Ohh man, where do I start ? This was to be a reserve month with unknown destination building up to a shitty roster. But faith had it differently. I was bound for New York, the Big Apple, The Center Of The World. I was desperate to go. I packed everything I needed : camera, laptop, snazzz sneakers, some cool as jeans, my MOJO and I was set.

The flight over was a complete delight. Unusual for a Dubai – New York pairing. We were manning a 777-200 with 8 of us crew down in economy. Just a breeze really flying through the services like ever had I witnessed before. The trothing was over in less than 45 minutes because we only had around 125 passengers where we could of served 216. So our breaks in the Crew Rest Compartments were subsequently longer than usual. Making up for the fatigue kicking in. We left Dubai at 2am. Not ideal really. But the fact we were to get in JFK by 8 in the morning there was just a relief. That shattered as soon as we hit the endless customs and immigration procedures. There bloody off the hook there. PARANOID to death. I will spare my swearwords. One of our crew, a lebanese, had to go through a complete background check that took quite a long time. He said we could go to the hotel without him. Emirates had to dish out some cab money !! AHahah. The shuttle over to Downtown Brooklyn was taking for ever. The bus driver decided to take the backroads and avoid the highway. The punk did not realise it was rush hour and getting through heavy dense traffic with a bus isn’t easy. After nearle 1 hour and half in the bus, we finally made it to our crashpad. 24 hours “rest” for two flights over 12 hours isn’t enough. Clocking around 30 hours of duty within 2 days is not good for your body. But we FAs are fighters. Time zones, flights, airport, fatigue is something we deal with daily, and get used to fairly quickly.

I had to make a hard decision. Either take a shower and venture out straight away or crash into bed and never wake up. The first option got the better odds. Especially when the weather out there was amazing. Around 27 degrees (perfect) and no clouds. Blue skies and beatiful people ! Wondered smiling towards the concierge. I needed to know where the nearest American Apparel (we’ll carry on calling it AA or Amap for the rest of the blog) so I could fix my need of fitted tees and baseball jerseys. I got that and more. The store was located on 112 Court Street, extremely close to the hotel. Ended up buying some gifts there, a funky bag and some white tee-shirt for the upcoming new uniform (yes we have to wear white tee-shirts beneath our shirts). I spent a hell a long time in there and my card didn’t like it at all !

I love this store dearly. You get in there greeted with funky music. This is probably the main reason I stayed in there for so long. Then there’s all these colors !! Colors every-bloomin’-where ! And finally because the tee-shirt actually fit my frame quite nicely. When all the other outlets do tees for bodybuilders, Amap goes rock’n'roll and does tees for the average “underweight” as per Emirates.

That checked off the list of things to do in New York, I walked along Atlantic Avenue for a while and then headed towards Brooklyn Bridge and into Lower Manhattan. I walked practically all day. I loved it. iPod, cool tunes and sunshine can’t be beaten. Saw Ground Zero which wasn’t as impressive and I previously thought it would be. I then decided to walk all aound the quayside and checked out Century 21 shopping store. Nothing interesting in there. I love New York. It has the same vibe as Paris in the summer. Kinda laid back but busy enough to wake you up from time to time. For example when you nearly get run over by a taxi. It happens in New York, it happens in Paris. Only the language of the curse from the cabby slightly differs.

People seem genuinely open in New York. Open and nice with a smile. I do not know if it’s the same in Winter but the atmosphere of that city definately got something outta of my tired brain: I was smiling after a 13 hour flight and no sleep !

Got back to the hotel at around 5 in the afternoon and went straight to bed until wake up call the next day at 8am. Slept like a baby. Was on top form to go back to Dubai.

I didn’t mention the crew ! We had Sonia from France who I already flew with on our Jo’Burg trip and Andre who joined Emirates just after me and is a reader of the blog ! He says hello by the way ! We had an almighty laugh onboard. Fooling around with pretty much anything that we came across. Shooting out jokes here and there and laughed around with passengers ! We also had Ashley, Yuko and Aayan who I flew with on my previous London trip. So all around I already knew quite a few people so it made it even more fun !

