"Some kind of wonderful" layover in San Fran :)

I'll just pretend it hasn't been so long and write another story... I missed it... But it takes so much time for me to write something I like and lately I feel like there's not enough time for everything, for everyone... My sleeping is all messed up, have serious back pain for weeks now (should really go see a doctor about it) and I'm a little tired of all this flying around, so whenever I'm off I just want to stay in bed, mmmm :)
That being said, just a few hours ago, cause it took me a few hours to do that, I looked through all of my pictures in the last 2 and a half years and I reminded myself once again why have I even started writing, that pushed me to write some more, so here I am, writing, and eating toast sandwich (cause I bought a toaster yesterday) :)

Let's see...recent news, layovers, travels, days off... Well, all of that can be summed up in this one post haha... and it will be, cause nothing much happened lately and the only 'subject' I feel like writing about now is the one about how to keep a long distance relationship work :) aka shortest and sweetest weekend ever, in San Francisco! (think I can call it a relationship now, can I?) :p
Anyhow it's refreshing to be able to write about it, say it out loud?, share it?, feels good after quite some time, and it is good, more than good...

If you haven't noticed already, he lives in New York, and you all know where I live. All this flying and some days off in a row from time to time is making it possible to see each other, more often than I thought it would be, but not often enough as we'd like it. So when he buys a ticket to come to visit me for only 2 days on one of my layovers that's what it means to make an effort... This sentence doesn't sound as nice as I want it to so let me rephrase - no one  has ever done something like that for me before. Ah, better. :)
Yes, there were some nice little surprises through the years but nothing left me speechless like this one. Seriously, literally, speechless.
And too excited about the whole thing to tell him that :D But he'll know now, guess I'm better with written than spoken words anyway when it comes to this (usually I have a pretty big mouth haha).

It was 3 weeks ago, I had a 15 hours long San Francisco flight, after which I felt like life has been sucked out of me, but he was there waiting and for the next 48 hours I completely forgot about the return sector (another exhausting 15 hours!) :)

We took a car and went to explore the city. Parked next to the Union square and walked aaaaall the way to Pier 39. It was a long walk, trust me, after 15 hours flight even going to the toilet from your own bed seems like a long walk! Not so many people out on the streets (they were preparing for a Sunday gay pride?) :) until we came down to the harbor. Perfect sunny day but pretty windy, which means colder than you'd like it in the middle of summer in the Golden state of California.

 

Alcatraz was military and later federal prison. Was in use for 29 years and it held some of the most notorious criminals in American history such as murderers and bank robbers.

One of the 'famous' names on the island was Al Capone, prohibition era Chicago gangster. 

The island is only 2,4 kilometers away from the coast but the cold, strong, hazardous currents of the waters of San Francisco Bay made it impossible for prisoners to escape.

Pier 39 is apparently 'the' spot for all the tourists. Not surprising cause it has a beautiful view of the Angel Island, Alcatraz (or so called The Rock), Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. There's also Aquarium of the Bay and Marine Mammal Centre, shops, restaurants, and also California sea lions love the docks around the Pier so you can see them laying around there at almost any time :)

 

The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Restaurant and Market is a seafood restaurant chain

inspired by the 1994 film Forrest Gump.

Other 2 pics are from Oxbow Public Market in Napa, indoor market with an outdoor deck, just next to the Napa River - it "features a diverse tenant mixture of local food vendors, artisan cafes and an organic produce outlet for local farms".

Have to say, city itself didn't wow me. Maybe we just didn't go to the right places but what we did see wasn't that special. Although the food was pretty great - shrimps at Bubba Gump and some margaritas with spicy Mexican food at Velvet Cantina! Yummy!

Sunday on the other hand was something completely different. We made a reservation in Grgich Hills Vinery and went to Napa Valley for some delicious vine tasting, with a quick stop at the Golden Gate Bridge - one of the most internationally recognized symbols of both California and US. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World. And yet people don't know about it, from 15 crew who were with me on that flight only the ones who have already been in San Fran knew about the Bridge, and ONLY because they have been there! No one knew about it before, shame... Doing this job and not knowing about the world? Well, just my personal opinion.

