Last night I bravely checked out my schedule around 7:30pm, thinking there wouldn't be anything planned yet for today. Of course I was wrong. What I saw was one of the longest, most "productive", (code for working such long days you can't remember what city/ time zone your in, or even why your wearing a flammable uniform in the sky!) schedules I have worked in a very long time! And *Gasp* it was 4 days long! What makes me laugh is that you can ship me half way around the world, or on a trans con milk run with 8 separate flight legs in the same day, or even a charter (most dreaded flights... for most people) But I don't do pairings longer then 3 days!
I moaned and groaned over it for about 2 hours before I finally decided to call them and acknowledge my assignment for the next day. When I checked the crew list I saw a familiar name, that put me at easy with doing such a long pairing. Later that evening, after The Office, I remembered I had about 4 million loads of laundry to do before I could pack my bags. Then my OCD kicked in, Now I'm not sure if this is flight attendant thing or if it's just me or if, in fact I actually do have OCD but for some reason getting ready to leave for a couple of days sends me into a "massive clean freak"! So even though I was fairly tired and ready to head to bed to prepare for my 5am wake up, I decided, this was the perfect time to clean the living room and take down the christmas tree ( Don't judge). After the christmas tree came down, it was time to start folding all the laundry. Then by midnight when my bags were still not packed , and neither was my lunch or my flight bag, I was utterly discouraged. Don't get me wrong, my place was immaculate but I couldn't go to bed without my bags packed. Half an hour later I was getting cozy in bed doing that thing were you say "... If i go to bed now i'll get ______ hours sleep." and as I was setting my alarm I said a little prayer... hoping they cancelled my flight.
The next morning, the alarm cut through my dreams and bleary eyed I got up to go cook and prepare enough food for 4 days. I prepared sandwiches, salads, breakfast burritos(more on this in a bit) soups, and lots of fruits. Then I get dressed up, do up my "stew do" & "stew make up" and bring my bags to the front door. I have scheduled my company provided cab for 6:30am. At 6:40am I'm standing by the front door ready to go and my cab has still not arrived. I'll call scheduling and let them know. They tell me it will be there momentarily. At 6:50am I call back to tell them that the cab is still not here, and although I live close to the airport I don't think i'll make it from my door to the aircraft door by 7am. They reassure me again that it will only be minutes until it arrives. Now, normally this is the kind of situation I pray for, I pray that the cab just gets lost and never makes it to my house so that I can go back to bed. But today, after preparing all my food, and getting all dressed up- I'm kinda disappointed that I may miss this Pairing. Finally, at 7:20 I call scheduling for the last time to tell them that the reality is that this cab is just not coming. The cab does end up showing up, and I'm in heaven because at this point I'm pretty sure that by the time I get to the airport, the flight that is scheduled to depart @ 8am is going to have left and they'll send me back home. I get to the airport go to the crew lounge to check-in and print out my flight details. Slowly I make my way to the gate, expecting to see an empty gate along with an empty lounge. Well the lounge was empty but the aircraft had not pushed back yet. I walked down the bridge to find all the passengers boarded on the plane and the crew waiting for me! Ughh- They delayed the whole flight for me!
Oooh the joys of Reserve!
But in the end I'm working with some great people for the next 4 days, so, no complaints!
Breakfast Burrito
Now, this might not be too interesting if your the kind of person who is constantly trying to come up with creative ideas on how to eat healthy and cheap on the go. However, if your like me and spend lots of money and calories on eating out at the airport and at restaurants on layovers, this may be a good tip for you... All you need is an oven!
What you'll need:
3-4 large eggs OR egg substitute (healthier option)
1/4 cup of each, Onion, Green & Red Pepper
1/4 cup of skim milk
(Slices of turkey bacon, if desired)
1/4 cup no fat sour cream
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 low fat (skim) cheddar cheese (grated)
4 tortilla
Mix first 3 ingredients all together in a bowl together and scramble it all together in a frying pan.
(at this point you can add some pieces of turkey bacon to the mix if you want)
Once everything is all cooked up together,
Lay out about 1/4 cup of the "fry up" onto a tortilla and then add a couple of sprinkles of cheese on top. Once eggs have mostly cooled off, put tortilla laying flat into a ziplock freezer bag. Makes 4 or more.
Tip: you can put them in freezer bag individually OR layer 2-3 tortillas in a ziplock freezer bag with a piece of wax paper (and paper towel for extra absorption) in between them if you'll be on a pairing for a few days. Now you have breakfast for every day that you'll be gone.
"burritos" will start to de thaw throughout your pairing- be sure to keep them cold at all times. Once you get on the plane, take it out of the ziplock bag & pop it in the oven for about 8 mins. Do Not try cooking if still frozen!
Add salsa, and sour cream- and voila!
