July 24, 2025 • 49 mins
Part of travelling the world includes air travel. Rod interviews a seasoned Flight Attendant Dawn Rishard, in this conversation they discuss the culture within the airline industry from Dawn's perspective, which is extensive, with 32 years in the air. She is also a counselor/therapist, a skillset that she also practices when in flight and on the ground.
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Join Rod Desch on amazing adventures weekly. Travel like a #culturalchameleon.
Get in touch with Rod. Suggest a destination or pitch Rod to be his next guest on The Cultural Chameleon Podcast.#beaguestTravel Podcast | Cultural Chameleon With Rod Desch (lifeofaculturalchameleon.com)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome aboard the Cultural Chameleon Podcast.
We're about to depart from the gate, but prior to departure,
we asked that your seatbelt is securely fastened. Join Rod
desh the host, for a travel adventure.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Like no other. Hello, and thank you for joining me
for this episode sixteen of the Cultural Chameleon podcast. Wow
sixteen unreal and exciting AnyWho. We'll be taking to the
skies today and talking about airline travel from the perspective
of a season flight attendant. Sometimes an occupation can drive
(00:44):
your cultural experience and have a culture within itself. Ever,
wonder what it's like to fly to New York from
Arizona just to begin your workday. Don Richard is a
flight attendant, speaker and counselor who has been serving up
smiles in the air for thirty two years. I've asked
her to join us and tell us more about what
the airline culture has done for her personally and professionally.
(01:28):
Don Richard, thank you so much for joining me on
the Cultural Chameleon. How are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I'm doing really well. I'm so excited to be here.
When Julie told me, you know, Hey, this guy has
this travel podcast and he's looking for an airline person.
I was like, okay, thick me.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I had a deep inquisitive side about the airline industry
because I really do believe there's a culture within it
itself and it is. I wanted someone like yourself who
had not just we're not talking five or ten years.
You have the great pleasure of thirty two years under
your belt.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I'm a seasoned traveler.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And there's so much that it's changed along the way.
But before we get into any of that, for tell
the listeners a little bit about yourself so that we
have some background.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Okay, so this is hilarious. You know, there are some
people who grew up thinking, oh, I want to be
a flight attendant. Not me. Not me. Even though my
dad was in the military and we moved every three years,
so I was constantly on the go. Military brat, military brat,
and we had Spanish exchange students. When after my after
(02:38):
my first year of Spanish in high school and after
that summer, my parents we could take like we could go,
space available on military cargo planes, and so my parents said,
let's go visit our friends in Spain. You know, the
kids that were the exchange students, and so we did.
So we went to Spain and then I think the
next year we went to Italy and so we did
(03:00):
a few of these trips with my family on these
big military cargo planes and so it was really cool
and it just opened my eyes up to a bigger world. Now,
what age were you at that high school, high school,
in college?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So what was your thought? I mean, I know, living
in a military family, there are probably things that become
less of a big deal, but that had to be
pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well, the moving part was I think when you're younger,
you don't really pay attention. But between my eighth grade
year and high school, we moved from Huntington Beach, California,
where I was wearing vans when nobody even knew what
vans were and sex wax or whatever, surfboards t shirts
to Washington, d C. Where people were wearing khaki pants
(03:47):
and blue Oxford shirts. And I did not fit in
at all. Let's just say so that was kind of
major culture differences. But what it did for me, I
think it forced me to put myself out there because
I was always an outsider, you know, the new person
in the community. And so I had to force myself
(04:10):
to go up to people. You know, I couldn't be shy.
I mean I could have been, but I would have
been alone. So it forced me to be more extroverted
and talk to people and try to make friends. And
so that skill has served me really really well in
the airline industry. So I actually joined the airline because
(04:31):
I wanted to get my master's degree in counseling, which
I eventually did. I'm also a therapist.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Okay, do you do online in person? How do you
fit that? Fit that into your schedule with because you're
doing mostly international trips.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Right, all international trips? Yeah, okay, So this airline job
has provided a lot of flexibility and people would probably
be surprised because I think there's a misconception of crew members.
They're probably lot of stereotypes and misconceptions. But we have
a lot of nurses, doctors, lawyers, realtors, actors, people you
(05:08):
know that own like sell products. I mean, we have
a lot of entrepreneurial flight attendants and pilots actually too,
with a lot of pilots to that as well. So
I went to school and I then I think after
my first year and a half, I had my first child.
Then after the next year, I had my second child.
(05:29):
Right after I graduated, then I got my license, and
then I started a private practice, and so I would
have my private practice a couple of days a week,
and then I would do my airline job once or
twice a month, which at that time it was way
more flexible than it is now. But it's a really
nice balance. So you have something that you're passionate about
(05:50):
and then my other passion because I do love to travel.
I love to meet people. I love seeing all of
the you know, the culture and the art and the architecture,
and the food and the wine of course Italy, Spain, France.
But I've always kind of juggled them both well.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And we'll get into a little more about the flexibility
because it is such a fluid industry. But I know
what you mean exactly when you say I'm back on DC.
My brain's gone in a couple different directions. But you know,
some people are faced with that difference in culture and
they actually they go introverted and that's the way that
(06:29):
they deal. Well, I am in line more with the
way that you explained your journey and that I'm i
have to work it out. It has to be external.
You know, if I keep it internal, it will definitely
eat me alive. So you were able to get out
there and just kind of interact with the world in
order to process the change.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, and it's really been interesting because my parents are
from Louisiana and my family's super down to earth. I mean,
even though my dad was a colonel in the Air Force,
which is pretty prestigious, he was he was the guy
you know, people would salute him and then he would say,
just call me Steve. So my family was like that.
They were like, you treat somebody that you think has
(07:11):
lesser status work wise, you know, a janitor or a
server or whatever whatever, or a CEO of a company
or some bigwig or whatever. It's like you treat all
people the same, like people like they're important, like their
lives matter, So you're kind to everybody. And so in
the airline, you know, you meet so many different kinds
(07:33):
of people from all over the world, and culturally there
are differences and you don't understand them and they don't
understand you, and then their language barriers. But I you know,
if you smile and if you're kind, it doesn't even
matter if you can't you know, if they don't understand
you or you don't understand them. There's a sense of
(07:55):
connection and a sense of Okay, everything's going to be okay.
I may not know what's going on, but we'll figure
it out together. And it served me well actually in
my counseling practice too, because I have talked to people
from all over I joke because even before I got
my license, I talk like a therapist, which is why
(08:17):
I became a therapist. I ask a lot of questions
and people would say, what are you the psychologist of
American Airlines? Even before I got my license, I was like, yeah,
I kind of am. And so I find that I
do this work with all ages, all cultures, all religions,
all gender identities, all sexual orientations, and on the airline.
(08:40):
I don't know if you notice this, but I think
most people when they fly on an airplane and they
sit next to a stranger, you end up exchanging a
lot of your life story.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yes, however, there's so many things I want to go
but I feel like over at least in my experience
over the last several years years, that occurs less than
it ever has.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Well, when you have a mask on, forget it. It's
a it's an invisible barrier, but it's a barrier.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
True. I guess the last two plus years of our
lives have have had that boundary place because I used
to all right, well we'll just dig into it too.
So like I used to be so excited, like taking
taking a flight was like an event all in itself
for me when I was it is, but it feels
like less and like you said, maybe more because of
(09:30):
the whole mask and the extra steps that we have
to take. That that kind of take away from from
any of the excitement, because usually you're going somewhere fun,
you're going somewhere different, You're you're excited.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You're excited, right.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
M and I would always have such great conversations and
you go to to a deep level with people when
you're sitting beside them and you're you're stuck.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Right, Isn't it interesting? Because normally you would never tell
the things that you do on the airplane. And we
call it, we call it seat therapy, that's what we
call it. Actually we call it jump seat therapy because
we sit down and we're pouring our hearts out. Now,
you know, granted we're with the same coworkers for the
duration of the three days or the four days that
(10:13):
we're there. So you either get to know somebody or
you or you don't have a relationship on the airplane,
and you have to work together. If you know, we
have medical emergencies, sometimes we have all sorts of crazy
things that happen, things that are beyond our control, and
so you have to learn how to band together as
a team right away mm.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Hmm and throw out all those crazy things and see
what See what's sticky between between you two.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And there's you know, I mean, we we work. This
is I mean, this is the thing that's It can
be good and it can be bad, depending but because
it's like I feel like it's you know how the
police department they have their own culture and they're like
a fraternity, you know, male and female. And then the
fire department, and then the medical workers and the airlines
(11:04):
are similar. It's like it doesn't matter what airline you
fly for. You can meet somebody from different airlines all
over the world and you have a very similar experience,
and so you can talk so quickly and deeply because
our lifestyle is really crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
And you have to be okay with it, or if
you're not, there's there's no just scooting.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Buy Well, I'll give you an example. So this past
week I worked at India. I'm based in New York.
