lagos part 2/3

Now for the 2nd of the series of 3 Lagos flts I had this month.

Once again it was a series of red wines going out like hot cakes. Not so much of pineapple juice this time though. The newest crew member, a girl from Senegal was slightly stuck up and din't take too kindly the advice I gave her to not use bars which are meant to be kept for crew on the return sector. Like the previous flight I gave advice to crew about the hotel, allowance and the buffet which I stuffed myself with. I had  promised the hostess who receives the crew and checks us in, that I would do the briefing on her behalf. So like a pro I did her job and kept my word and was given a round of applause from the hotel staff, with some crew wondering if I sneak there and work part time. LOL. 

I was very tired and passed out, and overslept my supposed to be short nap. Not to mention I was so late I expected all the crew to have had dinner and gone back to their rooms. luckily I did find the first officer, David, Mahmoud, Zach and Soukeyna at one of the dinner tables. The Senegal girl and the first officer took leave no sooner they were done signing for their meals. The remaining 4 of us sat there randomly chatting while they finished their drinks. Zach ended up knocking a glass and shattering it to bits because of his over enthusiastic hand gesture. Finally 3 of us except Mahmoud decided to head out and check out the club across the street. So we made our way after making a few enquiries about the safety, hours of buisness, etc. On our way out we met Aditya, the Indian SFS who had come down for a smoke as all rooms were non-smoking. To our disappointment the club was showing the same soccer match being played at our hotel on big screen with the volume blaring. The highlight was probably a murky looking glass case wit a few inches of equally murky water with a sign saying-"point and we cook fresh catfish for u". This got David a little excited but after the buffet dinner and couple of glasses of wine, he really could only look at the catfish longingly. Exclaiming that he will come have it the next day or next layover he reluctantly followed us out of the place. 

Back at the hotel we bumped into Aditya again who joined us for a drink at the bar. I tried a Nigerian special which was a rather refreshing mocktail. Eventually David and Zach retired for the night and I sat chatting with Aditya about north Indian people in general as he came from Shimla. The bar tender suggested a brandy cocktail which to my disgust was too strongly flavoured with sum sort of spice I couldn't quiet put my finger on. After a few dwindling sips I gave up on trying to finish my drink and decided to go back to my room and chat wit Lionel.

In the room, after setting up the laptop and huddling in bed I realised the main light in the room wasn't working and so it was quiet impossible to be seen on skype. I gathered my quilt and pillows and headed to the bathroom, making myself comfortable in the bath tub. Thankfully the bathroom is well lit with a plug point which can be used for electronics apart from shavers! A few hours passed chatting wit Lionel and a friend, Hitesh. I decided to call it a night and slept almost till it was time to get ready and go on flt. A short chat with lionel before heading off back to flight kept me smiling as always. 

The incoming crew weren't as nice as we were, so we got empty bars which we supposed to be restocked for us. Also alcohol, juices, etc were used from the containers meant to be kept sealed for us. We cursed the crew for being so inconsiderate and thanked our stars the flight had a fairly light load. We finally landed back in Dubai ahead of scheduled arrival time and I hoped my 3rd flt would follow suit as I plan to catch a flight right after to Calicut for the wedding registration work. But I would know only when the day comes. Until then lets get some rest before round 3 of 3!

Lagos part 1/3

So I have 3 Lagos flights rostered this month which means staying in doors on the layover unless I can round up a fair number of crew to step out AND a more than decent layover allowance. With not enough sleep I headed for my almost 8hr long flight. I was glad to see 4 known faces in the briefing room, which I might add is a rare occurence coz there's just so many of us you hardly ever see people again after a flight.

A general thing discussed in briefing for this flight is that you have to leave all your prejudices behind, and not get offended at how pax on this sector may try to get your attention or the way they speak with you, that's just how they are even to their own people. So ignore all the pst..pst..hissing, the sleeve/skirt tugging and the ocassional cute guy calling you 'sista' like everyone else. Also one will repetitively hear phrases like, "I wanna ease maself" (meaning they wanna take a leak) and "do urself a fava n gimme a pineapple juice" (jst their lingo) and ofcourse "gimme 2 of those" (2 of almost everything we serve onboard). Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not stereo typing, only stating what gets some crew pretty pissed off I fail to understand why.

