Finished My Job At the Airport!

Good evening everyone! Today I finished working for the airport and it was rather emotional! I couldn't wait to get out of there though. No more bag searching, body searching, x-raying bags etc. I'm going to miss my colleagues terribly but I'm meeting up with them all on the 10th to say goodbye. So I handed my ID badge in to the manager and I have to bring my uniform with me when I fly out to Dubai just to hand it back to them so I'll have to take a quick detour to the office downstairs after check-in.

I had a brief cry on the way home in the car. I felt quite proud of myself for sticking through work - the amount of times I wanted to quit and never come back, you wouldn't believe. But I persevered and I'm pleased I did. Now I'm ready for this whole new chapter in life and I can't wait. I handed a card to Jane, a good friend at work, and she was nearly in tears. And I left a card for everyone downstairs. Someone had scribbled all over my party invitations which was stuck on the wall in the upstairs staff room (there are two) and wrote that it was cancelled! So I ripped it off the wall and replaced it with a piece of paper which said that the party was still on and to take no notice of the little bastard who wrote on it. Hmph! Anyway I took a couple of pics of me at work in my uniform just to mark the occasion of leaving.
                                  

So I got home and taxed my car (booo!) and decided I'd buy my Dad an iPad to keep in touch whilst I'm in Dooby. Had a nap, woke up to this:

He's such a cutie pie!  Speaking of cutie pies, my Marine boy has been talking to me today. I decided that I'll email him as often as possible and we can FaceTime and he can call me from the ship. We've done this for nine or ten months once before, what's another six. We're also meeting up in Dubai in a couple of months for a catch-up (no naughty business before you think that!)  He's asked for a photo of me when I get my EK uniform so he can put it on his wall. I'm taking his official military photo with me to Dubai, I'll put it on my desk.

"No one will hurt you as long as I'm around".

xx

Life is bittersweet.

Hi guys, how are you all today? I'm okay. Feeling a bit down though! Today I got this text from my ex-but-still-amazing-friend:

He's in the Royal Marines, you see. And he's being deployed this week. I really don't know how to feel about this. He's stopping in Dubai during his tour but I just feel... distraught. I'm going to miss him terribly, and I hope he stays safe. There's always going to be a part of me that loves him deeply, no matter what.



Anyway, today I bought lots of thank you cards for my colleagues and family. I also got new glasses and contact lenses...

Tonight is my last shift at work. 01:30-07:30. The first flight isn't until 05:55 hahahahahahaha! I honestly have no idea how I've lasted seven months! I'm going to miss working at the airport, my colleagues are brilliant. But I'm gonna enjoy working for Emirates even more!

My dad was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes today, I need to clear this house of sugary snacks before I go... nom nom nom. Any excuse for chocolate.

Right, time for a cup of tea, shower, and then bed!

Speak soon! xx

17 days left

Hi guys. I need to stop shopping for clothes and shoes and stuff. THERE IS NO ROOM LEFT IN YOUR SUITCASES DENISE, STOP IT! I have, however, bought an advent calendar considering I'll be spending December in Doobles... it was between Disney Princess or Hello Kitty. I went for the former... but I guess at 21 years old, neither of them are age appropriate haha. And I bought some wedges. They were reduced from £23.99 to £7 and they were the only pair in my size. I think it's fate, which is why I bought them... *cough*



So I'm back at my dad's house, I went round after my sister said she'd seen him around town and he'd said he missed me. So anyway I went back and I told him exactly what my issue is/was with him and I got an apology! Amazing. So anyway I'm back here for the last few weeks.  I have really enjoyed staying at my 'in laws' (for lack of a better word) house for a few days though. How many people have a mothafackin CASTLE behind their house?! I also found a good leaflet at EK check-in when I was at work the other day. Exciting!

I only have one shift left at the airport, wahooooooo! I can't believe I lasted the whole seven months to be honest, but it's my day off today and tomorrow so I'm chilling with my dogs right now :)

I took the following three pictures when I was reunited with my doggies :) Max, Oscar and Barney <3 I love them lots

I went to the opticians a couple of days ago. I ended up paying £90 for eye tests and some new glasses for when I start my job with Emirates (my current ones are scratched to hell and back) and decided to how my type of contact lens from monthly to two weekly. They said they can give me a years supply of lenses for £158. I think I'll order them just to save the hassle of having to get my lenses shipped from the UK to the UAE every month but this means I'll have at to pay for, my car tax to pay for on the 31st (£125 ish), Christmas presents to buy (£200ish) and all the other bits and bobs required for moving. Hmph. Be worth it though. My glasses only cost £45 so that was good. I literally walked up to the like, third pair I saw on the stand and said "ill take these". I was in a rush to leave the store and buy my new lipstick...


