Bangkok

I've found another favorite destination! Bangkok was great in so many ways. The flights are easy (meaning hardly any call bells and people who actually say please and thank you), Thai food is magical, and the people are incredibly welcoming. I've been twice already and still can't wait to go back again.

The first time I went, we got to our hotel pretty late, and usually this means I'm going straight to bed. But since the flight was so nice and easy, I wasn't too tired to meet the crew for drinks and dinner. The captain knew of a good place down the street and had never been sick from the food there, and that was as good a reason as any for us to go.

The alley where we ended up was home of my new favorite dessert and the biggest rats in the world. Seriously, these rats were big enough to be lap dogs. Before you judge me for eating somewhere where rats also enjoyed the food, they were in the sketchy bathroom down the alley. While our restaurant wasn't anything special to look at, it was clean and the food was great. One little old lady cooked everything by herself on an outdoor oven that looked like a hot dog stand. And my new favorite dessert? Mango sticky rice. I crave it everyday now.

The next morning, I took a tuk tuk to the Grand Palace. Not going to lie, my life flashed before my eyes a few times on the back of that thing. Anyways, because it was a billion degrees and a billion percent humidity outside, I wasn't going to wear long sleeves. I bought a scarf to cover my shoulders inside the palace, bought my ticket, and was ready to go in when a guard stopped me. Apparently you have to be wearing sleeves under the scarf, so the guy wouldn't let me in. Like sleeves will cover my shoulders any differently than a scarf that covered my whole upper body (can you tell I'm still bitter about it? lol) It was hot and I was hungry and combining the two means I was grumpy. I got my money back and left instead of buying a shirt to cover my harlot shoulders.

I rented another tuk tuk and the driver took me to one of the many temples of Buddha, Wat Intharawihan, with the biggest Buddha statue I'd ever seen. He also drove me to some shopping places and we had some street noodles for lunch before I went back to the hotel... Where I ordered more mango sticky rice. I'm addicted.

The second time in Bangkok is a really short story because a) I was sick and didn't want to go out and get worse, b) I left my debit card in Dubai so I only had the allowance we get on layovers so that, c) I couldn't do much without more money. I had been planning to get a facial and a massage. I just got the facial. I was going to order tons of mango sticky rice and hang out in the hotel. They ran out of mango sticky rice. I was so frustrated with myself for leaving my card in Dubai and with the hotel for not having my beloved sticky rice that I just went to sleep.

They don't sound like the best trips now that I'm writing about them, but I still love Bangkok. The flights are easy (there were only 50/500 passengers back to Dubai on the second trip!), the locals are the nicest, everything is super cheap, and best of all, mango sticky rice!

Where I'm Flying: July 2016

I think I'm still being punished for calling in sick for a Pakistan flight in May, because my roster next month is probably the worst I've had.

I have two of the worst turnarounds possible: Jeddah and Cairo.

Because of my Cairo flight, I don't get to come home three days earlier. The rostering team loves to give a turnaround right before we have leave so we get as little time home as possible. They really love to ruin things.



On the plus side, I'll be in Washington DC for the 4th of July! You can look for me on your TVs in front of the White House when the fireworks start.

I'm also going to Paris, which I usually wouldn't be excited for, but I'll hopefully get to meet my aunt and uncle there for the day.

The only destination that I asked for that I actually got is Glasgow, Scotland. I'm finally going back to my motherland and fellow redheads, and I might never leave.

Last but not least, I finally get to come home again! Even though it's not for long, I can't wait to see everyone, especially my dog and my new baby niece (not necessarily in that order).

I have a million days off before my next flight so maybe I'll actually catch up on this blog, but I've said that before...

The Great Chase

I had one mission in London: Go to the Royal Academy of Art and see my great great (lots of greats) uncle's paintings. Sir Joshua Reynolds, check him out. He founded the Academy back in 1768 and painted portraits of the royal family and other rich people. There's a giant statue of him inside the Academy courtyard and he even looks like my mom's side of the family! I was getting really excited to go in and see his paintings but when I asked a museum guide where I could see them, he told me they were doing renovations and had put everything in storage. There was nothing to see. I wasn't too disappointed because I knew I'd be in Paris the following week and the Louvre would definitely have some of his work.

