ALOHA!

Ever think... hmm... what should I do this week...? Hawaii maybe? That was my thought after I got called for a trip on Sunday a week and a half ago. I was scheduled to leave for two days of flying, with an overnight in Spokane and being back in Tucson by 11am the second day, super early! I had the next three days off, so plenty of time to get somewhere that afternoon/evening. As soon as I was scheduled that trip, I was on the phone to my Aunt Sharon who lives in Hawaii on the big island. We chatted for awhile then I asked if I could come and visit - she said they would love it! So I started looking into things and thought I had it worked out.

Monday morning I met up with Jim and Pam. I had flown with Jim before - he is awesome, super laid back, and just a fun guy. He's the one that made the announcement about Rachael Ray being back in the cabin making 30 minute meals during the flight... Pam is so cool! Fun, chill, also very laid back - she is from Hawaii. I had such a great time with the two of them, it didn't even feel like work. Pam and I chatted a lot throughout the two days. She used to be a flight attendant for Continental Micronesia in Guam (so she knew were PNG was) and then flew cargo for several years. We spent the night in Spokane, Washington. I wish I could do a longer trip with them!! They were a fun crew.

Since she is from Hawaii, I talked to Pam about getting there... I had decided to try to get to Kona and back from LA on American Airlines... After I got back to Tucson, I flew to SLC on the same plane we'd come in on, then to LAX where I waited for about three hours... The gate agent had given me seat 11A and said he would block B and C for me. When I went to board, my boarding pass didn't work... twice. The third time I went back up to the gate agent, he said he was going to have to put me back in row 33, because I was mean... ???? I didn't care, as long as I got on... Then he told me to look at my boarding pass. It said FIRST on it, and I was in 1F!!!! I thanked him and gave him a big hug. As usual, I was very well taken care of by the American flight attendants... I had a 4 course meal, champagne and all! It was amazing! =)

I arrived in Kona late Tuesday night. It felt so unreal to be there! Wednesday morning I got up and went with Aunt Sharon and Uncle Morris to take the dogs for their daily walk around the neighborhood. It was beautiful! In lots of ways it reminded me of Papua New Guinea... the climate, ocean, landscape, flowers and trees... I loved it. My aunt and uncle live in Waikoloa Village, about a 45 minute (?) drive to Kona, where we went on Wednesday afternoon. Aunt Sharon and I did some fun shopping at the international markets and then went for a walk along the beach. It was overcast so that was a bummer, but it was still nice!

Thursday was a gorgeous day. After breakfast and coffee on the porch, Aunt Sharon and I went down to a resort on the coast called Mauna Lani. I went crazy taking pictures! We enjoyed the ocean and the sunshine, then found a hammock to relax in... it was wonderful. =) We had a wonderful time... good talks... refreshing in many ways!!! That afternoon we took Ginger to the vet. She has a tumor and Aunt Sharon and Uncle Morris were wondering how much pain she was in and if they should put her down... =( Great news at the vet though - she's not in much pain, if any, and she's doing alright! After the vet we took a drive to look at an amazing view at Pololu, and then made our way back home. Just a few pictures of the Hawaii scenery...
Thank you again, Aunt Sharon & Uncle Morris, for having me at your home in Hawaii and taking care of me!!! Hope we can do it again sometime! =)

I made it back to LA on Friday morning. It was nice to have a day to rest a little (not that I didn't rest in Hawaii, of course, but those red eye flights can be a killer!). Saturday I sat reserve in LA, and actually got called for a trip that started out of LA on Sunday morning. So it was great to have another day at home and another night in my bed. The highlight of being home though was talking to Chris. It is something that rarely happens these days... for whatever reason... but we got to talk and it was awesome. I had a three day trip starting on Sunday, with overnights in Albuquerque and Palmdale/Lancaster. My roomie, Morgan, deadheaded on my first leg with me, so we met up at LAX before the flight and she grabbed some breakfast. We were starstruck in the United terminal when we saw either MaryKate or Ashley Olson... An extremely slim young woman wearing jeans, heels, a hat, and big sunglasses. =) She went into one of those airport stores, so we went in too, just to make sure it was her. =) Ah, fun times.

It was awesome having Morgan on the plane with me - she even helped me do the service and we chatted the whole time we worked, which made it go by much faster. From Albuquerque I had the CEO of United on my plane, as well as their Board Director and both of their wives... kinda nerveracking! They were nice though, and hopefully they thought I did alright. The guys I was flying with were a lot of fun, and took good care of me, helping me with my bag, making sure I had something to eat, and even checking my hotel room when we got in, to make sure things were safe. Good times, safe flights, back home last night. I'm on call today then deadheading back to LAX this afternoon... Not feeling too great, I seem to have picked up a cold from somewhere, so hoping to get some more rest. Will you take care of me Mom??? =)

Can cops have dreads if they're not undercover?

Dad, this one's for you!

And any of you who answered no to that question... Remember the guy I met on the plane to Atlanta a couple weeks ago? Who was "supposedly" a police officer with the Chicago PD... but you've never seen a cop that has dreads... so he must have been lying to me about that... right?