My new lipstick. It's amazing, and such a beautiful colour too. I originally used Kate Amos's lipstick in shade 01 as it had a matte finish, but within an hour of talking to the general public at work, I'd just be left with a red ring around the outside of my lips and then my natural lip colour in the centre. How embarrassing. I found the lipstick really drying and if another layer was applied during the day, the lipstick went darker! honestly! you could start off with bright red lips in the morning and them after a few applications your lips would be black. So I bought a new lipstick, Rimmel's Moisture Renew in shade 'Mayfair Red Lady' and it is WONDERFUL! Keeps your lips hydrated and I only needed to apply it once during a twelve hour shift. It doesn't fade on your lips, the colour stays put despite talking for hours on end. It's around the £6.50 mark but worth it. Taking it to Dubai for sure!

The new foundation I bought is absolutely phenomenal. It's called Loreal Nude Magique Eau de Teint. It's on special offer for £6.99 at the moment but goes up to £9.99 on the 30th, anyway it has SPF18 and the best part? It is lighter than WATER. The formula is practically weightless. You know how most liquid foundations have that gloopy thick feel that you can feel on your face? This doesn't. A few drops of this and your skin is covered flawlessly. And I don't have the best skin either. It lasted 18 hours on me without budging. I had to apply another sweep of transparent powder half way through the day but that's nothing. I got a free mascara with my purchases but it's crap. It's the brush that's the problem. Pictures:

 

I also bought an eyeshadow palette by MUA - it's called 'Undress Me Too' and it's fabulous. That's what the middle picture is!

So I have a few things to look forward to in the next few weeks. 

1. end of season/leave work
2. in-laws Day of the Dead party
3. My leaving party with work
4. Going on a train for a day trip further South of the country 
5. Fly awayyyyyyyy


So anyway, a few people on cabincrew.com have been messaging me and asking me for some 'top tips' to survive the Open Day, Assessment Day and Final Interview.

#1 BE YOURSELF (but better)
Nobody likes a fake person, you can usually see straight through them when they talk to you or act in a certain way. I'm not saying be fake, I'm suggesting that you hold those shoulders back, push your chest out, manicure those nails and paint those lips red. Cross your legs, show your teeth, don't fidget. Be a better version of you. Be charming, polite, courteous. Act this way throughout the OD/AD/FI. Even if the recruiters aren't around... act like they are. Small things like that will get you noticed, small things like that will get you ahead.

#2 MAKE YOUR RESUME AWESOME
I know it's hard making your CV sound good, but these two sheets of paper get you hired or fired, so make the most of the space. Make it basic, easy to read. Don't waffle on about irrelevant things. Make it clear and concise. Mention the things relevant to your application. For example, I had qualifications in First Aid and Food Hygiene, so I wrote them down on my list of 'Extra Qualifications'. I also wrote that I was confident in the use of the Phonetic Alphabet. If you aren't, then don't write that. You don't want to fall at the first hurdle if they ask you to say what a certain letter is and you don't know, because then you'd be royally Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo'd.

#3 GET THERE EARLY
Plan ahead. Prepare your clothes two nights before and then research the company a bit more the following evening. I had a little notebook with ten key facts about Emirates - I learned them off by heart just incase I needed to use them during my FI questions, which I did. Arrive at least half an hour early.  Check the weather forecast, check the route you'll be going on incase there is traffic. The earlier you are, the more likely you are to sit in the front rows - that's where the Recruitment Officers will be sitting!

#4 BRING A PEN (and chewing gum, and water)
You don't want to be fumbling around looking for a pen when you are asked to fill stuff in - bring one (or even two!) in your bag and you will be good to go! Have a packet of chewing gum handy as well. Water dries my mouth out so having a quick chew of some gum during the breaks was very handy. Of course I got rid of it before I went back in to the room though. It would be mega naughty of me if I chewed in front of them!

#5 DONT BE A NERVOUS WRECK
Why be nervous? This day is all about you and how awesome you are! Radiate confidence (even if you're not) and know roughly what your answers are to the questions they'll ask you (these are found on many blogs, including mine) and you'll be absolutely fine. You know you can do the job. You know that you have what it takes - that's why you showed up to the Open Day. Prove it to them by being fabulous! You ARE fabulous!



