Share the ♥︎

October 29, 2012

340 hours in the sky

This evening I sit on my sofa and reflect on what has been during the course of the past 6 months; from exam stress, to playing with baby elephants, to meeting celebrities, to getting BCF’s and de-fibs out at 30,000ft, it has certainly been an adventure. Working as cabin crew no two days are ever the same, and I have many of my own stories to tell to prove how true that really is.

I’ve met many wonderful people, I’ve been to fabulous destinations, and I’ve had some brilliant trips with great crew. I’ve crossed the busiest zebra crossing in the world in Tokyo, I’ve hand fed giraffes in Nairobi, and I’ve partied all night in Boston. I’ve become an aviation First Aider. I’ve learnt how to inflate and maintain a life raft. I’ve learnt a lot about myself.

Flying is a job like no other, and you will only truly understand this if you have experienced it for yourself. Yes, you do get to travel the world, but it is not always the glamorous, high profile job it may seem. It has it’s up’s and it’s downs that’s for sure. Flying, to me, is a bit like Marmite- you know, you either love it or you hate it? Many will fly all their lives, the dynamic lifestyle it provides suits them well. Others, miss the stability of a normal job and a normal lifestyle and fly for only a short time.

I have had two short-lived flying careers, both providing me with many lifelong memories and incredible experiences. However for me, my crew-life is now no longer.

Today I spent 3 hours driving from place to place around the airport returning various items given to me as staff. I entered the crew report centre for the last time to return my keys and manuals, I had to endure the ridiculous ‘take a ticket even though there are no other people waiting’ system at uniform stores, and I had to look at the retched photo on my ID card for the last time. I watched the abundance of BA planes landing into LHR; the 747’s, the 777’s and the little Airbus A319, 20 and 21’s that I would once operate on, will now see me only as a passenger.

After spending a total of 340 hours in the sky, this might be the end of my flying career, but for those of you that know me, you will know that this is most certainly not the end of any travels…

As I have written in previous blogs about flying, for various reasons I feel it has sucked out much of my travel enthusiasm. So with the prospects of night after night in my own bed for the foreseeable future, I will begin to look forward to my forthcoming trips more than ever. My enthusiasm will return in its’ entirety and I am incredibly excited about what future travels I will entail.

Will I be sad not to be flying anymore you might wonder? The answer to that? Hell no!! I am more than ready to end my time flying and focus on my teaching career from here on, and of course my travels in the school holidays… I will be back on a plane before you know it, and this time I will be drinking the coffee instead of serving it!

To all those that I met at British Airways, it was a pleasure to work with you, please do keep in touch and safe flying! Maybe see you in the skies again sometime soon!

Leave a comment
  1. Layla says:

    Good luck with teaching! I know you’ve done it before so you know how rewarding it can be (and how frustrating too!) x

  2. Steph Marshall says:

    Sad to see you go but so nice to hear words that are soo true! Good luck Hayley xxxxxx

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

* We will never share your details with any third party 

Grab our ebook

Get instant access to "How to budget a Family Vacation"

We'll get back to you shortly.

Thank you!