It's a fifteen hour flight to India and about a
sixteen to seventeen hour flight back. So we worked. Our
signing was at eleven o'clock at night India time coming back,
so we had to leave the hotel at ten and
(11:48):
we got to the airplane and five out of our
twelve lavatories were not working for two hundred and fifty
some odd passengers and we're like, we should probably not
take off because that we have a six fifteen sixteen
hour flight.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So they're like, people are going to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yeah, hello, So we go We're like, oh, no, I
think we can work it out. You know, five out
of you know, seven out of twelve is still pretty good.
Well by that by halfway across the world, you know,
like we were around London and Paris and two more
went out, so we only had five out of twelve
lavatories working. So we're like, this is not going to
(12:30):
work for the next seven hours and especially after you know,
we wake people up in the morning, like every single
person has to go to the bathroom after our fifteen
sixteen hour flight, So we ended up having to divert
and land in Bangor, Maine, and they had to call
a crew out from another base to come pick us
(12:51):
up because by that time we were illegal, like we
couldn't work anymore. We had already been on duty for
almost twenty hours.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Okay, and so they that is mandated.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
There's no way that's mandated. That's mandated. So they got
the people off the airplane, they got the passengers off
the airplane. Half of our crew was going to it's
called faring a flight when you don't have passengers on it.
So the plane that the other people had brought the
other crew, who went to the hotel and went to
(13:23):
sleep for a few hours, they were going to take
the plane back to New York that night, while the
other half of us we wanted to get home because
it was Easter the next day. So we had to
wait about four hours for that crew. I've been on
duty for twenty twenty one hours. We didn't have to
work back to New York, but we went back to
(13:44):
New York. So we got to New York about two o'clock,
and then I had to commute home to Austin. I
had to wait another five hours for my flight from
New York to Austin, and then that flight's like four
and a half hours. So by the time I got home,
I had had a sixteen hour, seventeen hour work day
plus a sixteen seventeen hour commute. Do the math thirty
(14:08):
two hours now.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Is it true? And not that this is any consolation?
Is it true? I believe what seven seven sevens have
a crew lounge area.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Is that it's not a lounge. They have flatbeds. They
have some flatbeds for us. So like when we were
on the ground, I did go up and take a
two hour nap, you know, in the ground and banger.
But yeah, it's kind of crazy. And then we have
this place in operations where we have twenty five lazy
(14:40):
boy chairs. You know, some people have to They get
in at midnight, they leave at six in the morning,
so they sleep in these lazy boy chairs. I said,
if anybody actually knew what we dealt with, they would
go God bless you, my child.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
They would not be cranky and you wouldn't have karens
in the seats.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
They would they would say like, thank you so much
for coming to work.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I know everybody has their own way of dealing with
with making travel easier. You obviously do it more frequent
than most who just who just go on trips leisurely.
Do have you developed any travel tips for specifically for
you that is like that make your your world easier.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I'm just gonna be funny and say I drink before
every flight. No, I'm just kidded.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Hey, you're not a pilot.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Either way, we're not allowed to people eight hours. Eight
hours is the cut off. I love to travel. I
love being on an airplane. I you know, people are like, oh,
don't you get nervous about the turbulence. And I mean
I've had some, you know, crazy kind of turbulence, but I.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Mean, really about turbulence. There's no amount of turbulence that
has really brought a plane down ever.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
So that's more safe than driving exactly. But I'm not
in control. Well, honey, even if you're driving, you're not
in control.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I don't know what this I should have I should
know the statistics, but I believe that it's about on average,
eight hundred people die a year in plane related accidents,
and that includes those little cessna's everything versus versus forty thousand.
I believe it is in cars and automobile accidents.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
It's probably even more than that. Rod true, honestly, I mean,
I just I just know every year a recurrent training,
they're like, it's more safe to fly in an airplane
than be a passenger in the car. So, you know,
I mean people, I think people are just people just
get nervous. And so actually I've had a few a
few passengers who have to get like panic attacks on
(16:46):
the airplane, and I have a couple of like meditation
apps that I let them listen to help.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I thought you were going to tell me you had
a special little palcho xanac somewhere hidden.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
A lot of my colleagues do here throw that in
their mouth.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
They're good as for the extremes go in your thirty
two years of flying in flight travel not only for
you personally, but as work goes. What are the what
are the crazies? Are the stories that you tell people
that's like, wow, you really should have been there for this.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Okay. One of my favorite stories, I had three girlfriends
and we ended up working to Buenos Aires for five
years and learned how to dance tango, so all we
which was really amazing, amazing experience. And and I generally
tend to work in economy class. I don't know, I
(17:42):
like just being with the people, and then business class,
you know, is a little more fancy, a little more formal,
you know, use your last name. I'm like, hey, call
me Dawn, right, Like, I just I'm not into that.
I'm not into all the fluff, although I like to
be served as a business class or first class passenger.
So I working an economy for boarding. We're boarding the
(18:03):
airplane in New York getting ready to go down to
Buenoesoire's completely full crazy with all the people coming on
coming on. So my girlfriend, she's working up a business class.
We just had business class and economy and I, for
some reason, I was like helping with the business class.
And she was up more towards the front of the
airplane and she comes back running screaming to me. She's like,
(18:26):
oh my god, oh my god. You see that guy.
You see that guy? And I was like, oh my god,
what what is he doing? He had taken off his
clothes in the middle of the aisle, while we were
boarding the airplane and decided to put on some pajamas
and he was buck naked Commando. He had stripped down,
(18:49):
standing in the aisle while people were getting on the
airplane and he was completely naked.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Now was this like he was completely calm, this was
acceptable in his mind or which I guess.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
No, I guess. So he was like probably around seventy
ish and the show well, I mean, yeah, if he
had been this great bodybuilder, we would have been yeah, baby,
But it was like, put your clothes on?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Now is that grounds for removal?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Well? Yeah, my friend is like, I am not serving him.
That's disgusting. I know, you know, I know him way
more than I want to know him, and I am
not serving him. This is gross. So my friend, I mean,
she was begging the purser please take him off the airplane,
and his wife, who happened to be traveling with him,
was on the other side of the aisle going honey,
(19:39):
put your clothes on, put your clothes on. I was like,
does he go to McDonald's and just stripped down? Does
he go to the mall and just stripped down?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I mean, that is that is unique. I've never seen
that wow.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
We say, we say, people check their minds when they
check their bags sometimes truth truth.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Whennesiders that was your regular route, so you took advantage
of years and you had somebody to you know, your
friend to do that with.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I know, we had an amazing, amazing time because at
the time I was just deciding to leave my husband.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So you needed it and it was.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
A huge part of my healing journey because we took
you know, I had a lot of girlfriend time because
even though it's kind of weird at the airline, you
oftentimes don't see the same people, and I would have
I would see friends maybe once every few months. And
this gal, she happened to be a new friend. But
(20:40):
we managed. She's a little bit senior to me, but
we managed to get similar schedules and we tried to trade,
you know, so we worked together as much as we could,
two three times a month, and we took a lot
of private lessons. They have they have it's called Amilanana
is the dance and it goes from like eleven o'clock
or midnight till six in the morning. And whoa we
(21:02):
took so we took privately. We would we would go
on a thirty three hour layover. The worst. The worst
one we did was we slept three hours out of
thirty three hour layover because we were so obsessed. We landed,
we went and took a class, We went and got
something to eat, We had to go a little shopping.
We took another class. We went to them along, but
we stayed out till six in the morning. We slept
(21:22):
three hours. We got up, we took another class, we
went and got some to eat, and then we had
to go back to work. I was like, oh my god,
are we totally insane? Yes, we were.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
That's a good kind of insane.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Now. You you really do have to learn to function on.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
On no sleep. Yeah, yeah, I say that. My life
is a series of naps. It's kind of crazy. It's
kind of crazy.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Has it been the same throughout throughout your time in
the industry. It's always been that you've been able to
fly at no cost or at a minimal cost for
your your own travel.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Right, yeah, for my own travel. Actually, after twenty five years,
then domestic flights are free. But before that I had
to pay a little bit.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
You know, my eighty or one hundred bucks or something, right, and.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Then internationally, we've always had to pay, you know, some
portion of whatever the fair is. So it's like, you
know a little bit for economy, a little more for
business class, more for first class if they have a
first class.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, and I don't want to give the allusion to
everyone as well that are not familiar. You know, while
that is great, you also do have to fly stand by, right,
so you could plan this elaborate trip and show up
to the airport with your bags and maybe.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Not not get on, not get on a whole day.
I get on a whole day and then go, oh
my god, how am I going to get there? And
I've had times where my kids and I have been
split up and my kids, I, like my son was seventeen,
it's like, sorry, you have to stay behind and try
to take the next fight. Well, I'm going to take
the younger kids and you know, go. So that's the
(23:09):
not glamorous part. That's the not glamorous part of the
of the you know, the experience.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And there is no way to actually book specific for
the flight benefits. It's it's all standard.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
You would have to buy a ticket, you would have
to buy a regular ticket.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, speaking of personal travel, what is your favorite location?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Oh, that's such a hard question. What's your favorite location?
Get you narrow it down to one?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Nope, all for different reasons.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Right, There are so many places that I have not been.