Nope! Proof's in the picture. =)

Mexico & LA

On Saturday last weekend, my roommates Morgan and Jeremy and I decided to take off in the afternoon and go to Mexico! It was the middle of the afternoon, and we were all on call... I was until 4pm and they were until 9pm, but we figured that we wouldn't get called out so took the chance and started the drive down to Nogales. Our other roommate, Melissa decided not to join us in case she got called... We made it down late in the afternoon and first drove across the border. That was a mistake, because we couldn't find anywhere to park... So we got in line to go back to America... and waited about 45 minutes! Between the street vendors walking up and down the line of cars and Jeremy's comments about everything, we were kept entertained. Eventually we got back to Arizona, paid $3 to park, and walked back across. Going in to Mexico is a piece of cake as far as immigration goes!

Being blondies, Morgan and I were the hot attraction walking down the street! The guys asked Jeremy if we were his wives, and he said, "oh, no man" which gave them an invitation to hug us! It was funny. We walked around a little and bought fun stuff, and eventually went back just after dusk. It was crazy, walking a couple hundred feet and being in a place that felt so completely different! I loved the feeling, though.

Almost as soon as we crossed the border, my phone rang. It was Crew Support calling. It freaked me out, because it was around 7:30pm and I wasn't on call anymore! I let them leave a message, and when I listened to it, they said they had a 4 day trip for me that started the next morning at 5am! I called them back and asked where the overnights were... the first one was in LA! So I called home and let Mom & Dad know...

Sunday morning was a quick day, and after a rough start (no power or a/c on the plane) we made it to LA at 11am! Mom came and picked me up after church and took me home. It was awesome, everyone came over! My cousins, Heather and Steve, Aunt Tracy, even Abi! The surprise visit was Ashley, who used to live with my family. Maria was there too. =) I felt very loved. =) We all hung out, talked, had dinner... Then Mom and Dad ended up spending the night with me at my hotel near LAX. It worked out perfectly, because they were leaving for their vacation in Mazatlan, Mexico the next morning and that way they didn't have to fight the Monday morning LA traffic.

What was supposed to get me back to Tucson on Wednesday night (as a 4 day trip) turned into a 2 day trip... Crew Support called Monday morning and changed my schedule... I worked two round trips out of LA then deadheaded (a favorite term for many of you!! =) ) back to Tucson. I was on call Tuesday... no call. Wednesday evening I was deadheaded to Saly Lake City, where I sat for almost two hours, then worked a trip back on the CRJ 700 on the Delta side... It was amazing how big and nice the plane was! Got back at 11pm, and started my days off...

Flying and more flying!

Continuing on from my previous post, (which I started when I was on my last overnight and got too tired to finish) I didn't end up doing those Cali flights on Wednesday. See, I'm still trying to figure out how being on call works... Wednesday morning, I was supposed to report for my trip at 7:55am, so I'd gone to bed at 10:30 and had my alarm set for 6:30 so I could get a good 8 hours of sleep before a day of flying. My phone rang at 3:45am. It was good old Crew Support calling, and I answered it (not realizing that I didn't have to, since I was not even on call and was already scheduled for a trip). They said they were changing my schedule because they had someone call in sick, and that I was going to be flying a leg to Salt Lake City, and then either sitting reserve there at the airport, or deadheading back to Tucson to sit ready reserve at the airport here. Oh, and my new report time was 5:30am. Major bummer. They called back a couple minutes later to say that they were going to put me on a 2-day trip, so pack for an overnight. I asked if it was Salem... good guess! I was supposed to have a 2-day trip starting Thursday, also the Salem overnight.

I packed up and met up with Tammy and Andreas at the crew lounge. I'd flown with Tammy before, and had met Andreas (from Sweden) at a domicile lunch/celebration we had a couple weeks ago. We flew to SLC then Salem and got there early in the afternoon. That night I had a dinner date!!! =) Shainlee has been in the States for about a year, and is going to school to be a pilot. She lives in Eugene. When I'd been scheduled for my original trip to Salem, I got ahold of her to see how far away she was. She told me it was about an hour's drive, but she would come up and see me. I called her while I was in SLC to let her know I was coming a day earlier, and she said she had a car and would give me a call when she got off work. She got to my hotel just after 6pm, and we went to Baja Fresh for a muy delicioso dinner! Then back to the hotel to hang out, chat, look at pictures from home, and just catch up!! It was a great blessing to see her. The next day we flew back to SLC, did a round trip to Seattle, then flew back home.

