London’s Layover Lowdown: From a Flight Attendant
Story Time
I have been blessed with such an amazing job that allows me to travel and get paid while doing it. Even though the flight attendant life isn’t as glamorous as it looks, I still try to find the positive in every situation.
The first time I went to London, I was ready and excited bags packed. This was my first year flying and I couldn’t have been more excited to do my first international trip. I was based in New York at the time so my route was departing from JFK. I happily stepped on the plane and was greeted with an overwhelming amount of young and happy souls. Since our company is seniority-based it is usually a more senior crowd that flies internationally, but not London on this specific day. Not that it matters at all but I could just tell these coworkers were going to be a blast.
London’s Calling
I had been to London before in my leisure time but never during a layover. I was excited and my crew was excited for me too. We went and had an incredible lunch at The Queens Arms and it was so charming. The vibes were on point and the fish and chips were to die for. I loved them so much that I went back for more the next morning. After that, we went to Hyde Park and enjoyed music, chilling, and sipping on some wine.
A Little About International Trips as a Working Flight Attendant
A little information about working internationally. Now, this information varies depending on what airline you are working for. For us, usually, the layovers are around 24 hours, and usually, your first flight leaves the US at night so it is considered a red-eye flight. The Flight Attendants can take breaks where we can even take a nap, about 2ish hours. The good part though about international flying over the pond is that there is only one flight there and one flight back. This means only two boardings and two deplaning because if you don’t know that is the hardest part of the job, at least in my opinion.
So the biggest thing when doing trips like these is whether you stay up or take a nap when you land in London and get to your hotel. I didn’t nap the first time I went but below, I definitely napped because I was unprepared for an all-nighter flight.
On my Second Trip I got called to London
Fast forward a year and I am now Charlotte-based and serving reserve (I am on call and they can call me for any flight they need coverage for). When I got the call that I was going to London, I instantly was pissed. I was only on call for another hour and my next two days were supposed to be my days off. Plus, I was supposed to be heading home to celebrate my birthday with some of my friends. Well, plans change and the unexpected is something you have to get used to if you want to serve life at 35,000 ft in the air. I cried for 10 minutes but then got my bags packed and headed on my way to the airport.
At the end of the day, it was still a great trip to be on and a blessing in disguise. I mean it’s hard to complain when you get paid to go to Europe! I have done a lot of famous sightseeing except for the famous London Bridge (or so I thought it was the London Bridge). I sang Fergie’s famous song, London Bridge, the whole flight to London and when we landed I was ready to see it.
On this Trip I learned a lot about london that i didn’t know…
ONE: I ended up finding out when I did arrive in London. The bridge that I thought was the London Bridge is called the Tower Bridge. Make sure you are aware of which is which because they are both very far apart.
TWO: even though it was mid-June and what I thought would be a nice summer layover, it was far from it. I froze my BUM off and it was one of the most unenjoyable layovers I’ve ever had just because of that. I highly suggest checking the weather before going to London as they can still have 50 degrees Fahrenheit and rainy days in the middle of summer.
OVERALL…
I have learned a lot on my trips to London and feel blessed that this is what I get to see from my office view. Due to COVID, international flying hasn’t been the same but I sure hope it picks up again and we start flying overseas a lot more. This isn’t my favorite layover but it was my first time going international and the first place that I was blessed to go to twice. Cheers to that!
Leave a Reply