Coming Home

The more I travel the more I realize just how lucky we are to live in a place that is so inviting to come home to. We live three blocks from the most beautiful beaches in the world. Our town is filled with colorful flowers all year round, hummingbirds buzzing around our patio and views of the Pacific ocean and Catalina Island from our driveway. Coming home is like a vacation itself. I don't think there could be a better place to come home to!

7 Cities in 7 Days

One of the most exciting aspects about this line of work is the unexpected. Not knowing where you will be sleeping tomorrow, or what interesting food you might try or who you will meet!

Last Friday I was prepared to take a trip out of LAX into Teterboro. We were supposed to be flying a famous singer to Milwaukie from NYC, but a few hours before I was supposed to leave the trip changed. I was going to Boston instead! Luckily we got seated in first class which allowed me plenty of room to stretch out and sleep on the red eye. It was fun to be in Boston again - I do miss the East Coast at times. The brownstones, brick buildings, cloudy weather and of course dunkin donuts.



We stayed in a nice hotel downtown where I spent most of the day catching up on sleep. We found out we were flying our passengers to Florence, Italy! The passengers we had were really nice and spent most of the night sleeping. They even brought a yellow lab on the plane with them.

After a very short stay in Florence, we flew the plane to Luton, England where we stayed for four days. Flying over the French/Italian Alps were AMAZING! The lakes were crystal clear and the mountain tops were covered with snow. You could see the little windy roads going up the mountains and through the valley.


Luton was a cute town and we were able to explore the downtown a bit. Luckily they had a nice mall next to the hotel and lots of restaurants and pubs in the area to check out. The hotel rooms were tiny but cozy. The first night we went out to an Indian dinner which was really good. I was also able to check out the famous NANDOS (think bbq chicken). I think that Luton had the most fried chicken shops I had ever seen in one city - it was comparable to the pizza shops in Little Italy.




On Wednesday night, we flew a famous football (soccer) player and his wife to Cleveland and then repositioned the plane back in NYC. This is a picture of the inside of the plane - it was nice to have the whole cabin to myself on the way back to New York!

This morning I took a flight back to LA and I'm finally home! I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight.

My First Trip!

Last week, I enrolled in a 6 day training course to become certified in corporate aircraft evacuation, CPR and First Aid. The training was very hands on, using the simulator to stage different scenarios in the event of an emergency. I met some really great people and learned a lot about corporate aviation. I realized that I was entering into an industry that I barely knew exhisted. The flight attendants I met told stories about the amazing far away places they've been able to travel to and the interesting people that they've taken there. Some fly for large corporations and others take care of families who are fortunate enough to charter these beautiful private jets to any exotic destination. A weekend in Aspen, a week in Tahiti or a month flying around Europe and South America...doesn't sound so bad! On Thursday, I took my final test and passed. As we sat at the hotel bar after class celebrating, another student in the class asked what I would be doing for the next 4 or 5 days. She was asking if I would like to join her and her crew on a private 707! Of course, I couldn't refuse and by Friday afternoon I was on a plane to London!

We found out we were flying a Middle Eastern Government Official to the United States. The trip left Stansted Airport on Sunday afternoon. The plane was like nothing I had ever seen before. It had 5 full bedrooms, three bathrooms, showers encrusted in gold and just about anything you wanted to eat, we could serve. The view from the cabin was breathtaking. We flew over Greenland and could see the icebergs - I had no idea that Greenland was so mountainous! Some of the ice-covered peaks were almost 13,000 feet!


When we arrived back in the U.S. the Captain took the crew out for a yummy Italian dinner. Early the next morning I was on a flight back to LAX. It was quite the weekend! Needless to say my first trip was a success and now I'm totally hooked. I'm glad to be home with my husband though, and spent the day relaxing at the beach!

Until next time...