Sippin' Tea in Manchester

Upon checking my roster on Sunday, I was thrilled to find that my Khartoum turnaround flight the next day had been switched to a Manchester layover. Hello, England! I packed my warmest of clothes in preparation for much cooler temperatures than I've experienced in the past 2 1/2 months. Since returning from Brisbane, I'd felt a bit under the weather, but I assumed that it would pass and that I'd be back to normal in time for my flight. Boy, was I wrong. I woke up the next morning struggling to speak with a cracking voice. Clearly the chaotic schedule and lack of sleep had caught up to me. Great. I had a 7 1/2 hour flight ahead of me and I was losing my voice. I was no longer looking forward to the trip, instead wishing that I could stay home and sleep for the next week or so. I arrived to the briefing and was happy to find that a crew member from my Brisbane flight was on this one as well. It's always nice to see a familiar face! The flight was full... 400 passengers in economy. They kept us extremely busy serving mass amounts of gin and tonic and multiple pots of tea. My voice was disappearing more and more with each passing hour, so I was relieved when we finally landed in Manchester. After checking into the hotel, I had 2 options: Sleep (which would be a smart choice given my current state of health) or go exploring. Obviously, I chose the latter, donning my winter jacket and catching a train into the city. Manchester isn't exactly a tourist hot spot, so there were few sightseeing essentials. I wandered the streets taking photos of phone booths, double decker buses, and extremely old buildings. After 2 months of living in the desert, the 2 degree weather felt absolutely freezing. I found the nearest coffee shop and grabbed a latte to warm me up. Mmm, caffeine. Freezing cold and exhausted, but not ready to head back to my hotel, I went shopping. Of course, by shopping I mean I browsed the shops, found many things that I would have loved to own, and then left without making a purchase. I can not wait to start getting flying pay. It was starting to get dark outside, so I decided to call it a day and headed back to the station to catch a train to the hotel. On the way, I picked up a BLT sandwich for dinner... indulging in BACON for the first time since moving to the U.A.E, a Muslim, non-pork loving country. It was amazing. Once I'd reached my hotel I ran a hot bath, relaxed, and finally crawled into bed (which felt like sleeping on a cloud in comparison to my rock hard bed in Dubai), sipped some tea (because I was in England, it felt mandatory) and had a lazy night. I slept for about 10 hours that night, with high hopes of feeling better by morning. No such luck. If anything, I felt worse. I bid farewell to England as I boarded the aircraft. On the bright side, the flight wasn't completely full... a welcome surprise for the crew. I sniffled for the entire duration of the flight, feeling a bit miserable. The crew was great, the flight wasn't busy, and it could have been a lot of fun had I felt better. As we landed in Dubai my ears were killing me. Flying with a cold is not a good idea, and is generally not advised. However, I'm still in my probationary period and any sick days look extremely negative on my record. We landed in Dubai at 12:25 am, and I headed home feeling completely drained of energy. Off to bed for me! I woke up this morning feeling a tiny bit better... at the very least I've partially regained my sense of taste. I plan to spend my day relaxing, doing absolutely nothing as I prepare for another 8 hour flight early tomorrow morning! What a crazy life I lead!