and a happy new year

I realize that I've been slacking when it comes to posting lately, but in my defense I still have no laptop. Not only that, but my phone has stopped working and I'm feeling quite cut off from the world lately. I'm on reserve/standby for the entire month of January. Please cross your fingers that a Toronto or New York flight is in my future, so that I can pick up a brand new shiny computer!

Not much has happened lately. Christmas came and went, a bit uneventfully. I binge ate more chocolate than the average person eats in an entire year, but I felt that my homesickness over the holidays gave me a valid excuse. I had a great layover in Bangkok, which I'll blog about later... perhaps the best crew that I've ever worked with.

It's now 4:00 am on January 1, 2011. 2010 is a thing of the past and I'm not sure how to feel about the situation. I have so much to look forward to this year... from traveling to returning home to planning a wedding, it's sure to be a great 12 months.

That said, 2010 was certainly a life changing year.

In 2008 I was so upset to enter a new year. I'd spent the majority of my year backpacking Australia, and as far as I was concerned, no year would ever top it. 2009 showed up and did just that. I fell in love with the most amazing person in the world (sure, I may be biased, but he's pretty awesome) and got handed my dream job. And then there was this year. I've experience more in the past 12 months than most are privledged to experience in their entire lifetime. I've had the opportunity to visit 31 countries and the entire world has become my home.

There were so many amazing moments, far too many to list... but I'll highlight a few of my favorites.

In January, after a month of living in Dubai, my amazing boyfriend flew to visit me. We ventured to the top of the tallest building in the world and floated in a hot air balloon over the desert sunrise.

In February I boarded a plane for the first time as a cabin crew member. I sat in awe in the cockpit as we took off and landed, it was all so surreal and at that moment I became fully aware of the fact that my dream had come true.

In March I ate pizza, pasta, and gelato in Italy. I fell in love with the country and everything about it.

In April and May I soaked up the fresh air in Germany, discovering what Spring is like in other corners of the world... unlike Alberta where it snows until June.

In June, I graduated! Ryan returned to Dubai and we sipped cocktails in the world's only 7 star hotel. I turned 24 and celebrated by the pool in the 40 degree heat.

In July, I went home for the very first time. Surrounded by my closest friends and family, life felt complete.

In August I began training to be crew on the Airbus A380... my dream plane. In September, I worked on it for the very first time, feeling pretty darn special.

In October I went to PARIS! I stood in awe in front of the Eiffel Tower, mesmorized by the iconic structure.

November brought me to Canada twice! The first time, for a flight to Toronto where I spent the weekend with some of my family. 2 weeks later, I went home to Red Deer for holidays. I celebrated Christmas early with Ryan and his family. We flew to Mexico at the end of the month, and on December 2 he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

It's been a year of ups and downs, but when I stop and think about it, it's been the year that all of my dreams came true.

Happy 2011 everyone, be safe and have fun.

I hope that your year is as amazing as I'm certain mine will be!

Snow Day

I'd only been back in Dubai for a day, but it was time to jet off once again, to London!

I couldn't wait, as this time I'd be meeting up with my friend Jesse from Canada who happened to be visiting! With only a few hours of sleep I headed off on what was a great flight with awesome crew. I'd been feeling homesick since my return to Dubai, and this trip was exactly what I'd needed to boost my spirits. I was hoping to surround myself by all things festive in hopes of regaining my usual excitement for Christmas.

After landing in London, we headed to the hotel to check in. Much to my delight, large snowflakes began falling from the sky. What great timing! A few of the crew members made a mad dash for the door, beaming as they announced that it was the first time that they'd seen snow in their lives. As a Canadian, it's simply unfathomable to think that some people have never experienced winter. They were beaming with happiness as I took their photos and a few for myself. There is something so magical about a fresh snowfall, if you can look past the bitter cold and terrible road conditions that follow.

Realizing that I had to be in the city to meet Jesse, I quickly went to my hotel room to change and catch a bus. I snacked on a chocolate bar to pass time during the long train ride until I'd finally reached Picadilly Circus. I was still a bit early, so I wandered to the giant souvenir shop where I was to meet Jesse and browsed the tacky displays of plastic phone booths and double decker buses. (In saying that, I plan to purchase a phone booth before I resign...)