Early morning sun, just a few tourists and joggers, sea mist around Alcatraz followed by one hour drive into the Valley, higher temperatures, amazing scenery, colors, peace and quiet, relaxed atmosphere... Felt like walking through Narnia doors (it's not like I did walk into Narnia, ever, but you get the point) except there was no snow, lion Aslan or evil queen, only sun, heat and LOTS of delicious vine and yummy types of cheese :)

Could've stayed there for awhile, just chillaxing in the shades, overlooking vineyards, sipping a glass of vine or eating fresh cherries, you know, resting, not thinking or worrying about anything, not knowing what time of the day it is... And that's the part I hate the most about this job - always looking at your watch, worrying you'll be late for something, time flying by so fast!
Napa is one really beautiful, dreamy, romantic place, and just when you start properly enjoying it, when you relax, when you take a looooong deeeeeep breath this magic alarm goes on and it's time to go back once again, back to the real world.
Weekend was over.
Did it really happen?

Just a week later I went across the Atlantic again, this time as a passenger, just for a few days (feels like I'm doing these JFK flights more often than the crew :) ).
Michael Bublé was in town performing in Madison Square Garden and I didn't want to miss that one! One more down from the Bucket list :)
Heard almost all of my favorite songs, saw quite a show he prepared for us, truly great 2 hours, and enjoyed it even more cause he came with me (not Michael, just to be clear :p) and that was the whole point of going on this concert there specifically :)

Sales are everywhere, calling my name saying 'come insideeee, buy somethinggg...' you all know how this 'sale' voice sounds :)) It was hard to resist some serious shopping, believe me! I was late for my flight back as well, yes that happened to me for the first time EVER in my life but anyway I was back in time to start my reserve month.
Reserve month is this crazy period of not knowing where and when and if you are going anywhere, one day at a time. So here I am, sitting at my computer, waiting for my roster to change at 6 pm. Is it gonna be another day off, maybe standby again, turnaround or layover, long one, short one, crazy one, easy one... Fingers crossed for something nice :))

 

 

 

At the end of this post I just want to express my deepest and most sincere condolences to the friends, families, colleagues, all the loved ones of the crew and passengers who were on yesterdays Malaysia airlines flight that tragically crashed in Ukraine...

 

Orange day in Amsterdam vs chillaxing time in Seychelles :)

While we're going crazy anticipating our rosters for the next month, and every month is the same story with crew (someone actually described it like a woman in her PMS, which is not so far away from the truth...) :))

So while waiting, instead of going crazy in front of my laptop the whole day, refreshing that page and hoping it will finally show up and bring me flights and days I asked for, I'm going to the beach with my dear friend. Not just any beach but THE Beach! Haha, very imaginative name for one of the recently pimped up beaches in the city, so let's see what it has to offer on this hot and sunny Monday afternoon...

 

 

It's a long drive from my place to The Beach :p so instead of being irritated with the crowd in the metro I started writing this post about last weekend and one great orange day in the city of Amsterdam!

 

Days before the flight I decided to try and swap it for a Tokyo or Osaka while the cherry trees are still blooming, since it was one of my top wishes while I'm here, but, thankfully, no one wanted to change flights with me.

The thing is, we all want to travel to all those far away places, far from our home countries and Japan is definitely one of them for me. Living in Europe Amsterdam is pretty close so let's use the opportunity to go further while we still can.

Anyhow, that didn't happen and I ended up in Netherlands for a day! And not just any day, but for a celebration of King's birthday, for their national holiday when everyone dresses up in orange as a show of pride (love, respect, support or whatever else they want to show) for their Dutch Royal family!

It's a huge huge party (thought about making the same for my bday next year hihihi) all over the country but of course the biggest one is in Amsterdam. 

 

Little bit of a history lesson, didn't have one of those for some time now so you'll forgive me but a story is not a story if you don't have a clue about its background. Right? Right! (And here I am talking to myself again :)

Sooo... King's day or Koningsdag is actually a former Queen's day but it was changed from last year onwards since a prince Willhem-Alexander became a King of Holland last spring. Before him, for more than a 100 years queens were ruling this country and the celebration dates from 1885 when Queen Wilhelmina was born. After her the tradition continued for the Queen Juliana and Queen Beatrix who is now princess again since her son succeeded her.

