how to drink and taste tea as it were 20yr old whiskies. There is a certain way you hold the cup and things you do and sounds you make while sipping. It was a lot of fun, funny

We drove passed the Olympics Stadium, which I thought was a stunning design (but what do I know) and we saw new area expansions which are called the Olympic area, including new buildings - one of them called the Olympic Torch building.

During our flight there was a lot of amazement and enthrallment as we flew over the mountains of Pakistan, bordering China (when I googled it, it came out to be the Karakoram mountains - not entirely sure about this). These mountains are really gorgeous. Brought me right back to fond memories of flying over mountains from Leh to Delhi (the Himalayan mountains)

And another excitement is our move to our new Head Quarters (HQ) and Crew Briefing Center (CBC) (crew tend to talk in abbreviation mode at all times, haha). It is a huge building with lots of things going on. It feels futuristic with all the thumb scanning, card readings, announcements on big screens (from where the bus is picking who up, to where your suitcase will be coming out) and a lot more superb organizing. This company amazes me with it's operations.

Anyhoo, this is it for now. Got a lot of flying this month.

I hope you are all doing great and loving yourselves
Looking forward to hearing from you

Huggies,

A

mind the step (Mauritius)

Bonjour!

Mauritius, aaah, beautiful Mu... interesting place with it's strong influences of French, Indian and African. Fields and fields of sugarcane, little winding roads, friendly people. This has been an amazing layover/little work holiday. We stayed at a resort for 2 days!!! I had my own little villa overlooking a lake. It was peaceful and serene, birds singing somewhere... Although we didn't receive an allowance on this trip, it included all our food and activities. I went kayaking as well as on a boat trip out to go snorkeling. It was awesome! Then I met up with Anju, aaah beautiful Ju, accompanied by her cousin and brother and we took a little drive around the island. Even though it was winter, the weather was gorgeous.

I watched telly for a while and was pleasantly surprised to see Afrikaans speaking people, some celebrities and other South Africans on there.

Crew were great and we had a lot of fun. I would go back anytime

Au revoir
A

Holy Cow (India, Himalayan Mountains)

Jullay!

Bobbing heads, cows, hooting traffic, heavy pollution, delicious curries, and stares were all a part of my every day journey for the past 3 weeks in India. We were 11 (at one stage 12) people that all had our own bus (tea and pee break whenever wanted) and as we left smelly Delhi behind, going up the beautiful, majestic, mystical, magical, great mountains of the Himalayas! Our first destination after a 24 hour journey, was Manali - a gorgeous and chill, serene little town with thick forests, hippy people, marijuana growing freely everywhere and just surrounded by the green beauty of mountains, rivers and trees. There were a lot of Israelis in this part of the country and further... I saw starry fireflies for the first time:) Our journey from here onwards was scary at most times. (This trip is not for the faint at heart:) It is a one-lane road, gravel mostly, and landslides cause worries of life or death situations whether the vehicle will make it or not. We clapped hands a lot out of pheew, sighs and relief. Sometimes we would get out of the bus, so that the drivers can cross waterfalls etc, on their own. But man, was it beautiful out there. It was emotional. Just forever surrounded by Earth. No photo can represent this in real.

We canceled a major part of our itenary because of exhaustion. It's a lot of driving. Instead we camped wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted, and ate and did whatever we wanted - and therefor called our bus the Holy Cow. The cows in India really do know their status and roam and graze wherever. There were these cute sayings on boards on the mountain roads i.e: "Safety on the road, is safe tea at home", Darling, I like you, but not so fast", "Are you going to a party, then why are you driving so dirty", "Work in progress, inconvenience regretted. Sinking road, inconvenience deeply regretted!" Haha. Cute!! And SOOO many more.

We had good food (which became one of the highlights on this trip), good rest and were keeping well and strong. I experienced altitude sickness when we reached the second highest road in the world at 17582 ft (the boys went cycling on the highest road at 18520ft !) !! Dizziness, nausea, disorientation, migraine, moodiness, and in general shortness of breath and low energy. One night we even found a place to sleep next to a stunning lake, with our own little waterfall, river, surrounded by rocks - my gosh - it was amazing. The whole trip felt like living in a fairtytale:) The clouds were a big bubblebath. Gill and I helped build parts of a road with some locals in Jispa.

