the CABIN CREW monologues

MEET: ALICJA

Hi! I’m Alicja (@alisteve), psychologist from Poland. On 15th June 2019 I landed in Dubai to start my adventure with Emirates. Almost exactly a year later I decided that this is the time to say goodbye. I never intended to spend much time in this company, however, this decision was somewhat pressured upon me due to the current situation in the world. I am excited for new adventures and I feel empowered having been able to make this decision. During the lockdown I took up web development and started teaching English online. I am going back home now for the summer and in the fall moving to Ecuador. I am happy to have found the plan I want to follow, even if it takes a dozen u-turns on the way.

During my time in Dubai I have met many inspiring people, travelled the world but I was also faced with many challenges. Sleepless nights, never ending night flights, anxiety about making it to the gate on time. This job is not as easy as hopping on a plane and travelling the world. It’s a lifestyle that is full of adventures but also sacrifices. I am so grateful for having had the opportunity to experience it. I think that in order to find what your true desires are, you need to lose yourself on the way.

MEET: ANDRA

My Name is Andra, I am from Romania and lived in Milan for a while, the city where I grew up the city that mostly formed me as person. P.S.: My favorite place on earth.

One day I was having coffee with my friend in the city center of Milan and we were thinking of how amazing would it be to drink our coffee every single time in a different place, city or country. While thinking how could this thing work, how could we turn this our dream in reality, the idea of applying for a cabin crew job crossed our mind, so we started google it and we were happy to see Emirates was coming to our city in few weeks from than organizing interviews for the dream job, as Flight Attendant. 

There is where all started…. Very happy about our decision we prepared all the needed documents, pictures, important information we thought we should know. Time passed fast, the two weeks were gone and we were staying in front of a big decision, a decision that could change our life. I remember attending the interview was long, tiring, a lot of people but the interesting thing was we made it till to the end.

Everything around me was so new, a new culture to embrace, Dubai that was so fascinating but mysterious in the same time… but yeah I was staying in front of realizing a dream, to travel the world. I had a great batch, positive, energic and motivated people from all over the world, that was the thing that fascinated me the most, now I will have the opportunity to learn about new cultures I was so happy.

The time spent in Emirates Training was so much fun, I learned how to apply the famous cabin crew make up, how to fight the fire, how to survive in extreme situations, the aircraft simulator trained us for all type of emergency situations, as well as I was trained new security techniques - Karate is one of my biggest passions, so I found all this just great.

I cannot describe you the feeling, it was so great, finally I was ready to fly, to see the world, to live the dream.

The first couple of years I loved the job, it was everything I wanted. The things I loved the most was waking up in amazing hotels, today I could have my coffee in Paris while enjoying the Eiffel Tower view, next day I could shop in the amazing fashion streets of Milan and after some days attend my favorite Broadway Show in New York. I am so grateful I could see so many different places, try so many different food varieties, it’s definitely an experience I would recommend to everyone. The hours spent on board were most of the time fun, I made a lot of new friends, the atmosphere is a happy one most of the times as cabin crew have always lots of jokes whether they be about crew, pilots or the passengers. 

I have to say that behind all this fun, there is a lot of hard work as well. Time is flying, most of the time you are with people you don’t know, lots of sleepless nights, a totally different lifestyle, for sure not a lifetime job. Being a cabin crew is very demanding and tiring on the body, so most of the time it takes a lot of motivation to carry on with the long flights, thousands of passenger bags, etc.

The overall experience was, I would define it, complex, and today for me it’s time to move on in search for a new adventure, I still have to unpack a bag full of dreams. I decided to embrace Digital Marketing and Advertising, the field I finished my university in, which I am happy to see it’s getting even popular nowadays.As I thought I should capture this dream, this chapter of my life in a nice memory, I met Celeste van Rooyen, a great photographer, an amazing and super creative artist, to take together some photos, the last ones in the amazing Emirates uniform. I will be so proud and happy to show this pictures to my kids in a future. And last but not least, I would like to share with everyone the most important thing this job taught me : “ Life is a moment, so let’s make the best out of every single minute we have”…