As I was passing time, I spotted him!! It had been well over a year since we'd seen eachother, but there was Jesse, in London!! We excitedly hugged and chatted (okay, that part was mostly me) about our lives and what was new and exciting. I showed off my beautiful engagement ring, which happens to be one of my favorite things to do these days. We headed back into the cold. By Canadian standards, it was quite mild. The snow had melted and the sun was shining. I was absolutely freezing, of course.

We wandered the streets aimlessly with no plan or destination. It was nice to actually have company for once. Jesse had traveled all the way to London without a camera, which was a crime in my eyes. I forced him to stand in front of phone booths and pose in Trafalgar Square. We came across an art museum, which he happily rushed into upon discovery of a "Free Entry" sign. He's a bit of an artsy nerd boy, but that's what I love so much about having gay friends. We wandered the massive museum, him admiring the art as I made fun of the poses and hairstyles of the people depicted. After awhile we'd worked up an appetite, so we set out in search of a delicious meal. We stumbled across a cute little Italian place, full of more character than any restaurant in the city where we'd both grown up. That's one of the great things about London. We dined on pizza and pasta. He sipped a glass of wine while I stuck to my sparkling apple juice.

After a delicious (and inexpensive!) meal, we headed back out. Next stop... Starbucks! Jesse has been a loyal employee of my favorite coffee shop for years. Some of my earliest memories of him are ordering caramel macchiatos from his smiling face. We grabbed toasty warm drinks to keep us warm as the sun set over the city.

He was staying with a friend while visiting London, so it was time for us to go meet up with said friend. We hopped on the Tube and navigated flawlessly. Once we'd emerged at the station,we waited. And we waited. Eventually we recieved a message from Jesse's friend Ben, saying that he'd be late and to meet at a sushi restaurant across the street. We found the place and took a seat inside, and waited some more. I didn't mind, because it was extremely warm and I was happy to thaw my frozen self. We waited for what felt like forever, until Ben finally rushed in, apologetic. His parents were in town, on their way home to Canada after a 6 month stay in Syria. How random that we were all in London at the very same time. They were waiting for us at a restaurant, so we set off in search of it. Trusting Ben with navigating was perhaps the poorest decision we made that evening, as we found ourselves miles from where we needed to be, trekking through the cold in search of a tiny restaurant that I was beginning to believe was non-existent. After much confusion and even more backtracking, we eventually found our way to the fish and chip restaurant where Ben's parents were still sitting, despite having already enjoyed their meals. They were very sweet people, and we chatted about life in the Middle East versus Canada. They even paid for our meals, despite my objection. Time had flown by and it was getting late, so we all headed to the train station where we hugged and went our separate ways. It was a long journey back to the hotel, and I was so tired I felt that I was falling in and out of consciousness standing up on the train. Once I'd finally reached my room, I plopped into bed and called it a night.

The next morning I woke up shortly before my wakeup call and proceeded to get ready for the flight back to Dubai. As I entered the lobby I looked outside to find that it was snowing yet again, so much so that we were all pretty sure that we'd be delayed. Our thoughts were confirmed as we bused to the aircraft and watched the news reports that the Heathrow runways were closed. Despite this, we still rode the bus to the aircraft, where we discovered that the crew and all of the passengers were still onboard, since no gate had been available. We waited for a great deal of time, watching the news that reported the airport would not reopen for 3 hours. It was going to be a long day. Eventually, stairs were brought to the plane and passengers slowly disembarked, taken by buses to the terminal building. It was a long process, and after 3 hours on the bus we were finally allowed to board the aircraft as the other crew finally were taken to the hotel. The runways were still not open, so we passed the time by watching movies and gathering in the lounge where we'd set up our very own buffet. I know it sounds fun, but in reality it wasn't. I grew tired of airplane food months ago, and the entertainment system kept being restarted, starting the movies over from the beginning. An hour passed, and then another, and then even more. Nobody knew what was going on, not even the ground staff or the captain. A few of us decided to make the most of the time and headed outside to build a snowman. It was dark outside by this point, and freezing cold. We went back inside to warm up, and continue waiting. After 7 hours on the plane, we were restless and demotivated. We finally recieved word that we'd be returning to the hotel, which was a great relief after such a long day. For reasons that none of us understood, the crew meant to depart on the evening flight were brought to the aircraft. After being informed that the aiport would not reopen until morning, they were brought back to the hotel and we had to continue waiting for the bus to return to pick us up. By this point we were frusturated and dreaming of bed, so you can imagine our reaction when we learnt that the hotel was full and we'd be forced to share rooms. We thought it was a joke, until we unwillingly were told to choose our roommates for the night. I didn't know any of the crew very well, and ended up bunking with Connie, an American girl who just happened to be on her very first flight. What a great first impression. Luckily, she was very cool and I didn't mind sharing a room despite my desire to talk on the phone to Ryan for hours. She is also in a long distance relationship, so I had to be fair.