I mean personal travel. I actually have not done that
much of it, honestly. We did take our kids to London.
We've taken our kids to Hawaii. We took our kids
to China, which was really cool and interesting and different.
(24:05):
And then I've brought each of my kids individually to
work with me. So like I brought my oldest kid
to Milan and we went to Venice and it happened
to be carnival during the time, so I got to
see all the beautiful costumes and stuff. And then my
other son he wanted to go to Rio de Janio,
(24:26):
so I brought him to Rio Dejannaro with me. And
then the next time I changed basis for six months,
I was based in la and I brought him to Sydney,
Australia with me, which was really cool, oh wow. And
he got to take surf lessons, which you thought that
was the bomb. And then my daughter I brought her
(24:47):
to Argentina with me twice. And then I brought her
to Sydney as well.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
It's pretty cool for kids to be able to share
and see that there's there's something outside of of the world.
You traveling understand this as well. But but we sometimes
here in America tend to put our blinders on and
think that that it is the only way that we
see it here, and getting out and showing kids that
(25:15):
it's not just like that allows them to grow.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
I think, yeah, it is. And I think because because
the US is so big, you know, it's it's bigger
than the EU, right, and one country, I mean one
state of Texas is bigger than two countries practically, and
so you know, for for the Europeans, they're used to
traveling country to country like we might travel state to
(25:41):
state or you know, like New York to LA. But
pretty much like the Europeans, they want to go to
New York. They want to go to LA and then
and then probably Miami, then maybe San Francisco and then
Chicago every once in a while, but not in the winter, right, absolutely,
And everybody wants to go to Pittsburgh, though.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Run do they? I will say, though I'm doing I'm
going to do a Pittsburgh episode. I felt like I
had to get get real comfortable first because I've got
to represent Pittsburgh. Well, it surprises everybody that comes here.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
It's a great city.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
They think of it as like this steel town with
you know, with with smoke and smog, and it is
literally quite the opposite. The turnaround that it's done in
the in the last few decades has been miraculous.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
And I've heard they have amazing restaurants there.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Food, food, food. Going from New York to India, now
that's that's your your route.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
That's the longest route.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
The longest route. What's what's your thought of your experiences
in India?
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Well, I only we only fly to Delhi, Okay, And
so I've I've been there four times and the first
time I took a four hour We landed at ten
o'clock at night. I slept three hours. We got up
at two thirty three in the morning and we took
a van. You know. So somebody drove us to the
taj mahal And, which is a really incredible structure. It's
(27:15):
a mausoleum to this king's wife, one of his wives,
I guess, the favorite wife. And it's a I mean,
it's magnificent. The cemetery and the architecture is just incredible,
and so they have like all of these doorways and
so these pictures that you can take are just like
(27:37):
works of art. And then we went to a rug
shop where they hand weave, so like I got to
tie a knot, like they not every single knot individually
this family, and so it was really a beautiful, amazing
experience to think, you know, every rug, these two people
(27:59):
are working on this loom, tying notts, tying notts, tying notts,
tying notts. But the way that they explained it was
that it's such an you know, an intricate art and
there's a lot of love put into every knot that
you tie. And so the family was really beautiful. You know,
(28:19):
they had the cousins and the grandfather and the sons,
you know, serving us tea and showing us all these
different magic carpets and it was really beautiful. But that
was all that we saw. You know, we had lunch,
we saw the taj Mahal, We went to the rug
place and lots of people bought rugs, and then I
(28:41):
think we maybe went to a jewelry store and then
we went home because our back to the hotel another
three and a half hour drive, and then we had
to eat dinner and then get ready to go to
work again.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Are you required to speak any other languages or English?
Is it is the only thing required?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Yep? Yeah, I mean every every flight we usually have
at least one speaker, one Hindi speaker.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Even within India, I believe.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
That there are there are different languages.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Well yeah, and different dialects.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
One of my physician that I used for this this uh,
I can't even remember it now. It was like healing
that that had to do with your pressure points and
she was like acupressure.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
She was telling me about her husband's family that they
can't they couldn't understand each other. They were from different
you know, different areas within India.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
So interesting. The second time I went to this city
called Jaipur, which I had never heard of it, but
somebody said, oh, I really want to go to Jaipur.
And unfortunately he wasn't on the trip. And I just
saw him last week and I said, have you been
to Jaipur yet? He's like, no, nobody ever wants to
go with me. Jaipur is an amazing city. It's like
(29:57):
a fortress. And so they have this beautiful castle up
on the hill that's surrounded by water, and then they
have these numerous different temples and gates that surround the city.
And we happened to go on a day because apparently
they have fifteen festivals every year, and so we happened
(30:18):
to go on a festival day and it was the
festival of Krishno, which is the god of love, and
so there were all of these people lined up like
in parades going to these different temples to bring offerings.
So people had on these gorgeous saris, these beautiful you know,
I mean, this is the thing about India. They're fabrics,
(30:38):
and the intricate handiwork on the women's outfits are just incredible,
Like I have so many beautiful pictures. It's like it's
the I call it the land of contrasts, because there
is a lot of trash and a lot of you know,
they don't have a water system, they don't really have
a sanitation system, so there's a lot of like poverty
(31:01):
and trash. But then they have this magical, beautiful, exquisite
architecture and fabrics and like the people, people I think
are just beautiful. And you know, of course I haven't
met all of them, but I'm general and i'm generalizing,
but every person that I've met is so nice and
(31:26):
oh so respectful. Thank you, ma'am. How can I help you, ma'am?
What can I do for you? Super appreciative? And life
is good and life is beautiful, and I choose to
be happy no matter what's going on around us. And
it's a really really incredible place, amazing place. It's like
no mistay, no mistay, no mistay. The divine in me
(31:51):
sees the divine in you. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
We need more of that culture here, you do. I
don't know if if this is some thing that's real
in but in my mind, you know, I believe that
we are a young country, like oh respectively. Yes, yes, yes,
I try not to judge us, even though I do,
and it's disappointing sometimes, but when you really look at it,
(32:15):
we have not had the time to learn the trials,
tribulations and lessons that a lot of these older countries have,
and maybe that just hasn't made it into our psyche
as a culture.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Well, but I think the unique thing about our culture,
the USA is that we'd have no one culture. We
are the melting pot of the world. You know, if
you go to Italy, you primarily see Italians. When you
go to France, you primarily see French people. When you
go to Spain you primarily see Spanish people. You know,
(32:50):
they do have some immigrants from Africa, but generally it's
you know, there's there might be a little Chinese, you
know section, and a little you know, African section, Nigerian section,
but we're all it's like Italians whatever. And with the US,
it's like you have so many different like every culture
(33:15):
in the world comes to the US to live. And
so that's why I think it's it's really challenging for
the US to find common ground to agree on things
because you do have so many different cultural perspectives. And
I mean small countries have a lot of disagreements. And
(33:37):
you think we're a big country and we have millions
and millions and millions of people, and so yeah, we
have a lot of disagreements.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Yes we do. That's true. Well, maybe if it were
more simplified as well, the disagreements might even be more plentiful.
But we've got so many ideas. Unfortunately, though so many
times it's only two views, right that bubble up to
the top.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Right. I know, my kids were just talking about can
we just get rid of the political system, and you know,
not no two parties, let's just let's just say, let's
just talk about the issues and how we can meet
somewhere in the middle where most people get their needs met.
It's kind of like in a relationship. You know, one
(34:25):
person is not going to get everything they want and
the other person gets nothing they want, or vice versa,
because if there's a winner and a loser, then everybody
kind of loses absolutely.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
But no matter what, keeping in mind that the main
goal is to better everyone, everyone, not just not just
a few individually correct correct, Yeah, yeah, well, you know,
the one thing I will say that that's not we
are not the only government that shares in that. It's
(34:56):
just corruption happens in different ways, different places, but right
bringing it to light is the only way that we'll improve, you.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Know, exactly exactly. And I think there's so much you know,
like I feel like in the US we have a
lot of natural beauty, a lot of natural beauty, but
in Europe there's a lot of man made beauty.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
YEP, over over the years. When you think about it,
it is the most eccentric and valuable structures that have
stood the test of time, and the others continue to
get better around it. But I mean, we have something
three hundred three hundred years old here and it's like
a big deal. But I mean one thousand plus years
(35:42):
old there is. It's just amazing to see the structures
still standing.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
And then I was at this Hindu temple in Delhi
and they are similar, similar, like intricate, intricate details, and
I always am so amazed. I don't know if it's
because I'm also I'm a dancer. I've danced my whole life,
and so I know, you know, for a three minute performance,
you're spending six months rehearsing, right, And this is similar
(36:10):
with art and music. Like you it's so time consuming
to create one little square of a figurine, and I think,
do you know how many person hours that is? You
know how many hours it took to make one figure,
one flower, one tree. So fascinating to me.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
A stone and tile in something that marble.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
I mean, it's incredible how much like people are pouring
out their heart and their soul to create something that
other people can see and just admire. Really incredible.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
It truly is anywhere big on your list.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Egypt, Bali, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia. I've heard South Africa
is incredible with the waterfall. I have been to Kenya,
but Kenya was the only country that we went to.