 

Arriving anywhere on a Friday afternoon makes it a great layover, having crazy good crew makes it even better so we went to the city immediately. 2 train stops from the airport, 20minutes drive and we were there, ready to party with everyone else! :) 

Comparing Friday night and Saturday evening must say Saturday was so much more fun, but than again we had a chance to see Red light district at its 'best' or worst, depends how you look at it :)

I kept thinking, how many men, what kind of men...brrrr, and all for 50€ for a 'session'... No other explanation but - those girls must love what they do! Well, at least someone, it's not like you can say that for everyone :))

It's a small 'shopping area', shopping for pleasure, different kind of pleasure :) When you think better this city is full of different kinds of pleasures :D

 

 

That night I slept for so long, just to be able to stay awake for the whole next day and work the night flight back to Dubai. Very sweet Greek girl, very crazy Lebanese guy and myself went to the city around noon and we were already feeling awesomeness of the day in the air! Same streets, same squares, same bridges PACKED with people! Locals, tourists, young, old, everyone was outside dressed in orange! Had to blend in so we got ourselves some T-shirts in a souvenir shop and walked around finding every new stage better than the previous one,  every new band or DJ better and better... 

 

 

Canals were packed with boats same as the streets with people on foot or bikes! Every boat having their own music, drinks, vibe! Flee markets everywhere, stands with food and drinks... Not to mention the famous coffee shops and the clouds of marijuana scent in the air, literally EVERYWHERE! 

Coming to a place where that is allowed from a place where you go to prison for life (or worse?) for the same thing makes it really weird, like we were even afraid to breathe next to the people with joints in their hands haha. But it's true, you get used to the life here, rules, laws etc and with time everything else feels strange, like kissing in public, eating in a metro, drinking on the street...it's always on your mind 'oh no I shouldn't be doing this!' and than the next thought follows 'but I can do it here just like I was used to do it before!' :)) My thoughts are taking me far from the subject again :)

 

 

 

Some things are harder to describe so accurate like if you were there but let me put it this way - I haven't been pulled for a German flight during Oktoberfest, or Irish flight for St. Patrick's day, neither Brazilian flight during the carnival or Football World Championship :p but I got a chance to celebrate one king's birthday on the streets of Amsterdam on a beautiful spring day! Talking about experiences ha? :)

It is definitely one of very few cities where I can imagine myself living in! Colorful, happy and chillaxed (guessing why :p), good economy, nice lifestyle...

 

 

This layover was one of the special ones, the ones that happen every now and than, the ones that happen to remind us why we live where we live, why we do what we do, why we maybe sacrifice some things in life for the time being...

 

It's been a good month this April, specially with the last flight, yesterdays' Seychelles... They don't say these kind of islands are like a paradise, heaven on Earth for nothing! Only 17 hours layover was enough to make us wanna come back for more of that beautiful peace and quiet, relaxation, seafood, nature and apparently good nightlife! Wouldn't know :/

We took a walk up the hill to see a small waterfall, had a fresh coconut and ended up at the beach right in time for a wonderful sunset...

 

While google-ing this amazing looking place I found some interesting facts about it online (took over from www.travelingeast.com)

 

* Pirates used to seek the islands of Seychelles as a hideout. It is believed that Olivier Le Vasseur, an infamous pirate, had a treasure worth 100,000 euros that remains hidden in the land up to the present. (if we knew that sooner :p)

 

* Victoria, the capital city of Seychelles, is the smallest capital in the whole world.

 

 

* Ian Fleming, the author of James Bond novels and short stories, named his character Milton Krest after a tonic and ginger beer that he tasted while vacationing in Seychelles.

 

* Almost half of the limited landmass in the country is occupied by national parks and reserves.

 

 

* Seychelles is the place to visit if you want to see unique endemic species - the paradise flycatcher, the warbler, the jelly fish tree, and the female Coco de Mer, which is the world’s heaviest nut.

 

* The country is home to the heaviest land tortoise that is living in the wild. Named Esmeralda, the animal weighs 304 kilograms and can be found at the Bird Island.