We woke up early the next day to find that we were on standby. Nobody knew when the airport would reopen, so we were stuck at the hotel until further notice. We spent the day flicking through TV channels, most of them broadcasting the airport closure that we were all well aware of. We briefly escaped the hotel to walk to a supermarket, where no good food was to be found. Trying to save our money as we'd yet to recieve our full meal allowance, we opted for a dinner of McDonald's. It was the first time I'd had it in 6 months and I thouroughly enjoyed every single guilty bite.

At around 8 pm we were informed that we'd be flying out that evening... wake up call was at 12:45 am. The entire crew was shocked and not impressed by this news, seeing as how none of us were well rested after a day of waiting for updates. We got in as much sleep as we could before dragging ourselves out of bed and downstairs to check out.

Much to our surprise, the flight departed on time and we were finally on our way back to Dubai after 3 days. The passengers were grateful they were finally on their way. Some of them told us stories about sleeping on the airport floors and missing out on days of their long awaited holidays. As crew, it had been extremely difficult, but we really couldn't complain in comparison to some of their stories. We finally landed in Dubai where we happily rushed out into the warmth. Home, sweet home. Or something like that. After spending my whole life in Canada dreaming of school or work cancellations, I'd finally had my first snow day.

Copycat

Earlier today, a friend sent me a link to a Facebook profile. When I clicked on it, I was shocked to discover that this girl not only had a photo of me and my cat Becker as her profile photo, but an entire album of MY photos, entitled "Around the World". She didn't even have the creativity to change the descriptions.

I obviously reported her right away, but I've found that she also has a blog, likely entirely written by me. While I'm a bit honoured that my life is so interesting that somebody else would want to copy it word for word, I'm also upset that somebody would try to pass off the products of my jet lag as their very own. I've spent a lot of time writing these blogs and taking those photos. So if you stumble across another blog that looks strikingly similar to mine, or a profile page with what appears to be my twin, I assure you, THIS blog is the only flight attendant blog that I write. Any others with the same entries are copied by people who clearly need more interesting lives.

On another note, I'm having computer issues lately. My lovely roomie Kim has allowed me to use her laptop to get my internet fix, but blog posts may be more seldom until the issue is resolved. I promise I'll try my best to keep up!

Oh, and on a final note.... Merry Christmas, everyone!

Laziest London Layover

In some jobs, employees brag to one another about promotions. In others, they brag about great sales and big commissions. So what do cabin crew brag about??

Sleep.

If you hang around the lobby of a hotel while crew are checking out, you may hear conversation along the likes of, "I slept 10 hours last night!".... "Yeah, well I slept 14!"

On some particular layovers, our crew hotel is far from any of the action of the city, leaving us with 2 options: We can either fight our fatigue and make the long journey on trains and buses, or we can stay in, be lazy, and sleep. On my latest London flight, I chose the latter.

Generally, staying in the hotel goes against my beliefs, as one of the huge reasons that my job is so awesome is because of the travel perks. I'll typically tough it out no matter how tired I am for the sake of exploration.

This time, however, it was just not going to happen. Fresh back from an amazing vacation I was physically and emotionally drained, jet lagged and homesick with the festive season upon us. Upon arrival at the hotel, the only place I wanted to be was dreaming. I changed out of my uniform and crawled up into the plushy soft bed and knew that there was no hope of getting out until some time the next day. It was around 8:30 pm when I called it a night, waking up again some time around 5 am. Despite having had a decent sleep, I looked at the clock and wondered what the heck I was supposed to do at 5 in the morning and decided to go back to sleep. I awoke to the phone ringing at 7 am... it was Ryan! Thanks to a lack of internet to feed my addiction, I go a bit crazy when I'm in London, so it was nice to be able to talk to him. We chatted for awhile before he had to go to sleep, and once again I did the same. I woke up briefly from time to time, but until 12 pm I was curled up in bed, redefining lazy.

