I like to think being a Flight Attendant is a little bit like being Cinderella because like her, my life changes significantly at the stroke of midnight.

Alright, so I don’t exactly have a prince chasing me down palace steps, although Danny does a pretty convincing job of playing the hero by bringing me a Seven Eleven slurpee, but midnight strikes and I go from average makeup-less troll to Flight Attendant pretttyyyy quickly. 7 minutes is my fastest time so far.

For six days of every month I have this phenomenon called “A-Days”. We’re going to go with it standing for adventure days since that’s exactly what it is, an adventure. At the stroke of midnight onwards for 3-6 days you are OWNED by your airline. They can call you at any point, notify you of a trip you have to work and you have two hours to get your little butt to the plane.

Can we just take a moment of silence in memory of all the flights I’ve worked without makeup, because given the hour it takes to drive, a shower AND makeup were not happening… it’s a crisis situation and only one of those things is getting accomplished.

I digress. A-days usually work in my favor and have sent me all over the world, from Rome to Columbia, Paris to NYC, you have to be packed and ready for anything. One former Pan Am Flight Attendant once told me that she would keep evening gowns in her bag just in case an ambassador invited her to ball or gala which was quite common. While I don’t keep a ballgown in my bag, I do keep a swimsuit, cold and hot weather outfits and about 20 lbs of toiletries in my bag.

This particular day scheduling called and said I was off to Amsterdam. Admittedly I inwardly groaned because I had my sights set on an afternoon nap, but considering that seemed a rather first world problem I threw my hair up, donned my red dress and jetted off to see the tulips at Keukenhof Gardens.

Keukenhof Gardens, also known as “The Garden of Europe” is, in my humble opinion, the 8th wonder of the world. There are over 7 million bulbs planted over 79 acres.

And with that I have to go repack my bags because I’m off to Amsterdam again tonight. This time I’m on the hunt for this particular restaurant that serves avocado everything. I must be dreaming!

XOXO,

Christena