a holy holiday, Jordan

Marhaba!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. I spent mine exploring the Holy Land (in Jordan) a little and was blown away with the amazing experience.

We (Rico and I) landed in Amman, and explored the town a bit. The city is sooo cute (from some photos I've seen, it looks a little like Israel). Buildings are all clustered in the same off-white/pinkish colour and same design, just different heights. And because it's very "hilly", ups and downs, it gives an interesting effect to the image. We had a feast in some local restaurant that night, smoking shisha till it came out of our ears, lol. The traffic is chill and the people are really friendly and helpful (or trying to help at least).

Then off we went to Petra (Wadi Musa). A 3hour drive south through red dry land. South and then west becomes very mountainous. Petra took my breath away. It is such a cute town and the surrounding mountains and roads hugging it, are stunning! We dropped our bags and went to the main gate where we were about to embark on our hiking journey to one of the 7 wonders of the world. Words can not describe this place and neither can photos. It's almost unbelievable. An entire 'city' has been built in rock, about 2000 years ago. It took us about 2-3 hours to reach the top (we weren't aware of this) and once there, we found the cherry on the cake. The aweinspiring Al Deir, a religious meeting place(monastary) in those days. I stood in front of this grand carved rock and struggled to get it all 'in'. It was overwhelming!
Then we had a chat with the Bedouins selling their jewelry over a cup of strong coffee and mint tea. There are donkeys, horses and camels everywhere (including the unfortunate 1000s of people wandering the sites) and so we each grabbed a camel to relief us of a portion of our descent. And THIS was another highlight of my life. I raced on a camel!!! The crazy (yet beautiful Captain Sparrow looking) cameltender listened to my request to go faster, so got on the saddle with me and we went as fast as these camels could go!!!! They listen like horses. So Rico and I were in our own race. This to me was ecstasy!!!!
Then afterwards another feast at a local spot, including Petra 8% beer and local red wine. The weather btw was fabulous!

Then a beautiful drive to the Dead Sea(3hours).
Along the road we saw many goats and sheep with their shepherd and dogs.
We were soon floating and I was trying to do a few moves and flipped over. What a disgusting experience, hahaha!! Take a small glass of water, put 42 spoons of salt in there and throw it over your face. (the water is just to make it splash). If you play with salt again, you might realize salt has an oily texture to it. The water felt like this, a bit greasy. It evaporates fast, leaving a thick white trace all over your scalp and body, and then you begin to itch. I'd rather use a lilo. Covered myself in mud for some free spa treatment and soon I was surrounded by some 10 local men, staring at this woman in a costume (they are not used to it, it's like this in Dubai also, hehe)

Then on our way back to Amman, we saw the Dana Village down in the Rummana Mountain ranges. We drove passed Mount Nebo (where Moses was buried) on our way to Madaba (the town with the most memorable places in the Holy Land) and you could actually feel the Jesus/Bible vibe around these areas. I could just imagine an Arab Jesus, with his long robe walking with sheep through these beautiful farmlike stony yet green bushy fields with an air of Peace, Love, Calm and Joy:) In my mind everything came together, as if I understood the history. Israel is afterall just on the other side of the Dead Sea where we were.
We had lunch in Madaba (which is an interesting Arabic Christian town) at some real skanky local diner. I ate fresh chickpeas for the first time (comes out like peas).

Back in Amman, we stayed in the Old Town, at backpackers. Short and schweet. Rico allowed me take the lead in the trip, but mostly we went with the flow. Oh, how fantastic is it that I go through immigration with just a stamp in my lovely South African passport, and Rico pays 20JD (R200) and wait in a queue to get a visa with his Swiss passport, haha!! In Jordan, everyone has the same habit: "Where are you from?" (reply) South Africa. "Welcome". :)

Bless in bliss
Mwah
A

breakfast in tunis, Tunisia

Salam!

My goodness, I haven't even heard of Tunis before joining Emirates... and how this place took my breath away. North Africa, close to Morocco - Tunisia. Tunis to me was like cruising on Campsbay drive, going to Greece, romantic French and strong Arabic. The people are chill, friendly and seem to be happy (man, our cabdriver was a lunatic, he gave us the most amazing experience). Roman ruins are quite a regular sight, yellow blossomed trees (could only get the name in French), mandarin and lemon trees, winding roads, antique and new cars, mopeds, beaches, pizza shops and just plain beauty. Our driver took us (we were 7) to Carthage (pronounced French - Kar taj), where there is a beautiful mosque and some ruins overlooking the peninsula, to Sidi Bou Said, where you would find markets and little coffeeshops, and finally La Marsa beach.