On Friday afternoon I was scheduled to work a round trip to LAX. I was excited to work a flight home! Since I've been on reserve, I have always packed extra every time I fly, even if I'm just scheduled for a round trip, just in case they change up my schedule on me. This time I started to, then decided not to... Getting sick of carrying all this stuff, just to go back and forth. I took something to sleep in, just in case, but nothing else this time. Murphy's Law, right? As soon as we got to LA, Crew Support had sent a message to the cockpit telling the pilots to tell me to call them regarding changes to my schedule for that night. Well, the changes were to add two more days of flying to my schedule! They were going to fly me to Ontario (California) after sitting in LA for 2 1/2 hours, spend the night there, and then start a trip the next morning with two pilots from SLC. Shoot!! Well, Mom to the rescue! I called her up, and she and Maria came and picked me up and brought me home (with a stop at Golden Spoon on the way!!). =) The funnest thing was to call Dad when we pulled in... ask him what he was up to... then walk in while I was on the phone with him and surprise him. =) He called me a jerk, but really I know he was happy to see me. ;-) Mom hooked me up with an old carry-on bag and toiletries, and I grabbed some clothes out of my closet. We hung out for a little bit then Mom and Dad drove me up to Ontario (thanks again!!!!!! You guys are the best!) so I could just sleep at the hotel there and meet up with the guys in the morning, since we had a 5:30am showtime.

After a couple hours of shuteye, I got up, went downstairs, and had some breakfast that the hotel hooked us up with! The pilots were both cool - Marcelo, from Brazil, was the Captain, and Jonathan Walker was the FO. We flew to San Fran, then did a round trip to Palmdale, then to Albuquerque where we spent the night. Oh, the cool thing about that was when I was at home, Mom had called up David and LouBe who live in ABQ! They are friends of ours from church, and moved there pretty recently. They said to call them up when I got in... which I did! LouBe picked me up and showed me around the town. Then we picked up David and they took me out for dinner! So more blessings - to see friends, have a good meal, and be taken care of! The one small bag I had originally brought on the trip with me was starting to rip, and I asked LouBe if she had any way to fix it... super glue... needle and thread... anything... She gave me a new bag instead!!! Talk about blessings upon blessings. =)

The following day we had another super early start (even earlier because of NM being an hour ahead of AZ). It was a pretty easy day though - we flew back to SLC, then I deadheaded home two hours later. After I got back to TUS, I had to hang out on ready reserve for 4 hours... Grrr... The highlight of the afternoon though, was finally being able to get a good look at the Grand Canyon and take pictures of it! Every other time we've flown over it, I'm doing my beverage/snack service and can't fully appreciate it. Even though my roomie Morgan says it's just a big ditch, I think it's gorgeous! Unfortunately the airplane windows were a little dirty for picture taking, but this was better than nothing...

I had the next day off, then flew another 2-day trip with an overnight in San Luis Obispo... awesome hotel! Good crew... My Captain, Jim kept joking about making an announcement that Rachael Ray was back there and going to make a 30-minute meal for them. =) He finally did it! The second day of the two was a long one, and ended with an irate passenger... thankfully I'd never encountered one before her... She was peeved because her bag wouldn't fit into an overhead bin... It went way further than that, but I won't get into it right now... Needless to say, I was glad to get home, and thankful to have the next day off! =)

A couple locals, and home

After two and a half weeks of not getting called, I have finally started flying again! Granted, who can complain about watching movies, laying out by the pool, and going to the zoo with my roomie, while getting paid at the same time? =) I even got to feed the giraffes!

I flew a couple of local trips (where there are no overnights) and then went home for my days off -- the first time I had a Sunday off in as long as I can remember!! So it was really nice to be able to go to church and see all of the beautiful old people, as we affectionately call them... =) Dad teaches an adult Sunday school class, where the average age is 80... so they are old people!! =) We didn't do too much that was "exciting," but it is nice to just be at home and be with Mom and Dad especially. My friend Maria is living with my family now, staying in my room, and I love to see her too! She is in California going to college and training for athletics - she's from Papua New Guinea. Wanbel stap!

I also got to see my Starbucks peeps, which was great. On my last day in Cali I went by to see Larry (who I mentioned a couple posts ago). He's the one who is a pastor and works at Starbucks. He was working in the morning, so I went right before he was done with his shift. It worked out perfectly, because he had time to sit down and have some coffee with me (actually, I had tea...). We had some great conversation... Basically, he gave me a much needed kick in the pants. He challenged me about my spiritual life, my walk with God, my passions, and what I am living for. I miss that kind of conversation. Yesterday I hung out with Amy, who I went to high school with in PNG. She lives in Tucson, so it's awesome to have a friend there! (I am writing this from San Luis Obispo, CA by the way! On an overnight here. Embassy Suites. AWESOME!) Amy and I were talking about living "outside of the bubble"... Really, this is the first time that I've lived completely on my own outside of the Christian bubble, as we call it. It has been difficult in that I haven't had people to get into those tough and challenging conversations with. I know I'm not perfect or even close to it by any means, but it is super easy to think that I'm doing alright when I compare my lifestyle to others'. And definitely not to say that the people I'm surrounded with are heathens!!! But I have been raised differently for sure, and as a result my morals and values are different. All that to say, I haven't been surrounded with the same spiritual encouragement that I've received in the past. So some the recent conversations I've had are what I've needed.

I went back to Arizona on Tuesday morning, bright and early, and got on the flight with no probs! It is a great blessing having a car now to be able to get back and forth from the airport, and not have to bother anyone to take me places. I was scheduled on Wednesday for another local - Tucson - LA - Sacramento - LA - Tucson... Didn't happen. More on that, and my trips so far this month in the next post!... I know I've been slack on this... Will try to catch up on what's been happening!