So on our way to the aircraft, we have to go through security as any other passenger would. Stripping down to our bares for the security screening. And they’re bloody anal in JFK. Everything HAS to go through to X-ray. You might aswell jump on the belt and process your entire self through the fackin’ machine ! Got through without too many beeps and gathered my stuff on the other side. By the time I had put my shoes and belt back on, Andre (who I mentioned earlier) had been approached by a Pilot waiting in uniform for his flight. He asked Andre if he was Sodwee. Andre was a bit confused but suddenly realised that the pilot was actually looking for me, Airboy ! He then pointed my direction and all I saw from where I was coming from is the big mile long SMILE on Alfredo’s face (the pilot). I was wondering why he was looking at me. I didn’t expect anyone to look for me. Let alone in JFK airport ! Turns out I was completely wrong. “Alfredo from Ecuador” then congratulated me for posting good music on the blog and told me he especially liked the latest four tracks part of DOWNLOADABLES #77. He also told me while he was reading that I was in New York and was to leave at the same time as he… in the same terminal. So looked out for me when he saw the RED HATS (unmistakable female item worn by female Emirates Crew) floating around.

I can tell you. It’s a frickin’ good feeling to have some random person, that you have never seen before, come up to you and say “Hey Sodwee ! Bad ass music you have”. Yet satisfying it felt kind of weird, but ohh so funny in the end. “Alfredo from Ecuador” made my day ! I had to go because we were holding a pre-flight brief and couldn’t stay too long to chat. I later on forgot to take a picture of us both. Nevermind ! Next time lol !

The way back was a little more stressful, we were flying a brand new 777-300, with a GCAA or DGCA (aviation authorities) inspector onboard. He was here to check on our knowledge. So briefing was a little tense with the purser asking tough(er) questions than usual including cockpit checklists and stuff. In the end. The inspector never came to ask questions. He was too busy with our award winning entertainment system !

Anyway, the flight back was equally easy and fun. Glad the main fleet still has some cool dudes around !

I took the second rest for this leg because I knew I would be busy once back in Dubai. And I was damn right ! We landed at 8 in the morning and Nivine (french friend here) called me to force me to come to the free open day for Facecard holders at the Aquaventure Park in Atlantis Resort on the man-made Palm island. So it was 9 a clock, virtually one hour after I had landed that I was already on the go to that fun day out in the blistering sun and heat of Dubai.

We had a great day there, catching up with all the other cabin crew we knew. Here are some pictures to give you a feel of the day. Of course the whole thing finished at ZINC late at night and me with no sleep at all. I basically had breakfast in New York. Worked over Groenland, Europe and Turkey. Suntanned in Dubai and finally had dinner at home ! Bloody busy day. I was knackered.

Finally, please yourselves with the video. Soundtrack is the Cut Copy remix of Ladyhawke’s “Paris Is Burning”. Featured for download a couple weeks ago on Airboy Blog !

In other noteworthy news… M has received the gift he won as part of the 1000th comment contest. The package was sent a little late because I had trouble finding a big enough cardboard box to put the picture frame and mouse pad along with newspaper to secure it. The artwork in the frame is a Tiger made out of very thin black paper. It was an actual nightmare to frame it because it’s so light it wouldn’t stay in place. I got it from Shanghai when I was there last. I would also like to welcome two new LAVIATORS to the club, Lori (who’s an FA for Virgin Atlantic) and Alex who was forced to take a picture by his girlfriend ! You too, can join the LAVS OF FAME and enter history in the making as we try to collect as many pictures from people in aircraft lavatories along with Heather Poole from Gadling. CLICK HERE to send me your picture and see other Laviators, creativity prevails !

I’m now chilling at home, catching up on some much needed sleep. And eating like a pig. Peace out fools !

Related Posts, according to Airbot... (automatically generated)

• Airboy does Shanghai #2 + VIDEO
• So far, So Good. Or supposedly. TWO NEW LAVIATORS. DL#81.
• DOWNLOADABLES #74 / Tonite Only – City rooftop, in your tanktop, rainbow stylin’
• 303 MATT drops a tune. Two LAVI8TORS
• NEW LAVIATORS JOIN THE CLUB – BEST IN SHOW, so far…
• NEW LAVIATOR ! You too can join ! Click me !
• Move Update #2
• Michelle Obama Laviates with us !
• DOWNLOADABLES #80. Chromeo / Fancy Footwork. Update on my move…
• Well Done. Update of the last 72 hours