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

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