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

pearl of Africa (Entebbe, Uganda)

Oyotya (aw-yaw-tia -> i struggled with this at first)
(btw. the greetings I use in my letters are actual words that I learn and use onboard or in the country,
and the response from the locals are great!)

And apologies for sending some news only now, thanks for bearing with me - I am going through a silly phase and get lazy to write. Nevertheless, I'm back with little news...

Went to Uganda (swapped my Heathrow for it), Entebbe. Similar to Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana - dirty roads covered in red dust, bikes and crazy taxis (saw an accident between a scooter and a bakkie which blocked our way, so our busdriver went over the pavement to get us at the airport in time, haha), people very friendly, huge Indian community as there were 4 Indian channels on tv, and a Hindu temple in Kampala (the area we stayed in). All I aimed to do in Entebbe, was to see Lake Victoria, and we happened to stay right next to it, haha (it was the backyard of the gorgeous and stunning resort we stayed at), so I didn't leave the resort. We witnessed the friendliest, beautiful and social dragonflies ever! They followed us like curious puppies and even paused for a couple of photos. Wow! At night you could hear birds, frogs and crickets. And there were many horses at the stables. The weather was perfect! The crew was lovely! It was a transit flight, which means we stop in Ethiopia first (where I learned some more words again, lol)

I had 7 days off and planned on coming to Cape Town or at least any other continent, but unfortunately flights were full everywhere, so I am staying in Dubai. I picked up a flight to Rome (yay, finally) also. So, more news to come later

We have new uniforms, which were launched on the 7th of June. I love it!! Makes me feel corporate and sexy at the same time;-)



Best wishes to you all


Werabe
Tulabangane
--
A
Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes - Walt Whitman

little piece of heaven, Zanzibar (island off Tanzania)

Jambo

Habari



Inhale slowly, aaaah exhale even slower. Tons and endless amounts of fresh crispy air, clear headed, tensionfree and no traces of jetlag. An amazing and most relaxed holiday I’ve experienced so farJ I have been dreaming of this and am still fantasizing on the memories of it…



Karibu to Zanzibar! Pookie and I (by the way, we want to be together and still love each other dearly, it is just not possible for us right now) explored Zanzibar Town (Stone Town – a world heritage site) on arrival. Very interesting historical creation of Arabic architecture (old wooden doors), small alleys, many scooters, cats with beautiful eyes, black women in abayas (those black dresses), rastas, old buildings that are peeling, spice markets, fish markets and random people trying to sell random stuff.



Then we went to the North (Kendwa – close to Nungwi) where we sat on the beach as a romantic couple watching the stunning sunsets every evening (stayed there for 3 days), ate good food (I gained some weight), (I) slept an average of 9 hours daily excluding the many times I fell asleep on the beach or a hammock, long walks and generally chilling and listening to music.



We mutually felt it was time to move on and explore other parts of the island, so we went to the East coast to Jambiani. We basically had a beach and lodge to ourselves living in a village (May is low season, apparently the worst time to go – blah blah, luckily I never listen to these things, because we had amazing and perfect weather). Our bungalow was right on the beach (5meters away) and we spent our nights sleeping outside on the stoepbed covered by a mosquito net (they chowed me alive nonetheless). Went for a tour to the village Kizimkazi and into the deep, deep sea where we swam with dolphins!! Had lunch in a local’s home, wow!


Life is slow on the island and we chilled. Content.


Finally back at the airport, I checked my roster online (I’m on standby remember) and saw that I have a rest day the following day, so the Pookies stayed one more day in Stone Town where we experienced the night markets (where they sell freshly catches of the day and freshly squeezed sugarcane juice). Explored a new area and enjoyed our last moments together, the weather was gorgeous.



Back at the airport I had an interesting experience. In my flight to Dar, I sat right behind the captain, haha (smallest aircraft I’ve seen and been on – seats only 12) and no co-pilot, a passenger sommer seated himself next to the captain. A 15-minute flight cruising at an easy breathable 7000ft!!



Aaaaaah, life is wonderful



Upendo,

Alta

Star of Africa (Accra, Ghana)

Atisen

First of all, my head is still spinning from all the traveling I did last month, and now that I'm on standby, my life is turned upside down again... I've been meaning to write this long ago, just never had the time. I never get used to staying up at night, getting up early or forcing myself to sleep during the day, but at least I get used to missing out on sleep. Soon I'll be 40.