The hotel was absolutely marvellous! I left my balcony sliding door open, to find myself waking up to the peaceful sound of birds on my birthday. We get a massive breakfast buffet for free for crew. Yes, I had to work on my way back on my birthday, but was blessed with amazing crew.... who reminded me of my birthday every 5 seconds, and right at the end after landing (even though it was 1am and my birthday was actually over), they surprised me with a cake and candles, and a perfume bought from duty free, even including Emirates stationary birthday card signed by all in their respective languages. Bless them:)

I would recommend Tunis to anyone. It's an all-in-one mix of the whole world:) And it's romantic!

Money unit: Tunisian dinar
People drive on the right hand side

Hope you are all fabulous
I love my job!

Hugs to you all
Mwah
Ella Alleqa'a
A

Out of Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

Sasa!

Finally I got to stay over in Kenya (had a few flights there before, but they were all turnarounds) and can share another amazing experience with you. We had the late flight, which meant early night landing, so having the whole day to do stuff the next day. That night I couldn't sleep. Why? Fear. Knowing Alta, aiaiaia what will she be up to the next day, with Kenya not being so stable. I knew where I wanted to go, but how would I get there. The tours were superexpensive (and I don't like touristy stuff anyways). All the staff at the hotel, advised me not to go so far, coz there were groups fighting, police everywhere and especially going by myself would be dangerous (I wanted to take one of those minibuses again, called the matato in Kenya). The crew didn't want to go with me. And therefore, I was scared - because I knew that I would go. So I lay awake, praying for safety, for something, for someone. The next morning, I was still in a rut. I asked for a few second and third opinions, and they all said I should rather not go. So I called up crew to try and convince them, and they all made plans to go to the zoo. But when I have this burning feeling in me (like the one I had in Tanzania, in Sri Lanka, etc), then there is no stopping me. I can feel something beautiful wants to be borne..

And so a long story short with a very happy ending, off I went with two crew members in our own private taxi to go to Naivasha. Yes, there were a lot of police on the way (they put these spikes in the road to slow cars down - never heard of beacons or gates?) The weather was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!! (They predicted heavy showers). The trip was great, with stunning scenery. Lots of goats, cows, donkeys and sheep along the road and bushveld, which gives it this typical farmlike African style feeling. The sky and clouds were just freakin blissful!


I learned that rafiki means my friend in Swahili (for those who don't know - there is a pub/backpacker style/restaurant/typical Cape Townian hangout place in Tamboerskloof, Cape Town called Rafiki's)

Then we arrived in Naivasha (100kms out).
It's a chaotic African dorpie. I wasn't impressed, but relieved again when we drove through to go to Lake Naivasha and the scenery changed again to beautiful Africa. Once we got there, we were once again taken back by what we were surrounded by. Nature, wildness, silence, trees and then we saw a giraffe just chowing from the trees, 50ms away. It was crazy!! A Masai from the Mara region led the way and we found ourselves sharing a field with zebras, gazelles, waterbucks and giraffes. We tried to get close to them, but they would step back. This was not a zoo. Just open land. I couldn't believe how close we could get to the animals, just grazing around freely. This was true Africa to me. Not some Safari. Then he showed us to a place (a hotel - one that you can't stay at) and there was no one. We were the only people there. How fabulous!! They offered us a boatride, and we couldn't resist. So off we go. And as we approached a bunch of rocks, and as we got closer, we realized shucks - it's HIPPOS!! A whole group.
Man, I've never seen hippos in real life!!! We got so close, the one hippo went under water and came after us. Our boat had an engine (thank God) And wait, it doesn't stop here. There were beeeeautiful beeeg flamingos everywhere. We saw a massive fish eagle (flew away as we got closer, just sitting on a stick coming out of the water - it's not very deep by the way - the hippos were just chilling, basically sitting/lying) There were huuuuuge pelicans (I still thought it were sailing boats from afar, that's why we thought this great place was busy - geez, and I had my eyes done). On land(the lake was pretty big, was as if we approached an island) we saw a big herd of gazelles again, and waterbucks as we made a turn, to find another group of hippos on the other side. We even saw a very big dead hippo laying on its side.

The whole experience was extremely peaceful and wholesome. Our driver took us back into town (Naivasha), and we insisted to go to some shack to have local food.