Finally when we reached Leh in Ladakh Valley (our final destination), we were back in crazy traffic, street lights and internet. We hired motorcycles (a few of us) and I made my first bike accident. Fortunately, I only hurt my knee (which is still not well even though I'm going back to work tomorrow). We went to interesting monasteries (by the way, the people live and look like Tibetans as soon as you reach the foothills of the Himalyas already). The weather in Leh was so perfect. We stayed for 4 days. We gave our clothes in for laundry service, which means a guy is smacking your garments against some rock on the riverbank and drenching it through lovely gray river water.

The trip was very well planned by Pookie, whose birthday we were actually celebrating and scored us good deals (especially when getting free rooms as ‘tour operator’, haha). It was a fantastic experience.

Back in Delhi, the group started to split and eventually Param and I went to Chandigarh for 2 days where I met his awesome sister.

I got the news that my grandma passed away:(

Now, back in Dubai and Param is visiting me for another week. I’m soon off for more adventures though. Have a very promising roster for AugustJ

I wish I could tell you all more details about the trip. It will be a book if I did. Thank you for those I got to share it with in India. And thank you for those I get to share it with here.

Warmest love,

A

Namaste

ring my bell (Scotland)

Hi ya

"My name is Alta and I'll be your waitress on today's flight". Yeah right. Man, the Scottish can drink!! They emptied the aircraft and left us with no break. My hotelbedroom in Glasgow was the first one I jumped on! Haha. It just look so cozy. I forgot to pack my jeans and looked quite ridiculous with a checkered coat, my funky check boots, scarf and...... and... gymtights. Haha!! But I improvised by purchasing grey legwarmers on my way to the trainstation and just blended right in with the UK's funky fashion style. The train is really awesome, even had a train attendant. Scotland is BEEEEAUUTIFUL!! No photos I took could capture the uniqueness and beauty of this destination. Even though it rained a little, the temperature was great. Green, lush, farms, strrrrong accents, whisky, bagpipes playing in the background, beeeg woman with even bigger calves balancing on high shoes, umbrellas, cleanliness and serious alcohol consumption all made up for Scotland. I went to Edinburgh (which is dropdead beautiful) to go see the Castle, went to a Scottish pub and had Haggis, neeps and tatties (a Scottish dish - mash, turnips and sausages - and surprisingly and pleasantly could have a vegetarian option) accompanied with Auchentoshn scotch whisky from that very same area. I just missed the last tour of the distillery:(

I had a great time.
Next I'm off to Joburg again, was there the other day. Will go visit my sis. Then a few turnarounds. Will probably not have news again for a month, as I'll be leaving the 12th for the trip to India to the Himalayas for two weeks!!

A'raait

Alta

italian iron stallion (Milan, Italy)

Buon giorno

Allora,
so I went to go visit George Clooney in Italy, but he wasn't home. Haha. Apparently he owns a house somewhere around the Lago (Lake) Como, which is a beautiful area about 40mins away from Milan. It was Sunday, the sun was strong, the weather hot and sticky. Many bikes, big scooters, Vespas, Ducatis, and other roaring beauties came passed us every minute as we were strolling the streets looking for a nice ristorante to chow some pizza. We found one, I had some Italian beer, and we finished it off with gourmet Italian icecream. It's so funny to see every different country with their unique style and with their things that make them famous. In Bangkok for example every second corner is a massage parlour and tailor shop. In Milan, it is icecream and a little shop that sells tramezzinis and paninis.

Old bicycles, laundry hanging on balconies, flower pots, shouting in streets, and men eyeing you all made up for Italy:) I loved it. I knew I was there. To finish off my experience, I went into a local supermarket and had a lot of fun. (and as my flatmate Paula would say: I wish I was a local for a day) Ooo, did I mention the men? They are hot! Hot, hot, hot! Even our busdriver and the train attendant were sexy. In the cabins already we had competition who had the sexiest man in their respective area, heehee. At boarding and disembarkation I greeted every person in italian. I always say Ciao anyways, so it was cool doing it professionally:) Going to Milan, we had 33 Afrikaans people on board though, that was funny;-)

We (Kate and Amanda, awesome girls) also went to see the cathedral in Duomo. There was a soccer game on, I think Spain against Italy and there were thousands of people gathered in that area. And it was so wonderful to see the sun still high and hot at 9pm!!

Back at my hotel, I enjoyed the sunset by sitting on my own balcony, trying to feel like a local:)
Looking forward to more trips to Italy

Arrivederci
Ciao
A

Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes - anonymous