Keeping Resolutions at the Queen's Palace

Remember where I was talking about New Year's resolutions a couple posts ago? My only resolution this year was to travel internationally, and I did it February 1st!!! =) When I got my transfer to LAX, I was given 4 moving days, which happened to back up to 2 of my scheduled days off for February. 6 days off in a row....enough time to go overseas! I had a week to decide where I was going to go. I checked the loads to Australia (you know I had to....). Oversold. Loads to London....wide open both ways! I got in touch with Richard, a friend of mine from high school who is in that area and asked if he'd be around. He said yes, and asked if I needed a place to stay. I love the perks of having gone to an international school. Friends all over the country and the world! =) So the day after Mom and I made the drive from Tucson to Orange County, I went to LAX and got on a flight to London Heathrow. Five seats across to myself in Economy Plus....I was too cheap to pay the taxes in Business or First Class....they took great care of me anyway, of course!
We were an hour early getting into London, so I had to wait a little while for Richard to come....I wandered around Heathrow and met Sam, a guy who had been on my flight from LA. Black, British, and a doctor, working in New Zealand and just back in London to visit for two weeks. It was just funny, cos all my girls told me they were sure I'd meet a black guy in England....didn't expect to meet one that soon! ;-) Richard picked me up, and we fought traffic from people going to a big rugby match, but finally made it to the train, which took us to the football game Richard and his family (brothers, Peter and Phil, Peter's wife Gilly, their uncle, cousin, uncle's friend, and Richard's girlfriend Bekah) had planned to go to. Definitely a cultural experience! And if you don't know, football in that part of the world = soccer for Americans. It was Wimbledon vs. Torquay....fun....cold!! Kinda cool though, because you just stand the entire time - all of one team's supporters stand on one side, and the other team's supporters are on the opposite side. Lots of chanting and getting riled up!
I stayed up as late as I could, but the jet lag was getting to me....Slept GREAT that night! Sunday the guys got up and went to church. I skipped out and slept until after lunch. We spent a lazy afternoon at home, then Richard and I caught a movie (Cloverfield) that night.

On Monday Richard and I took the train into London (they live in Guildford, just outside of the city). He had to go in to work, so I met up with the lovely Kirstin, who lived with us for a few months in PNG in 2004. Awesome to catch up with her again! And she was a fabulous tour guide!

Getting a phone call from a hot black man in a "red telephone box"

Kirstin & Buckingham Palace

Big Ben
taking a ride in a double decker bus

Early that evening, we met up with Richard again. Kirstin had to get home....=/ so we said goodbye to her then went and grabbed a cup of tea while we waited to be able to meet up with Greg, a friend of ours from high school. He is Australian, but recently moved to London to find work. We went to a Spanish restaurant, had delicious food, drank sangria, and caught up on the last 8-10 years!

Tuesday Richard and I went for a look around Guildford. We walked along the street lined with shops and street vendors, and went to see the castle in town. What I love about that part of the world is that there is so much history there! I can't imagine the lifestyle people had hundreds of years ago....but some of the things I saw provided me with a slight glimpse. Fascinating.

On Wednesday morning I flew back to LAX. Fortunately there were no problems getting on the flight, and I got five seats to myself again, giving me the chance to rest! I was on call at 5am Thursday morning....but did not get called until Saturday morning a week and a half later. =) I guess it's a slow month for flying! At least I can enjoy being at home. Who knows where I will go next? I'm always up for another adventure!!! Wanna join me?

Propellers and a Road Trip

Not long after I got my transfer to LAX, I was assigned my second IOE, on our Embraer 120 Brasilia. IOE = Initial Operating Experience = more training! See, we have jets and the turbo-prop planes, but we only have the turbo-props in some of our domiciles. In Chicago and Tucson we only have the jets, but LAX has turbo-props, affectionately known as "the bro," so I had to be trained on it. At the end of January, I deadheaded on a flight up to Salt Lake City with my roomie Morgan as my flight attendant (she is amazing!!!) =) and started my IOE the next morning.

Morgan and I at the TUS crew lounge

It was an interesting experience flying on the 30 passenger Brasilia, a different feel than the jet for sure! I had a great crew to fly with, and a very chill and laid back instructor. Our trip was supposed to start out with a round trip from Salt Lake City to Sun Valley, Idaho. We found out that we couldn't fly into that airport because of weather, so were diverted to Twin Falls. They were going to bus our passengers between the two airports... fun fun. When we got to Twin Falls, we were grounded because a blizzard came through SLC and shut the airport down. Got back to SLC an hour late, and then found out that our round trip to St. George had been canceled. That meant we got to hang out for 6 hours at the airport! Fortunately things had cleared up a little by the evening, and we did our scheduled flight to St. George where we spent the night. Bright and early the next morning we flew back to SLC, did a turn to Casper, Wyoming, and we were done!

EMB-120 Brasilia

After my IOE was done, I deadheaded back to Tucson, and felt like our 50 passenger jet was huge! The Brasilia doesn't bother me, but I can't say I'm in love with it like some people are. And I'm definitely not in love with Salt Lake City. One of our Tucson captains was in SLC the same time as I was, and sent me a text message saying he hated Puke Lake! Yeah, me too. =)

(Captain) Mark, me, and Ben (another FA) outside our crew lounge

We LOVE Rosie! Our TUS administrative assistant

(Captain) Andy took Melissa and I out for lunch before I left... he is awesome!

Mom flew in to Tucson late on January 30th and spent the night at our apt. I am SO thankful for her!!! (Love you Mom!) =) She helped me finish packing up my stuff so we could actually get some sleep before making the drive from Tucson to our house in California. I was on call on the 31st, so we hung out in the morning, then around noon started packing up the car. We stopped by the crew lounge to say bye to Rosie, and ran into Mark there as well. Then we began our 7 1/2 hour trip to California! God is good, we had no problems, and we got home just in time for the season premier of Lost. Crucial.