Flying by the Seat of My Pants: Flight Attendant Adventures on a Wing and a Prayer by Marsha Marks

Author:Marsha Marks [Marks, Marsha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Humor, Religion, Inspirational
ISBN: 9780307551290
Google: hKCJS3nvj44C
Publisher: Random House LLC
Published: 2010-05-19T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Packing

During my career as a flight attendant, I have never gotten the packing thing down pat. I am always packing and repacking, in a panic, before every trip. I always forget something and take too much of something. For example, I’ll pack five different hair products and forget an extra pair of shoes. Or I’ll have three pairs of casual jeans but have to wear my work sweater with them because I forgot a casual shirt.

In recent years, we have not been allowed to bring as much luggage as we want. Now we bring one rolling bag and one small personal bag. We have to pack our uniforms and our change of shoes—we have concourse shoes and in-flight shoes.

We pack our manual, which is huge—the size of a three-inch thick text book—and our demo equipment, which includes an oxygen mask and a demo seat belt. We need casual clothes for when we land, and entertainment for the hotel room, which for me, includes at least six books to read. For others it’s a CD player and CDs. I also bring my laptop computer to write the great American novel. Sometimes, I’ll bring a paper copy of a new manuscript. And I can’t forget my passport…and my airline ID…and my parking pass, credit cards, and cell phone.

This year a family built a new home next door to ours, and unfortunately, its front door faces our driveway. Here is an example of what that family might see when I’m leaving on a trip: woman wearing flight attendant uniform—me—carries luggage to car, gets in car, starts it up, and puts it in reverse; slams on brakes, scurries back into house, and gets ID; runs back to car, starts it up again, and backs carefully out of driveway; slams on brakes, runs back into house, and grabs manual that was forgotten; drives down street, turns car around, and races back to house; slams on brakes, runs in, and retrieves cell phone; scurries back to car and dials cell phone to list self on later flight because now she is too late for scheduled flight.

A psychotic packer is what they would see, and they probably think—like anyone would—that after twenty years as a flight attendant, I’d have this whole thing down to a science. But I don’t.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.