One of the great things about my job is that I not only get paid to travel the world, I also get to meet up with my family! My little brother Matt recently moved to Munich with his girlfriend Miriam, and when I saw a flight to Munich on my roster, I knew we would have to do something fun!
Inspired by my friend Taylor’s trip to Neuschwanstein Castle back in the summer (check out her blog here: www.volarelearningtofly.wordpress.com) I decided a day trip to the mountains was on the cards.
It was a pretty gloomy day, and after an early start and just under 2 hours of driving, we arrived in the village of Hohenschwangau, where the castle is perched on top of the hill.
As the inside is only accessible via guided tour, we paid for our tickets and had around an hour to kill before the 1/2 hour tour. That could only mean one thing – Kaffee und Kuchen! (German for coffee & cake – usually served in the afternoon, but we decided to break tradition!).
To get up to the castle you can either walk, take a bus or a horse and carriage. Of course I needed to get as much fresh air as possible before being stuck in a metal tube again, so we walked up the rather steep slope to the top.
Luckily the snow was only on the mountain tops, so it wasn’t too slippery!
Once inside, we joined our tour and walked around the inside of the castle.
There was a little balcony in the last room which had stunning views out into the countryside.
The tour was not actually really necessary, as you could still get the great views just by walking around the outside of the castle.
We had seen a suspension bridge whilst peering out of one of the windows, and made it our mission to find the bridge!
As the walk to the bridge was pretty steep, we made Matt carry both of our bags! Don’t they suit him? 😉
Once on the very wobbly bridge, the view of the castle was just amazing. Right out of a fairytale!
We slowly made our way back to where we had walked up from, and noticed the horses & carriages!
And at only 3 Euro per person, we thought we’d treat ourselves to a little horse and carriage ride down the hillside!
It wasn’t quite the same way we’d walked up, but still pretty steep. Luckily the horses managed to manoeuvre their way down without any problems!
Before we knew it it was time to make the drive back to Munich. Matt dropped me off at the hotel where I had a very quick sit down and a coffee before the overnight flight home.
Thanks Matt & Miriam for having me to stay, and for taking me to the fairytale castle!
P.s. On another note, check out the interview I did for a travel website here!
The Dubai Diaries 
Hello! I love your blog! I wanted to know if you could tell me how you feel living in Dubai. Im thinking of applying to emirates, but I wanted to know more about Dubai, if its easy to adjust to the muslim laws, etc. Thank you so much-!
Hi! Thanks for reading 🙂 I found it very easy to adjust. Dubai is full of expats and it’s very westernised, so it’s not hard to adjust at all. During Ramadan the rules are slightly stricter but I love living here!
I heard that cabin crew usually work around 80 hours per month. Is it easy to get more hours by flying on your days off? I’ve heard that there is some sort of system where crew can offer their flights to other flight attendants, but in reality how easy is to find a flight to work on your day off? My goal is to work at least 100hrs every month. Thanks in advance darling 🙂
Working 100 hours each month is possible but you’d be absolutely exhausted. In months when I have leave I fly around 60, other than that I’d say average is around 90. You can swap your days off but most of the time you need legal days off so it doesn’t happen very much. Hope this helps a bit 🙂
Also, do you get paid your basic salary when you are on a leave? For example, if I take a month off and go visit my family back home will I still get a paycheck at the end of a month or not 🙂
What an amazing post ! Love your blog, please don’t stop writing 🙂
I hope to become an Emirates cabin crew one day, even if I’m just 19 for the moment.
What are the destinations you have never been yet ?
Coralie 🙂
You’re amazing how you always explore the places you go and never sleep much! You must get so tired not sleeping before flights back to dubai how do you do it?
I don’t always explore haha! I just did a trip to Paris and the furthest I ventured was the shopping mall near the hotel 😛 I don’t post about all of my layovers or else half of the posts would be “I went to … and slept!” 😀 But if I do go out, then I just drink lots of coffee on the flight home!
Hi Rachel!:)
Can I ask anything?
You have like 5-7 layovers in the month, right? So that means that you work approximately 14 days in the month? I don’t count the layover days but only the flights. Is it like I am saying?
Btw have you ever had a layover on maledives?
I hope you’re doing well,
Lucy 🙂
Hi! 🙂 Yeah that sounds about right. Depends on the month (e.g. if I have leave) and the length of the flights, that sort of thing! No layover in the Maldives unfortunately, it’s just under 4 hours flying time so we go and come straight back 😦
Oh, and I have one another question!
Do all the cabin crew of emirates live in the same building? I mean are there buildings whose apartments are just for the flight attendants (or pilots?!). And how many apartments is in a floor?
