To each and every one of you...

As a sat on my Blackberry texting all my friends from around the world to wish them a wonderful Christmas, it dawned on me how many friends I have that I am horrible at keeping in touch with. I sent messages to my closest friends; Catherine, Katrina, Keshia, Caitlin & Pam, and then scanned through my phone to send festive wishes to those I only see once a year (if not less).

Lucia, the best roommate I could have ever asked for! The Slovakia native taught me more than she will ever know! It has been ironic that we have become closer now, when we live in separate countries! Lucia is the sweetest person I have ever met, and I can only hope our paths in life will cross again.
Dawn, my fabulous Abu Dhabi friend who I have known only since 2007. Her and her husband Paul were great friends to me while I spent some time on my own in the foreign city. I though of her and how she must be enjoying her English Christmas in Coventry with her friends and family.

Christie, or as i call her "My best Abu Dhabi" friend, whom I haven't seen in years. She left me on a midnight flight from Abu Dhabi to Manchester in the new year of 2008. I miss my wino friend, who was always good for a laugh and always made sure i could keep up with conversations and jokes with other English folk. 

Dale & Jane, Though i didn't actually contact this pair, I thought of them and their daughters Eden and Neve. The time spent with this couple in Bahrain was very much once in a life time. I wish them all the best in the new year while they raise their girls in South Africa.

The Barraclough/ Bristow Family, The first year since 2008 that I will not be with them at Christmas. I hope Lydia, Ella, Joshie, and Callum were good little ones and "my friend" St Nick found them this year. Though I have heard that the stomach fly hit this Bristol family home. May each of you feel better! Hugs and Kisses to all from Canada.


Though not always the easiest, I did have a wonderful year of traveling, and learning about myself and the world around me.

Stories from a Flight Attendant

When people hearing that I was a flight attendant, I usually get one of two reactions. A) "Wow... How did you get that job?" or B) "Well you must have some stories to tell!" I have had the chance to travel the world with the world's leading new airline that lucky for me had the policy that the crew hotels had to be of a certain standard.  People are expecting to hear random travel stories that I simply... do not have.



I have never been or almost been arrested in a foreign country, but I have stolen red roses from a kid outside of a Bangkok nightclub with my crew members.

I have not caught anyone having sex in the lavatory, however I have nicely asked a woman to turn around, get off her boyfriends lap and buckle her seat belt on a flight to Frankfurt Germany.

I have not had anyone purpose on a flight, but I have had a woman tell me that she couldn't sit by her husband because they were fighting.

I have not used drugs in a random Asian country, but there was this one time in Munich that my crew had drinks with our airlines competitor crew and it got a little heated.

I have not had a passenger threaten my life, however when a fellow crew member emptied an entire bottle of Tabasco sauce on the passenger's breakfast meal, we wondered if the passengers heads were going to stay attached.

I have never been involved with an emergency landing, though I have told passengers that because i had no more milk for their baby the captain would be landing the plane just for them!

Like I said, I just don't have those scary, eventful, thrilling stories to tell like most travelers do...but I do have my own kind of stories to tell!

Flight from Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi

A little Piece of Italy

Every sell proclaimed traveler has that trip that changes their life for the better or the worse. Some it may just be a check off a mental "bucket list", others it may be a place they dreamed of seeing since they we're small. While flying I saw a lot of places in many different countries. And the trip that stands out in my mind was my trip to Italy.

It all started in May 2008 when I got lucky and got called off a standby to go to Milan for a 72 hour layover. Still being "green" in the world for cabin crew I was so excited and immediately called my mother, who's dream it is to see Italy.

The only way that I can explain why this trip in particular changed my life then for the simple reason of a very large check on my then very small bucket list. The crew and I spent a wonderful 72 hours between Milan and Venice, eating, drinking and shopping in true Italian fashion. I remember the feeling I got when I got off the train in Venice... I oddly enough for the first time in my life, felt safe, like one would at home in their own country. Why? Scanning the Venezia train station, I counted 22 Canadian flags on backpacks, suitcases, sweaters, and hats. And being a proud Canadian, my maple leaf (which went with me on every trip I may add), was happily displayed on my hand jacket!

Nothing extremely special happened on this trip, and to be honest I wasn't feeling great when I was there, it just felt amazing, knowing that something else could be crossed off my "to -do " list. :)

  

Home and Native Land



Overlooking Bear River Winery



I personally feel that Canada is the best country in the world. We have the world's longest coastline, some of the world's best "up and coming winery's", the inventions of hockey, basketball, the zipper, the push-up bra ;) and of course the Blackberry, and a little known fact... Santa Clause is thought to be Canadian! I am from the best and most beautiful country in the world.



Apple Blossoms



Even though some may feel like I bitch about having to live in this small town of mine... I love it here at home. My mother once told me to never forget where I came from and to this day I haven't. While living over seas I often showed off my home and native land, as well as this piece of heaven Valley I am from, with books and photos.



Peggy's Cove

I live where the tides are high, the wine flows, and the apple blossoms bloom and I will never forget any of these things. I believe to truly love homeland, travel will make you appreciate where you can always fall and collect yourself, which essentially is what I've done.

