Rely on Your Crew!

Long time, since I posted...honestly I've just gotten out of the habit and I forget a lot.

I've had a great couple months flying, I've been able to pick up every legal shift possible on my days off. Which led me to the decision to make an attempt at going Part Time so that I can fly more on more days off, like I do now. Now I'm just waiting to see if/when it gets approved.

The biggest lesson I've learned with the holidays and being away from family, friends and boyfriends; is to rely on the crew members that you work with and have built friendships with. They are all out there working too and understand exactly what you're going through. It's a very comforting feeling. Christmas was spent in Seattle after a 5:00 AM phone call from crew support to get sent there immediately. So my Christmas day started with a bang! Flew all day on Christmas day and went to the hotel, where the first officer from my flight also happened to be staying. When we got there my friend Scott (lived with him at the crashpad in Portland) also was stuck at the hotel from working! The hotel was doing a special Christmas dinner for us, so we all had dinner together and hung out the rest of the night. It was a great night!

Christmas Eve I was able to Skype with my family during dinner and get to have some time with them too. Really loving technology right now! I was able to make it to Utah a couple weeks ago to see my family and get some family portraits done.

Passengers have been very kind this week also with all kinds of delays and weird things associated with the holidays. In airports there were all kinds of activities going on to try to help passengers stay de-stressed. Seattle airport was my favorite! They had Christmas parades through the main food court complete with Santa, Frosty the snowman, guys on extended unicycles, a snow princess, a one-man-band, clowns handing out free drink coupons, and a mini remote controlled shark blimp floating through the airport. It was AWESOME! Kids were going crazy, and everyone else was smiling.

Oh the Adventures!

I've been flying for the last week or so, and it's been a blast! All kinds of new, challenging experiences and planes. Along with an unplanned road trip with Rick!

I had an overnight in Burbank, so Rick came to spend the day with me. I asked him if he wanted to hang out in Burbank for the rest of the day and I would come back and then we could drive to San Diego for my one day off before I went back up to Portland. One of my pilots heard us talking and was incredibly gracious and gave Rick his hotel room to hang out in for the next 5 hours while we were flying. After I got back, we drove to San Diego. 2 hours of 90's music, candy, and car dancing! I was so impressed with Rick and how flexible he was when I threw his schedule for a wild ride that day.

Monday morning I flew back to Portland to sit Reserve for 5 days. Right when I landed at 9 AM, I had been called for a trip. So I got ready at the airport and had some lunch. Then flew 7 trips on the EMB (little prop plane that sits 30 people) on Halloween! We had a few passengers that dressed up in costume and gave me candy on the planes, it was so much fun!

The night ended in Seattle for a short overnight (about 4-5 hours of sleep) and back to my little plane the next morning. So yesterday I had some interesting experiences, including having to take someone off the plane because she was "hung over" and throwing up regularly. It was the first time I had to do it, found it challenging to keep her from being upset as well as the other passengers that were now seeing their flight leave 20 minutes late. I'm glad I was able to do the right thing though.

Then my last two flights were on the Silver Bullet (as Skywest employees lovingly refer to it). It's a whole different configuration, one I had only seen pictures of. And of course it was a full house for my flights as I'm rushing around trying to remember where the heck everything was on the plane! I suddenly felt like it had been YEARS since training! I did manage to get everything under control and get everyone on the flights taken care of and we landed early both times!

What an adventure of a week! Now I'm in Portland on Reserve for three days, then this weekend, I'm flying trips out of LA to pick up time on my days off. I'm excited because I'm going to fly our biggest jets that I haven't ever gotten a chance to fly yet, here's to more experience!

Baby Salad!

Baby's first dinner out and what do all the aunts and uncle do to him?! Why throw him in a salad bowl on the table of course!

What a fantastic dinner, we all put in our useless two cents about what to name him too, and faught over who got to hold him, basically that kid is completely the center of attention at all times and we all make sure of it!

New Auntie Am!

I finally made it to Utah to be with this sweet little angel! Took me a couple days to make it, but I made it! Bidding and trading days paid off!

Somethings They Don't Tell You

I'm giving fair warning....this post isn't a happy go-lucky one. It's some very negative things that I need to get off my chest and out of my head so that I can work on finding positivity right now. SO, DON'T READ IT IF YOU DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!

When you go into training as a Flight Attendant, it seems all happy and perfect and like you're gonna have the time of your life in a new adventure. This is MOSTLY true, but there's a lot of things they don't warn you about that absolutely suck!