I finally decided that I needed to drag my lazy butt out of bed, so I bundled up in my warm clothing and ventured outdoors.... all the way to Starbucks at the hotel next door. Did I need coffee after over 16 hours of sleep? No, probably not... but nothing spreads Christmas cheer like a Gingerbread Latte! I picked up a few snacks to feed my starving body, and returned to the isolation of my hotel room. Flipping through the TV channels, I wondered how some crew managed to do this nearly every layover. Sure, it was nice being extremely lazy, but if I did this more than a few times I'd start to go stir crazy. I watched a few episodes of a wedding show and vowed to never become a crazy Bridezilla like the woman who insisted on holding her reception on a boat despite her future husband's severe seasickness. As I prepared for the flight back to Dubai, I watched a countdown of the best Christmas music videos of all time. I was festive and cheerful, and boy would I need it for the flight back and it's bundle of medical cases. Fortunately the pregnant woman who was experiencing contraction like pains did NOT deliver her baby on board. I want to have children one day, and assisting in delivery probably would have changed my mind in a matter of minutes. We landed in Dubai... and guess what I did? You bet! Back to bed for me. It's not surprising that time passes so quickly in this job given the fact that I sleep through entire days!

In other news... I've got a new roommate! Her name is Kim, she's from Australia and she is pretty awesome. I think I've talked to her more in the past few days than I talked to my old roomie in 10 months of living together.

The Perfect Vacation

I've returned to Dubai once again after an absolutely incredible vacation. I've had several people ask when I'd finally blog about my trip, but there was just so much to tell that the task seemed incredibly daunting. I'd scrawled notes on hotel paper from my resort in Mexico, planning to remember every single detail, but that would be the world's longest blog entry and you'd all stop reading past day 1. I've decided to stick with the highlights for the sake of all of us.

After my quick trip to Seoul, Korea, I hopped on a plane bound for San Francisco. I wandered the airport for 5 hours before catching another flight to Calgary, Canada, where I was met by my boyfriend who kissed me and handed me flowers. There is nothing like the feeling of coming home. As we were leaving the airport (and making the mandatory Tim Horton's stop), my friend Carley popped out of nowhere, surprising me. We happily headed out into the absolutely freezing weather and began the drive to Red Deer. At home I hugged my mommy, cuddled the 2nd most important boy in my world (my puppy, Titan) and crawled into my very own bed. The next day I woke up early in a desperate attempt to beat jet lag, got ready, and met up with some of my family for an early Christmas lunch. My grandma and her husband head to Arizona for the winter, so it was the only chance of us seeing each other before they go off to their own sandpit. Together with my cousins, aunt, and Ryan, we ate delicious greasy Chinese food, far better than any I've tasted in China. The next couple of days were a blur of visiting, eating, and freezing my bum off... I hadn't seen snow in a year, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of it.

On Friday after Ryan was finished at work, we drove to the tree lot to pick out our very own Christmas tree. I watched and took photos as Ryan tied it to the top of his car, and then we took it to his house to let it thaw out for the night. We pulled out a mattress from his basement and spent the night cuddling under our very first tree. The next morning was Christmas! At least for us. Ryan's family was kind enough to have an early celebration since I'll be spending the actual holiday in Dubai. Ryan and I decorated our tree with all sorts of awesome little airplane decorations that his mom had bought for him over the years... are we a perfect match, or what?

We drove to my house where I got ready before returning to his house for Christmas lunch... TURKEY! I was so excited, as I'd missed out on Thanksgiving and longed for turkey ever since. After an amazing meal, it was time to exchange gifts! The room was a mess of wrapping paper as we happily tore open presents. Oh how I love Christmas!

The next morning was the day we'd been waiting for. Our suitcases were packed and Ryan and I were bound for beautiful Mexico. It was a nice change boarding a plane with him by side. 6 hours later we'd landed in paradise. We were greeted at our resort by champagne and I was more than ready to switch into vacation mode. By the way, if any of you are planning on traveling to the Mayan Riviera and are looking for an awesome romantic resort, we'd both highly recommend El Dorado Maroma near Playa del Carmen... absolutely amazing! We headed for dinner at the Asian restaurant, indulging in amazing food and sipping delicious drinks. I'd waited months for a pina colada.

