Trip Tip: Hotel Safety Check / 4th of July Weekend

 

I am definitely enjoying my line (schedule)! My first trip as a block holder was over July 4th weekend. The first overnight was July 4th in New York City – 18 hours in the heart of Manhattan, and making it even better was that I flew with Eric, a classmate! Upon checking in, I did my usual “hotel check.” This consists of a safety check list good for anybody to do. We watch each other making sure our rooms have no issues. I first knock because guests can walk in on other guests – as computer systems are not always 100% accurate. Then, I leave my bags in the door, so it stays very open with a crew member staying vigilant in the hallway. I check behind all doors, closets, the shower curtain and under the bed to ensure nobody else is there. I also check under the mattress near the headboard for signs of bed bugs, their droppings or the actual bugs themselves. (I will talk about bed bugs in another post.) I pull down the top sheet to ensure there are no other bugs in between the sheets. I thank my crew member, and check their room if needed, then I put out the Do Not Disturb sign and latch the inside safety lock. The sign also lets other crew members know that I’m in there in case they come in at 0300 thinking it’s vacant. This happened to me ONCE, so far…

Eric and I immediately met in the lobby, found some good Korean food for dinner, then went to Times Square and saw the Empire State Building lit up in red, white, and blue. We went searching for fireworks but were told they moved it to the Brooklyn Bridge area and that you couldn’t see it from our area. That’s OK because we were tired, and I did find a great Swatch AND an “I Love NY” t-shirt from the 2 best street vendors!

Our next overnight was in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was absolutely wonderful. I can never get enough of the beach…. Unfortunately, it was overcast and rainy, but just walking around was enough for me. I love going to different places and experiencing their culture!

Our last overnight was the short Orlando. If our overnight is less than 16 hours, we stay near the airport. If it’s over 16 hours, we usually stay in an area where there are things to do – usually downtown or other urban/commercial area. Since I didn’t get to see Mickey Mouse, I saw somebody better – another classmate we hadn’t seen since graduation!!! Marvis was our extra the following morning and was staying at the same hotel. He’s based in PHL (Philadelphia, Philly), and we’re based in CLT (Charlotte), so we usually don’t get to fly with other FAs that are based in other cities. In fact, our pilots mentioned that “by-gone era” where the crew used to all get together and do things. Well, once again, our entire crew had dinner together and shared many great stories and memories.

Just another day in the life of a lowly flight attendant… 🙂