“True adventure begins when everything goes wrong.”
–Yvon Chouinard

Five years ago, if you had told me that I would live in Los Angeles, Hawaii, Washington State, and Florida,

as well as travel to over thirty different countries, in just a few years, I would have said that this was not possible.  This sounded too good to be possible.

In college, I had excelled, but upon graduating, I failed miserably at finding full time employment.  If that wasn’t enough, it was as if everything else also went wrong.  From the boyfriend that I loved, no longer loving me, to moving back in with my parents, to being engulfed in a deep depression- it was all an ugly mess.  I hadn’t envisioned my life to be this way.  I see now, that maybe I had the wrong vision.

Somehow, I found my way into applying for a job as a flight attendant, not because I had a deep love for travel, as that was still an undiscovered part of my soul, or that I had always dreamed of wearing sexy polyester, but because I needed a paycheck.  Working for an airline was only to be for a couple of years, or that was what I told myself.  Flying would give me time to discover what I really wanted to do.  I’m still in the process of that discovery.

The job of Flight Attendant is on the list of ‘Worst Jobs.’  I wonder who made this list, because honestly, I consider working as a flight attendant to be one of the best jobs in the world.  Maybe I’m not the one to ask about career choices, though.  My professional resume previously had included Pilates Instructor, and Personal Trainer, and those had only been part-time gigs.

I don’t completely understand how an airline job is considered a horrible profession, when I have over twenty-days off a month, fly first class to New Zealand for holiday, and am practically forced to move to Hawaii.  No, I’m not living the dream, as the life of a flight attendant is tough, the job not glamorous, and the environment draining.
But, the experiences that this line of work offers are irreplaceable.  I can’t imagine who, what, or where I would be if flying never became my life.

Being a flight attendant has been that ‘true adventure.’  It started because my life went wrong, and the adventures have not stopped.  As I write this, it seems like much is falling apart right now.  Life is being a bit messy.  Moving again, broken hearts, and broken cars.  Uncertainty, and a few seemed to be mistakes have me exhaustedly numb.  I have a love-hate existence with my flight attendant life sometimes.

I don’t know what to expect.  I’m not sure as to where my career path, or my goals are leading, and that can be beautiful, and terrifying.  One of my favorite aspects of my work is that I never know what will happen, the places that travel will take me, or what wonderful people, or not so, that I will meet.

It’s an adventure.  It’s always an adventure.

I’ve been following Kara Mulder’s blog for a while now and I’m excited that she will be a regular contributor to The Flying Pinto! Kara describes herself as:

Adorable
Silly
Fun
Adventurous
Writer
Traveler
Creative
Entrepreneurial
Flirt
Determined
Caring
Honest
Spontaneous
Unorganized

You can read more about Kara on her blog, The Flight Attendant Life and check her out on facebook too!