The next morning we woke up early, just in time for sunrise. Since we arrived late, it had already been dark and we'd yet to see the beach. It was stunningly beautiful, with clear blue water and soft white sand. We spent the day the way we'd spend most days for the next week... After a delicious buffet breakfast (and plates full of bacon!) we took a long walk down the beach. We returned to order delicious cocktails at the swim up bar and lie in lounge chairs placed in the pool. After a buffet lunch (which had a different theme each day... Skewers, Mexican, Tacos, Fish.... oh my!) we were exhausted and napped. The location of our nap varied according to the day... sometimes in the comfort of our hotel room, other times on the beds on the beach or in hammocks. What a tough life we were living. We spent the afternoon lazing around by the beach or pool, occasionally finding the energy to go swimming, snorkeling, or kayaking. Given the fact that both of us tote our large cameras around the world, we didn't take many photos during the week. Instead, we focused on relaxing and vacationing, using only my small camera and having fun with the instant camera. We drank many amazing fruity and creamy drinks, and as many times as Ryan tried, we could never get a perfect Long Island Iced Tea. It was always a combination of 90% alcohol, 5% ice, and 5% pepsi. Mudslides were definitely my favorite.

At dinner we'd go to one of the restaurants, depending on our mood of the night. The food was all gourmet and served in tiny portions, which suited us perfectly as it meant we could try everything without getting too full. On a typical night we'd order 2-3 appetizers, soup, 2 meals, and of course, dessert. Afterwards we'd go back to our room, determined to stay up late enough to see the evening entertainment. 5/7 nights we failed, falling asleep immediately after dinner and waking up early the next morning.

The majority of our trip was spent in the resort, as we had no motivation or desire to leave. On Wednesday, however, we took advantage of a free shuttle to Playa del Carmen to do some shopping. It was Ryan's first time in Mexico and we saw it as an opportunity of him to see a little bit of the culture outside of our 5 star resort. After a morning kayak to the reef, we waited for the bus. Arriving in Playa del Carmen, we walked the busy tourist lined streets, strolled down the beach, and found an incredible restaurant off the main tourist area where we enjoyed the most amazing seafood meal at a ridiculously low price. As for shopping, we didn't do much aside from buying the essential fridge magnet to stick on my fridge in Dubai, and a cute little Christmas ornament of Santa wearing a sombrero to stick on our tree. Despite the fact that we hadn't napped that day, we managed to stay up late enough to make it to the circus show, where I laughed as Ryan was pulled onto the stage to assist.

Thursday was quite an exciting day, so I'll go through it in detail since it's one I want to remember. As usual, we woke up at sunrise. No matter how late we'd stay up the night before, we couldn't sleep later than 7 am. We went for breakfast followed by our longest of long walks down the beach yet. We went a good distance, to where the beach was full of waves and other resorts. Ryan swam in the warm water, but I just dipped my feet, afraid of getting swept out to sea since there were red flags indicating it was unsafe to swim. Once we returned to the resort we ordered drinks, sampling a variety of colorful and delicious concoctions. Along with a few other couples, we participated in Spanish lessons by the pool, affectionately confessing our love with "Te amo". We made the rest of the couples jealous as we ordered room service and brought our food to eat by the pool. Still hungry, we headed to the lunch buffet were we dined on fresh grilled fish. Yummy! We had dinner plans that night so we decided to nap to be able to stay up and enjoy them. Upon waking up from a nap we agreed to go for a walk down the beach as it was sunset and we wanted to take some good photos. Holding hands and cameras, we walked towards the beach, watching as a newly married couple emerged from the chapel. "What a beautiful place to get married", I thought. We continued walking until we found a nice stretch of beach, set up the tripod, and began talking photos. Ryan was acting a bit strange as we posed, but I went along with it. He is a bit goofy. For those of you who have any interest in photography, you probably know what light painting is. For the rest of you, it's when you use a light to draw in the air and a long exposure on the camera to make your drawing appear in the photo. We drew hearts and cutesy things. On one particular photo, he wrote something and we ran back to the camera to see how it had turned out. In his messy handwriting I really didn't know what to make of it, but I said "Oooh, that's pretty!" and kissed him. The mosquitoes were running rampant and I was ready to go back to the resort, but we decided to take a few more photos. As the timer counted down I waited to lean in for a posed kiss, but instead found myself watching Ryan get down on one knee. What the heck was going on? "Will you marry me?" he asked. My heart was racing a million miles and hour as I stared at him, stunned. "Really?!" I asked. It was only a few months ago since he'd held out a ring box containing a chocolate, so it was only natural for me to ensure that he was serious. While most girls would have jumped up shouting "Yes!", in typical ruin the moment Krysta fashion I asked "Is it from Walmart?" (A few days earlier he'd joked about buying a cheap $5 ring from Walmart to trick our families... I refused, of course.) He pulled out an amazing Tacori diamond ring, which was most definitely not from Walmart. I held him close and kissed him, answered "Yes, of course!" and stared at the beautiful ring that was proudly shining on my finger. I was in complete disbelief, but I'd never been happier. We went back to the camera to flip through the photos, happy to see that he had captured the exact moment of being down on one knee with the beautiful beach at sunset for a backdrop. As he went back through the photos, I realized what the light painting photo was meant to say. I could vaguely make out the words "Will you marry me?". He changed his plan and did it the traditional way when I couldn't read his handwriting. We were blissfully happy, filled with love, and ENGAGED. Yeah, that's right.. I'm engaged!!! It's still so surreal. We were now covered in bug bites, so we returned to our room and got dressed and ready for a romantic dinner that we'd booked earlier in the week. We were led out to the beach where a table was set up, lit by candlelight, just for us. A few other tables were scattered along the beach, but for some reason we were the chosen couple who had the privilege of eating in the hut over the water. It was very romantic, and the food was amazing... a 5 course meal, with everything except for dessert containing lobster. As the main course was delivered, fireworks went off down the beach. They might not have been intended for us, but it was the cherry on top of the best night of our life. The food was so unbelievably good and after we'd finished we were too full to move. It was straight to bed. Despite having just got engaged, we didn't spend the night cuddling. Instead we slipped into a food coma until the next morning. It was the perfect end to a perfect day... it all seemed like a dream. I woke up and looked at my hand just to make sure it hadn't been.