When we went, I think I've counted thirty five countries
that I've been to, which is a lot. So there
(37:20):
are so many places that I go. You know, what
I need to travel more.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Time is our is our greatest asset, and taking the time,
having the time and making it, making it happen is
our biggest challenge. But we have to set our priorities right.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Every place you can learn something, you can witness some
beauty and people. Because I'm you know, I'm all about
relationships and connection. To me, it's those connections that you make,
Like you go to a restaurant and you end up
talking to the bartender and then you stay the night
talking to the bartender and finding out his story and
(37:59):
you know, oh his life and what his life has
been like. And so you make these beautiful connections wherever
you go, and then you recognize that even though we
look different on the outside. Really, we're all the same
in here. We're all the same in here. We all,
(38:22):
you know, want to feel valued. We all want to
feel like we matter. We all want to feel like
we can have a positive impact. We all feel like
we want to have a sense of belonging to wherever
we land.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
We all achieve that in different ways. And we're all
just attempting to satisfy our needs. And if we understand
that these other that these individuals are also doing that,
we can go a little bit easier on the fact
that they may have interrupted our day or our thought
or our moment. Don't bother me, right right, you know.
(38:59):
I had a friend that he said his travel tip
was to book an appointment at the local hair salon
the moment that you're anywhere new, and you will have
a captive audience. You'll be a captive audience in that
chair of someone that's willing to tell you everything about
where to go, what to do, what the culture is like.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
So uh huh. I never I never asked the hotel
people where to go. I never asked the hotel.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
They send you somewhere generic where it's easy, and they
know that exactly. I get yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
I always walk down the street and I find somebody
that I go, oh, yeah, they look pretty cool. I
don't want to go where any tourists know where it is.
I want to go where the locals hang out, because
then you get a more authentic experience. I mean maybe
you can't communicate as well. Perhaps to be with the
(39:51):
locals and to see what's you know, what they're like,
and what their lifestyle is like and how they do things,
and you know, you can learn so much from observing people.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Yes, yes, that is people watching is one of my
favorite pastimes mine too.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
You know, what do you like about this place? What's
meaningful for you? What's special about where you live? What
do you appreciate about being here? What do you wish
you had more of? What do you wish you had
less of? You know, if you can approach people, This
is probably my biggest tip for traveling, for relationships, for
(40:31):
just meeting people all around the world different cultures, is
approach people with a sense of curiosity that you have
to drop all of your judgments, all of your preconceived notions,
all of what you've heard. But if we learn to
develop a sense of compassion for ourselves and each other,
(40:53):
and we approach people with a sense of curiosity.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
I think sometimes our reflection of the negative aspect of
some people are a direct correlation of us.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
It is not sometimes not sometimes, And.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
If we if we dislike something about ourselves, did you
ever notice that the person that is most similar to
someone is usually the one that pisses them off the most.
You hit the nail on the head there. When we
be open enough to be able to see things a
little with a little more clarity, we can we can
pick up on that, and picking up on it means
(41:29):
to change and changing.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Yeah, And that's the thing I mean, we are mirrors.
Where am I hiding it? Or where am I suppressing it?
Or where am I not expressing what's going on for me?
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I find that spark sometimes within people. My friends make
fun of me. You're like, oh, he's over there with
his new best friend, and.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Like my kids say the same thing about me.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
And I don't mean it to like take away from
from where we are, but I really truly believe that
you need to give yourself all to that moment and
expel it, and it lends itself to opportunity. And I'm
not saying you can be friends with every every person
you meet, but sometimes having that little glimpse does turn
into something great.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
It's a sense of presence. Is what you're talking about
is being fully present in the moment. But you're just
in this moment, having this experience with this person. And
if we could all learn to be present with each other,
it's the best gift you can give somebody.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
It's the most it's the highest form of respect that
I believe that exists because these days now, granted work,
I've got a d D myself, but what, oh my god,
I've phone, my computer, everything's happening.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
We all do.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
It's really hard to stay focused. But whenever it comes
down to just two people or or or a more
intimate setting, I think people deserve that, especially when you're
learning to know them or it's a brief interaction.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
For me, it's it's all about love you. I'm just
being a loving presence to you, for you, with you.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
And I think that any of your passengers will totally
and do totally pick up on that, and they are
they're blessed to be in your care you. I hope
that someone listening today sees you on a flight and
calls you out and gets to connect with you.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
That would be so cool. Crazier things have happened for
folks who are passengers. I would say be patient with
all of us because you never know what kind of day.
I usually have a twelve hour day before I even
get to work, and you know, and then a sixteen
hour day when I'm at work, and that you know.
(43:45):
There there are things that are out of our control.
If you don't get your chicken, you really want a chicken,
and you ended up with pasta, it's not the end
of the world.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
Talking about airline food. Strangely nothing now you can corroborate this.
You can cor rate this or not. I heard and
I did look it up. You never know if what
you read on the internet is true too. That people
bitch you, right, people bitch about airline food. But there
is something that inherently happens with your taste buds while
(44:17):
you are in a pressurized and altitude environment that impacts
it numbs your your taste buds. Can is that something
I read it on the internet. We'll see. I don't
know how how true that is, but that's why airline
food has such a bad rap.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
There are some crew members who never eat airline food.
They just bring their own food. Fine. I always eat
airline food, and I say people want to say. People
will say, oh, is this good, and I'll say it's edible.
It's edible. You're paying for the point A to point B.
You're not paying for the meal for sure. If you're
on a good meal, bring it on yourself.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Indeed, indeed, is it true? Don that pilot co pilot
get different meals in the event that one person gets
sick from Okay? Interesting?
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Yeah, and actually crew members, I mean it's different from
airline to airline, but we generally do not get food
for ourselves. We eat what's left over. So if everybody eats,
we don't get to eat, which is kind of crazy
if you think about it. We are not accounted for
unless the fly I think if the flight has to
be over ten hours. So like our you know, our
(45:32):
longer trips like to to Tel Aviv from New York,
for instance, I do get a meal on that. The
India flight, I do get a meal on that. But
from me going to London, no, I don't get that.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Well, there's always the baby booze bottles. I know you
can't do that, but liquid lunch. Most of these planes
can fly six seven.
Speaker 3 (45:57):
Hours or hours on one engine on one.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Engine, and they're designed to do just that. Okay, I
did think it one weird things. Any Have you ever
had to rescue someone because they were stuck to the
toilet they had they had stayed seated while they flushed.
Speaker 3 (46:15):
No, I can't say that I have. But people people
get locked in. They don't know how to how to
open the door. People people like try to pull out
the ashtray to open the door, and like there's a knob,
just like there's a knob on a door. Just use
the knob, and you know, people have people have done
weird things in the bathroom. I would not do that, Okay. People,
here's the other thing I want you to know, wear
(46:38):
your shoes on the airplane. You do not know how
much filth and trash and liquids on the bathroom floor
and on the carpets disgusting.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
The The other thing for me too is I never
touch any of the blankets to my face, Like if
I'm cold, you know, sometimes you get your freezing.
Speaker 3 (46:59):
But well unless they're wrapped, I mean, if they're wrapped,
they've been laundered and stuff.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
Okay, back to the bathroom, although I did. Is it
true if you lift up the little vacant thing, you
can access it. You guys have the ability in case
you need to to save.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
Someone or in case we need to lock it off.
That happens a lot.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Okay, do you have do you have to be CPR
like up to date on all of that.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
Yeah, we go to recurrent training. We use the AED
every year. We do Heimlich maneuver every year. Yeah, we
do compressions, you know, CPR every year. We know how
to operate the exits, you know, in case of emergency.
So these are all things that we do every single
year in order to requalify ourselves. You know, Like I said,
(47:46):
there was a guy who had a seizure the other night.
I've had a person who has had a heart attack.
I had another person who had a stroke. I mean,
we have serious medical emergencies on airplanes, not not all
the time, but it's not your regular either.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
And the protocol I assume is just uh, you know, alert,
alert the pilots and attempt to redirect to the closest
But if you are over the ocean, I mean it's
about there's not what you.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
Can do right, No, no, you can't, and so we
have it's a it's like a they can contact. It's
called the physician on duty, and so we always page
for a medical personnel, a doctor, a doctor, rostopathy, you know,
a nurse, a paramedic who can assist us. And thank
(48:33):
goodness that most of the airplanes there's usually one or
two of those people, thank goodness. But if for some
reason we can't we don't have anybody like that on
the airplane, then we call a physician on duty and
they have to communicate. So then it's like cockpit talks
to the flight attendant talks to the you know who's
dealing with the passenger. I got I just got the
(48:55):
oxygen for somebody the other night. I mean, things happen. Yeah,
we do the best we can.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
Well, don It has been such a wonderful pleasure.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Yeah, this is great and I'm happy to come on
anytime with you. You're fun to talk to, same.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Same I would. It's been. It's been an absolute pleasure
and I can't wait to the next time we connect.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
To view pictures of my guests and find more information
about their cause. Follow me on Instagram and or Facebook
at Cultural Chameleon eleven. And if there's any way you
could rate and review this podcast on the platform where
you listen, I would be incredibly grateful. Take care of
yourself and others until next time.
Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome aboard the Cultural Chameleon Podcast.
We're about to depart from the gate, but prior to departure,
we asked that your seatbelt is securely fastened. Join Rod
desh the host, for a travel adventure.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Like no other. Hello, and thank you for joining me
for this episode sixteen of the Cultural Chameleon podcast. Wow
sixteen unreal and exciting AnyWho. We'll be taking to the
skies today and talking about airline travel from the perspective
of a season flight attendant. Sometimes an occupation can drive
(00:44):
your cultural experience and have a culture within itself. Ever,
wonder what it's like to fly to New York from
Arizona just to begin your workday. Don Richard is a
flight attendant, speaker and counselor who has been serving up
smiles in the air for thirty two years. I've asked
her to join us and tell us more about what
the airline culture has done for her personally and professionally.
(01:28):
Don Richard, thank you so much for joining me on
the Cultural Chameleon. How are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I'm doing really well. I'm so excited to be here.
When Julie told me, you know, Hey, this guy has
this travel podcast and he's looking for an airline person.
I was like, okay, thick me.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I had a deep inquisitive side about the airline industry
because I really do believe there's a culture within it
itself and it is. I wanted someone like yourself who
had not just we're not talking five or ten years.
You have the great pleasure of thirty two years under
your belt.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I'm a seasoned traveler.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And there's so much that it's changed along the way.
But before we get into any of that, for tell
the listeners a little bit about yourself so that we
have some background.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Okay, so this is hilarious. You know, there are some
people who grew up thinking, oh, I want to be
a flight attendant. Not me. Not me. Even though my
dad was in the military and we moved every three years,
so I was constantly on the go. Military brat, military brat,
and we had Spanish exchange students. When after my after
(02:38):
my first year of Spanish in high school and after
that summer, my parents we could take like we could go,
space available on military cargo planes, and so my parents said,
let's go visit our friends in Spain. You know, the
kids that were the exchange students, and so we did.
So we went to Spain and then I think the
next year we went to Italy and so we did
(03:00):
a few of these trips with my family on these
big military cargo planes and so it was really cool
and it just opened my eyes up to a bigger world. Now,
what age were you at that high school, high school,
in college?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So what was your thought? I mean, I know, living
in a military family, there are probably things that become
less of a big deal, but that had to be
pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well, the moving part was I think when you're younger,
you don't really pay attention. But between my eighth grade
year and high school, we moved from Huntington Beach, California,
where I was wearing vans when nobody even knew what
vans were and sex wax or whatever, surfboards t shirts
to Washington, d C. Where people were wearing khaki pants
(03:47):
and blue Oxford shirts. And I did not fit in
at all. Let's just say so that was kind of
major culture differences. But what it did for me, I
think it forced me to put myself out there because
I was always an outsider, you know, the new person
in the community. And so I had to force myself
(04:10):
to go up to people. You know, I couldn't be shy.
I mean I could have been, but I would have
been alone. So it forced me to be more extroverted
and talk to people and try to make friends. And
so that skill has served me really really well in
the airline industry. So I actually joined the airline because
(04:31):
I wanted to get my master's degree in counseling, which
I eventually did. I'm also a therapist.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Okay, do you do online in person? How do you
fit that? Fit that into your schedule with because you're
doing mostly international trips.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Right, all international trips? Yeah, okay, So this airline job
has provided a lot of flexibility and people would probably
be surprised because I think there's a misconception of crew members.
They're probably lot of stereotypes and misconceptions. But we have
a lot of nurses, doctors, lawyers, realtors, actors, people you
(05:08):
know that own like sell products. I mean, we have
a lot of entrepreneurial flight attendants and pilots actually too,
with a lot of pilots to that as well. So
I went to school and I then I think after
my first year and a half, I had my first child.
Then after the next year, I had my second child.
(05:29):
Right after I graduated, then I got my license, and
then I started a private practice, and so I would
have my private practice a couple of days a week,
and then I would do my airline job once or
twice a month, which at that time it was way
more flexible than it is now. But it's a really
nice balance. So you have something that you're passionate about
(05:50):
and then my other passion because I do love to travel.
I love to meet people. I love seeing all of
the you know, the culture and the art and the architecture,
and the food and the wine of course Italy, Spain, France.
But I've always kind of juggled them both well.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And we'll get into a little more about the flexibility
because it is such a fluid industry. But I know
what you mean exactly when you say I'm back on DC.
My brain's gone in a couple different directions. But you know,
some people are faced with that difference in culture and
they actually they go introverted and that's the way that
(06:29):
they deal. Well, I am in line more with the
way that you explained your journey and that I'm i
have to work it out. It has to be external.
You know, if I keep it internal, it will definitely
eat me alive. So you were able to get out
there and just kind of interact with the world in
order to process the change.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, and it's really been interesting because my parents are
from Louisiana and my family's super down to earth. I mean,
even though my dad was a colonel in the Air Force,
which is pretty prestigious, he was he was the guy
you know, people would salute him and then he would say,
just call me Steve. So my family was like that.
They were like, you treat somebody that you think has
(07:11):
lesser status work wise, you know, a janitor or a
server or whatever whatever, or a CEO of a company
or some bigwig or whatever. It's like you treat all
people the same, like people like they're important, like their
lives matter, So you're kind to everybody. And so in
the airline, you know, you meet so many different kinds
(07:33):
of people from all over the world, and culturally there
are differences and you don't understand them and they don't
understand you, and then their language barriers. But I you know,
if you smile and if you're kind, it doesn't even
matter if you can't you know, if they don't understand
you or you don't understand them. There's a sense of
(07:55):
connection and a sense of Okay, everything's going to be okay.
I may not know what's going on, but we'll figure
it out together. And it served me well actually in
my counseling practice too, because I have talked to people
from all over I joke because even before I got
my license, I talk like a therapist, which is why
(08:17):
I became a therapist. I ask a lot of questions
and people would say, what are you the psychologist of
American Airlines? Even before I got my license, I was like, yeah,
I kind of am. And so I find that I
do this work with all ages, all cultures, all religions,
all gender identities, all sexual orientations, and on the airline.
(08:40):
I don't know if you notice this, but I think
most people when they fly on an airplane and they
sit next to a stranger, you end up exchanging a
lot of your life story.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yes, however, there's so many things I want to go
but I feel like over at least in my experience
over the last several years years, that occurs less than
it ever has.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Well, when you have a mask on, forget it. It's
a it's an invisible barrier, but it's a barrier.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
True. I guess the last two plus years of our
lives have have had that boundary place because I used
to all right, well we'll just dig into it too.
So like I used to be so excited, like taking
taking a flight was like an event all in itself
for me when I was it is, but it feels
like less and like you said, maybe more because of
(09:30):
the whole mask and the extra steps that we have
to take. That that kind of take away from from
any of the excitement, because usually you're going somewhere fun,
you're going somewhere different, You're you're excited.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You're excited, right.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
M and I would always have such great conversations and
you go to to a deep level with people when
you're sitting beside them and you're you're stuck.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Right, Isn't it interesting? Because normally you would never tell
the things that you do on the airplane. And we
call it, we call it seat therapy, that's what we
call it. Actually we call it jump seat therapy because
we sit down and we're pouring our hearts out. Now,
you know, granted we're with the same coworkers for the
duration of the three days or the four days that
(10:13):
we're there. So you either get to know somebody or
you or you don't have a relationship on the airplane,
and you have to work together. If you know, we
have medical emergencies, sometimes we have all sorts of crazy
things that happen, things that are beyond our control, and
so you have to learn how to band together as
a team right away mm.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Hmm and throw out all those crazy things and see
what See what's sticky between between you two.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And there's you know, I mean, we we work. This
is I mean, this is the thing that's It can
be good and it can be bad, depending but because
it's like I feel like it's you know how the
police department they have their own culture and they're like
a fraternity, you know, male and female. And then the
fire department, and then the medical workers and the airlines
(11:04):
are similar. It's like it doesn't matter what airline you
fly for. You can meet somebody from different airlines all
over the world and you have a very similar experience,
and so you can talk so quickly and deeply because
our lifestyle is really crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
And you have to be okay with it, or if
you're not, there's there's no just scooting.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Buy Well, I'll give you an example. So this past
week I worked at India. I'm based in New York.
It's a fifteen hour flight to India and about a
sixteen to seventeen hour flight back. So we worked. Our
signing was at eleven o'clock at night India time coming back,
so we had to leave the hotel at ten and
(11:48):
we got to the airplane and five out of our
twelve lavatories were not working for two hundred and fifty
some odd passengers and we're like, we should probably not
take off because that we have a six fifteen sixteen
hour flight.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So they're like, people are going to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yeah, hello, So we go We're like, oh, no, I
think we can work it out. You know, five out
of you know, seven out of twelve is still pretty good.