The friends you knew before training, and that swore were your best friends, have all but disappeared. Because, lets face it, out of sight out of mind. You have an incredible boyfriend that's a 1000 miles away and half the time you have no idea when you're going to see him next. You sit in a city that you know nobody but FA's in, so you're alone ALL the time. To top it of, they sent too many Reserves to that city so you don't actually fly hardly at all. You watch your heart float away in the clouds from your cinder block walled apartment and your mat on the floor. Yes, I said mat on the floor, because you can't afford a bed, or new tennis shoes, or your train ticket to get out of the apartment. You have incredible friends that you made in training, but you rarely see or talk to them because you got sent to opposite ends of the country and work different schedules. You don't get to go to any form of church often, because you're never in the same place. Your gym routine that once kept you sane, is all but dicintigrated. The wonderfully home cooked food you once loved happens once in a blue moon. And all of your belongings that once made you feel at home are in a storage unit, and you live out of 3 suitcases, 2 of which are flight bags.

I've been told this all gets better after you get off Reserve, I'm just beginning to wonder how much one person can take before they crack entirely?

Libby Made it on the News!!!

What a Day!!!

I reported to Portland this morning at 7:00 AM. Flew to San Francisco with a hour delay. We left from San Francisco almost an hour late, by this time I had figured out that this flight was my Check Ride (I.e. my testing flight to make sure I'm doing my job properly). We end up with a maintenance delay in Phoenix, which turned into a sand storm delay! On top of all this I'm supposed to leave on a trip tomorow morning for my testing on a new aircraft!

So basically I end up sitting in Phoenix for well over six hours. They will be putting me in a hotel in San Francisco tonight because I ran out of hours to work today. I fly back to Portland tomorrow and I'll catch up to my other trip on Saturday morning! What a crazy crazy adventure!!!!!

I just want to make it through this to get down to San Diego to see Rick this weekend!

Life of a FA!

More New Adventures!

Well....I'm moving again....but just across town haha! I'm moving onto PSU campus September 1st into college housing with 3 international master's students. I'm kind of excited about this move, it's much closer to downtown Portland and it's very close to the train. I like this already because it will actually be my place, not a crashpad. So I'll be sharing the living room and have a mattress on the floor, but it's MY space I don't have to move everything out everyday.

Wish me luck! I'm stoked!

Honor our Heroes

I just want to pay tribute to the incredible men that serve our country. I had the privilege of knowing some of those killed in the helicopter in Afghanistan. Incredible men that do incredible things everyday so that we can live in freedom. They deserve our honor and respect, thank those men when you see them.

I'm so grateful they are there so I can be here doing the things that I love to do and be with those people that I love. They sacrifice their families, their comfort and even their lives. What a blessing for us! I'm praying for those that are feeling the loss and the hurt that comes with it. Those men are heroes!

RIP

Made my day!

We do dinner GOOOOOOD at the Crashpad!

PO Box

Ok fair warning, this is a rant and rave blog.....

I'm SSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO annoyed!!!!! How does this make ANY sense?! I went to the post office to get a PO Box because I don't have a permanent address....Flight Attendant, shocking this would be the case right??

WELL you are required to have a permanent address that is consistent on at least 3 forms of government issued stuff i.e. car registration, driver's license, passport.

So if you have been MOVING consistently over the last few years, you think ANY of these match?! NO!

Secondly, WHY would I need a PO Box if I HAD a permanent address?!?!?!?!?!

Seriously I really wonder sometimes, and the lady at the post office looked at me and talked to me like I was the stupid one that didn't get it! Wow!!!!!

I'm doing some serious breathing techniques now! hahahaha, what an experience!

Smallest Park in the World

This is Mill Ends Park, Guinness Book of World Record's smallest park in the world! I made my waitress take a pic for me lol

PDX!!!!!

I'm finally in Portland, OR and starting to explore and LOVE it here! I went exploring all alone the first day, just put my walking shoes on and asked the hotel to point me in the direction of stuff. It was so fun! I really like it here! Rachel told me that I would just because of all the organic hippie food....I'm pretty sure she was dead on!!!! Half of my excitement has for sure been the incredible food!

Fresh salmon!!!! I think I will be eating ridic amounts of salmon here and then I'm gonna go to Alaska and catch my own!

The bridges are so cool here! This was one of the river tour boats.

Portland Saturday Market! Picture is worth a thousand words! haha, these people were singing opera, it was so bizarre and awesome! I had so much fun people watching yesterday!

Rachel knows her sister, send her to the best chocolate place in the world very first thing when she gets somewhere! Grandma, I'm bringing some back for you! Moonstruck Chocolates, folks, Moonstruck Chocolates!

Portland Saturday Market, got my favorite flower, help myself feel at home here :)

Class 7-11 buddies!!! Jen and Lauri! It was so good to hook up with them and know I wasn't alone in a big new place. We got to talk about our trips and find a place to live, good stuff!

More bridges, I lovity love them!

Again, the food is stellar here! This breakfast was to die for!!!!! And yes that is more salmon on top of my egg white scramlet! :)

Other great things also came with my move and new city! My divorce being final is one! And after over a year of singledom, there's a new man in my life :) I couldn't be happier about where my life is going and the incredible people and places that are a part of it!!! So incredibly blessed!!!!