Nick, an aussie guy who is fairly new in the company is keen on going out clubbing in lagos as he has heard much about it. And I in general am waiting for a chance to venture out and explore. I've somehow managed to get Sean (fellow-indian) to agree to come out coz he doesn't want me to go out alone, which I didn't plan to anyway. Semeret, the ethopian girl said she will have to stay in and study for her reccurent exam. And so the flight got over uneventfully with lots of red wine and coke being served, all baileys running out and a generally cheerful atmosphere prevailed among crew. Almost uneventful shall I say. One guy got drunk, annoyed a few of us and refused to sit down even when we started descent, and I had to ask his co-pax to take him away and put him in his seat. Also, we heard the captain having a heated conversation with an Air Traffic controller who came to the aircraft to see them as we disembarked because he failed to communicate that there was another plane within 2miles (or was it 2000ft?? I can't remember) which our pilots thankfully realised with aid of an advanced anti-collision device fitted on most modern aircrafts. Close call!

Finally we signed our register, collected our bags and headed outside to our bus which is escorted by 2 armed police men bearing AK47's in a minivan towing along our bags. In the bus as a procedure we received a briefing by the 'commanda' who instructed us to fasten our seat belts, to keep doors and windows locked at all times and to not panic incase of an emergency as our safety was his prime concern, and he and his team are thoroughly trained to handle any situation. Makes me think of what our passengers go through when we give safety briefings. Lol. Off we go to our hotel where we are greeted by friendly staff and welcomed with refreshing ice-tea and mango juice while checking in.

The captains suggested we meet for dinner at 6.30pm local time which was a few hours away. I was to call Semeret if I was gonna go. Sean was hitting the gym before any plan materialised and I took this chance to get off ma ass and work out as well. Thanks to a call he made to ask if I was gonna go down, I changed and hit the gym. Hard enough to feel a few aching muscles later. Then for a quick shower before meeting Sean later to head out later. When I did go down, I found Nick nd Sean at the bar sippin beers. Along came Fei, one of the SFS and all my pleas to step out before it gets dark were drowned in their beer afflicted chatter. Clubbing post dinner lurked somewhere in the background though as there were 3 very good clubs nearby. So I figured might as well call Semeret, more the merrier. The captains arrived soon after. I was too hungry and tired to have fun watchin others get drunk so I lead them to the buffet which looked delicious.That led to several plates full of food down our starving bellies including nigerian chicken stew and rice cooked with tomatoes,onions and bananas. We chatted non-stop about flight safety and culture diffrences and how old or young everyone at the table was, etc etc. till slowly people started retiring to their rooms. Clubbing got canned just like my plan had.

Back to my room I realised my internet voucher was almost reaching its 5hr limit so I ran across to Nick's room to steal his so I could skype mr.husband. After a long tiring day our conversation didn't last very long. I passed out almost instantaneously. Woke up a few times to check bbm, and finally woke up so I could talk to lionel a lil more before flight. My bb as always refused to work every now and then while everyone around happily texted away. We sent additional position crew to exchange currency for everyone as Nigerian Niara cannot be taken offshore by foreign nationals. Even if one did, the exchange rate you'd get would be pathetic. We got on board after a short wait, started our pre-flight safety and security checks and boarding followed. I dint get to say bye to ma hubby darling which sure as hell left him worried till I replied after landing back in dubai. I had a few fans on flight with a lady asking what shade lipstick I wore and insisted on writing the info down, and a couple asking another crew, Vesna to enquire what watch I was wearing. And an annoying lady who insisted I clear her trays away as she was travelling with a child (who occupied a seat) immediately just as I stood in the cabin holding a silver tray in one hand and a pot of hot tea in the other. Where do some people leave their brains when they come onboard I wonder! But that pretty much sums up the flight and ofcourse the usual one very drunk talkitive pax.

I was right about Lionel being worried sick coz he didn't know when I would land and why I suddenly disappeared without saying bye. Got worried myself when my bag didn't show up on the assigned carousel for our flight. It was just that the loader had decided I was his object of ridicule and loaded ma bag on the neighbouring carousel. Made a dash for the bus so I wouldn't have to wait another 15minutes for the next one. And got home, happily bbming the whole way. Was a refreshing feeling even after the long flight. Got in bed cuddling on bbm (its pretty much like oxygen) till sleep took over. The venturing out will have to be for another one of the Lagos flights I guess.