Well by that by halfway across the world, you know,
like we were around London and Paris and two more
went out, so we only had five out of twelve
lavatories working. So we're like, this is not going to
(12:30):
work for the next seven hours and especially after you know,
we wake people up in the morning, like every single
person has to go to the bathroom after our fifteen
sixteen hour flight, So we ended up having to divert
and land in Bangor, Maine, and they had to call
a crew out from another base to come pick us
(12:51):
up because by that time we were illegal, like we
couldn't work anymore. We had already been on duty for
almost twenty hours.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Okay, and so they that is mandated.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
There's no way that's mandated. That's mandated. So they got
the people off the airplane, they got the passengers off
the airplane. Half of our crew was going to it's
called faring a flight when you don't have passengers on it.
So the plane that the other people had brought the
other crew, who went to the hotel and went to
(13:23):
sleep for a few hours, they were going to take
the plane back to New York that night, while the
other half of us we wanted to get home because
it was Easter the next day. So we had to
wait about four hours for that crew. I've been on
duty for twenty twenty one hours. We didn't have to
work back to New York, but we went back to
(13:44):
New York. So we got to New York about two o'clock,
and then I had to commute home to Austin. I
had to wait another five hours for my flight from
New York to Austin, and then that flight's like four
and a half hours. So by the time I got home,
I had had a sixteen hour, seventeen hour work day
plus a sixteen seventeen hour commute. Do the math thirty
(14:08):
two hours now.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Is it true? And not that this is any consolation?
Is it true? I believe what seven seven sevens have
a crew lounge area.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Is that it's not a lounge. They have flatbeds. They
have some flatbeds for us. So like when we were
on the ground, I did go up and take a
two hour nap, you know, in the ground and banger.
But yeah, it's kind of crazy. And then we have
this place in operations where we have twenty five lazy
(14:40):
boy chairs. You know, some people have to They get
in at midnight, they leave at six in the morning,
so they sleep in these lazy boy chairs. I said,
if anybody actually knew what we dealt with, they would
go God bless you, my child.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
They would not be cranky and you wouldn't have karens
in the seats.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
They would they would say like, thank you so much
for coming to work.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I know everybody has their own way of dealing with
with making travel easier. You obviously do it more frequent
than most who just who just go on trips leisurely.
Do have you developed any travel tips for specifically for
you that is like that make your your world easier.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I'm just gonna be funny and say I drink before
every flight. No, I'm just kidded.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Hey, you're not a pilot.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Either way, we're not allowed to people eight hours. Eight
hours is the cut off. I love to travel. I
love being on an airplane. I you know, people are like, oh,
don't you get nervous about the turbulence. And I mean
I've had some, you know, crazy kind of turbulence, but I.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Mean, really about turbulence. There's no amount of turbulence that
has really brought a plane down ever.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
So that's more safe than driving exactly. But I'm not
in control. Well, honey, even if you're driving, you're not
in control.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I don't know what this I should have I should
know the statistics, but I believe that it's about on average,
eight hundred people die a year in plane related accidents,
and that includes those little cessna's everything versus versus forty thousand.
I believe it is in cars and automobile accidents.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
It's probably even more than that. Rod true, honestly, I mean,
I just I just know every year a recurrent training,
they're like, it's more safe to fly in an airplane
than be a passenger in the car. So, you know,
I mean people, I think people are just people just
get nervous. And so actually I've had a few a
few passengers who have to get like panic attacks on
(16:46):
the airplane, and I have a couple of like meditation
apps that I let them listen to help.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I thought you were going to tell me you had
a special little palcho xanac somewhere hidden.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
A lot of my colleagues do here throw that in
their mouth.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
They're good as for the extremes go in your thirty
two years of flying in flight travel not only for
you personally, but as work goes. What are the what
are the crazies? Are the stories that you tell people
that's like, wow, you really should have been there for this.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Okay. One of my favorite stories, I had three girlfriends
and we ended up working to Buenos Aires for five
years and learned how to dance tango, so all we
which was really amazing, amazing experience. And and I generally
tend to work in economy class. I don't know, I
(17:42):
like just being with the people, and then business class,
you know, is a little more fancy, a little more formal,
you know, use your last name. I'm like, hey, call
me Dawn, right, Like, I just I'm not into that.
I'm not into all the fluff, although I like to
be served as a business class or first class passenger.
So I working an economy for boarding. We're boarding the
(18:03):
airplane in New York getting ready to go down to
Buenoesoire's completely full crazy with all the people coming on
coming on. So my girlfriend, she's working up a business class.
We just had business class and economy and I, for
some reason, I was like helping with the business class.
And she was up more towards the front of the
airplane and she comes back running screaming to me. She's like,
(18:26):
oh my god, oh my god. You see that guy.
You see that guy? And I was like, oh my god,
what what is he doing? He had taken off his
clothes in the middle of the aisle, while we were
boarding the airplane and decided to put on some pajamas
and he was buck naked Commando. He had stripped down,
(18:49):
standing in the aisle while people were getting on the
airplane and he was completely naked.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Now was this like he was completely calm, this was
acceptable in his mind or which I guess.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
No, I guess. So he was like probably around seventy
ish and the show well, I mean, yeah, if he
had been this great bodybuilder, we would have been yeah, baby,
But it was like, put your clothes on?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Now is that grounds for removal?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Well? Yeah, my friend is like, I am not serving him.
That's disgusting. I know, you know, I know him way
more than I want to know him, and I am
not serving him. This is gross. So my friend, I mean,
she was begging the purser please take him off the airplane,
and his wife, who happened to be traveling with him,
was on the other side of the aisle going honey,
(19:39):
put your clothes on, put your clothes on. I was like,
does he go to McDonald's and just stripped down? Does
he go to the mall and just stripped down?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I mean, that is that is unique. I've never seen
that wow.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
We say, we say, people check their minds when they
check their bags sometimes truth truth.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Whennesiders that was your regular route, so you took advantage
of years and you had somebody to you know, your
friend to do that with.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I know, we had an amazing, amazing time because at
the time I was just deciding to leave my husband.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So you needed it and it was.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
A huge part of my healing journey because we took
you know, I had a lot of girlfriend time because
even though it's kind of weird at the airline, you
oftentimes don't see the same people, and I would have
I would see friends maybe once every few months. And
this gal, she happened to be a new friend. But
(20:40):
we managed. She's a little bit senior to me, but
we managed to get similar schedules and we tried to trade,
you know, so we worked together as much as we could,
two three times a month, and we took a lot
of private lessons. They have they have it's called Amilanana
is the dance and it goes from like eleven o'clock
or midnight till six in the morning. And whoa we
(21:02):
took so we took privately. We would we would go
on a thirty three hour layover. The worst. The worst
one we did was we slept three hours out of
thirty three hour layover because we were so obsessed. We landed,
we went and took a class, We went and got
something to eat, We had to go a little shopping.
We took another class. We went to them along, but
we stayed out till six in the morning. We slept
(21:22):
three hours. We got up, we took another class, we
went and got some to eat, and then we had
to go back to work. I was like, oh my god,
are we totally insane? Yes, we were.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
That's a good kind of insane.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Now. You you really do have to learn to function on.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
On no sleep. Yeah, yeah, I say that. My life
is a series of naps. It's kind of crazy. It's
kind of crazy.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Has it been the same throughout throughout your time in
the industry. It's always been that you've been able to
fly at no cost or at a minimal cost for
your your own travel.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Right, yeah, for my own travel. Actually, after twenty five years,
then domestic flights are free. But before that I had
to pay a little bit.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
You know, my eighty or one hundred bucks or something, right, and.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Then internationally, we've always had to pay, you know, some
portion of whatever the fair is. So it's like, you
know a little bit for economy, a little more for
business class, more for first class if they have a
first class.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, and I don't want to give the allusion to
everyone as well that are not familiar. You know, while
that is great, you also do have to fly stand by, right,
so you could plan this elaborate trip and show up
to the airport with your bags and maybe.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Not not get on, not get on a whole day.
I get on a whole day and then go, oh
my god, how am I going to get there? And
I've had times where my kids and I have been
split up and my kids, I, like my son was seventeen,
it's like, sorry, you have to stay behind and try
to take the next fight. Well, I'm going to take
the younger kids and you know, go. So that's the
(23:09):
not glamorous part. That's the not glamorous part of the
of the you know, the experience.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And there is no way to actually book specific for
the flight benefits. It's it's all standard.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
You would have to buy a ticket, you would have
to buy a regular ticket.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, speaking of personal travel, what is your favorite location?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Oh, that's such a hard question. What's your favorite location?
Get you narrow it down to one?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Nope, all for different reasons.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Right, There are so many places that I have not been.
I mean personal travel. I actually have not done that
much of it, honestly. We did take our kids to London.
We've taken our kids to Hawaii. We took our kids
to China, which was really cool and interesting and different.
