Every now and then I get the question if I have any spare time during my travels. We flight attendants do have some time to ourselves when we travel. How much depends entirely on the schedules. Everyone likes to spend their time differently. Some like to chill and catch up on their reading or binge on Netflix. The other likes to work out or it might just happens your favorite artist is performing in town. But many of us like to explore and of course we go out to dinner a lot. Next to searching for new hotspots to be featured on TheTrendAttendant I do love me some shopping. ‘Back in the day’ it was more fun to shop overseas because there were so many stores that you couldn’t find in Europe. And the Euro was literally a big thing. That all changed and today I find myself shopping online more than en route. Doesn’t mean I never set foot inside of a Mall mind you. But it just so happens that being jetlagged makes you buy the oddest stuff. In the mean time I have gathered a box full of impulse buys myself. Want to know what’s inside? Check it out!
Domestic flight attendant
It seemed like such a good idea. This little apparatus would make (especially) other peoples life so much easier. Check it out: I would never have to bother anyone from housekeeping (I never ever have any spare single $$ anyway). And in case there wouldn’t be a iron in the room (some hotels do not provide it due to fire hazard) I would still have my mini portable iron! Bought it in the UK once and that’s exactly what the problem was. Because of the plug I could only use it in the UK. And I don’t travel to the UK every week. Times of usage: nil.
Fit girl fire starter
Because I also like to keep my semi fit girl lifestyle when traveling I thought it was a good idea to buy a mini blender. I bumped into the little thing when I was shopping in Curaçao. Even if there wasn’t any healthy food around I could get some fruit and make myself something responsible. It had a 115w plug so I could use it on different locations as well. Until I took my blender to Hong Kong. I got the famous midnight munchies and decided to make a blueberry/ banana smoothie. Got the adapter, and I had already put the fruit in the cup. After a few seconds the thing started fuming and there was a very strong smell of burned plastic! I immediately pulled out the plug but my mini blender had already died and almost short circuited the whole place! Because all the blueberries were unblended I had a porridge like fruit salad in stead.
Well, I’m not the only one with a closet full of jetlag buys. Here are some of my lovely colleagues with their jetlag shopping fails!
Home is where the basket is
‘The ‘weirdest’ thing I bought when traveling was probably on my first trip to Addis Ababa. During a very nice tour these beautiful Ethiopian girls were selling some colorful hand woven baskets. Did I really need it in my life? Not exactly. But I just started flying around the world and I thought I needed to buy everything I laid my eyes on. Before I knew it, I bought the darn thing. When I got home it of course didn’t match with the rest of my interior and disappeared somewhere in the back of the cupboard. Haven’t seen it since’.
Mercedes Dizon- Custers, mom of two, been flying for 10 years.
Burn baby, burn
‘As a die hard make up lover I am forever expanding my make up range. The ‘it’ brands I happen to love are just not very budget proof. So imagine my face when I visited Shanghai and discovered all my favorite make up brands for were sold there for close to nothing! Was it the original stuff? No, of course not but they seemed like very good copies. I practically bought the entire store and when I got home I tried out everything, there weren’t any samples at the store. Well, the eyeshadows was like talcum powder and immediately made my eyes turn red. The lipsticks actually burned my lips! After a few tries it was clear that I bought a bunch of highly chemical fake make up products. For the sake of my own health I had to throw away all the gorgeous MAC and NARS pallets and lip kits. Shame.’
Nicole Kort, just graduated, started flying 12 years ago.
Coffee riding solo
‘Bad habits die hard, without a cup of morning coffee I turn into Cruella De Ville.
A minimum of two strong cups of black coffee, one sugar gets me going. Reason enough for me to buy a travel size coffeemaker on one of my first USA trips. As a newbie in aviation, I followed my senior colleagues to Target, where they embarked on a shopping spree. Jetlagged and dazed I wondered off on my own, and stumbled across a camping coffeemaker. I had to have it! Little did I know that every hotel provided crew with a superb breakfast including coffee, and a coffeemaker in every hotelroom. Needless to say that this little ‘gadget’ ended up in my storage room, without seeing a single part of the world. Now I buy my coffee at Starbucks 🙂
Quincy Pinas, purser, has been flying for 13 years.
My left foot
‘After a long flight I finally arrived in LA and went straight to the Mall after a quick shower and wardrobe change. A girl can never have enough shoes so I was happy to get my hands on a brand new pair! After I got back to the hotel I went straight to bed with nine hours time difference in my system. I thought:’ you know what? I’ll check my fresh goodies tomorrow’. Next day, just received the wake up call for the flight back and quickly checked the shoes I bought. Opened the box and turned out there were two left feet inside! Oh no, seriously jetlagged!??♀️
Aubry Grauwde, part time stylist, flying for 11 years.
Anyone need a mini iron?
xx Mishanou
Big thanks to Mercedes, Nicole, Quincy & Aubry