I've been to Paris once before on a school trip, and it was cold and rainy. That was about seven years ago, and I actually tried to see Reynold's paintings at the Louvre that time but got lost and ran out of time. This time, it wasn't raining in Paris but it was freezing! Too cold to enjoy walking around, and the flight timing made it hard to make any big plans. I took the hour train ride from the hotel into the city, braved walking a few frozen miles to the Louvre, and walked another thousand miles inside the museum to the British painting collection. That "collection" was a joke of less than twenty paintings, and not one was by my dear old uncle. I was so disappointed. Even seeing the Mona Lisa again didn't matter. I looked at her smug face for two seconds and decided to give up on art for the trip.

I wasn't surprised to see London on my roster for the next month. I've been there at least once a month since I started flying. Once again, I decided I'd try to see these paintings. This time, I'd go to the National Gallery because I specifically looked at their website and Reynolds paintings, and they were supposed to be there. With my luck, I wasn't getting my hopes up. Either the museum would be closed that day, or there would be a metro strike, or the museum would have been destroyed by a meteor just hours before I got there. I made it to Trafalgar Square a few minutes before the museum opened and got in line with the other early birds. Surprisingly (to me at least), there was no last minute decision to keep the gallery closed that day, the doors opened on time, and I was on my way inside.

I skipped past who knows how many masterpieces to find my uncle's paintings. I made it to the 1700s salon and started skimming over the paintings in search of something familiar. Then I saw it. Surrounded by a gaudy gold frame taller than me and right in the center of the gallery was a portrait of Colonel Tarleton painted by none other than Joshua Reynolds.

I found four other paintings of his in the galleries and even learned some random facts about him by reading the painting's captions, like that he had a pet parrot (see painting below). You would have thought I painted them all if you could feel how proud I felt looking at them and knowing that someone in my family made them.



It only took seven years since my first failed mission but I can finally cross seeing his paintings in person off my bucket list!

Land Down Under

Melbourne, Australia

I'm starting to realize that the places I'm least excited to visit end up being the best places. Like Singapore, Australia was never my top choice of places I wanted to go to. I don't even know why. I've only been to Melbourne so I can't speak for all of Australia (which I've heard is awesome), but Melbourne is really, really awesome. I've been three times in two weeks, and I'm already looking forward to the fourth time.

Australians are some of the nicest people, up there with Americans. That's one reason I loved it so much there. Being in Dubai, I don't know what friendly strangers are anymore because they're a rare find here. Also, they are the best looking bunch of people ever. Chris and Liam Hemsworth are from Melbourne, and I saw guys BETTER looking than them. Reason number two why I love it so much. Start booking your flights, ladies!

I mostly wandered around downtown and did a little shopping. There are lots of cute little stores and all kinds of restaurants, food trucks, and coffee shops. I've heard from a few people that Melbourne has the best coffee in the whole world, and it was very good. I took hundreds of pictures of Hosier Lane, an alleyway covered in awesome graffiti street art that is a popular touristy stop in downtown. Mix Chicago with Portland and you get Melbourne.

I also went to the Queen Victoria Market, the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere (thanks Wikipedia). It's a farmer's market, flea market, food festival, street performer stage, and outdoor mini-mall all in one. I tried some organic/vegan/gluten free nachos, Danish pancakes, and frozen berry lemonade. And probably some cookies too... I pretty much ate anything I saw. And I bought some organic soaps and a crocodile charm for my bracelet, because it's Australia and there weren't any kangaroo charms. It's hard to choose a #1 favorite place so far, but Melbourne is one of the top!

Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland is kind of like Melbourne, but the accent is different and everything is 10x more expensive. The people are nice, the food is good, and there is a lot to do. I almost went on a Lord of the Rings tour to see the places where they filmed, like Hobbiton, but it was a few hours outside of the city and expensive. Next time when I have more money I'll go so I can get out of the city and see the countryside. 

I didn't do anything special here either, just walking around, taking pictures, buying little things here and there. I hiked to the top of a volcano, which isn't as cool as it sounds because it's not active and it's just an overlook over the city. A pretty overlook, but not as adventurous as climbing a volcano seems. 

I think I missed out on a lot here by staying in the city, so I hope I can come back again soon and see the nature side of New Zealand. Overall, my trips down under have been some of the best!

Singapore

A lot of firsts happened with Singapore.
First time in Asia,
first multi-sector flight,
first visit to a Hindu temple,
first "authentic" Chinese food,
and first time having my palm read by an ex-Buddhist monk.



Asia has never been at the top of my list of places to visit until I went to Singapore. I had a stereotype in my head of Asian cities being a really crowded and chaotic mess of buildings and traffic. But it was such a peaceful, modern, and pretty place. The architecture is the most creative I've seen anywhere, and unlike most big cities, there are gardens and plants mixed in everywhere. One second it looks like you're in downtown LA and the next you're lost in a jungle.