In 2008 I wrote a piece for Our Canada Magazine for their "Canadian Abroad" section. The one page article was about my life in Abu Dhabi and flying, but no matter where I was in the world, home was always (and still is) my favourite place on the globe, (stay tuned).

Though it seems like I just complain about my small town, I know how special it is and I am very happy to call this place home. And I know that there are far worse places to be temporarily stuck.

They kill single people don't they?

So there is no fragile way to commence this post.... I've tried... a few times without success. And I've always said that I will not use my blog as a way to vent or flood it with emotions and tell everyone how i feel... so I am just going to ask what is on my mind.

Where do people MEET people?

I ask myself this question everyday. Recently single, I am faced with the evil world of dating again, (try not to make that "aaawwwww"sound and turn your head to the side and feel sorry for me) and as i venture into the world of the unknown... I don't know where to go, literally!

So you think of the obvious places. First off school. I look around.... fail. Enough said.

And then i venture out to places that i enjoy.... the local pub. A winner one would think, but once again.... fail.

You KNOW the local coffee shop was a HUGE fail. And I'm out of places to look in this tiny little place.



My fabulous single friend Catherine & I



This weekend the single girls hit the busy streets of the city of Halifax. Thank god for Catherine... my amazing single friend... ( who just so happens to go for guys I couldn't be less interested in... bonus) who makes the new venture exciting and less evil. 

'Tis the friggen season!



The first snow of the season



So we all knew it would happen sooner or later, and I guess we did get lucky and it didn't come as soon as it could have. The first snow fall. Living in Canada is it bound to happen, and you may curse me and say its wonderful, but.... I hate it. I am not a snow bunny, nor do I enjoy cold evening walks in the snow, and therefore, I have no use for it. Cold feet (literally), falling in slush, and wearing a million layers of clothing is not my explanation of a  magnificent season. I do apologize to those of you who do enjoy a trip down the hill in the powder, I personally just can not do it (sorry Catherine). And for those of you saying "well... 'tis the season"... that saying never makes anyone feel better about the onset of snow!

First snow fall of the season

And in this hemisphere when the white stuff falls,Christmas is just around the corner. This is will be the first time in 3 years that I have spent a Christmas as home in Canada with my family. Which sounds fabulous to my family, however to me... a little less fab and a lot more dull.  Now no offence to my wonderful family, its not them.  Most of this "Scrooge" like feelings has come from a recent breakup, and now the option of jet setting to England for a English Christmas is not going to happen. At least this year I get to spend eating my mother's delectable meals and Christmas treats! So my lack of travel during this "festive" season makes me once again temporarily stuck... how many days till May?

Thank God for single friends, rum and eggnog, and PLENTY of gingerbread cookies to fill me up!

Do you Belize it?!

Very excited to announce that my fabulous Tourism Management class will be traveling to Belize in May! Not exactly the trip we were expecting, but after a talk about Belize today and what we will be doing, we all seem very excited to go.

Stationary Traveler no more, and the countdown begins.... maybe I just won't come back! :)

Dhaka,Bangladesh Trip

Here is a piece I wrote in Jan of 2008, after a flight to Bangladesh;