 

* In the Ste. Anne Marine National Park, you will find the Moyenne Island, which is believed to be haunted by a spirit that guards a buried treasure. (love these spooky legends :))

* Round Island used to be a leper colony. A stone prison still remains up to this day.

 

* When it served as host country to the Miss World Beauty Pageants in 1997 and 1998, Seychelles had great international media coverage, enough to boost its tourism industry. (was really wondering about how did they become so popular!)

 

 

Dear May, I honestly hope you will go beyond and do much much better than April! No, I don't hope, I KNOW it... :)) 

 

 

Hope you had a great OFF DAY, all of you 'celebrating' the first of May! Would love to join you for barbecue but I really REALLY need to sleep now... :) (since I've been writing this in between the flights for days now and haven't been sleeping properly again, for a change :)) zzzzz...

 

Hakuna Matata in Zanzibar :)

Every time I write a post here I tell myself 'you lazy ass, write more often! I will I will, promise!' and time passes so fast I don't even realize how long it was since I last wrote something and shared it with you... But here it is, one more post about something interesting in my life again :) (cause lately...honestly, didn't have anything awesome to share, no new exciting flights or any happenings what so ever since New York)

 

Day 1: Starting this post on board, above African clouds on the way to Tanzania... Leave with Miss A finally came and we are on our way to Zanzibar! It was one difficult decision to make, trust me! Not just because we had so many options, whole world in front of us, but also because we needed visas for certain countries and that's proper pain in the ass (one of many), second reason was overbooked flights. Since we fly on standby tickets we can never be sure to get on the flight unless the loads are really low from the start... So many ideas we had, so many plans we made during these last few months, so many excitement and disappointment when we realized 'this one's not happening'. Across the world in our minds, from Seychelles and Thailand, Japan and Borneo, Cambodia and Philippines, Zambia, Mexico, Cuba...back to our first plan - Zanzibar :)

It's close, it's beautiful, flights are not full, we get visas on arrival, it has great beaches and all sorts of stuff to do and see, and even though forecast says thunders, lightning and rain all 5,6 days we're gonna be there it simply doesn't matter! 

'Have you ever had rain during your entire vacation somewhere?' Adri asked.

'No.'

'Well you see there's the first time for everything, cheers!' :)) (it was after midday when we had our first drink, if that makes any difference) :)

First flight from Dubai to Dar es Salaam was 5hours long and we reached there around 3:30pm. 

Karibu Tanzania! (Swahili is so funny and cool language!)

 

When we go to Dar as crew we don't deal with all that craziness on the airport, which is very simple, basic, but this time we had to of course, we were 'normal' tourists now. Visa on arrival costs 50$ and better have the exact change to make your life easier. Also, prepare yourself for a wild wild west way of handling things around here :)

 

Getting to Zanzibar we had 2 choices either by ferry or by plane, ferry takes about 3hours and a flight is 20minutes long (one way ticket with local Precision air is 85$ plus 10$for a taxi) so we jumped on a small plane and half an hour later we were outside the Zanzibar airport catching a taxi to our hotel. Bargaining is a must, which I personally don't like, just tell me a reasonable price, we'll pay and that's it, no fuss! But of course we bargained, others, not me, I'm beyond terrible at bargaining! 

 

Driving through the Stone town you see once again how poor and dirty this country is, but they are all smiling and are very pleasant people to talk to. Everyone knows how to speak English and since my first time in Dar es Salaam 'till now I didn't have any bad experience. The opposite, when they hear I'm from Croatia they are proud to know all the football players they like, like Šuker, Modrić, Mandžukić... :)) Anyhow, night came and we were entering one of many very dodgy looking streets where our hotel was located (Market Lodge hotel, 45$ per room per night, breakfast and wifi included), but we weren't alone. Two of our crew colleagues tagged along so we weren't worried as we would be if we were alone. And story about 2 of them brings me back to Dubai airport and staff travel counter...

Getting our tickets there we were the only ones. In that moment we saw a guy running around like a headless chicken! 

'Hi, what flights are departing now and to where?!'

'There is one to Dar es Salaam now...'

(Not so many flights depart at that time of the morning)

'Do I need a visa for it?!'

