i'm here in seattle right now. we are billeted at the double tree airport hotel. far from downtown but the rooms are nice and cozy and they give out yummy chewy chocolate chip cookies upon check-in. i'm flying with cristina, another filipino crew.
the flight to here was smooth and the passengers were well-behaved. there were a lot of babies on board. there was this caucasian couple who i assumed adopted the baby they were carrying because the little one looked very korean. the baby kept on crying and the mother couldn't pacify him. she was so helpless that she was on the verge of crying. good thing ajumas (married or old woman) who were sitting nearby offered to help calm the baby. i just hope that the baby was just teething and not having stranger anxiety with his new mom. i wonder how the real mother could've given up an adorable and chubby little thing.

we didn't do much during our layover because it kept on raining which is not a surprise though (hello?! it's seattle!). we went to the southcenter mall (because that is the only place that the complimentary shuttle would go) to do a little shopping. i expected to find a foodcourt but unfortunately it was under renovation so we had to go out, cross the street and get drenched in the rain to reach the thai restaurant nearby. mygahd, i ate a lot!
after that we walked over to Target to buy some dry items. i was able to buy Aqi a toy, camo shorts, sandals and a bath wash. i regretted buying shorts yesterday from Gymboree for $6 because there were a lot of $2 shorts at Target.
and oh i lost a shopping bag yesterday with a blouse inside and i don't know where i lost it. good thing it was just $8 but still!

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i got hubby his plane ticket to new york and mygahd the tax was so expensive! it was an FOC (free of charge) ticket but then we still had to pay for the tax. i forked over 88,000 won which is around $88.

The Crew That Eats Together....

got this from the Fly Away Cafe
didn't know that it's the same way with other airlines.

Q: Does the whole crew get together for meals on layovers?

A: Rarely, although a lot depends on the size of crew.

With smaller crews typical of commuter carriers, a crew may be three people — two pilots and one Flight Attendant. In those case it is fairly typical for the entire crew to get together for dinner. Those layovers tend to be in smaller cities, which means fewer dining options, and it’s easy to coordinate preferences for only a handful of people.

At the major carriers you are talking about a crew of at least five — two pilots and three Flight Attendants — and it goes up in numbers from there. Since that’s the work environment that I’m accustomed to, it’s the one that I can speak to the best.

I haven’t been out for dinner with the entire crew since longer than I can remember. Crew members have their own interests - whether it’s visiting family on a layover, pursuing a personal interest, working out, shopping, or even slam-clicking (going into your hotel room (slam), locking the door (click), and never being seen or heard from until the flight the next day). It’s not typical for everyone to be on the same page about what they want to do on a layover.

Despite what might be portrayed in movies or on television, we don’t always like one another very much. I don’t mean that we hate one another either, but most of the time you don’t share a lot in common with most of your co-workers. If you are fortunate enough to fly with someone that you like, you’ll probably go off and do something together. But no one wants to spend quality layover time with someone that you have nothing in common with.

Another reality is that crew members have different budgets, and that carries over into meal choices. While some might enjoy going on for a leisurely meal and glass of good wine, others subsist off of cheap fast food eaten in a hotel room. The two extremes rarely can find common middle ground to make everyone happy.

Some crew members view their layover time as a time to be alone, away from family at home and passengers on the plane. The layover is a time to decompress, relax, watch mindless television, read a book, etc. The last thing they want is to be around co-workers.

Most Flight Attendants have made all of these choices at one point or another in their career. I know that I have. It’s all about making a personal choice, and rarely is an entire crew going to make the same personal choice.

Inflight Booboos

During meal service while working on a flight to Manila I was telling the passengers that the choices were beef with rice and seafood with rice. As I was about to finish serving all my passengers, a co-worker asked me if I still had omellette in my cart. OMYGAWD!!!!

Was wondering why no one questioned me. I probably gave the "supposed seafood" to those passenger who were really sleepy at that time and would settle for anything. Whew!