Back in Nairobi, we were not allowed to leave the hotel because of some demonstration going on. We left anyway. Bought some Savannas at the local supermarket:) and decided to check out the markets. Now, as you know, I've been to a lot of markets, but dear lord, I've never experienced such desperation before. These guys corner you, grab you by the arm to buy stuff, shout above each other and even fight with each other like children over a toy to get your attention. They actually get aggressive. Thank God I had two guys with me. I had to get out of there!! It was awful.

Overall, the experience was amazing, and the feeling is still lingering:) And I put my palms together to thank the universe/God for giving me this journey, for making it happen for me.

I hope you enjoyed reading this

Eish, I must still tell you about Austria (my roster is slammed this month!) Soon

Ok brothers and sisters,
till laters
A

Greetings from Heidi (Zurich, Switzerland)

Zurich, ze beautiful city of Switzerland.
I always thought Zurich was in Germany, heehee, but well... it wasn't far from the truth when I got there. It's like Germany. People speak German, but they are just more friendly:)
Anyhooo, I had fun all the way there... even our trainride from the aircraft. It felt like we were in a carousel... the sounds of cows moooing, those famous cowbells ringing, Heidi yodling in the background and even sending kisses (we could see these images of her as we went passed - a lot of them together makes it looks she's moving) and in the airport we were surrounded by everything Swiss. Swiss army knives (i've always wanted one, so I bought one), Swiss chocolate, watches etc.

6 of us took a trainjourney downtown (including the pilots again) and we were kicked out of First Class. Haha!! We didn't know. Everything is in German.
Guten morgenWe strolled around in the beautiful city, walked all the way to Lake Zurich (not worth a photo - they made such a big booohaaa about it), saw some swans, had something to eat and around sunset (I was mesmerized by the sight of this in a city like that) we went back to our hotel. I met up with Amber in the morning for breakfast (my best friend since 2002, she was on the evening flight by chance)


Before all this, I spent 10 insane days in Cape Town for a 'holiday'. I needed one afterwards. As I'm always open and honest with you guys, I thought I would share that I went through depression. I lost more weight (well, I didn't eat, and didn't sleep), went for therapy (the breakup with Param opened stuff I had to deal with, like the death of my sister). I've committed to Life Strategies for another 2 or 3 months (the wonderful company that takes you towards Peace, Love, Calm and Joy) and I am back on track! Doing good and feeling great! I even planned my year ahead (now, that's an achievement, lol)

So ja, that's all folks

I just came back from a second trip to Zurich. I'll be going to Russia again soon. Damn. I find it funny that only until recent did I see snow for the first time, and now I am being bombarded with it, lol.

Warm hugs,

Tschüss (almost pronounced like Cheers)
A

From Russia With Love (Moscow, Russia)

Doobraye ootro

Whooohooo, so finally I got to see a lot of snow, falling falling freezing!!. Moscow! These guys handle snow as if it's an umbrella. Flights don't get delayed, everything goes on as normal. The traffic was pretty tight, and the cars are dirty, buildings are very visibly connected to each other with wires and our bus driver kept cursing in Russian. There are these big bulldozer snowscrapers that hoot people out of the way at the speed of freakin 80k/h or something. It was awesome to go mission with a big group, including both pilots, in heavy snow and freezing cold in a town that speaks no English. The pilot, being good with direction ofcourse, followed the map and got us to the Red Square on a train.
Even when all 9 of us bought tickets, we just pointed to the map and showed 'return'. Man, it was cold!!! Well -13'C. It almost felt unreal to me, being new to that. The snowflakes were dry and the sound it made underneath my shoes sounded crunchy. I felt like I was on a xmas movie setup.


So, we went for dinner, walked around some outdoor souvenir shops at the Red Square, played in the snow and dodged out of the way of those bulldozers many times;-) We ended our night looking for a bar to have..... VODKA ofcourse!! Even I had some. Too many maybe (sorry ma), we all got drunk. On the way back we even did the snow angel thing in that cold. But by that time it wasn't cold anymore, lol. We had a ball of a time!!

This was actually my London Gatwick flight that I swapped for Moscow, and it was definitely worth it.

Well, that's it for now. Hope I described well, this letter was written in a hurry, coz I'm off again for another flight.

Toedeldoe!!
Da sveedaneeya (Dasvidanya)
Spaseeba

Mwah
A

manila vanilla (Philippines)

Kumusta ka
Hello ma'aaaaam, hello suuur

Crazy Philippines it has been;) Believe it or not, Filipinos make a large percentage of the population of Dubai. So, I am quite used to working with them and seeing them everywhere. But finally learning a little more about them and their country, has been very interesting. So, I shall share with you.

