Blog Book Goodness

Posted in A Day in the Life of a Flight Attendant, General | 5 comments

Well, it’s no secret that I’ve been working on a blog book. I wanted to do something fun, refreshing and entertaining for both you and myself to celebrate my blogs one year anniversary on June 26th.

I want the “blook” to be informative, entertaining, humorous and also resourceful. I’m trying to tell the story of how I get started as a flight attendant, how I ended up where I am now, the crazy things that happen on a daily basis (some of which you’ve read here if you’ve followed me for the past year) and how, you too, can become a Flight Attendant.

Because it has been taking up a lot of my time in the past few weeks I’ve been slacking on updates here.. so, why not show you what I’m working on?

Below is the first half of the first chapter. It’ll give you little background on how I got started, but hopefully, have you coming back to see what happens next!

Excerpt:

Everyone always says that you have to chase your dreams and never settle. I don’t know if “they” meant that literally, but I took that advice to heart after graduating college. I packed my bags and moved from New York to Los Angeles for the possibility of a job.

You see, the entertainment industry, like all of them nowadays, is all “who you know.” Well, at least “who anyone you know might know.” The woman who lived across the street from my Grandmother knew someone.. someone big. Her sister was the Vice President of Production at a huge movie studio in Hollywood. After a few calls were made I jumped on a flight for an interview to see if she could do anything for me. Long story short, she told me she could probably get me a position and ended the conversation with “how quickly can you move to Los Angeles?” Needless to say, I was there five days.

I moved in with a distant cousin whom I didn’t know much about. But, what I did know, was that she was gracious enough to let me live her with until I was able to get on my feet. I moved into her spare bedroom and hit the pavement hard once I arrived. Unfortunately, not much happened.

In the days and weeks following my arrival I called Ms. Vice President’s office many times trying to let her know that I was now a California resident and ready to work. Her annoying-Fran Dresher-sounding assistant always told me that she would relay the message and ensured she would call me back, but after four weeks, she never did. The moment finally came where I had to make a decision: do I try to find a job in Los Angeles on my own and make a life for myself, or, do I move back home to New York?

I decided to stay. In the short time that I was there I fell in love with the west coast and I loved the laid back mentality. Not to mention the palm trees (I don’t know what it is about them, but palm trees make me feel at home).

On the hunt for a job, I had some strange interviews. I interviewed at an up-and-coming production company that didn’t even have a name yet, to very popular radio station in the Los Angeles area and even interviewed for a job that stated there was no salary, you were just working for the credit and the experience. I didn’t get hired at any of them.

So, whats a guy to do when he’s in Los Angeles, jobless, and has a ton of free time? Party.

I definitely became a regular at quite a few bars. I was the scary type of regular too, the kind where the bartender knew exactly who I was and didn’t care if I paid for my drinks or not because they knew I would be back. Though it was a low time in my life and I’m not proud of how much of my savings I blew on alcohol, I wouldn’t change my decisions or my actions. I made some of the best friends I could have, and one of which, Jay, changed my life. Though now, I wish I never met him.

I only bring him up because he changed my life by introducing me to his friend Jessica. He did nothing but create drama and angst between the rest of our circle of friends, but his friend Jessica wasn’t like him at all.

Jessica was a flight attendant for a small regional airline based out of Salisbury, Maryland. She was coming out to Los Angeles to visit her boyfriends family, but also took the time to visit with Jay. He and I drove out to Los Angeles International Airport to pick her up and she and I clicked from the start. It was funny, it was obvious to both of us that we had the same opinion of Jay but were just playing nice.

After introducing myself to her and eventually telling her my story about how I ended up in Los Angeles, she blurted out the words: “Did you ever think of becoming a Flight Attendant?” I thought she was crazy. A Flight Attendant? Me? No.

But, the truth was, I had thought about it before but just never acted on it. We’ve all seen them in movies and on television living their “glamorous lives” hopping from city to city, who wouldn’t want to be a flight attendant?

I had done some research online and joined the message boards on FlightAttendants.org to find out what it takes to become a Flight Attendant and what the different kinds of airlines were. But, I never applied or acted on it.

Following a little persuasion and my interrogating Jessica for information, the next day I applied to any airline that had more than one Flight Attendant on board their aircraft and that didn’t fly propellers. I always was scared of those planes, and I still am. You have to be picky, right? I figured that being a Flight Attendant would be a great job to pass the time while I search for a position within the entertainment industry.