Athens

The plane I was in...

"Welcome aboard flight ZI 501 to Athens. This flight will last approximately two hours and 50 minutes and our estimated time of arrival is 11:14 local time. Temperature in Athens is currently 29°C. Enjoy your flight"!

WILD!!!

First day... This morning I woke up at 2:30. Surprisingly enough, it was easy waking up. As I opened my eyes, the first dose of adrenalin hit me and therefore kept me from going back to sleep. It weird how, when you get sleep deprived (indeed, only three hours last night), everything you do when you wake up is like an automatism. Shaving, getting dressed, even getting my bowl of cereal ready... an automatism. No need to think, no need to focus, only need to feed this young steward. I left home at 3:30. Believe me, streets were empty! I drove to the South Terminal of the Paris-Orly Airport. There, I parked my car in a flight-attendant-parking-only and entered the terminal at only 4:15. It had only taken me 45 minutes to cross Paris and drive 30 kilometers south. Behind the Air Algeria counter there is a small - almost hidden - door. Behind that door, there is an elevator which I took to the 3rd floor. There is our briefing room. I was really early, so I drank a cup of coffee and chatted with some other flight attendants until my crew arrived.
I was surprised how informal it is. Everybody's very well dressed in our uniform, ties and jackets, for men, and lady's suits, well, for ladies. First of all, everybody kisses everybody! When I was in the shuttle driving between our parking lot and the Terminal, some stewardess came to me and did "the bise". I was pretty surprised. Immediately we started talking saying "tu" to one another, as if we knew eachother. Many different companies take off from the South Terminal, but we can tell who works where with our company badge. She was headed to Tenerife, a city off the Canary Islands. Then, second surprise, everybody looked so relaxed!
We had our briefing when you go over the number of passengers (PAX), the type of service (Breakfast-BF, snack-CF or dinner-DF), the duration of the flight and each of the flight attendants' position abord the aircraft : whether you are up front, or in the back, in the galley. This briefing was held with our two pilots who, along with the six of us flight attendants, made a crew of 8 (PEQ8).
We then headed to our plane and so crossed the entire terminal, everybody's eyes were on us. For the first time of my life I went through customs without showing my passport, and it took us less than five minutes! We finally arrived to our plane and started working. ETD was in an hour. Each time a flight attendant gets on a plane, he/she has to check a number of things : security check (life jackets, fire extinguishers, oxygen bottles...) and a commercial check (count the number of meals we have to make sure every passenger will have food. This hour went by really quickly. I was, once more, surprised that the "chef de cabine" (cabin crew leader) was smoking, inside the plane, though no passengers had arrived yet. Then passengers started coming in : "Good morning Sir, good morning Ma'am, welcome aboard", multiplied by 174! I was able to take off from the cockpit. It's really cool. Then I headed back to the galley in the back where we had our breakfast. The chef de cabine was in front with another senior stewardess and I was in the back along with another trainee and two stewardesses. The seat belt sign was still on so that we could have our breakfast calmly, without being disturbed by 22B who wants a blanket, or 14F who would like a glass of water... Then, we did the first service, breakfast, "en grande pompe", meaning two trolleys start at opposite ends of the cabin and meet in the middle, along with "coffee, tea, hot chocolate?". We cleared them, walked a little bit in the cabin to pretend we care, and then sat back down in the galley. I was also able to land in the cockpit which was really amazing. My dream was finally become a reality, my reality!
We only spent an hour in Athens, then back to Paris. Flight home was the same except that we served lunch (DF). Easy cabin, nice passengers, though leaving the place where they'd spent their holidays to come back to Paris' greyness.
I really enjoyed my first flight. Today, I was finally able to fly, eventhough it only lasted six hours and twenty-two minutes. I am now exhausted. It is very tirering. You have to be very fast yet not stressful. Hard challenge!

My next flight is Wednesday, I will be going to Oran, Algeria.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.