We came out to a beautiful, sunny Gold Coast that morning and despite being completely exhausted, Zahra, Mazlan and I decided to spend some time baking at the beach. Gold Coast is easily one of my favourite Aussie destinations and we were extremely fortunate to have our hotel so conveniently located at the Surfers Paradise.

The waves were epic and reminded me of the waves I saw in Koh Phangan, Thailand and the water was blissfully cold. Zahra was trying her best to tempt me to get into the water, but with all my might, I managed to plant my ass on the sand and not get my denim shorts wet.

Note to self: Always pack swimwear in the luggage. 

Slept through the storm and woke up when Mazlan called and asked if I wanted to join him in checking out a pizza place down the road. Despite being bleary-eyed and would rather spend my evening in bed surrounded by pillows, I relented. A night out in Surfers Paradise was always an interesting scene. Besides, it’s Friday night… and we had to work the next day. Sobs.

Saturday, 16 November 2013

You know what sucks more than working on a Saturday? Not working when half of the team is working on the same plane you’re sitting leisurely on. Don’t get me wrong, I was very lucky to have the ‘day off’. But sitting in the cabin for more than 9 hours doing nothing makes time crawl ever. so. slowly. So I spent a quarter of my time sleeping, the next quarter eating, the next staring into space and the last accompanying Mazlan at the back.

First night in Osaka was short. We were both exhausted, so we got some takeout from the convenience store (because we arrived too late for anything to be opened) and settled in my room for a movie marathon. So much for a movie marathon. This was what I found after I was done ironing my uniform, just 15 minutes into the first movie.

Sunday, 17 November 2013

Osaka ROUND 2 – STARTO!

I’ve been to Osaka twice this month, and both times with Mazlan. Apparently he thought so too, because he commented, “Wasn’t I here just a few weeks ago… with you?”

Unlike three weeks ago when our pockets were brimming with money and went out shopping like there was no tomorrow, we were completely broke. Settled for a nice lunch of omelette rice and covered the shops we didn’t managed to see the last time. There was a bagel cafe nestled in a quiet corner of the outlet stores and every single time we walked by it, he’d go “Sesame bagels..” with a cheeky grin on his face. Every. Single. Time. Sigh. Pie.

Remember this picture? This was taken after the first flight when he was heading to Gold Coast, while the rest of us… Sydney. All good things must come to an end. It’s only fitting to take a final picture before going our separate ways. So here’s one to end our trip.. he to Sydney and everyone else to Melbourne and then the following day back to Singapore.

Why #overlyattachedcrewmate
Even though we’re working together on the same aircraft for 8 days, we weren’t usually assigned in the same zone. When I am at the mid, he’s at the back… and when I am at the back, he’s up front at Business. But didn’t keep us from annoying the crap out of each other. We were virtually inseparable.

We’d always find excuses to be in each other’s zones. Mostly to annoy each other or to have a laugh, or to exchange stories like we haven’t seen each other in ages. I braved myself past the biz class to visit him when he was placed up front and from what I heard, he’d always ask our manager if he could go out to the economy class.

When he was working, and I taking it easy to Osaka, I accompanied him at the back while the rest of the crew were resting. My attempts to get back to my seat and leave him alone to do work failed when he says, “Don’t go lah. I’m alone here.”

On the last night when I didn’t expect to see him much throughout the flight because of the completely different zones we were in, he found every opportunity to say hi to me at the back. Be it to rest in the economy class when he could stay up at business, or to steal crew snacks from the back… which earned a yelling from yours truly… It was nice to be entertainingly annoyed during the quiet nights.

And when we’re finally working in the same zone, I told him that I was going to the back to say hello and he whines, “Don’t leave meeee.” To which I retorted, “We’re in the same zone what. Be right back lah.” And I trekked up to the back to find him standing right next to me a few seconds later with a smug look on his face. Look at my overly attached friend.

Off the aircraft, we’re always together as you can see from the pictures above. He’s a real awesome shopping buddy, I swear. He’d tell me if the shirt I was contemplating on buying sucked, or forced me to buy the leather jacket he found attractive on me. He’s also very game to do anything I suggested, no matter how exhausted he was. We get along so well, we get the same question asked by every new crew who joined us… “Are you two batchmates?”

Every. Single. Day. And the answer is… “YES, WE ARE.”

It’s rare that we’d be put in the same roster pattern, but the trips were never boring with this boy around. Lemme get past being bored of seeing your face first (a total of 16 days is no joke, baby), then… HOPE TO FLY TOGETHER AGAIN SOON!