Lindo maravilhoso!

After being on your leave the worst part is to get back to work again right? No matter what you do it's always that thought in your head "I don't wanna work today, maybe I just wanna stay just take it easy cause there's no stress" :))

It makes it easier when you have a nice layover ahead of you. BUT then again, you always worry about the people you're gonna work with... This flight was one of those you pray to have every time! :)

From the moment the Purser came into briefing room I knew it's gonna be a nice flight...
It's important to have nice seniors, ones who make jokes, ones who know how to talk to a bunch of people who never saw each other before, ones who don't act like they are above you etc... The rest of the crew was great as well, some interesting people you have something to talk about, smart funny willing to explore, my kind of company hehe:)

 

Street art has long been a part of Lisbon's culture.

Until the 18th century, there was a tradition of all-white buildings.

After the earthquake of 1755, richer areas began to incorporate colour and tiles into walls and pavements. Early graffiti was perhaps the poor man's equivalent.

Following the democratic revolution in 1974, this self-expression increased.

Now, tags and scribbles cover the streets.

So we took a long walk from the hotel up to the Castle and had a dinner in Bairro Alto afterwards...

Castelo de São Jorge

 

Lots of history between these walls makes it amazing as it is...

Placed on top of the tallest of Lisbon's seven hills, overlooking the city and Tagus river, the castle stands there for centuries.

 

The castle’s name originated as a tribute to Saint George, who’s most popular legend revolves around his bravery to save a virgin from the claws of a dragon.

The devotion to this patron saint of England was passed by crusader knights from the British Isles who accompanied D. Afonso Henriques, first King of Portugal, in the reconquest of the Lisbon city in 1147 from the Moors, during the Reconquista.

 

 

A traditional form of public transport in Lisbon is the tram. Introduced in the 19th century, the trams were originally imported from the USA, rarely called the americanos.

 

Bairro Alto (literally the upper quarter in Portuguese) is an area of central Lisbon. It functions as a residential, shopping and entertainment district: it is the heart of the Portuguese capital's nightlife

In popular belief, fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a characteristic sentiment of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia

(loosely captured by the word saudade, or "longing")

In 2011, Fado was inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.

The next morning only two of us went to see some more sights so we went to Torre de Belem, walked around, saw a Jeronimos Monastery, found a Botanical garden (sorry to say but it's not worth 2euros).

All in all it's been a very nice 24 hours, except me sneezing every 3 seconds (those damn spring allergies) I have one more memorable layover behind me. :)

 

Torre de Belém or the Tower of St.Vincent is a fortified tower that was a defense system at the mouth of the Tagus river and a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon.

 

 

Belém is famous as the place from which many of the great Portuguese explorers set off on their voyages of discovery. In particular, it is the place from which Vasco da Gama departed for India in 1497 and Pedro Álvares Cabral departed for Brazil in 1499.

 

The Jeronimos Monastery is the most impressive symbol of Portugal's power and wealth during the Age of Discovery.

King Manuel I built it in 1502 on the site of a hermitage founded by Prince Henry the Navigator, where Vasco da Gama and his crew spent their last night in Portugal

in prayer before leaving for India.

It was built to commemorate Vasco Da Gama's voyage and to give thanks to the Virgin Mary for its success. Vasco da Gama's tomb was placed inside by the entrance, as was the tomb of poet Luis de Camões, author of the epic The Lusiads in which he glorifies the triumphs of Da Gama and his compatriots.

 

 

UNESCO has classified both, Jeronimos Monastery and Torre de Belem as a World Heritage monuments!

It is definetly one interesting, history rich and beautiful country everyone should visit in their life! Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world, and the oldest city in Western Europe, predating other modern European capitals such as London, Paris and Rome by hundreds of years.
So discover some Vasco da Gama spirit in yourselves and go, travel! :)

Some interesting facts I have read about Portugal are...
-it was one of the earliest colonising nation of Europe
-the first Pirate code was invented in the 27th century by the Portuguese buccaneer Bartolomeu Portugues
-in 1761 Portugal became the first colonial power to abolish slavery, half a century before Spain, France, Britain or USA.
-it is one of the most socially conservative countries in Europe - abortion was only legalised in 2007 

After all I want to thank Beatriz for the tips she gave me, think we've been everywhere :)
And have one question for you as well - would you recommend Madeira for vacation? I love the pics I see online and always had in mind to go there for a few days while visiting Portugal...? :)

Beijo e boa noite! :***

 

Life happens...