It still doesn't feel real, you know. It doesn't feel real that in literally 17 days time my arse will be on the plane probably somewhere over the North Sea right now. Hopefully in Business class. Or First *cough*; they send a 3 class aircraft to my work but only sell Business or Economy tickets for that route! Where there's will, there's a way, I say! Every time I go to work at least one person goes "so are you excited then?" and I know they're just trying to make conversation but just once I want to turn around and say "what do you bloody think?!". A lot of my colleagues got told whether or not they were having their contracts extended over Christmas or not this week. Lots of sad faces :( but a few happy faces too :) A good work friend of mine just didn't bother showing up for his shift when he got told his contract wasn't being extended, lol! That's the good thing about having handed your resignation to your managers. They are powerless!

It's crazy, though. In July I was struggling to think of a career path until I saw some good looking women walk through the airport wearing the most beautiful uniform I'd ever seen. Now, three months later, here I am in October being moved to Dubai, pretty much all expenses paid. Wow. So good things do happen to good people sometimes. To be honest, I knew I had what it takes to do the job but I didn't actually think for one minute that out of all those beautiful people who turned up to OD, I'd be one of the two people to get the job. I'm just a regular girl! I have always loved the idea of flying though, even if it's as a passenger. Before those stupid terrorists started being silly, my Dad used to take me to the airport's viewing platform (RIP viewing platform - gone but never forgotten!) to watch the planes take off and land. I was very small back then so I called them abnas. :) My colleagues always call me strange for watching planes take off and land out of the window but I think aviation is incredible. How does something SO BIG get SO HIGH?! It's just phenomenal. God bless the Wright Brothers! Anyway, I'm just a girl from a tiny mining town in a rural county of England, who has somehow been given the opportunity to live in one of the worlds most vibrant cities and travel the world working for the worlds best airline. I'm not religious by any means but I sure do think I have someone looking after me from high in the sky. My childhood was turbulent, with relatives passing away so much sooner than they should have, parents getting divorced, being bullied in high school and not being the most liked person through college for no particular reason. I was in a beautiful, amazing, loving relationship with the most wonderful man in the world whom I still care for deeply and see regularly still, but I won't get in to that. All you need to know is that my time with him were the best years of my life so far and I'm so fortunate to have such a fantastic person in my life. And then I get this opportunity to see things not many people get to see, experience, feel. That's what life does I guess... throws challenges at you and makes you overcome them. I'm a stronger person after all that's happened and maybe this was in store for me all along, and fate was leading me down this path, who knows. What I know, though, is all those horrible little cretins out there who looked down on me throughout school should look back at what they've done with their life and ask themselves "maybe if I had been a nicer person, my life wouldn't be so shit?"

Well, all I have to say is...

Fuck you, you bullying group of bitches. I'm moving to Dubai. 

NA NA NA NA NAAA NAAAAAAA!

Shopping Trip

Yesterday, I went shopping for some summery clothes as being a woman from Britain who hasn't been to a hot country for about ten years, I only own winter clothing, jeans, jumpers, coats etc. You name it! So anyway I went in to town to buy clothes and decided I'd spent quite a lot of money... because I can! Lol. So I went to Primark (if you don't have a Primark in your country, I feel sorry for you! £3 shirts, £5 dresses and shoes etc) and even though they are already cheap, they had a summer sale! Wooooooooo!!!

I spent just under £120 despite the receipt saying £80ish as I went back to buy a light floaty thingy to cover up my shoulders so I don't offend anyone when I'm in certain parts of the UAE. Anyhow, I also ordered some running trainers online (reduced from £84.99 to £15.99! Woop), and a new laptop charging cable as the one I had is at my dad's house and there ain't no way I'm going back to get it.

So anyway I also went to the travel clinic to get my third Hep B injection. That was £40! I think I need a fourth one but not for twelve months. The stupid Nurse refused to give me any other injections such as MMR and TB etc as "you would have had them". I know I've had them but I have no records or scars to prove this. So I'm just gonna get them all done in Dubai anyway as I'm sure the medical professionals over there won't mind. The entire UK has ran out of Yellow Fever vaccinations, too! Apparently! So it's a good job that was one of the first things I did once I had my GC!

I'm spending a few days at my ex-but-still-good-friends parent's house. They're so lovely, I'm really gonna miss them. Time is starting to go a little faster now. I might go around my area and take pictures of the things I will miss. Insignificant things such as wind turbines and castles, and landmarks etc but they'll all remind me of home! We'll see!

Speak soon xx

this time next month...

