First Solo

At last i'm back from my 1st solo, Melbourne. And i survived it.

Everyone tells me that Melbourne's good, Melbourne's a great place, such that I was quite looking forward to it, but it turn out not to be as i expected... More later...


The day before our first flight. Some of 863-ers decided to have a get-together @ HabourFront's Dragon Gate restaurant for Dim Sum buffet. It was cheap & okay la... But more imporantly, i had a fabulous time with the peeps there.
Pity no pics for rememberance.

Met Pi later in the evening for dinner in town @ Wisma's Food Republic. Even though i was still full from the buffet, we decided to indulge in 1 of our fav food, the famous bamboo hat Prawn Hokkien mee.

The Dim Sum was impromtu, he bought it after we finished our Hokkien mee. When he came back with the tray i was like 'dots'. Guess i went on yakking too much about my Dim Sum buffet earlier, he became Dim Sum-deprived. "Gien"



I love the ceiling-floor window concept of Food Republic, it has a fantastic view of Orchard Road. A perfect place to sit down for good & cheap food/drinks while people watching.


Did i mention about PPS before? Anyway i'm getting really paranoid about it now... cos the informal jargon in crew lingo meant 'pui pui stewardess'. I'm eating like nobody's business, sometimes i could even beat Pi's appetite! Example: having Hokkien mee even after buffet... It doesn't help that i crave alot for heavy food too... >.<"

Now, not just i've gotta exercise control over what i put into my mouth, i've also got to figure how to work exercise into my schedule...


Melbourne.

Was a little cock up for my first flight up. Although the duty is about the same, went through it during SNYs, but it feels sooooooooo different! Simply because you're now fully responsible for that role. There're like hundred & one things that has to be accomplished b4 boarding but because i'm so new, i end running up n down multiple times, slowing down my job.

Things will be better subsequently, i hope?

Make quite a number of mistakes, but all the crew were very forgiving. I know i can't expect to be 'heng' all the time, but i really appreciate such people now. Had a very nice LS, very bochap and funny, but most importantly: he corrects me nicely. Phewz.... This set of crew are the siao-siao type. They joke all the time in the galley, speak in different dialects among themselves, disturb the SNYs GS (ya, i have 2 SNYs on my 1st solo, shd have bought 4D).

But somehow i could feel that they treat the probationary with caution. =/

Full load & 7 hours flight, i was nodding off during landing in my seat... LOL


View from my hotel room.



Met up with Kelly. She was not on the same flight as me but she arrived in Melbourne a couple of hours behind me. She decided to join me n Gelestine for some walk around and shopping, instead of staying with her crew for drinking. Gelestine introduced us to the necessary places to get goceries and food. The city's a nice place to walk around and shop, but we din take any photos cos it's just another city. The next time i go back there, i'll visit some other places.

Went exploring a little alone while hunting for 7-11s for our breakfast.
I thought what a big mosque they have! It turned out to be their major city train station.


We had our dinner and returned to the hotel before 6pm. So freaking early, i'm at a loss of how to kill time. Went over to Kelly's room and chatted about our first solo but she needs to sleep at 9pm cos she's having an early flight out the next day. Thus i'm left with nothing to do from 8pm to 12 noon the next day. Retired to my room and I spent the remaining night snacking on my nougats, channel hoping and calling up the operators to check on my aircon, cos it was not working properly.
Good:
cos not just i get to save money, I also watched a lot CNN now, at least i know what's going around the world, reducing my bimbotic-ness =9

Not-so-good:
Wasting my chance to 'see' the world, precisely the reason most of us are in SQ.


I appreciate having Kelly around now cos sometimes it can be so lonely. I'm left with Frankfurt, Brisbane and Osaka with her =( .... It's not every flight you get people of the same frequency as you. Have to learn to be really independent and street smart. Like G, she usually goes out or shop alone or just sleeps in cos she finds entertaining other people can be a waste of time.
Let's just say we all have different priorities.


Breakfast by the window the morning b4 departure.


It was 2/3 load on the way back. Luckily i had adequate rest otherwise i may just collapse due to hyperactivity on board, trying to interact with some pax and providing hospitality. I used to be the shy-shy type who'll shun communicating with strangers, but not anymore cos my job does not allow me to. I have been observing the way how the ranking crew interact with pax/people. They have a way with people. So forth coming, so approachable and attentive, you just like talking to them. I like that.

Something that makes abit of my day, a compliment from a pax when we landed into SG, " You guys are so good! Q***** should learn from you." Even though it was something in general, i feel good that our efforts are recognized.

I feel more confident in meeting passengers now =)