First of all - I LOVE You commenting :)

You give me plenty ideas what to write about except layover experiences... There's no way to write about every single thing that pops in my mind cause I don't always have a pen and paper to write it down, but yesterday I saw one comment that I couldn't ignore, was thinking about it for a long time while I was laying in bed.
It said how I have a perfect life!
So I couldn't stop thinking and wondering... What makes you think that? What is 'perfect' for you? Would you describe your life as perfect? What are the things that make someones life that way? Or how would I describe it? What makes mine good? What I'm proud of?

“Life's just a bunch of accidents, connected by one perfect end.” 
― Daniel C. Tomas

 

As I said in the last post - the grass is always greener on the other side...
But the thing is, I don't write about bad things, about how angry or sad I can be, I don't write about problems I'm dragging from home or issues I can't solve no matter how hard I try, how tiring this job can be sometimes, how lonely you can feel, I don't write about bad experiences we have in the air or on ground, don't let me even start talking about men and relationships :)
Simply because I don't see a point in sharing those with a whole world, there's already enough bad news out there so I focus only on the good stuff (even though I've been told I could be more positive person :p)
Who would want to read about all of the above anyway? :) I wouldn't :)

 

I'm not saying my life isn't great, it's not perfect either (nothing is...), just don't want you to think I don't cry, feel down (when I do I just go and read your comments hehehe), have bad days or problems, and want to let you know that everything is possible, some dreams and wishes do come true...its all on you!

 

“Keep your best wishes, close to your heart and watch what happens” 

― Tony DeLiso

 

Answer me this - are you healthy?
Do you have a family that cares about you no matter what?
Do you have friends that know you, love you and support you?
Do you have your favorite place on earth where you go and everything suddenly feels better?
Do you enjoy your job?
Do you have that special someone who can kiss you and squeeze you whenever you want it?
Do you have your favorite book, song, movie you can read, listen or watch 100 times and still love it the same?
Are you financially independent?
Do you have food on your table, drinking water, roof over your head, a warm bed to lay in every night, a teddy bear to hug?
Do you have nice happy memories you gladly remember now and then?
Do you have the opportunity to learn?
Do you have anything to be proud of?
Do you know what you want in your life, trying make it happen?

 

My life is not measured in all those sunny exotic destinations I go to, or the clothes I'm buying, or the clubs I go out to, or the money I receive, or the pictures I'm letting you see here :)
It is measured in all the answers on the questions you just asked yourself reading them, plus all these things as well, they are just a cherry on top.

It's all in the small things that make you smile and happy, in the memories you make along the way, experiences you have, everything you learn, people you meet who leave any impact on you, feelings you are fortunate to feel...

 

Little things in life matter! :D - I just love this book! Take a look ;)

 

“Nothing is permanently perfect. But there are perfect moments and the will to choose what will bring about more perfect moments.” 

― Mary Balogh, Simply Perfect

Anyone can have it, anyone can make it for himself you just have to go out there and make it happen, things don't just fall in your lap (or if they do they don't stay long) without any effort ;)
If you are not as happy as you could be try open that small window of opportunity because no one should settle down for anything less than butterflies! :)

 

Maybe I'm the crazy and naive one here, maybe I expect things to be fairytales, maybe I dream too much and romanticize everything, but I do stand with my two feet on the ground and I know the difference between reality and pink clouds we all fly on sometimes :)

 

Don't really have a conclusion on this one just wanted to share my thoughts with you :) (and write as much I can) ;)

Or maybe I do have one - only YOU can make your life good, better, great, perfect!