As some of you know I had a flight to Dhaka Bangladesh a few days ago. Bangladesh is one of the poorest country in the world. Talking with other flight attendant's about the city sparked my interest and I decided with a few others to take a trip into Dhaka to a place called "Bongo Bazaar". Others had told me that Dhaka is the worst place in the world to go visit and if I were smart I would stay in the hotel and not leave the pool side. But.. it was like a car wreck... you should look, but you do just because you really want to see.
Samantha, Satisha, my cabin manager Ahmed and I headed out to the side of the road to hail a cab. We didn't take any thing but the clothes on our back. No purses, no cameras, no earrings no watches... just clothes and money stashed in our shirts. I wore a simple pair of jeans a t-shirt and a pasmina. Nothing special. After seeing about 200 people in a bus and a monkey ON the bus, we finally got a cab, jumped in and headed to "bongo bazaar".
I kept pretty quite in the cab. Maybe it was because I didn’t know the people around me very well, or maybe it was because I wasn't feeling well, ( as predicted I came down with a cold, as most new flight attendants do within their first month of flying) but I'm pretty sure I didn't say much because I was trying to take everything in. Visiting the city of Dhaka was the worst experience of my life. The poverty was unreal. It was just like something out of a live aid commercial. picture the absolute worse.... then times it by ten and you get Dhaka. While waiting in a cab in traffic, beggars tap on the window and try to sell you any thing from books, to towels, pop corn or flowers. Beggars from 5 years old to 70 years old. It was dirty and it smelled like burnt tires. We finally reached "bongo bazaar" after about 30 minutes in the cab. Well what we thought was bongo bazaar. We were "welcomed" by about 30 (not even kidding) children from the age of 3 to 18. The deal is that you hire one of these children and they take to you to places you want to go. You say "women’s t-shirts" they take you there and barder for you, because they know the language and they make sure your not ripped off. We picked the first kid we saw. she was wearing a three piece bright green traditional Indian dress and had a huge wad of gum in her mouth.... smacking it. Her and her 2 male friends took us around... and fought off the crowd. Everything was "here sister! buy this sister! you need t-shirt sister?!" They were all amazed with my fair complexion and blond hair, and they all yelled "Eithad" when we walked by. I was the only blond I saw the entire time I was in the city. My "nothing special" outfit become gold when I saw what some of these people were wearing. Some had probably not changed their clothes in a year... if not longer.
We weren't in the bongo for 5 minutes when our girl told us we were in the wrong place and we wouldn't find much there for women. We walked around just to experience things, and we quickly became out numbered by not just children, adults now. We quickly paid our girl, about a Canadian dollar, which is an unreal amount to her, and got a police man to hail us a cab. We needed to get out of there and fast before we were jumped or mugged or even killed.
On the cab ride home, one beggar came to our window. I had my head down so that i wouldn’t make eye contact with him. Samantha told me to look up and look at the man beside me. I saw something that i will never forget as long as i live. This man had clothes that he must have been wearing for years, tattered and wore out. His hair was one big ball of knots, and his face covered in dirt. His eyes were big brown and filling with tears. The man had no hands only "stumps" that he tapped on the window with. We assumed that he got caught stealing and his hands were cut off. I couldn't give him any thing for he would have been jumped and killed if any one had seen him with money.
The children who followed us around would tap me on my elbow and point to their stomach, or their mouth. They had clothes on that they have had since they were born, and they were just enough to cover them. They had no shoes and their feet were cut to pieces. They were just so sad and hungry and i wished I had something to give them. They had the coldest fingers I have ever felt before in my life. A coldness i will never forget. "Madame, Madame!" is all they would say.
What got me was the hotel was beautiful! Wonderful food, and a lovely hotel! Beds were soft and the soaps were great. But once you walk out to the end of the driveway your in hell again. The airport was a joke. It had four wall but barely. Immigration for cabin crew to get in the country was a large book that everyone wrote in. You wrote your name, your nationality, and staff number and there ya go "welcome to Bangladesh". We were stuck at the airport for 2 and 1/2 hours for our aircraft that we were taking back to Abu Dhabi couldn’t land in the fog. And to add insult to injury, you cant eat outside of the hotel unless you want to have diarrhea for a life time.
So all in all, next time I say "I'm hungry" I know I'm really not, or next time I say "I'm poor" I'm not. When I was in Dhaka I saw things that no one would ever want to see, but I'm glad I saw them. It makes me love home so much more, and makes me tolerate Abu Dhabi more... for a bit longer at least.

Sorry no photos from Dhaka because I was too worried I was going to get mugged. This photo however was the beautiful hat I wore as a part of my uniform.  

The Trip to the "Nish"

Just this past weekend my mother and I took a trip to the small yet wonderful town of Antigonish Nova Scotia, to visit my little sister Holly at university.  Some background information about this trip.... I was telling my mother how after my plans to move overseas again in June fell through, I've been feeling pretty stuck in my small town. She calls with the brilliant idea to go to Antigonish for the weekend. Which don't get me wrong, I really loved getting out of town for a night, Antigonish isn't what I had in mind. Nevertheless, we headed off on the 4 hour drive on a Sunday evening.

We stayed at this fabulous little Inn on main street of Antigonish, The Victorian Inn; http://www.antigonishvictorianinn.ca/ . I suggest room five, it was beautiful! 

ANYWAY.... this is the first time my sister has lived away from home and she very excited about it. Everyone always says that they leave home children, and come home young adults when they go off to university. Holly on the other hand... yeah, she just thinks she's an adult! And another thing i noticed about my dear sister, she now talks in abbreviations. Take for example "The roomie and I went to this party at the S.U.B. then we went over to M.A.C. after we went down L.L., but then I was hungry so we went to the Cafs.The NISH is so much fun!" The funny part is... she gets upset if we ask her exactly who this Mac is she's talking about.

Though I had a wonderful time with my sister and mother, when I wasn't playing ref between the two, it wasn't the traveling experience I'm longing for.  My time spent in the Middle East was such a amazing experience of learning and self discovery. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side!

Me & The Great Wall of China, December 2008

The Stationary Traveler

The Stationary Traveler

Ever feel stuck within your own life?  Ever feel like your life was in overdrive and then you lost your transmission? Welcome to my life!

At the young age of 20 I moved from my small town in Nova Scotia Canada, to the Middle East to become a flight attendant with the world’s leading new airline. I have seen over 35 different cities in the world in almost ever continent. I feel in love with the world, a man, and my life. It was everything I ever wanted. But all good things come to an end right?

Myself and the boyfriend, decided it was time to leave the exciting city of Abu Dhabi, to continue our education. Not a bad idea. But now, I'm stuck back in my small town, being asked a million times a day "why ever did you leave flying?"

So I left my big world of traveling and adventure to start a diploma program at my local community college. I am in my second year of a Tourism Management program, and am feeling like I am a world traveler stuck in a small town.

This blog will tell of stories of my travels and follow my temporarily stuck world.