(24:05):
And then I've brought each of my kids individually to
work with me. So like I brought my oldest kid
to Milan and we went to Venice and it happened
to be carnival during the time, so I got to
see all the beautiful costumes and stuff. And then my
other son he wanted to go to Rio de Janio,
(24:26):
so I brought him to Rio Dejannaro with me. And
then the next time I changed basis for six months,
I was based in la and I brought him to Sydney,
Australia with me, which was really cool, oh wow. And
he got to take surf lessons, which you thought that
was the bomb. And then my daughter I brought her
(24:47):
to Argentina with me twice. And then I brought her
to Sydney as well.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
It's pretty cool for kids to be able to share
and see that there's there's something outside of of the world.
You traveling understand this as well. But but we sometimes
here in America tend to put our blinders on and
think that that it is the only way that we
see it here, and getting out and showing kids that
(25:15):
it's not just like that allows them to grow.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
I think, yeah, it is. And I think because because
the US is so big, you know, it's it's bigger
than the EU, right, and one country, I mean one
state of Texas is bigger than two countries practically, and
so you know, for for the Europeans, they're used to
traveling country to country like we might travel state to
(25:41):
state or you know, like New York to LA. But
pretty much like the Europeans, they want to go to
New York. They want to go to LA and then
and then probably Miami, then maybe San Francisco and then
Chicago every once in a while, but not in the winter, right, absolutely,
And everybody wants to go to Pittsburgh, though.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Run do they? I will say, though I'm doing I'm
going to do a Pittsburgh episode. I felt like I
had to get get real comfortable first because I've got
to represent Pittsburgh. Well, it surprises everybody that comes here.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
It's a great city.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
They think of it as like this steel town with
you know, with with smoke and smog, and it is
literally quite the opposite. The turnaround that it's done in
the in the last few decades has been miraculous.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
And I've heard they have amazing restaurants there.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Food, food, food. Going from New York to India, now
that's that's your your route.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
That's the longest route.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
The longest route. What's what's your thought of your experiences
in India?
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Well, I only we only fly to Delhi, Okay, And
so I've I've been there four times and the first
time I took a four hour We landed at ten
o'clock at night. I slept three hours. We got up
at two thirty three in the morning and we took
a van. You know. So somebody drove us to the
taj mahal And, which is a really incredible structure. It's
(27:15):
a mausoleum to this king's wife, one of his wives,
I guess, the favorite wife. And it's a I mean,
it's magnificent. The cemetery and the architecture is just incredible,
and so they have like all of these doorways and
so these pictures that you can take are just like
(27:37):
works of art. And then we went to a rug
shop where they hand weave, so like I got to
tie a knot, like they not every single knot individually
this family, and so it was really a beautiful, amazing
experience to think, you know, every rug, these two people
(27:59):
are working on this loom, tying notts, tying notts, tying notts,
tying notts. But the way that they explained it was
that it's such an you know, an intricate art and
there's a lot of love put into every knot that
you tie. And so the family was really beautiful. You know,
(28:19):
they had the cousins and the grandfather and the sons,
you know, serving us tea and showing us all these
different magic carpets and it was really beautiful. But that
was all that we saw. You know, we had lunch,
we saw the taj Mahal, We went to the rug
place and lots of people bought rugs, and then I
(28:41):
think we maybe went to a jewelry store and then
we went home because our back to the hotel another
three and a half hour drive, and then we had
to eat dinner and then get ready to go to
work again.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Are you required to speak any other languages or English?
Is it is the only thing required?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Yep? Yeah, I mean every every flight we usually have
at least one speaker, one Hindi speaker.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Even within India, I believe.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
That there are there are different languages.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Well yeah, and different dialects.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
One of my physician that I used for this this uh,
I can't even remember it now. It was like healing
that that had to do with your pressure points and
she was like acupressure.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
She was telling me about her husband's family that they
can't they couldn't understand each other. They were from different
you know, different areas within India.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
So interesting. The second time I went to this city
called Jaipur, which I had never heard of it, but
somebody said, oh, I really want to go to Jaipur.
And unfortunately he wasn't on the trip. And I just
saw him last week and I said, have you been
to Jaipur yet? He's like, no, nobody ever wants to
go with me. Jaipur is an amazing city. It's like
(29:57):
a fortress. And so they have this beautiful castle up
on the hill that's surrounded by water, and then they
have these numerous different temples and gates that surround the city.
And we happened to go on a day because apparently
they have fifteen festivals every year, and so we happened
(30:18):
to go on a festival day and it was the
festival of Krishno, which is the god of love, and
so there were all of these people lined up like
in parades going to these different temples to bring offerings.
So people had on these gorgeous saris, these beautiful you know,
I mean, this is the thing about India. They're fabrics,
(30:38):
and the intricate handiwork on the women's outfits are just incredible,
Like I have so many beautiful pictures. It's like it's
the I call it the land of contrasts, because there
is a lot of trash and a lot of you know,
they don't have a water system, they don't really have
a sanitation system, so there's a lot of like poverty
(31:01):
and trash. But then they have this magical, beautiful, exquisite
architecture and fabrics and like the people, people I think
are just beautiful. And you know, of course I haven't
met all of them, but I'm general and i'm generalizing,
but every person that I've met is so nice and
(31:26):
oh so respectful. Thank you, ma'am. How can I help you, ma'am?
What can I do for you? Super appreciative? And life
is good and life is beautiful, and I choose to
be happy no matter what's going on around us. And
it's a really really incredible place, amazing place. It's like
no mistay, no mistay, no mistay. The divine in me
(31:51):
sees the divine in you. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
We need more of that culture here, you do. I
don't know if if this is some thing that's real
in but in my mind, you know, I believe that
we are a young country, like oh respectively. Yes, yes, yes,
I try not to judge us, even though I do,
and it's disappointing sometimes, but when you really look at it,
(32:15):
we have not had the time to learn the trials,
tribulations and lessons that a lot of these older countries have,
and maybe that just hasn't made it into our psyche
as a culture.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Well, but I think the unique thing about our culture,
the USA is that we'd have no one culture. We
are the melting pot of the world. You know, if
you go to Italy, you primarily see Italians. When you
go to France, you primarily see French people. When you
go to Spain you primarily see Spanish people. You know,
(32:50):
they do have some immigrants from Africa, but generally it's
you know, there's there might be a little Chinese, you
know section, and a little you know, African section, Nigerian section,
but we're all it's like Italians whatever. And with the US,
it's like you have so many different like every culture
(33:15):
in the world comes to the US to live. And
so that's why I think it's it's really challenging for
the US to find common ground to agree on things
because you do have so many different cultural perspectives. And
I mean small countries have a lot of disagreements. And
(33:37):
you think we're a big country and we have millions
and millions and millions of people, and so yeah, we
have a lot of disagreements.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Yes we do. That's true. Well, maybe if it were
more simplified as well, the disagreements might even be more plentiful.
But we've got so many ideas. Unfortunately, though so many
times it's only two views, right that bubble up to
the top.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Right. I know, my kids were just talking about can
we just get rid of the political system, and you know,
not no two parties, let's just let's just say, let's
just talk about the issues and how we can meet
somewhere in the middle where most people get their needs met.
It's kind of like in a relationship. You know, one
(34:25):
person is not going to get everything they want and
the other person gets nothing they want, or vice versa,
because if there's a winner and a loser, then everybody
kind of loses absolutely.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
But no matter what, keeping in mind that the main
goal is to better everyone, everyone, not just not just
a few individually correct correct, Yeah, yeah, well, you know,
the one thing I will say that that's not we
are not the only government that shares in that. It's
(34:56):
just corruption happens in different ways, different places, but right
bringing it to light is the only way that we'll improve, you.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Know, exactly exactly. And I think there's so much you know,
like I feel like in the US we have a
lot of natural beauty, a lot of natural beauty, but
in Europe there's a lot of man made beauty.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
YEP, over over the years. When you think about it,
it is the most eccentric and valuable structures that have
stood the test of time, and the others continue to
get better around it. But I mean, we have something
three hundred three hundred years old here and it's like
a big deal. But I mean one thousand plus years
(35:42):
old there is. It's just amazing to see the structures
still standing.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
And then I was at this Hindu temple in Delhi
and they are similar, similar, like intricate, intricate details, and
I always am so amazed. I don't know if it's
because I'm also I'm a dancer. I've danced my whole life,
and so I know, you know, for a three minute performance,
you're spending six months rehearsing, right, And this is similar
(36:10):
with art and music. Like you it's so time consuming
to create one little square of a figurine, and I think,
do you know how many person hours that is? You
know how many hours it took to make one figure,
one flower, one tree. So fascinating to me.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
A stone and tile in something that marble.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
I mean, it's incredible how much like people are pouring
out their heart and their soul to create something that
other people can see and just admire. Really incredible.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
It truly is anywhere big on your list.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Egypt, Bali, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia. I've heard South Africa
is incredible with the waterfall. I have been to Kenya,
but Kenya was the only country that we went to.