'No Sir, you pay for it on arrival.'

'Great, give us that! And you girls where are you going?' he saw us laughing at him :)

'Same as you apparently, going to Zanzibar'

'Exactly! We are going there too, not staying in Dar for 4 days for sure! See you on board!'

And that's how we met 2 of them and decided to go for dinner and tour the other day together, to split the cost. Taxi driver offered us 140$ for a tour to the Spice garden and Jazani forest and also a 2 hours drive all the way to Nungwi up north for all four of us! 

Must confess we felt more safe with 2 guys that evening, in that kinda looking street going for dinner, walking around at night. It's not like we were scared or anything, just...safer. Last second decisions happen for some reason right?

Dinner drinks and sleep. 

Day 2: ...I could hardly call it sleeping since the a/c was soooo loud and just a few hours later prayer time begun, all the mosques around us calling for prayer at the same time at 5am! We wanted to cry how exhausteeeed we were! Daylight at 6:20am... Yawn!!!

Breakfast was as simple as everything else here but coffee and hot chocolate with Baileys made it better :) 

We packed our suitcase again, Ali the taxi driver picked us up and the day started with a Spice tour, 2 hours of walking around the garden with the 20 year old guide called Moo Moo who wants to have 4 wives, maximum he can have :) 

 

He was showing us all these known and unknown plants explaining what are they used for. He was relaxed and funny and we really had a great time talking to him, learning actually more about the life on the island than about the spices. We played with small kids and gave them chocolates and candies we brought with us, tried fresh fruits and saw how they grow marijuana :))

 

It was a beautiful weather the whole morning and then the rain started, just when we headed to Jozani forest to see the red Colobus monkeys. We saw them of course but they were shy and scared of water so they were high up in the trees. Also I experienced how it feels when a cow attacks you too :) I was always afraid of them, without a reason, now I have a reason! At the end you laugh at it, it was fun, all of it was fun, no stress, no worries, hakuna matata, we were on a vacation! 

Hour and a half long drive to the north to our next hotel, Tanzanite beach resort in Nungwi. It was really beautiful, after that Stone town hotel this was a 5 star hotel :) 

Small peaceful place, with only 6 guests it was perfect! 

Dinner, drinks and we were up for some partying :) 

 

You can't go to a foreign country for vacation and not explore its night life! Our friend James from the hotel, our brother from another mother :)) organized a taxi in the middle of the night to take us to the local DISCO, had tequila shots from broken coffee cups and learned how to shake our booties on Zanzibarian (is this a proper word??) music just like African women do it! :D 

Of course we missed a full moon party but still we had fun fun fun, slept like babies afterwards and woke up on this beautiful sunny morning... Time to enjoy the beach :)

 

Day 3: Waking up with the sound of waves smashing on the rocks, all kinds of birds singing and sun rays sneaking into our room through the wooden windows and mosquito net... Sometimes a feeling like that cannot be described with words, but it was what I needed...

Breakfast was nice, every day the same but for 5 days you don't really care, aaaand they have crepes (unlike lots of 5* hotels!) so guess what we ate every day :))

 

This hotel is pretty far from the Nungwi 'city centre', about 45 minutes walk down the beach so if you want peace and quiet this is the perfect place, if you want more people around you find a hotel around Cholo's bar. Very important thing to know and understand are tides, every morning sea withdraws itself to make a wonderful white sandy beach in front of all the hotels and in the evening tide is so high that our hotel for example loses its beach so you have to be careful not to get caught on the beach when it happens cause it happens fast if you don't pay attention.

In front of Cholo's bar the beach is there anytime of the day so it's even better! That morning we started walking and walking, for about 2 hours until we found a perfect spot to take zillion of pictures and to swim a little bit. On the way there we made a reservation for a whole day snorkeling trip the next morning, 20$ per person in low season, found souvenirs we wanted, bought some, been ripped off for some, and got awesomely sun burned but we were there, on that amazing beach we used to see only on swimming suits commercials and travel magazines and music videos... 💗 

 