So, like I said last time, I was off to London, instead I went on a 4day trip to Ghana. One of my personal goals, is to see more of Africa this year. So far so good:) The trip works like this: we fly to Accra (Ghana), land afternoon, book into our hotel (which we get to keep for 3 days without having to check out). Spend the day and night in Accra (where we went to the beach, ate local food = disgusting, be surrounded by hundreds of people trying to sell stuff to us while we are trying to relax on the beach, play an ancient game with the locals then end up buying the game, smoke shisha AGAIN, look at the many men jogging passed training for soccer or something = creating an entertaining scene of an African Baywatch movieset for women, haha, get a peaceful snake wrapped around my neck and pay for that, then finally get tired of trying to relax and go back to hotel)

Then we work a 'normal' 10 to 4 day flying quickly to Abidjan and back (Cote d'Ivoire = Ivory Coast) and have the rest of the afternoon free again (where we went back to the beach because there was a beach party, drank local fermented palm 'beer' = disgusting, got harassed more, tried to dance to live reggae music while being surrounded by locals, get overpriced on our dinner, then finally give up and go home, screw this)

Have half the next day free, go to mall where we found Truworths, Woolworths, Game, Shoprite, Huisgenoot, Savannahs, Lutzville wine!!! and got curious about the amount of South Africans in Ghana!!?

Felt like a little holiday, easy flight, friendly people. They openly practice Christianity (you'll walk into the clothing shop and the guy in the back is blasting his gospel album)

Average beach, average place, average experience:)

Meanwhile, Rico wanted me back, spent two more weeks as his girlfriend and had a lot of fun, then I had to break up with him last night:( It's the right thing to do:) Pookie is the love of my life!

For my vacation that is finally approaching, I'll be going to another African destination: Zanzibar!!

So stay tuned, watch this space:-)

How are you doing?

Hugs,
A

turkish delight (Istanbul, Turkey)

Merhaba

Heya, hasn't it just been a beezzy month of globaltrotting and entertaining you with it:)!!
Meanwhile I've been to Tunis 3 times this month, no need to tell you much, just that each time I feel the same fresh feeling on arrival. The place is just plain gorgeous and I'm in love with it. I went to England, where it is Spring and the flowers and trees are beautiful and there is actually a bit of sun. Am going there again tomorrow, hopefully can meet an old school friend of mine.

Oh yes, the few curious ones who were asking for the juicy bits from my last letter... about Rico... Well, I have been seeing Rico for a month and a half, blonde haired blue eyed 39-year old who I communicate with in Afrikaans (being half Saffie, half Swiss) who would marry me tomorrow. Ah, life!

And in between I responded spontaneously to an invite to go to Istanbul......
- with Param! I squeezed this in right between two flights of mine, where I had 3 days off... and off we went. Param came from Israel on his way to Cape Town and I met him there.

And Istanbul blew me away. Oh wow! Man, the place is amazing. First of all, the Turkish (most of them) are genuinely, friendly, hospitable people that would stop you in the middle of the road to ask what you are looking for and give you the needed direction and then finish it off by asking where you are from and that you are welcome in Istanbul. Even the cabdriver would direct you where to walk, and then you tell him that you actually would like to catch a ride... Lol.

Istanbul is DEFINITELY where East meets West. Tulips grow everywhere, European trees, cats, shisha, humus, mediterranean food, laundry hanging from railings next to the cute flowerpots, colourful buildings that fall apart, clean streets, underground apartments, shitty sewerage systems (excuse the pun) and being one of the most expensive cities to top it all (we paid around R500-700 a night for a room in a hostel, the cheapest we could find). Param and I didn't plan much and spent most of our time on foot just exploring and getting lost. The Blue Mosque was stunning as well as inside, the Hagia Sophia (AyaSofya) museum was great also - these two were our point of direction, we walked passed them 42 times, haha.
We stood right in the centre of the universe (called the Million Stone - because many many years ago that is where they measured everything from). In the evening (both actually) we ended in a backpacker style restaurant (cushions on the floor and low tables)... where u get beer towers (this long big tube of beer that you pour yourself, draught style, 2.5L) You get a t-shirt with every beer tower. We had TWO of these, hahaha! And a shisha (waterpipe). The place was packed with Australians (it is Anzac weekend) and fish bowls were going from one mouth to the other (filled with lots of cocktails and straws). It was all happening, the music, the vibe. Man, it was awesome. Soon I was shouting: "Been here, done that, GOT THE T-SHIRT!" Hahahaha. We were quite sober for two who had 5L of beer;) Then we had an interesting incident with a guy that became friendly with us, driving us around, offering us (more) beer, and me threatening him with the police at the end of it.(This has to happen, makes the journey so much more enjoyable). Always go with your gut feeling..

And then Rico broke up with me on the 3d day..

Even though it's been a Arabic/Muslim overload for me, and hopefully I won't have shisha for another 6 months, it has been an amazing month.

Next month I'm on reserve again and a bit of holiday in between, so surprises surprises:)

Money unit in Turkey: Turkish lira
Drive on right side of the road

Teşekkür (Tooshekkur)
You guys rock!

Mwah
A

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