Back to the wilderness


The month of March has been pretty incredible. I feel like these days I've been blessed with decent monthly rosters that I'm personally happy with.

I got called up to pax up to Manchester, then pax back from Moscow a few flights later, called up to Beijing which could easily be one of my favourite hotels ever, and I even surprised myself as to how much I enjoyed my Delhi flight (I'm talking, free hotel buffet breakfast where I got to enjoy my favourite Indian Dosa (or Thosai as we call it in Singapore), got my eyebrows threaded for 3 freakin' dollars (which I must say is probably the best threading I've ever done for my brows) and soaked myself silly in the bathtub as usual.

The month of March has been nothing but me living life to the fullest, and it's not even the most desirable flights but I just had the best experiences somehow. Sometimes it's really not about how "great" the station is, it's more about the company and most importantly, how you make the most out of the time you have in the station, in whatever way that makes you happy.

Lady luck must be smiling on me this month, because to top it all up, I got to meet my gurl Nad in Johannesburg at the end of the month.


It really doesn't matter where we are in the world, but to meet a familiar face in a foreign place will always be the icing on the cake. Nad bunked in with me that night, in which we bought a whole lot of junk to snack on while watching White Chicks on my laptop. But you know the difference between a typical slumber party versus a stewardesses' slumber party? We take the word "slumber" pretty seriously- both of us fell asleep halfway through the movie haha c'mon guys, sleep is never enough for us cabin crew.

I don't know what's up with me this trip but I think I spent half the layover sleeping. I slept for 14 hours straight upon touching down in Johannesburg, and when I'm finally back from hibernation, I joined my crew for a movie marathon which I then again slept very happily on someone else's bed instead of watching movies and even with that much sleep, I could still doze off so easily while watching the movie with Nad. That's got to be a record.

Anyway, Nad and I woke up early the next morning for an exciting day out to the wilderness. We booked the tour with the hotel to go for horseback riding and to the safari.

It brings back memories of the first time I was in Johannesburg, I was still under probation, still a foetus in the airline and I remembered feeling so incredibly blessed to be sitting on the back of a horse, riding across the reserve, observing the animals in the wild, in South freakin' Africa. How often can you say that? I remember how surreal it felt, the beauty of doing something for the very first time.

With my horse, Eleanor. Just look at how gorgeous she is, such a pretty little thing.

Money shot right here ^ I was THIS close to a wild giraffe, you guys!

This time it's a little different, it felt familiar. Yet different. We were allowed to get down and interact with the animals in the wild. We got to feed them, touch them and this was probably the closest I've ever been to a zebra and a giraffe. Oh, and yes, the first time I was here, I wasn't lucky enough to cross path with the giraffe and this time, we got to see two! It's amazing.

Frankie the Zebra was accustomed to humans, he's the only one who seemed to be comfortable with us touching him and taking pictures. I still find it amusing how our tour guide was able to differentiate him from the other zebras, just by looking. And when we asked him how, he said "he just knew". And there I was, thinking, how awesome must it be to have a job like his- guys, we have pets like cats, dogs and fishes at home, but this guy pretty much befriended a zebra in the wild- and named him Frankie. That has to be the coolest thing ever.

I don't know why, but I can see myself coming back here again for my future trips to Johannesburg. Yes, it's pretty much the same ol', same ol' but I just genuinely enjoy everything about this horseback riding experience. It would be great if we could learn a thing or two about how to really ride a horse and control them. My horse, Eleanor is a young little thing, only four years old. She's a little stubborn, but she's not as rebellious as Nad's horse who got a little out of control and threw her off. Thankfully, Nad's okay but poor girl got a little traumatised. I still think it's a cool sport though, I think horses are so beautiful. Eleanor sure is.

All in all, I'm just glad I got to do this again and especially with my batchgirl. No better way to spend a day in the wilderness than to do it with a friend, doing this with Nad was truly the highlight of the trip. I live for moments like these, y'know. May the upcoming rosters be as good and kind as the month of March.

God bless.

Love,
Ashhy

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