And I think I read that some of the building have a swimming pool ( can it also be on the roof?!)is that true? 🙂
Lucy
No we have soo many different buildings all in different parts of Dubai 🙂 But yes, they are just for crew! No idea how many apartments in each floor though, haha! My building has around 40 floors I think, and theres 6 apartments on each storey? And all of the buildings have swimming pools and gyms 🙂 My building’s pool is on the roof of the carpark which is the 7th floor!
is there a particular flight/flights that all the crew dread because of the wakeup time or just the destination in general? how do you cope with getting up for a 2am flight? 🙂 also wondering how the service works for those little turn around flights you do that only last 1.5hrs? how many turnarounds do you do in a roster? thank you for answering!
I think everybody dreads the nighttime turnarounds! They are just so draining. If I have a 2am flight I would have to report for duty at 12, so leave my accom at 11:30, so I would try and be in bed by 6pm or so and get a few hours sleep! Then always sleep when I get home 🙂 The service is generally pretty rushed, you just have to try and do it as quickly as possible! Some rosters I’ve had up to 5 or 6 turnarounds and some I’ve had none at all! 🙂
Hi:) I love your blog, flight attendant’s life seems to be a dream! I applied for Emirates cabin crew the past month, and i got the OH email, so i’m very happy!:) now i only have to wait for the GC! i’m looking forward to go to Dubai:). I would ask u something, i know that the company provides the hotel accommodation during layover, but u have your own bedroom, or you have to share it with other colleagues?
Thank u so much in advance, and keep writing this awesome blog! I enjoy it a lot;)
Regards
Wow congratulations! I’m sure your GC will come soon 🙂 You are provided with a room to yourself on every layover 🙂 Thanks for reading!
Is that a prada bag??? What model??
Yep, called the Saffiano 🙂
Hey Rachel 🙂 I really enjoy reading your blog. I want to apply for emirates as soon as I can so I was wondering if I need my A-levels to become a member of emirates cabin crew. I would really appreciate your respond. Take care.
Yours, Bea
Hi, thanks for reading! Yes you should have your A-levels (or high school equivalent) but if you don’t then you can do a test at your open day. I remember one girl at my OD hadn’t finished high school and she just did the test (I think around 30 mins or so) and then she got the job! Good luck 🙂
Do you know any other cabin crew who has some form of speech problems. I am stuttering and I am afraid that that could be enough reason from recruiters to reject me immediately.
I can’t imagine that would be a problem but I’m not a recruiter so don’t take my word for it! Good luck 🙂
I know that you have a boyfriend but speaking generally. How are the male FA? Are most of them gay and are the straight ones always trying to hook up on a layover or they are more down to earth?
What a question haha! I have no idea, I don’t generally ask them if they are gay or straight, and what they get up to with other crew on layovers!
Would you say that your job is very hard? I just read that Purser in UAE Companies can earn up to 50,000$ per year plus free accommodation. That is really a lot of money for a job that does not require a college degree and you need to have very good job here in States to get paid that well. What’s the catch? It seems too good to be true 🙂
I wouldn’t say it’s that hard, I mean we are talking about serving meals here haha! There isn’t really a catch, although that figure is probably a little higher than what is realistic. And it takes quite a few years to become purser (on average 5-10) and the salary the first few years is probably around half of that! (Not including layover allowances, which could add up to quite a bit if you didn’t spend anything and brought your own food on layovers!) 🙂
Hi Rachel. I love your blog so much 🙂
Ok so I have a question.
Say for example you have a flight to Vienna , Austria ( using Austria bcz U r from there ;p ) anyways so you work a flight from Dubai to Vienna, and it’s one of those trips where you stay in the country for 3 days, and U decide u want to go and visit your family and stay with then for three days, so what would happen ? Would u have to go to your hotel pick uo and your allowance and then be able to leave for the three days and stay with your fam. Or would that not be allowed? Do u have to spend your nights In the hotel ?
Hi, thanks for reading! 🙂 We don’t really ever get any trips where the layover is longer than 24 hours (other than US flights) so you wouldn’t ever be able to stay with your family for 3 days! But you don’t have to go to the hotel – when I went to Munich I stayed with my brother; I went straight to his apartment and then went to the hotel the next day before pick up and collected my allowance there! Hope this helps! 🙂
Glad you met up with brother to spend vacation time at the German fairy tale castle. My partner who is originally from Germany hasn’t yet been to this castle..he’s been back several times over the decades.
Have you flown to Canada yet? Well, in my dim memory I hear rumours about Middle Eastern airlines eventually in Calgary, Alberta.
It was lovely to see him! And the castle was absolutely beautiful. Would have been even better with a bit more snow though! I’ve flown to Toronto (although I did get food poisoning there and end up spending 2 days in bed!). Fingers crossed we expand our Canadian destinations one day!