Singapore was part of my first multi-sector flight, meaning I flew from Dubai to Singapore, Singapore to Melbourne, then back to Singapore and back to Dubai. It was around a 5 day trip and I felt dead by the end of it, but I was happy to get two days in Singapore.



I walked to Chinatown and stopped at the Sri Mariammam Hindu Temple. It's famous for its colorful towers and shrines covered in Hindu gods. I had to take my shoes off before I went in and paid a little fee to take pictures. The monks (if that's the right word) were there doing their prayers and chants with Hindu followers in their gorgeous traditional clothing.

Chinatown was HUGE! I bought a lot of souvenirs I didn't need, tried Asian candies, and got dragged into a few shops by the owners who wanted to sell me things (I'm really bad at saying no). There were all kinds of Asian restaurants there: Indian, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Chinese, etc. For some reason, I went with a Chinese restaurant even though I never have good experiences with Chinese food. Actually the waitress standing outside guilted me into going just like all the shop owners guilt me into looking at their stores. I really need to work on saying no... Anyways, this Chinese food experience was the same as always. Me and Chinese food just aren't meant to be. But I did have possibly the best cup of coffee I've ever had in this restaurant. I don't know what the little old lady put in it, but I was in heaven!



The second day I was in Singapore, all I wanted to do was sleep because it was the last day of my trip and I had just flown seven hours from Australia. I forced myself to go out even though I was grumpy and the humidity was slowly killing me. I went to the Gardens by the Bay, one of the places to see according to tourist guides. If you're into gardens and pretty things, this is the place for you. If you're a jet-lagged soulless zombie like I was that day, then don't go and just sleep. The gardens were beautiful, but I wish I would have waited until next time so I could have been in the mood for it.

The best, best part about my two days in Singapore was meeting Chon, the ex-Buddhist monk mentioned above. I was on my way home from Chinatown, ready to get back to the hotel and relax, when I passed Fort Canning Park. I felt like if I didn't go there, I was going to miss out on something. So off I went, walking around another garden. I was taking lots of pictures when a little old man came up to me and asked me where I was from and if I knew anything about the plants. I told him I didn't know much, and he took my arm and said he was my new friend and tour guide for the afternoon. Chon told me all about the plants and spices of the garden, Fort Canning, Singapore, and how he had been a Buddhist monk in Thailand. Then, and now it gets really good, he read my palms and knew my life story. It was crazy how much he knew and how specific he was! He gave me lots of advice I hadn't realized I needed and told me to come back and visit him again. I'm pretty sure he was Buddha reincarnated.



Now Asia is on the top of my list of places to go, especially if I meet more people as interesting as Chon.

I'm Feelin' 23

Anyone who knows me well knows that I hate my birthday. Getting older freaks me out, and every birthday I feel like my memory is already fading while the number of wrinkles I have grows. Needless to say, I'm usually not excited for my birthday. The first thing I looked at when I got my flight roster for January was where I'd be on the eleventh. I figured with my luck, I'd be doing some horrible turnaround. But I was scheduled for not a one, but a two night layover in Lyon, France! A two night layover is rare, and this flight is one that people bid for because it's so nice. So happy birthday to me :)

The crew I flew with was amazing! My supervisors told everyone it was my birthday, so they sang to me on the bus going to our hotel and a group of them came out to dinner with me to celebrate. The next morning, a group of us explored the city together. We took a cable car to the top of the city where the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière looks over the city. The view was incredible, and the church was one of the prettiest I've been to. 

                                                    
We found a cute little restaurant called the Crock n'Roll where their specialty was croque-monsier a.k.a. a sandwich with 1% bread and non-cheese fillings and 99% cheese. Seriously, SO MUCH CHEESE but oh so good! And because it was France, we had tons of wine with lunch, plus Nutella hot chocolate for dessert, then walked down the street to a pastry shop and got even more dessert there. I've never had so much cheese and pastries in one day. After losing all self control at a Sephora sale, I finished off the night with a Nutella crepe from a street stand. Sadly, it was the one and only crepe I had on the trip. I don't know what I was thinking.
The next day was just more shopping because it was France's Black Friday week, and then we headed to the airport to go home to Dubai. On the flight home, the 2 semesters of French I took 5 years ago came back to me and I magically understood the customers and had conversations in French. I also had a full conversation in Italian and I thought I'd forgotten most of that too. 

Overall it was a great birthday trip with lots of great food! I can't wait to see where I'll be next year!