Houston, we have a problem (Houston, Texas)

Howdy, how ya'all doing?

So imagine this.... I get up at 05h30 Saturday morning... I get ready for work....I fly...I work...I rest and sleep for 4 hours in our crew rest....I work some more...I wait and stay up while passengers are sleeping....I walk around listening to the cruising of the aircraft....I shit a little in my pants during turbulence...I visit the flight deck crew...I'm tired...I'm being silly with my crew to stay awake and positive....and by the time I sit in my jumpseat and hear the captain say we must get ready for landing, I look on my watch...it's around 2am, Sunday in Dubai...!!!! I have been inside an aircraft for 17hours and flew back in time... it's Saturday, 4pm in Texas, people are still waiting for the evening to come. I should be sleeping... but hey, things to do, places to see:)


So me and the First Officer (an Afrikaner) and a Polish girl hired a car and off we go on our own little roadtrip to the NASA Space Center. It's like a NASA museum and it was awesome to relive the first landing on the moon, see the spaceships from inside... how they lived, ate and showered... the highs, the disappointments (there were a few theatres showing videos - like the explosion of one of the spaceships) etc... We even got to see the real life simulators that they use today.

Then off we went to Galveston.. a little island about an hour's drive. The scenery and everything changed and we found ourselves in a gorgeous little American neighbourhood with white picket fences,
double storey wooden houses with big American flags hanging from it, being a Sunday we saw lots of Harley Davidsons and even a bike gang (yo yo yo American brother style). The weather in Texas is hot and humid. Being used to living in a painful sauna right now, that weather was heaven! We walked along the beach (the water is brown) and had some local Texan beer at a pub and made friends with the locals and ended up at a "Waterfront" style harbour and had a beautiful seafood feast.

The next day (2days layover) we went to the Cheesecake factory (for the ones that don't know me really well..., I'm a sucker for a good baked cheesecake) :) . This was in the Galleria mall which is very well known in Texas (there are TWO Macy's!)

Me and Anna were looking for cowboys (man, this girl is just as crazy and adventurous as me, if not more) and we finally found one in civil clothes. When he asked me where I'm from, and on my reply he ofcourse responded: "You don't look black to me". Don't LOOK black, wtf?? I said: "Sir, you need to get out more often" We didn't even bother to explain where Poland is:)

Overall, the trip was amazing, as I mentioned before... everything in America feels like I'm living in a movie.

I hope ya'll have a great weekend
Take care now
A

overlayed (Dar Es Salaam, Paris and Rome)

Hey!

Hoe gaan dit??

forgot to tell you guys...

I went to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) again last month, and guess what?!? I went to that same island, and I found Jimmy the Rasta again;-) It was a lovely reunion, and we spent a few hours together again, and this time Jimmy gave me his mobile number (he has been keeping in contact with me by sending a sms once a month from a different number, au).

The shells he picked up for me this time, were much bigger, the weather was amazing as always
Oops, and I forgot to mention that I went to Paris again, last month at some stage, or was it the month before? (it was my very first flight/layover with my new career - a year and half ago) and it was good to be back there and fall in love with it all over again. We just went into town again, saw different angles of the city and of the Eiffel Tower and went inside the Notre Dame:)

Then I went to Rome..
and it was a walk through history itself. Rome was definitely not built in one day,

hehe. I did not find the Romans as nice as the people from Venice and Milan, and therefore don't like the place as much.

I am going through a phase of not being too excited about my layovers and therefore it reflects in my newsletter, which I'm lazy to write:) Forgive me. I know you have been waiting for this a while... and yes.. I will definitely still send you photos of the new uniform.

My motorcycle license application is strong in progress, and Wednesday I'm going for my final test. Wish me luck;-)!

I miss Cape Town, and all you beautiful people

Rock on!

Alta