I love quarantine. No, I’m not kidding. I’ve been enjoying my time off in quarantine so much that I requested to take another month of voluntary leave for August. I figured I may as well “round out the Summer,” enjoy the best of New England, keep carving out headway in the various projects I’m working on. But the universe had other plans for me. Schedules were published for August and, as it turns out, I’m going back to work.

When you travel, how much time do you spend learning about local culture, history? The plight of the people? Class relations & socioeconomic conditions? Do we have an obligation to do so even when we’re “getting away from it all”, “escaping reality”, off for some R&R? A recent travel experience made me think about these things. The three days I spent in Mazunte, Mexico in January were some of my favorite days in all my time in Mexico.

Do Flight Attendants get homesick? A lot of flight attendants talk about how this job has made them appreciate home. How living this crazy life in airports and hotels and different time zones makes them crave and savour the little things. Small pleasures like your own bedding, that fancy coffee maker you got last Christmas, sounds of footsteps of those you love or live with, the subtle but distinct smell when you walk through the door—the smell of home. A good number of my coworkers have told me how when they’re off they don’t want to be traveling or jet-setting. They just want to be home. They want to rest, to be with their loved ones. Or alone with their belongings, their space, their piece of peace.

Have you ever looked up a country’s laws to find out if your relationship was illegal? Have you ever scoured an Airbnb host’s profile, searching for an indication of whether they are gay-friendly? Have you ever suffered anxiety before a TSA security checkpoint, knowing the impending humiliation you’d have to suffer? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, welcome to traveling while LGBT.

Father’s Day is just around the corner! Mother’s Day and Fathers’ Day are my favorite Hallmark holidays. I feel so lucky to have landed with the parents I have, and I love this extra day to tell them that. I also find holidays to be good excuses for eating sweets, so that doesn’t hurt. Being a full-time Flight Attendant, I’ve got some unique gift ideas for the pilot, flight attendant, and world traveler on your list.

I'm a flight attendant and writer. I write travel stories. I write funny posts about flight attendant pet peeves and (hopefully) useful travel tips. So stepping into the arena to talk about racial justice may seem out of the blue and on-trend at best, and convenient at worst. But it isn’t. In light of the recent public incidents of the killing of black people, at the hands of both police and vigilantes, and in light of the protests sweeping the nation, I feel compelled to speak up loudly and from the heart. I stand with Black Lives Matter. I believe in equality in actions and not just in words.

I rarely gripe about my job because it’s kind of the best thing ever, but often people ask about my worst stories, my pet peeves, the worst thing someone could do on a plane. The simple answer is it’s different for everybody. Some things that bother my coworkers I could not care less about. And then there are some other little things that bring me to the feeling of Britney that time she shaved her head and umbrella-smashed a window. Since I am just one girl in a big, airplane-filled world, I can only speak to my own experience & opinions. These personal pet peeves are mine alone and are not representative of flight attendants as a whole.

My friend Michaella is a huge traveler, but somehow in all the years we've been friends, we had never taken a trip together. So we determined 2018 was the year, and President's Day weekend was the perfect excuse for a long weekend girls' getaway. We decided to head west to hike in the desert sun and escape Boston's bitter cold and snowy winter. Here’s how our Arizona girls’ weekend went.

We all carry this assumption that we know the place we are from. But do we really? How often do you go touristing in your own town? How often, on a day off, have you thought “I could go there any time,” opting to visit a further destination, rather than one close by? When we travel out of state or out of country, we are like sponges; soaking in culture and experience, nature and cityscapes, new foods and stunning vistas. But do you give your home locale the same consideration? Or does familiarity take away some of the appeal? Do you find yourself skipping over attractions in your town that you “know” but have never actually been to?

I’ve been reminiscing about travel a lot lately. It’s been such a huge part of my life in recent years and the absence of it now, in the times of Coronavirus, is certainly felt. I keep thinking of starting to plan a new trip, for when this is all over. Or to make some nostalgic blog post, sorting through adventures of the past for my Top Ten Trips. But rather than simply highlighting some awesome times, I figured better to provide something more useful. The lessons learned through these trips and adventures. Some tips and tricks for when we can get back out there. We may be sheltering in place now, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we will be traveling again in the future.