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amyhayes-blog1 · 7 years

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Let your dreams take flight

Have you always dreamed of a better lifestyle? do you get bored of doing the same job day in and day out? The great thing about working as a Seasonaire is you have a new job, in a new country on a new adventure every 6 months, How can you get bored of that?

A few days before my flight i had to go out and get a few supplies for my new job role. I needed plain black trainers, black work trousers, pens, notepad and a bottle opener\bar blade. While shopping and packing you start to think ‘what the hell do i need and pack for a 6 month trip’? But little did i know that packing was the easy part.

Read my previous blogs- The diary of a Seasonaire – Part 1 , The diary of a Seasonaire – part 2 , The Diary of a Seasonaire – Part 3

Long journey to a new adventure

Turns out my flight to Lemnos- Greece was from Gatwick in London (Most seasonal companies pay for and arrange all the flights for you, although this is great! you don’t get much say in which airport you fly from) I looked at train journeys and fairs and soon realised just how expensive it is. It was around £100 for a single fare from Manchester, with a stop of in London Victoria and a 40 minuet difference to the next train. Not really knowing my way around London i didn’t want to risk getting lost, missing my train and flight and therefore missing out on a experience of a lifetime. I decided to look at coach journeys instead as it would be less stressful. The coach from Manchester to Gatwick was only £40. Great! however the journey time was 8 hours with an hour stop over at Birmingham. I decided this was the better option and booked it.

I didn’t sleep all night the day before my flight, my brain was thinking about everything, i’m sure you have all been there, I just couldn’t switch off. My coach was at 8pm and saying goodbye to my mum was really hard. I got a taxi to the coach station and waited, and waited and waited, the coach was delayed! Argghhh…. What if i miss my second coach from Birmingham? I rang the customer services at National Express and told them about my situation, they said there was nothing they could do. Oh crap. Finally the coached turned up a whole hour later. As you can probably imagine i was panicking. Luckily my phone call had actually made a difference, turns out the people i spoke to arranged for the coach to miss some stops to stay on schedule, i have no idea what happened to the people at the other stops but we arrived near enough on time with 40 minutes to spare, phew.. As i waited in Birmingham i remember the coach station being full of drunks and thinking ‘ooo god i hope this coach arrives early’ it didn’t, it arrived just in time as a fight started to break out. Finally i can get some sleep on this coach as Gatwick was the last stop. Nope.. the coach was so cold and uncomfortable i couldn’t sleep 😦 Not the best of starts…

I finally arrived at the airport at 5am.

I was super nervous as i had never been to Gatwick before and i was doing this alone. I enter the terminal and i have no idea where to go, there was no one around wearing the companies uniform. I could feel my nerves building up, i decided to head to WeatherSpoons for some breakfast and a well needed coffee or 2. I stayed here until 7am then decided to wander to the check in desk. This time there were signs and people so i knew i was in the right place. Everyone seemed to know each other, i felt so out of place. While i was waiting to check in my bag, i tried engaging in conversation with some people in the line but they didn’t seem interested and continued to chat amongst themselves. I checked in my bag and headed towards the main terminal waiting lounge, i was all alone and felt totally lost and i started thinking to myself ‘what am i doing? This is all a big mistake, is it too late to turn back?’

Im not going to say much about my airport experience as its quite boring, you know what its like waiting for a flight, its mind numbing.

Eventually we are boarding the plane, I take my seat. People start to arrive and there is cheering from different groups, it was a big reunion for most of the people on the flight all on their way to the same place as me. Loads of people standing up to hug each other, everyone very excited and happy to be reunited, after how long i don’t know. Its hard to describe to you how i felt, i felt like a fly on the wall just watching everything, totally lost in myself and slightly scared to be honest. This was my first flight alone, and unless you have been there you wont truly understand the feeling, but with this added pressure of being the only one not to know anyone just made things worse for me.

A girl came and sat next to me her name was Bobby, everyone seemed to know her too. We got chatting and it turns out this was her 3rd summer season. She was really nice to me and told me i had nothing to worry about as there will be plenty of other people in the same boat as me when we arrive into resort. Everyone on that plane had been in the same position at some point. This made me feel better and just having someone to talk to calmed my nerves.

The flight to Lemnos – Greece took around 3hours 45minuets.

Map of Lemnos

Lemnos airport

We arrived to this very small airport that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. As i departed the plane i remember being hit by the heat, it felt sooo nice and thats when i started to think ‘This isn’t so bad’ The airport patrol herded us all onto a coach and we drove like 2 minuets to the terminal which i thought was pointless as we could have easily walked, the airports are completely dead at the beginning of the season with no one but staff around. I walk into the building and there is just a baggage claim belt right there and then the exit thats how small the airport actually was, it didn’t take long to get my suitcase.

As i wondered outside i was greeted by that seasons staff and shown to the coach. The coach transfer time is only 30 minuets so its not so bad, i’m tired of sitting down all the time. All in all it took me around 17 and a half hours to reach my new job.

Finally we arrived at the Hotel resort (Portomyrina Palace), i would be working at for the next 6 months. I was amazed at the view, as we went over the hill you can see the whole hotel it is huge, with the sea in the distance, it was totally breath taking. Its a shame at the time i didn’t appreciate it as much as i should have because of how tired i was but i realised what it must feel like for the guests getting their first look at their hotel as they arrive on holiday 🙂

It was by far one of the best hotels i have ever been to and i was lucky enough to be working here 🙂 I couldn’t believe it. Although i was absolutely exhausted it was all worth it in the end.

We all arrived into the grand reception area and went through a checking in process as we will be staying in the hotel for 2 weeks during our training. I had no idea who i would be rooming with during this time but i was soon to find out…

To be continued…

HAPPY READING 🙂

The Diary of a Seasonaire – Part 4 Let your dreams take flight *

#adventure #diary #dreams #greece #journey #my job is better than your holiday #seaonaire #season #travel

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