I traveled with some crew to the oldest part in Manila, Intramuros. In Spanish this means"within the walls". Philippines was colonized by the Spaniards in the 16th century. I found this out a little while ago, because one crew member with extraordinary and beautiful features, explained that if they can prove they have Spanish blood in them, they can get Spanish citizenship. They are also mostly Catholics and in and around the Intramuros area we saw a beautiful cathedral, a fort that was also built in the 1500's and colourful Spanish style buildings. This is quite funny, as Manila is a busy, heavily polluted, traffic crazy capital city.

4 things I quickly noticed about Manila: 1. The Filipino version of a tuk-tuk, is a 3 wheeler. It has a bike or bicycle attached to it.

2. They have these truck/van/bus public transport thingie, that looks like aliminium tin carriers with lots of colours. 3.They abbreviate most everything. Roadsigns might show that the TIRC must turn left here, IFW created this, your BO is strong, etc etc. I was wondering if they carry a dictionary with them to refresh their memory. 4. Man, Filipinos loooove kareoke. We already know this in Dubai. It is no surprise to be invited to a Filipino's houseparty and singing the night away on their own kareoke system. But this topped it all.... on the music channels in Manila, they show the words also. So, I got to sing along Beyonce's latest song, and some other famous artists, lol!

I braved having a haircut in the Philippines (they didn't want to charge me for the shampoo and blowdry, because they say I am beautiful, aaaaaaaaaaah bless them, lol) ,got a massage, explored the shopping centre (which had a chapel right in the middle of it!!!! -ja, one moment you walk pass a shoe shop, next you see people on their knees praying), had beer in a mall while looking for Filippino delicacies in the food court (that was cool), but since they like pork and whole fish, I settled for Japanese bento which is almost every second stall.

Money unit: piso

So now, I find myself in Cape Town for the weekend. My original plan was to travel through Jordan, but the flight was overbooked:(

I hope you enjoyed the news
Till next time

Salamat po
Hugs,
Alta

hot, cold or burned (New year, Mauritius and Munich)

Hallo mense,

for some of us, as I've heard some stories, 2009 was not a great start - but nevertheless, it's just another year to explore and create some stuff in our lives.

I ended 2008 with a fantastic time in JNB (yes, I managed to go) with my family. Param and I got to ride horses, play with the children, make food, chill and just have a relaxed holiday. It was so perfect. By the time it was midnight into 2009, I was 38000ft in the air shouting happy new year!! This was on my way back to Dubai. Oh well. It's not always a big countdown bash for all of us:)

At least on the 2nd of Jan, I was making love to the sun in Mauritius;) Two days of hot, steamy sunkissing. It's summer there. They work on Africa time also, everything is late and slow. Nevertheless, it was relaxed and fun, and I ate a lot.


Then off to freezing cold Munich after that. Good grief. A good bit of snow spread everywhere. It was personally my coldest experience so far and first time to see snow falling (if only dandruff sized, i saw it fall on my black gloves) and it was emotional. A colleague and I got lost at night (because we were chatting too much and taking wrong trams into wrong directions). We went into a hotel to ask for directions to realize that we don't know the name of our hotel and we also lost our map, hahaha. Usually you'll get panicked and freaked out, but with our shared crazy and positive attitude, we took it as an opportunity which had no name. We just laughed. Don't know how, but we found our way back after a couple of hours. In the very early hours of the morning, I went for a walk to the English garden (almost an hour's walk). Well... I won't really call it a garden...

By now I have quite a strong impression of how each different country works and feels to me. And I also notice how my news to you is influenced by my mood at the time of print. Now, while I'm in a very good mood at present, I do remember that many times, and especially lately I feel like putting a halt to my flying. And I've been meaning to share this with you. It is hard on my body, I am always sleeping for some flight or sleeping after a flight, and I miss being surrounded by a group of close friends. Despite it all, I have been making the best of what I have. Because after all, it is security. I do feel it's time to consider other things.

After much thought (and resistance), Param and I have taken some time apart. I can only speak on my own behalf that it has been one of my most challenging times. I have gone as low as seeing no light at the end of the tunnel, to motivating myself in the search of my own strength. So here I go on yet another journey, looking up, being grateful and hopeful.

Danke schoen for listening to my stories
Have fun

A