On my way to Dubai

Guys, I am writing this whilst waiting for EK flight at Houston Intercontinental Airport, the lady said today´s flight is overbooked and asking for volunteers to give up their seats and get free accomodations and cam in frommeals for his kindness. WIFI is not free at IAH, $7.95 for 24 hrs access and of course I won´t waste my money since my transit is 6 hours only hence no necessity to get a WIFI here…

The departure time is 18:00 at gate D5, I landed here at 11:40am and had been getting around all terminals…however, my two hand bags are freaking heavy so my shoulders can no longer carry those dump bags until I get on the plane. So excited now because just see Emirates Boeing 777-200LR landed and parked to the gate…all this seems to be unreal…i had watched it in youtube but never got the chance to see it with my own eyes! Indeed, this is gonna be an amazing and hilarious experience ever flying to Dubai alone!!! Almost 15 hours flight is knocking my head…gosh, how am i supposed to stand for such a long haul flight! Hopefully the famous and well known in flight entertainment system (ICE) will hold me off on the air.

Will keep you posted once I arrive Dubai and tell ya more about the tiring flight!

Goodbye Costa Rica...See you Dubai!

Last Saturday, my farewell party took place at a fency and cozy restaurant. I was very pleased to see all my friends showed up at the same time...well some couldn't make it to come but we arranged for someday this week before i leave. Among laughs, wines and delicious dishes and appetizers...i was brave enough and trying not to use any tear to say goodbye to my cherished friends. Got some very cute and dedicated cards from them, really warmed my heart and moistened my eyes hahaha...here are some great moment to remember! you guys rocks! Love you all!!!

Final Briefing from Emirates

Finally everything is sorted...car sold and lugguage sortly packed...and the most importantly my eticket and visa came in this morning!!! However, they booked me to leave on May 29 instead of May 30...probably May 30 flight is oversold and luckily I will get 1 extra day off before the induction day (June 1). Now I must rush my packing and taking photographs to take with me. Oh...such a relief! May 29 is right at the corner See you guys in Dubai, keep trying and keep discovering!

My itinerary is routed as below:
May 29 San Jose Costa Rica 0700-Houston USA 1142
May 29 Houston USA 1850-Dubai UAE 1845 (May 30)

Such a long haul flight...

Counting days to join Emirates

Only 27 days remaning to fly out to Dubai from Costa Rica, lovely country. Finally I could talk with my parents about my final decision to move to Dubai and realize my dream to be a steward! They aparently did not like the idea but ended up accepting my decision, rather believe I am a good son and if this is my decision, I am the responsible one to look after myself and to explore my life from a different perspective and positively expand my global vision.

"Global Village must have Global Vision"

Let's move on to my friends circle, as of yesterday, I re encountered with my best friend Carlos...we missed the contact 3 months ago, because he was kind of upset and felt abandoned by his best friend...me!...:-( really don't know why he became so isolated and did not even give me a call or msn me. In fact, I thought something might have happened to him...so yesterday when I called him, surprisingly he picked up the phone and we talked...i couldn't be more than excited when recover his friendship and we went out to talk for a looooong time because i got home until 1am so tiring but worth it! Really cherish our friendship/fellowship and indeed he has become my main support of moving to Dubai as I know we will never be apart despite of the long distance between San Jose Costa Rica and Dubai...

FINAL APPROVAL!!!

Dear Ming,
We are pleased to inform you that we have obtained the final approval on your application. For this reason, you may now tender your resignation so that you can join the organization as early as possible. Once done, kindly scan and email us a copy of your resignation acceptance from your present employer.

You shall receive the final briefing email along with the visa/ticket 4 days before the traveling date; please check your email frequently. You will be able to travel with the print out of the visa and ticket (E-ticket).

Please note that you are allowed to carry 50 kgs on Emirates Airline, please make sure that any suitcase you have shouldn’t exceed 32 kg.

Regarding accommodation, please do not worry, you will be allocated and will be taken you to your accommodation Note: You will not be allowed to join without providing us with the Resignation acceptance letter. If you have any further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us. Welcome on board.
DOJ- 30th May 2008 – please advise if you cannot join on that date.

Best wishes.

Thanks & Regards,
Cabin Crew Recruitment Admin Team

After Final Interview...

The final interview was very intense with extremely specific questions on previous customer service experiences...but I could deal them pretty well and gave necessary information the recruiter was looking for. I went out of the lounge and felt really good and secure of myself, my gut told me I did my best...so guys, let's sum up my journey really quick:

Here is my updated agenda with EK:
1/29 Attended OD
1/31 Final Interview
2/19 Got a call from EK asking for more personal detail
2/24 Missed 2 calls from EK (was 2:23am!)
2/27 Received the Golden Call DOJ April 18th
3/02 Received the Employment offer email with all medical forms.
3/11 Medical forms sent and passport coopy sent to process my security.
3/12 Got an email confirming all document were received and will get back to me shortly.
3/24 Got another email telling me to kindly wait for final approval email.

Successful achievement

I attended the Open Day on Jan 29th and we started with 82 applicants and after the height test (which means you must reach out 212 cm with your arm and on toes, men with shoes and women without shoes) and groups discussion (2 topics) the number was cut down to 17 (amazing elimination though...some people felt so dismissed without any explaination), and unbelievablily I was among the 17!!!...then sometime later we started with the English Test for about 60 minutes, as you all know once the test result came up, there were only 13 survived...and again I am in. I finished the Psycometric test and I was invited to be there again at 8:30am for some more activity and elimination process...the 2 recruitment ladies are so friendly and easy access persons...one from Australia and the other from Iceland...both are wonderful.

Next morning Jan 30th, I sucessfully passed the second group discussion on a such a tough topic and situation...and we started with 13 and now only 10 of us are going to Final Interview, the last stage. But no more elmination until we get the "Golden call" from Dubai...so we are all going to the final interview under a different schedule. We are only 4 males and 6 females...and I encountered my ex-collegue among the 10 finalists!!! What a coincidence!!! Both of us are in, and we have passion to be flight attendants...and now seems like the reality has become true, well quite a bit. I am looking forward to hear from Dubai after the final interview, and hopefully not having to wait that long like others.

Finally, I was invited to attend the final interview on Jan 31st...well groomed and prepared! See my invitation letter from Emirates. Coming up sum up my journey with Emirates strict selection process...