IOE

That's our little plane out in the middle of no where Wyoming! The East entrance to Yellowstone is right behind it, it was a pretty cool airport to fly. The people are INCREDIBLY nice and the flights were small so I could have a good time with my passengers.

This was the statue outside of the Cody WY airport, I thought it was hilarious and needed a picture, my crew found it pretty funny how excited I was about everything too.

I had such an incredible crew for my training trip! Very patient and helpful and just a ton of fun! Got straight down to teasing each other and enjoying being in the air, I can't wait for my next trip!

FA baptism by fire!

What a crazy day yesterday!!!

My first day of my IOE we only had one flight and we took our time, I could ask tons of questions etc. My second day was NOTHING like that!

We got to the Milwaukee airport early, when we got there the plane wasn't there yet. We waited 90 mins for it to show up. So by the time it did there we were in a serious rush! Great for my first preflight of the aircraft....not! I was so flustered and turned upside down by the time the passengers boarded.

Everyone got on the plane and we had a lot of kids on a very late evening flight, that in itself was fun! Then we diverted 45 mins out of the way of a storm, and by the time we landed in Denver we had been switched from gate to gate due to other late flights. We sat on the ground for awhile, and finally got to a gate.

By the time all was said and done we left for Saskatoon 2 hours late!!! Craziness! I also got to experience working in turbulence for the first time, I have now fondly named that "Cloud Surfing" because if you look at me, my legs are spread out and squatted like I'm on a surfboard and you have to lean on overhead bins or walls etc! My balance is gonna be killer from this job!

All in all, it wasn't horrible but I'm really hoping today goes a little smoother. I'm incredibly grateful that I've had excellent passengers that have been very very kind when they figured out how green I am! They tell me I do a good job, which goes a LONG way when you feel like you've completely butchered the flight!

Time to get ready to soar again! See you in Cody WY tonight!

Getting my Wings!

A few pics from my Graduation, I'll narrate them all for you! This was seriously one of the coolest experiences of my life to date!

It's my turn for my Wings! Laurie was my roommate and I love her dearly! Can't wait to have some killer fun in PDX with her!

Getting my Wings pinned by Captain Kennington, he was so sweet, he was totally shaking!
Captain Kennington

Hey hey Class 7-11, we made it!!!

So grateful Richie could come support me and take me and Liz to lunch. Love you Bro!

What an incredible day! I'll keep updating as I have time, love you all! See you in the skies!

Minor disappearance!

I'm back, I leave on my IOE (first training trip) tomorrow! Milwaukee, Saskatoon Canada, and Cody Wyoming here I come!!! I'll get more pics from training posted and ready to roll while I'm on my layovers. If you have Skype, I'm making very good use of that as well right now to keep in touch while I'm out of the country.

Thanks for the prayers in my behalf while I was in training, it was for sure one of the most trying and incredible experiences I've ever had in my life! I will never forget and I will forever be grateful for the loving friends I now have because of this experience! We all pulled each other through some really rough horrible patches to get us all to our set of wings, and I am so excited for the experiences that I'm sure are on their way in Portland and across the world with all these people!

And my domicile is.....

Drum roll please!!!!!!

I'm going to Portland, Oregon!!!!!!!

I have my first trip scheduled for July 18th and I get to fly the CRJ200's, which happen to be my favorite jets! It was flight attendant Christmas today!

Evac Trainings

Again picture overload for your entertainment! This last week has been evacuations week. I passed all my exams with flying colors today! We had 9 tests today, it was CRAZY!

Pictures!!!

I have been SLAMMED!!! I got a day off yesterday, I've passed all my exams so far! Anyway, thought I'd picture-overload you on my recent training :)

Brian Regan just became even more hysterical to me!

Nylons

Learned a new lesson this morning. Do NOT EVER put your required watch on BEFORE your nylons!!!! That was a mess!

Go figure I wouldn't have thought about this!HAHA

New Blog! New Life!

Well I decided to start my blog again, because training here is gonna get way more intense each day. We are here in training for 27 days with only 2 days off, so it's pretty crazy! I'm probably going to be ignoring my facebook a lot over the next month, but still wanted to allow everyone to have some updates on my new experiences as a FA (Flight Attendant).

Today I passed my first exams 100% on both the oral and written! I was pretty nervous but felt I had studied and prepared. I have a great roommate too, she's really nice and we get along just great! I'm not allowed to say much about what we're doing in training, but I'll tell you about what I can :)

I've already started to make great friends that I love spending time with! We're all working hard together to help one another succeed. I'm really grateful for this experience and the people I'm already meeting and getting to know. I'm grateful for STUDYING again! I love having my mind full and learning new difficult things! I have a phone book thick book I have to read and know very well, lots of things to memorize, and tons of class time to take notes. I LOVE IT!!!!! If I could go to school forever I totally would!

Keep the prayers coming and I'll make sure I'm doing my part to work hard!