Sometimes things don’t work out the way you planned…as was the case for my layover in Anchorage. I had been looking forward to this trip all month. It is rare that I will work a three day trip these days but I love going to Anchorage and with the husband on vacation I decided to take advantage…….only I got sick! I tried to convince myself it was allergies, and checked in on Sunday for my trip……only it wasn’t allergies…..and I went down hill from there.

The 7 hour flight up wasn’t too bad but I had to go straight to bed by the time we got there. My crew on the other hand made plans…BIG plans to go out and join the summer solstice party going on….and for those of you reading who are FAs or Pilots, you know how rare it is that your whole crew is cool and wants to got out!! I actually contemplated joining them and then succumbed to my achy, tired body in hopes of feeling better in the morning and being able to explore then.

Well, it didn’t seem possible but I felt worse the next day. I decided to stay in bed and fell back asleep only to be awoken to my bed shaking back and forth. I immediately thought someone was under my bed! Hotel beds sometimes have a hollow frame that the mattress sits on and as FAs we always hear these horror stories of someone hiding in there and waiting for your arrival to attack. My first thought when the bed started shaking was, “I can’t believe this guy waited all night to come out and get me!” But, then I saw everything in my room shaking and realized, “Oh my God! I’m in an earthquake!!” My first earthquake! I found out the epicenter was about 30 miles away and registered 5.7! I don’t think anyone was hurt and so it was actually kind of exciting….considering how unexciting my trip was up until that point.

I spent the rest of the day watching a movie, still feeling lousy, and sleeping as much as I could. I had to be in the lobby at 7pm for our van to the airport, so I went a little early so I could go to the gift shop and find something to help me get through my flight. Much to my horror and surprise the Dayquil I found in the gift shop was $12!! Can you believe that? Is it even close to that at the stores? I haven’t bought it in so long, but I can’t imagine it being that much. I really didn’t have a choice so I bought the Dayquil and $5 cough drops. I met up with the rest of my crew, and found out that they had a blast, met up with 2 other airline crews, took over the back room of some bar and partied like rock stars!! I felt so left out!

Our van ride to the airport held an unexpected treat…we saw a Moose and her two babies! Our driver pulled over and they were only about 30 ft. from us. My crew whipped out their camera’s and got some great shots…I was feeling so bad at this point that I couldn’t even pull out my camera…they all promised to e-mail me their photo’s. I promise to post, when and if this happens…you never know…we’re all best friends at work and then you get home and the intentions to keep in touch etc. are there but you get caught up in your everyday life at home…and then usually about 4-5 years later run into these people you meant to e-mail, or call.

My crew did ROCK though, especially the woman I was working FC with. She pretty much handled it on her own while I sat out the service. I though about calling out sick and staying in Alaska but we had minimum crew, and without me the flight would have been cancelled. I’m sure our full flight was happy I showed up…..sick or not: )

The good news is I’m home…still feeling lousy…but home…and somehow that makes it all a little better!