Have to go study now, keep your fingers crossed we pass the exams so we don't have to go back to college again :)
And to answer one more question - these exams consist in the same things we did first 6 weeks of training, just repeating it, refreshing your memory, updating your knowledge about all the safety, security, medical craziness that can happen up there :))

Post about Lisbon is coming soon, need time to deal with all those million pictures I have

first :)

 

 

Kisses and hugs!!!

 

 

 

No place like HOME ❤

“Why do you go away?  So that you can come back. 
So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors.
And the people there see you differently, too. 
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” 

❤
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

It's been a wonderful week back home I don't know where to start from :)

Last Friday afternoon spent in Wiesbaden near Frankfurt, very nice place which is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name translates to "meadow baths" (interesting, didn't know that :))

So for those who go to Frankfurt on layovers saying there's nothing to do, well, there you go :)

 

 

...and then I came back on the airport... Don't even wanna remember that night, think I cried all the tears I've been 'collecting' for the last year -.-

You know that feeling when it is out of YOUR control, have no one to yell at, no one to complain to and the only way out is to pay a full fair ticket if you wanna be in your bed that same day and not stuck at the airport, so all that frustration shows in angry tears???

Looking crazy probably I was like 'just let me go hoooomeeee', had 0 percent of energy at the end (anyone of you a visual type? So visualize that :p)

Anyway I came home and everything was great again :)

 

 

Days spent outside, meeting all my friends, going out, celebrating bday (at least one excuse for having all those rakija :)

...watching wedding video from December (you remember, the last time I was home) :)

...Zagreb dialect :) (I do speak Croatian in Dubai but it is not the same thing at all),

...driving, best ice cream in the world, mom's cooking, and dad's as well :)

 

 

Happy b'day Miss M :*

 

Anyone remembers how this night ended? :p

(mental pictures, no cameras please) :D

 

 

...meeting friends for the first time LIVE :) (yes friendship via whatsapp is pretty much possible) :)

 

 

...dog walking...

 

...walking through my favorite streets, buying books, soaking up the sun on Cvjetni square :)

 

 

 

 

Zrinjevac park...

 

Happy Birthday my lovely Zagreb!

 

 

 ...barbecuing in Samobor (small city just next to Zagreb)...

 

 

No rain can stop us! :)

 

 

 

 

lovely assistent - we don't want boys to get wet :D

 

...and THIS, my dear readers are - Ćevapi (chevapi hehe)! YUMMY!

 

Samobor is well known for this cake - 'kremšnite' - so we had to go buy something for the dessert while boys were cleaning the house :)))

 

 

 

 

Hangover III  and playing like I'm 11 again :D

 

 

...sitting in the living room and gossiping about everything with my girls...

 

 

...laughing till I pee my pants!!! :D

 

 

This is just a proof how well my friends know me :D

Čokolino is actually baby food but lots of us are still eating it :))

Can't describe how I missed it and how much I can't wait to come back again...

For the first time in the last year I felt like I don't want to go back to work :)

For the first time I felt so homesick in the first place...

 

I'll tell you a little secret - it's not all that great all the time as it seems to someone looking from the outside, I just don't write about it. 

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, or something like that :) but there are times when you feel blue as hell, sad and alone no matter how many people is around you, for some reason, it just hits you and you wanna go home, you wanna be around everything and everyone you know and love and miss, it is all you can think about... And that's how I felt for the last month.

 

 

Now, my mental batteries are full again and I'll be more than fine till the next leave (in 6 weeks) :))

Summer in Croatia! Ahhh... :)

 

Before that, June is ahead of us - Lisbon, 2 turnarounds to India and Saudi Arabia, recurrent (back to college for annual exams), Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich and Durban (trying to swap both of them).

In the middle of the month Miss A has her birthday so I can already see some shopping, clubbing, ladies nights, wining and dining waiting for us, and... Well, think that will be about enough? :)

 

Writing this I was somewhere in the sky trying to sleep a little bit cause after vacations like this all you need is a few more days just to REST and sleep :)))

So preparing for tomorrow's Lisbon listening my 'preflight playlist' and the most beautiful song in the world mixed with the most interesting language I wish to learn makes it THE MOST perfect combination :)

Put it on repeat and enjoy ❤

 

 

Have a Wonderful (to)night... :*