Almost three years later: a new me and a new airline.

It's been a long while since I've updated my blog. I somewhat lost the desire to write after the shooting at FLL in January 2017. It took some personal healing for me to get back into the rhythm of work; it even took me a while to be able to walk down to my car through baggage claim after a flight. I had visions of the horror in Terminal 2 and took a different route to the parking garage. Then one day I stood at the top of the escalator down to baggage claim, took a deep breath, and walked my usual way. I was not going to let fear get the best of me. And I yearned for something different, and something different was on its way.

Let's fast forward to December 2019. I am living in Seattle, Washington and flying for my dream airline. I left my previous airline in good standing and found that it was time for a bigger adventure. My airline has been voted the nation's best domestic airline and one of the leading international carriers. I started in February 2018 and I have the honor of being the French interpreter on the Seattle to Paris flights. Nearing two years since my date of hire, it has been two years of excitement, new adventures, and a whole lot of fun--with some challenges in between.

Seattle!? I know, the complete opposite side of the country from where I grew up and worked. I was sent to our Seattle base because there weren't enough French speakers to cover the operation. Even though I was hired without my language qualifications, I took the speaker exam at my face-to-face interview after being offered the position of flight attendant. After passing the exam, I was labeled as a French LOD (language-of-destination) flight attendant and was to report to Seattle after completing initial training.

I enjoyed training so much. Eight weeks of non-stop learning and hands-on training for eight to ten hours a day led to the making of new, lasting friendships and a renewed joy for my career choice. I didn't know exactly where I was going to live in Seattle after training, but I had faith that it would all work out, and it surely did.

I stayed in a crashpad near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for the first year and commuted between Fort Lauderdale and Seattle. It was an exacting double commute but I was happy to do it, and it turned out not to be so bad after a while. A friend of mine stumbled upon the crashpad on a Facebook page and I reached out to the people who ran it---one of them used to work for my previous airline, so that was a small world in itself. There were five sets of bunk beds over the two bedrooms and ten flight attendants shared the apartment's amenities (kitchen, living room, big screen TV) whenever we were in town to work. I would walk fifteen minutes to the airport (just down the hill) and take a shuttle back to the hotel across the street after my flights. That hill was great walking down but it was a different story walking up with three well-packed crew bags trailing behind me. :)

I made lasting friendships in the crashpad and I am thankful for my time there. It worked perfectly for my time as a commuter when I was still unsure whether Seattle would be the place for me. It was a convenient and safe place for me to stay when I was in town to work. When I would be in Seattle in between two sets of trips, I would explore the city and go downtown with new friends. We'd explore Chinatown, the Space Needle, take ferry rides, and of course find great places to eat. I experienced a summer without air conditioning (as that is not standard in Seattle---apparently) and my first non-South Floridian autumn with crisp, clean air and leaves on the ground (and not palm fronds from a tropical storm, for once).

Towards the end of 2018, I had found that both the Seattle base and Seattle itself was the place for me. I was able to hold Paris trips on my schedule and flew there between four and six times a month, I met wonderful colleagues ranging from 60 years of seniority to a few months just like myself, and I felt a sense of belonging at the base. I decided to make a permanent move and search for a place to live. After visiting one of my friends for a day in his neighborhood of Kirkland, I fell in love with the city. It is situated on Lake Washington just north of Bellevue and one can see the skyline of Seattle and the towering Olympic Mountains to the west. It was nearing Christmas at that time and the city was decorated with beautiful lights along its quaint downtown streets. It looked like a Hallmark movie set!

While driving back to my friend's house, we passed a "for rent" sign and he pulled over. It looked to be for the apartment over a detached garage about three blocks north from Downtown Kirkland. We gave the number a call as we were thinking of this place for a mutual friend and we set up to meet the landlord the following morning for a tour. The next morning we were met by the landlord, a 35 year veteran flight attendant for Alaska Airlines, who showed us the apartment. It offered a view of Lake Washington, a brand new kitchen and new flooring, plus fresh paint and new windows. Also, to my surprise, there was both air conditioning and heating! My friend hinted that I should consider the place since I was planning to move to Seattle, but it was a distance from the airport and I didn't have a car yet. Later that night, the landlord got in touch with my friend and told him how much she wanted a tenant like me to live next door to her. I talked it over--for a long while--with my mom and I decided to go for it. My first apartment--ever--was a reality. Now how was I going to get to the airport!?

The good thing about Seattle is that it has a great bus system, and I took the bus from Kirkland to Sea-Tac Airport. It took about an hour and a half each way and it really was nice to sit back and let someone else drive for once! I was even able to do my taxes on the ride home from the airport! I learned the bus routes and times and took them throughout the Eastside and over into Downtown Seattle to meet friends. After two months riding the bus, it was time to get a car. A trip to the Hyundai dealership and about four hours of negotiations led me to purchase my first ever brand-new car--an electric blue 2019 Hyundai Sonata Limited whom I call "Juanita" after the neighboring town just up the road from me.

This month marks one year since I've been in Kirkland and I have met so many great people in the neighborhood and made new friends. My time at my new airline has allowed me to see the world: Paris, Amsterdam, and Tokyo, to name a few, and has given be the opportunity to explore cities all throughout the United States. I've flown on the smallest and largest plane in our fleet and have worn two different uniforms so far. I've celebrated Christmas and New Year's in Paris, experienced two snowstorms, and witnessed true beauty in the world with the different cultures I've interacted with and the amazing places I've visited.

I never pictured myself living in Seattle but I am so grateful and lucky to have had this change in my life. I will always be a South Floridian at heart but there is truly something enchanting about the Pacific Northwest.

I don't know for certain where I will be taken on life's grand adventure, but I do know for certain that I have found my forever company and will enjoy the next forty, fifty, or maybe sixty years of flying. 2020 will mark five years since I started flying and a lot has changed in that short span, but as my mom likes to say, "change is always good."

Here's to Seattle, to my company, to my friends & family, and to 2020! May it bring prosperity, peace, growth, and more blog posts :)

Sunset in Kirkland overlooking Lake Washington