Flying around

The last few days we have been flying a lot. For example, we had a few legs a couple days back from Malaga, Spain - Milan, Italy - Amman, Jordan - Malaga, Spain. That was 10.5 hours of flying in a long duty day. The next day was much the same. This is the first time I've really had to work hard. Our schedule for September is a piece of cake with a 5 day stay in Vienna, Austria. Here are a couple pics from the last few days. The guy in the cockpit with me is Qadri, the clients trainer.

More touring around Paris

We went to see a few more sites in Paris. Our first stop was back at the Eiffel Tower. We climbed the stairs to the second level then took an elevator to the top. It was perfect timing for us on this day because there was a lot of fog and not many people were in line yet. Once we made it to the top, the weather had cleared up and we had great views of the city. We then went to the area that Moulin Rouge is, which was pretty crazy, I imagine that it is a little like the red light district in Amsterdam. Very close to this area is an unbelievable church called Sacred Heart Basilica. Check out the photo's, it was a great day.

From London to Paris

London started to get a little boring for me so we all spent alot of time in my room because I had free internet from the building across the way. The day before our departure from London, we decided to see Buckingham Palace. I really wanted to see the gaurd that doesn't change his expression when you do things to him, but I think this wasn't the place. Our schedule is ever changing and we have made a stop here in Paris again. Today we went to the Louvre museum which is very large. I really wanted to see some Michelangelo sculptures and the Mona Lisa. It is so great to be able to do these things that I've always wanted to do. We are now with our new pilot Bart, a pilot from Pheonix. In the evening we met up with Lina's aunt for dinner, it was nice that she could see family while we were in town.

Fun in London

The first thing I noticed once arriving in London, was the right hand drive cars. Our driver stopped infront of the Abbey Road Studio. Bob and I jumped out of the van and Lina took a picture of us crossing the street like the Beatles did on the cover of the the Abbey Road album. Lina wanted to go dancing so we took a double decker bus to Cheers and had a great time. Sunday, we went out to see a few tourist sights like Big Ben, the London Eye, and The Observatory in Greenwich where all aviation time is used from. This is where the Prime Meridian lies. Lina and I thought it would be clever to take a picture with her on the East side and Me on the West,,, "kind of a East meets West picture".

Malaga, Spain...Now in London

We flew in to Malaga late Thursday night with just enough time to run to a local restaurant for a drink. Friday, we had breakfast then Lina and I went to lay out and people watch at the beach. The hotel we are staying in is on a very commercialized tourist street so I'm thinking that when we go back on Thursday, we will try and find a hotel in a more secluded area. I snapped a few photo's the first night and the second day... The pics are of us around the restaurants and beaches in the town of Torremolinos. For Dinner the second day, we ordered a Red Snapper that was baked in a shell of salt, it was very good.

Still in Jeddah

We've been sitting here in Jeddah for a few days, so not much going on. We are flying to Cairo then on to Malaga, Spain tomorrow. Saturday we will fly to London and be there for 5 days then back to Malaga for 8 days. I'll take alot of pictures. I'm planning on coming back to the U.S. at the end of September for training in Dallas and most likely will be heading right back out here because of a shortage of pilots. Anyway, hope all is well on the home front for all of you.

Write you soon,

John

Petra, Jordan

Lina drove us the three hours from Amman to Petra and it was worth the drive. What an incredible place!

You start out walking through a canyon that opens up to a big area that has the Treasury, which is the tall structure that is seen in Indiana Jones and history books. The city is carved out of the very colorful mountain walls. I've been talking about riding a camel since I've come to the desert and I finally got to do it. The ride was more fun than I thought it would be because the camels kept trying to run and Lina was yelling for the guy to get ours to slow down, it was so funny. We had lunch down in one of the two restaurants in the city and rode the camels back up half way because of the long walk uphill. I'll post many pictures this time!

Cairo, Egypt and Amman, Jordan

We arrived into Amman Jordan, and had a stop into Cairo for a few hours yesterday. I was amazed flying over Cairo, just how many pyramids, and apartment buildings there are. On approach, I handed my camera to Bob to snap a couple pics. You can see pyramids that were completed and others that were not. Lina our new flight attendant has joined us and has just finished taking me around Amman which is where she grew up. Tomorrow morning we will be flying to Bahrain early in the morning, then to Riyadh, and back to Amman Thursday. I am doing much better understanding just what these controllers are trying to telling us, which is a good thing. I've gotten a tentative schedule for the month and it looks like I will be in Malaga, Spain for two weeks!!!! How cool is that. Anyways here are a couple of pics...I haven't posted anything for a couple days because there hasn't been a whole lot going on.

Bummin' around Dubai

We headed out today to find some new sandals for me. Dubai has many of the same stores in its malls as we do in the U.S., unfortunately I couldn't find what I was looking for. We would have headed down to the water to hang out but it is just too hot to do stuff like that. The heat has to be the reason they are building so much indoor activities. They have an indoor ski slope which was pretty interesting, being that it is in the middle of the desert. They are also constructing the tallest building in the world. I snapped a couple of pics while driving back and forth to the mall. We tend to hang out in the Executive Lounge much of the time here at the hotel, there is free Internet, drinks, and snacks. Chanel's friend invited us over for dinner, her husband flies the Boeing 777 for Emirates Airline.