How exciting! Four weeks to go! Three weeks until my work's leaving party (I ended up not handing in my resignation... I need money!), two weeks until my work contract ends, one week until... I dunno. But I get my third Hep B injection on Thursday and I'm going shopping for new clothes then, too. The good thing about the fact I'm going to a Dubai during the British winter is that all the shops are trying to get rid of their summer stock. I bought five bikinis for £5 at a supermarket a few days ago, what a bargain! I also solved the dilemma of my hand luggage problem. I don't think I wrote about it on here! Let me tell you my issue:

I bought a small suitcase as hand luggage (it's in one of my pictures a few posts back) and I did a trial run of all my baggage and stuff and fitted everything I needed in my hand luggage in to this suitcase. I keep saying suitcase but it's not, it's the official size and that. Anyway! So I filled it and weighed it. Now, Emirates only allows 7kg hand luggage... mine weighed something like 10kg! Uh-oh. So I was stressing and fretting thinking "oh god, I can't out my GHDs or my laptop in my hold luggage! I'm gonna have to take some stuff out of my bag!

And then it hit me... DUHHH, BUY A LIGHTER BG AND PUT THIS ONE IN THE HOLD! It seemed so obvious! So I went to a local shop and bought a laptop bag which weighed 0.25kg! So I put everything in this one and weighed it... 5kg! How ridiculous that one bag designed for being hand luggage takes up such a large amount of weight! Problem solved, though.

I went out on the town with my sister and her friends last Friday, I had a really good night.

I'll let you all know how my vaccination goes! I got my Typhoid injection two weeks ago... it FUCKING HURTS LIKE FUCK! It was a good excuse not to do anything at work though! :D

That is all :) xx

Suitcases and Ice Cream

Done! :D I just need to buy a small suitcase to put the stuff that's in the blue bags in to. Everything is vacuum packed and sorted, ready to go otherwise! It's amazing how my life has been condensed in to this small section of a bedroom. The bottom right is what I'm living out of at the moment and for the next month. Because I'm travelling between my sisters and my in-laws houses to stay I thought it'd be a good idea to vacuum pack my clothes so they're easy to transport. Now that's done I need to get my geek-head on and start revising Arabic (I'm getting quite good! Don't ask me to write anything in that language though...) and the airport codes that are within my Prepare for Takeoff booklet which Emirates want me to fill in on the flight on the way there. One annoying thing about this week and the events which have happened is that the ringing in my ear is back. I think it rears it's evil head whenever I get stressed. Need to chiiiiilllll.


Me and my MIL went to a lovely ice cream shop for ice cream and coffee today. I had a cone with mint choc chip and I also had a latte. The flavours they had available though omfg. Amazing. It's my favourite ice cream shop. No wonder I've put on half as tone hahahahaha whoops. I'll hit the treadmill before I fly though. Probably. Maybe...

Packing

I have too much stuff.

I miss my Mini

I feel a bit sad. I miss my dog ever so much. I know I'd not see him when I left for Dubai but this time I didn't even get to say goodbye properly. My fish are probably dead now too.

I'm handing my revised notice in to work tomorrow. A snap decision, yes. But I'm fed up of being there and getting bollocked for being a fraction of a second late. They're firing people left right and centre even though they're desperate for staff. Whatever... my car is broken too. I know a little about cars and one of my rear wheels has developed negative camber and my fuel filter is blocked almost fully. But I can't get to a garage to get the car fixed as work won't give me the time off. When I am off, it's always either on a weekend or during the evening when the garage isn't open. And now my dad doesn't help me with fuel costs  to get to work it means I pay £80 a week to get there and back. I need to get my second Hep B vaccination tomorrow too but I'm meant to be at work. I'm going for my injection either way...

I found out a girl I had my FI with got her Golden call today. A whole 9 weeks after FI! Crazy. Happy for her though - she flies out a week after me.

I went on board a 3 class Emirates 777 today whilst it was being turned around at work. I sat in a first class seat and I felt like royalty lol. It was so exciting just wandering around the plane, imagining the rows full of passengers, and me and my crew in our uniforms. Eee!

Speaking of Royalty, a member of one of the Royal Families within the UAE dropped by the airport yesterday. He flew over from the UAE to the UK with his staff to go Grouse shooting.
This was his plane. HIS OWN BLOODY 747.

Just so you lovely girls and guys are aware, I'm very grateful for your kind words and comments. My iPad doesn't let me respond to them though - stupid technology! But I have read them and appreciate them all! 



44 days to go.