When we went, I think I've counted thirty five countries
that I've been to, which is a lot. So there
(37:20):
are so many places that I go. You know, what
I need to travel more.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Time is our is our greatest asset, and taking the time,
having the time and making it, making it happen is
our biggest challenge. But we have to set our priorities right.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Every place you can learn something, you can witness some
beauty and people. Because I'm you know, I'm all about
relationships and connection. To me, it's those connections that you make,
Like you go to a restaurant and you end up
talking to the bartender and then you stay the night
talking to the bartender and finding out his story and
(37:59):
you know, oh his life and what his life has
been like. And so you make these beautiful connections wherever
you go, and then you recognize that even though we
look different on the outside. Really, we're all the same
in here. We're all the same in here. We all,
(38:22):
you know, want to feel valued. We all want to
feel like we matter. We all want to feel like
we can have a positive impact. We all feel like
we want to have a sense of belonging to wherever
we land.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
We all achieve that in different ways. And we're all
just attempting to satisfy our needs. And if we understand
that these other that these individuals are also doing that,
we can go a little bit easier on the fact
that they may have interrupted our day or our thought
or our moment. Don't bother me, right right, you know.
(38:59):
I had a friend that he said his travel tip
was to book an appointment at the local hair salon
the moment that you're anywhere new, and you will have
a captive audience. You'll be a captive audience in that
chair of someone that's willing to tell you everything about
where to go, what to do, what the culture is like.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
So uh huh. I never I never asked the hotel
people where to go. I never asked the hotel.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
They send you somewhere generic where it's easy, and they
know that exactly. I get yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
I always walk down the street and I find somebody
that I go, oh, yeah, they look pretty cool. I
don't want to go where any tourists know where it is.
I want to go where the locals hang out, because
then you get a more authentic experience. I mean maybe
you can't communicate as well. Perhaps to be with the
(39:51):
locals and to see what's you know, what they're like,
and what their lifestyle is like and how they do things,
and you know, you can learn so much from observing people.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Yes, yes, that is people watching is one of my
favorite pastimes mine too.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
You know, what do you like about this place? What's
meaningful for you? What's special about where you live? What
do you appreciate about being here? What do you wish
you had more of? What do you wish you had
less of? You know, if you can approach people, This
is probably my biggest tip for traveling, for relationships, for
(40:31):
just meeting people all around the world different cultures, is
approach people with a sense of curiosity that you have
to drop all of your judgments, all of your preconceived notions,
all of what you've heard. But if we learn to
develop a sense of compassion for ourselves and each other,
(40:53):
and we approach people with a sense of curiosity.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
I think sometimes our reflection of the negative aspect of
some people are a direct correlation of us.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
It is not sometimes not sometimes, And.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
If we if we dislike something about ourselves, did you
ever notice that the person that is most similar to
someone is usually the one that pisses them off the most.
You hit the nail on the head there. When we
be open enough to be able to see things a
little with a little more clarity, we can we can
pick up on that, and picking up on it means
(41:29):
to change and changing.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Yeah, And that's the thing I mean, we are mirrors.
Where am I hiding it? Or where am I suppressing it?
Or where am I not expressing what's going on for me?
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I find that spark sometimes within people. My friends make
fun of me. You're like, oh, he's over there with
his new best friend, and.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Like my kids say the same thing about me.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
And I don't mean it to like take away from
from where we are, but I really truly believe that
you need to give yourself all to that moment and
expel it, and it lends itself to opportunity. And I'm
not saying you can be friends with every every person
you meet, but sometimes having that little glimpse does turn
into something great.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
It's a sense of presence. Is what you're talking about
is being fully present in the moment. But you're just
in this moment, having this experience with this person. And
if we could all learn to be present with each other,
it's the best gift you can give somebody.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
It's the most it's the highest form of respect that
I believe that exists because these days now, granted work,
I've got a d D myself, but what, oh my god,
I've phone, my computer, everything's happening.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
We all do.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
It's really hard to stay focused. But whenever it comes
down to just two people or or or a more
intimate setting, I think people deserve that, especially when you're
learning to know them or it's a brief interaction.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
For me, it's it's all about love you. I'm just
being a loving presence to you, for you, with you.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
And I think that any of your passengers will totally
and do totally pick up on that, and they are
they're blessed to be in your care you. I hope
that someone listening today sees you on a flight and
calls you out and gets to connect with you.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
That would be so cool. Crazier things have happened for
folks who are passengers. I would say be patient with
all of us because you never know what kind of day.
I usually have a twelve hour day before I even
get to work, and you know, and then a sixteen
hour day when I'm at work, and that you know.
(43:45):
There there are things that are out of our control.
If you don't get your chicken, you really want a chicken,
and you ended up with pasta, it's not the end
of the world.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
Talking about airline food. Strangely nothing now you can corroborate this.
You can cor rate this or not. I heard and
I did look it up. You never know if what
you read on the internet is true too. That people
bitch you, right, people bitch about airline food. But there
is something that inherently happens with your taste buds while
(44:17):
you are in a pressurized and altitude environment that impacts
it numbs your your taste buds. Can is that something
I read it on the internet. We'll see. I don't
know how how true that is, but that's why airline
food has such a bad rap.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
There are some crew members who never eat airline food.
They just bring their own food. Fine. I always eat
airline food, and I say people want to say. People
will say, oh, is this good, and I'll say it's edible.
It's edible. You're paying for the point A to point B.
You're not paying for the meal for sure. If you're
on a good meal, bring it on yourself.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Indeed, indeed, is it true? Don that pilot co pilot
get different meals in the event that one person gets
sick from Okay? Interesting?
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Yeah, and actually crew members, I mean it's different from
airline to airline, but we generally do not get food
for ourselves. We eat what's left over. So if everybody eats,
we don't get to eat, which is kind of crazy
if you think about it. We are not accounted for
unless the fly I think if the flight has to
be over ten hours. So like our you know, our
(45:32):
longer trips like to to Tel Aviv from New York,
for instance, I do get a meal on that. The
India flight, I do get a meal on that. But
from me going to London, no, I don't get that.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Well, there's always the baby booze bottles. I know you
can't do that, but liquid lunch. Most of these planes
can fly six seven.
Speaker 3 (45:57):
Hours or hours on one engine on one.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Engine, and they're designed to do just that. Okay, I
did think it one weird things. Any Have you ever
had to rescue someone because they were stuck to the
toilet they had they had stayed seated while they flushed.
Speaker 3 (46:15):
No, I can't say that I have. But people people
get locked in. They don't know how to how to
open the door. People people like try to pull out
the ashtray to open the door, and like there's a knob,
just like there's a knob on a door. Just use
the knob, and you know, people have people have done
weird things in the bathroom. I would not do that, Okay. People,
here's the other thing I want you to know, wear
(46:38):
your shoes on the airplane. You do not know how
much filth and trash and liquids on the bathroom floor
and on the carpets disgusting.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
The The other thing for me too is I never
touch any of the blankets to my face, Like if
I'm cold, you know, sometimes you get your freezing.
Speaker 3 (46:59):
But well unless they're wrapped, I mean, if they're wrapped,
they've been laundered and stuff.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
Okay, back to the bathroom, although I did. Is it
true if you lift up the little vacant thing, you
can access it. You guys have the ability in case
you need to to save.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
Someone or in case we need to lock it off.
That happens a lot.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Okay, do you have do you have to be CPR
like up to date on all of that.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
Yeah, we go to recurrent training. We use the AED
every year. We do Heimlich maneuver every year. Yeah, we
do compressions, you know, CPR every year. We know how
to operate the exits, you know, in case of emergency.
So these are all things that we do every single
year in order to requalify ourselves. You know, Like I said,
(47:46):
there was a guy who had a seizure the other night.
I've had a person who has had a heart attack.
I had another person who had a stroke. I mean,
we have serious medical emergencies on airplanes, not not all
the time, but it's not your regular either.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
And the protocol I assume is just uh, you know, alert,
alert the pilots and attempt to redirect to the closest
But if you are over the ocean, I mean it's
about there's not what you.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
Can do right, No, no, you can't, and so we
have it's a it's like a they can contact. It's
called the physician on duty, and so we always page
for a medical personnel, a doctor, a doctor, rostopathy, you know,
a nurse, a paramedic who can assist us. And thank
(48:33):
goodness that most of the airplanes there's usually one or
two of those people, thank goodness. But if for some
reason we can't we don't have anybody like that on
the airplane, then we call a physician on duty and
they have to communicate. So then it's like cockpit talks
to the flight attendant talks to the you know who's
dealing with the passenger. I got I just got the
(48:55):
oxygen for somebody the other night. I mean, things happen. Yeah,
we do the best we can.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
Well, don It has been such a wonderful pleasure.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Yeah, this is great and I'm happy to come on
anytime with you. You're fun to talk to, same.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Same I would. It's been. It's been an absolute pleasure
and I can't wait to the next time we connect.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
To view pictures of my guests and find more information
about their cause. Follow me on Instagram and or Facebook
at Cultural Chameleon eleven. And if there's any way you
could rate and review this podcast on the platform where
you listen, I would be incredibly grateful. Take care of
yourself and others until next time.
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