My first flight ever!!

My first flight ever... yah. Something I'll never forget!! It's like getting your first kiss.. I was a load factor (load factor is normally on long flights that are very full, extra help in other words) to L.A.!!! Wahoo! LA?! I had never been ANYWHERE outside the SEC states, besides Michigan but that doesn't count... The flight was from JFK (New York) to LAX (L.A.). I go meet my crew and introduced myself in crew briefing. Of course I didn't tell them this was my very first flight ever? How embarrassing would that be? So I acted all cool and like I was a pro at this. I got it... right? We started boarding and the A-line (flight leader) was telling me to count the food to make sure we had enough for first class. I said all chipper "Okay!!"... But in my head I was thinking... "Where in the hell is the food?" So I go to the front galley and start opening all the carts. Finally I found it! I counted the trays and only found 12 when we needed 24. I reported back to the flight leader that we were short half the trays. She got upset and called catering and told them they only sent half the trays we needed. Catering showed up at the airplane with the person who brought the food on and their supervisor. They pulled the cart out and started counting the trays. 12..... on one side.... and 12... on the other side... I only counted ONE side of the cart because I had never worked on one... Yah.. My "pro" skills were starting to show.. So I thought it was time to confess this was my first flight ever to my flight leader. She was so thrilled and thought it was so funny! She told me not to worry and that she would teach me everything I needed to know! We take off.. I started "trying" to help her get everything set up for her first class service but I found myself getting more and more in her way. Finally she told to just stand back and watch her that I would probably learn better by watching. I was okay with that, either way I was still getting paid!! After service was done, the pilots called wanting to go to the bathroom. I will not explain the procedures of what happens when one of the pilots have to come out of the cockpit due to safety related issues. All I will say is that two people must be in the cockpit at all times. So the flight leader decided to let me go in the cockpit! I was super excited!!! I went in, even tho is was dark outside, it was the coolest thing I have ever seen! This is all that I feel comfortable mentioning in this blog about going into the cockpit for the first time! We land in L.A. and I find out I am the only Flight Attendant laying over. I had a slight moment of panic. "Where do I go? How do I check in at the hotel? What hotel am I even staying at? How do I get to the hotel?" As all these questions are going threw my little mind, one of the pilots walk up to me and pats me on the back. He chuckled and said "Don't worry, we layover with you. We'll make sure you make it to the hotel." Shewww wee.. What a relief. So the pilots and I made our way to the hotel! Although I did not leave the hotel while I was there expect to go to the lobby and buy postcards for my family and friends, I had a great time! The bus ride from the airport to the hotel was neat, purple-red-orange-green-blue lit up HUGE palm trees! I finally calm down from all the excitement and get into bed, I was deadheading (I sit in a passenger sit in or out of uniform but I still get paid for it, to bring me back to my base which was NYC) back early the next morning! I get up at FOUR o'clock to get ready.  At the time I did not understand all the rules about dead heading and wasn't sure if I could or couldn't be in my uniform so I decided to stay on the safe side and wear it. I get to the airport a little to early and found a cell phone charging station. I had forgotten to charge my phone in the hotel. I was sitting with these two other boys who looked younger than me. We made small talk about which flight we were all on and then we all went back to facebooking. This African American male walked over and sat down right beside me.  I did not think to look up to see who it was. When I noticed more and more people start crowding around us, I decided I would move to get some privacy. When I started gathering all my things I noticed I was sitting by none other than S-N-Double O-P Doggie Dog!! haha- That's right.. Snoop Dog.. (see picture below) Wow- what a way to start my day. Of course I wanted a picture with him! But I did not have the guts to ask to take one because I was in my uniform. I opened my phone and got a picture of him before I walked away. We started boarding my flight to New York.  I heard the gate agent make an announcement for volunteers to take a later flight due to a passenger with a family issue an needing to get to New York earlier. I hung around an let everyone board the plan before me. I saw this thin little girl with dark hair and BIG sunglasses power walking toward our gate, she was followed by a heavy set older male with gray hair.. She was to far away for me to make out who she was but in my mind I was thinking "Oh great, another wanna-be-famous with their dark sunglasses on in the airport because it just sooooo bright in here." As she got closer and closer to the point where she was finally standing right beside me I said "Oh, Hi Eva Longoria". As if my day couldn't get any better. We boarded the plan together and as we got on I asked to sneak a picture with her and she agreed. I could NOT pass up a picture with my favorite Desperate House Wife! (see picture below) I did not care if I was in uniform or not! Needless to say Eva was not as friendly as I expected, bragging to me and three other male passengers about her Louis Vuitton boots she had on out of the blue? After that very strange encounter with her I took my seat. I had a window seat, waho! I was sitting next to a very pretty, thin, young female! She kept looking out the window and after a few times she introduced herself as Jen. She explained how she is scared of flying and apologized ahead of time if she keeps looking out the window and asked if I would keep it open. I offered to give her my seat but she declined. Jen and I made small talk threw out the whole flight. She was in the filming industry and did things like documentaries and commercials.  She was going to New York to start filming a new project.  Wow. She was so pretty, young, and seemed to be very very successful! It was very nice to see that! As you are flying out of L.A. you go over the mountains. When you are going over mountains, the altitude changes. When altitude changes, there is normally some bumps in the ride. Jen got very scared as we hit some nice size "speed bumps" as I like to call them. She would ask things like "why is this happening" or "is this normal".  I started thinking, I wonder how many people there is on this airplane that are scared of flying and this is something I need to be prepared to encounter everyday. So to ease Jen's nerves I just kept the small talking going the whole flight. By the end of the flight, I felt like I made a new friend. We added each other on facebook and to this day we still keep in touch with each on there! Every now and then I'll get a "like" or comment on one of my photos/status from her and I always smile and think back to my very first flight and that day, from trying to act like a pro on the job to meeting my favorite actress and only finding out shes a weirdo to making a new friend! Each day is a journey like this!! You never know who your going to encounter on this job.. If it's the asshole sitting 2B or the sweetheart in 3A.. The good thing I like about this job is: if you don't like either who your working with (pilots or flight attendants) or the asshole sitting in 2B, after the flight your more than likely never going to see them again!!!

Here are pictures of Snoop and Eva: 
(I have blurred out my face and any uniform piece that represent the company I work for.)