The next 2 days were a flurry of eating, drinking, sunbaking, and of course... photoshoots of my beautiful ring. We spent a great deal of time taking photos of it shining in all of it's glory. If there was one negative thing about the entire trip, it was a large wedding group that was occupying the majority of the resort. They were loud party people who were very inconsiderate about the fact that it was a small resort intended for romance and couples. It didn't bother us too much, as we were still enjoying ourselves, but I'm sure many of the people who were kept awake until 5 in the morning were not very impressed.

The week had went by far too fast, and before we knew it it was Sunday, and time to go home. We made the most of our final hours, drinking, eating, and enjoying the last bits of tropical paradise. We went kayaking to the reef one last time with Kary, the amazing activities coordinator. Ryan convinced her that we should go wave surfing and she agreed, despite having never done it before. It was fun at first, until one particular wave when I realized that the kayak was about to tip. "No Ryan nooooooooooo!" I cried, as we flipped upside down and I landed on a jagged reef edge. I felt bad about the damage I had probably caused the coral, but in my defense my knee was bleeding and it hadn't been too kind to me either. Kary was immensely concerned, but I was fine. We paddled back to the shore, laughing it off.

The rest of the afternoon was spent by the pools, enjoying cocktails and exchanging Facebook information with some of the awesome resort staff. As Kary looked through our photos she discovered that we had just got engaged and hit Ryan on the shoulder for not telling her. She happily told us about her very own engagement and ran to get her ring and a photo of her fiance to show us. The week had been a dream come true, but it was time to return to the real world. We bid farewell to our amazing resort as we caught the bus to the airport and flew back to snowy Canada.

The next day, we slowly broke the news to our friends and family, starting with our parents... who were all overjoyed. The general reaction among everyone was "Finally!". Apparently it didn't come as too much of a surprise to anyone besides me.

It was karaoke night at my favorite lounge, so I celebrated, sang, and reunited with some of my best friends who all admired my pretty ring and congratulated me throughout the night.

On Tuesday I had one last dinner with Ryan's family before heading home for my last night in Canada. It's always so difficult leaving, and this time Ryan wouldn't be able to drive me to the airport since he'd already had so much time off of work. I couldn't bear the sadness of goodbye, so I kissed him quickly and shed only a few tears as I pushed him out the door, before I became a complete emotional breakdown. Sadness lingered in the air, as it will for awhile. Coming back to Dubai is never easy when I remember how amazing the people in my life back home are. I took comfort by staring at my ring, a sign of hope that this distance is not a permanent thing. Once I'm finished traveling the world, I'll go home and be able to spend forever with Ryan.

It was a long journey back, involving hours spent at London Gatwick airport unable to get on a flight back to Dubai as they were all full. I spent the entire day on standby, lucking out as a family was offloaded on the last flight of the day. I'm back to Dubai and back to reality, but there is still no breaking my good mood. I had the best vacation, EVER.

PS... On a bit of a random note, Ryan made me awesome cards with a link to my blog! They are so cute, and so very me! He's pretty great.