Reggae night was on the program for that night in Kendwa, place next to Nungwi in a beach bar called White sand or White beach, not sure anymore.  :)
If you want to buy some alcohol in a store be ready to overpay it cause they don't have prices written anywhere, a bottle costs as much as the guy in the store decides to. Probably depending on how rich or stupid you look like. We must've looked both! All the wines have the same price, and I mean ALL of them! As I said it already, wild wild west :p

Local currency is Tanzanian shilling but you can also pay for everything in US dollars (1$=1630tzs, or 1520tzs when they convert it), and there are no atm machines anywhere else except Stone town so make sure you bring more than enough money cause 99% of places don't accept credit cards. That being said I suggest you bring alcohol in a suitcase/backpack with you from back home as well ;)

The island is not that expensive if you know how to bargain, and bargain GOOD! Otherwise you can spend a fortune here! 

 

Day 4: The hardest day to wake up for everyone! We stayed up late, had to wake up early for the snorkeling trip to Mnemba island, small private island 2hours boat ride or sailing up north... Somewhere along the way dolphins came to say a quick hi to us, Karibu Zanzibar tourists! :) 

 

Going on Mnemba island wasn't possible since it is a private one but snorkeling around it was like a visit to a Finding Nemo movie! All the fishes were there, all the colors sizes and shapes! 

 

Low season here starts in March so there were not that many people, wasn't crowded and the weather was amazing (don't believe online weather forecasts, if it says thunderstorms all day long 7 days a week - it is NOT true! It will rain but after a refreshing shower it's gonna be the same hot and sunny weather as before that shower...) If you ask me, I think is better to go in low season, everything and everyone is more chilled and relaxed, beaches are almost empty but there are still people, either locals or tourists to meet and talk to or party with... It's really amazing when you know all the hotel guests in your hotel and have breakfast together every morning and dinner every evening (cause it's only 6 of you!) :))

 

Anyway, lunch after snorkeling was organized on a deserted beach next to Mnemba island - grilled tuna caught right then and there with their bare hands, coconut rice and fresh watermelon for a dessert :) 

Dead tired we came back to the hotel and I fell asleep for 12 straight hours... 

Day 5: Morning started as usual and continued next to the pool in a long conversation with two Swiss girls, our neighbors for the week, about their 2 and a half months travel through Africa, about our travels as cabin crew, about vacations, about everything! Amazing thing is traveling, not only you see other countries, nature, beaches, sunsets, but also meet so many other people who like the same things as you, who you can share experiences with, who you have lots of things in common with. 

People make your vacation! People you travel with, local people who greet you into their world, other travelers who you meet along the way. They are the ones who make your sandy beach even prettier, who make your snorkeling trip even funnier, who make your days even more interesting... 

 

Afternoon was reserved for laying on the beach doing nothing! And that's exactly what we did, enjoyed our last day in paradise... :) 

...avoiding conversation about buying a plane ticket back to Dubai. 
On the way back to the hotel we stumbled upon a wedding and crashed it for a few minutes just to see how they're having fun celebrating such a thing. So many colors, laughter and music, not much different from the rest of the world :)

 

Day 6: It was such a pain in the ass, as it always is, traveling as crew on stand by tickets sucks the life out of you! We ended up paying double price for one of the tickets with Kenyan airways, explanation was 'we can see you paid your tickets but your tickets weren't issued' ?!?
So what should we do??? 

'You can pay by cash now.' Whaaaat?! Who's a crazy one here?!? 

'Hakuna matata, listen to me...' 

If I hear hakuna matata one more time I'll punch you in the face! At the end it's always the same - if you wanna go home and not be late for your job you have to pay! And so we did, AGAIN! I swear to God I was this close (and 'this' is very veeeery tight) to call an owner of their company, to call Kenyan president, whoever would do just to yell at them! After such a great week we had to deal with this, like it's not enough we have to take a few flights to get back to Dubai and not just one, a direct one!

'It's an IT error, but our IT guy in Nairobi can't do anything about it.' 

Do you want to know what I think about THAT kind of answer? Better not! Why should it be easy when it can be difficult? EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Breathe in breath out... We got on the plane, waited for another connection to Dubai and finally were there at 5am... Amazing week ended up less amazingly than it started but forgetting about that last part we had excellent time together, memories for a lifetime and already a plan for our next trip :))