Only a dream in Rio

The crew scheduling blessings continued to rain down. My second standby in February turned into a DREAM.

Scheduling calls and says, “We’re going to deadhead you to Rio and then you’ll work back.” WHAT’S THAT YOU SAY?! A deadhead is essentially when the company needs to move flight attendants so they can work from another location. So the five of us called on standby flew to Rio in business class, not working, but getting paid. So, off to a fabulous start.

A few of the crew members and I attempted to visit Christ the Redeemer but it was pretty much a fail. We didn’t do any research and didn’t realize it wasn’t just a drive up, take pictures, and drive down type of deal. We got pretty close and tried a couple times to make up to the Redeemer but ultimately decided to go back to the beach, Copacabana, and soak up some sun.

It was a beautiful day. Sun was high and hot. Waves were monstrous. Chair was comfortable.

The working crew back was entirely junior, and this is a pretty senior route. So we were all a little scared but excited to do the service. We figured no one would know if we messed up because none of us knew what we were supposed to be doing anyway.

The take off felt a little, off. I didn’t think much of it because I don’t normally fly the 777 and figured everything was normal but the ascent felt like it was taking a very long time. I make my way to the back of the aircraft to get ready for the service when the captain comes in the PA.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the landing gear doors are not closing. We are not able to continue to fly like that, and we will be returning to Rio.”

Cue all of us looking around at each other in bewilderment. So, we prepare for landing just 20 minutes after taking off.

Fun Fact: If you’re ever in a situation like this, you may notice fire trucks and ambulances waiting on the tarmac. This is normal. When a plane takes off, it has enough fuel loaded on to it to make it to it’s destination. When it has to make an emergency landing, it still has most of that fuel making it extremely heavy and creating a potentially dangerous situation. So if you see fire trucks meeting an aircraft, it’s a precaution because it may have needed to make an emergency landing.

Unfortunately, the flight cancelled for the night. We all went back to the hotel, not quite sure when we were going to be flying next, but sometime the next evening/night.

So day two in Rio: another crew member and I went to Ipanema Beach. Another perfect, sunny, hot day in Brazil. I couldn’t believe I was getting paid to be there.

In a proud moment of the day, my crew-mate had accidentally left her bathing suit in the previous hotel so we attempted to buy one from a vendor on the beach.

She spoke only English. The vendor spoke Portuguese and a little Spanish. I speak English and a little Spanish. But between the three of us, and mine and vendor’s equally poor Spanish, we were able to make a sale!

After the beach, we made our way back to the hotel for lunch and to finally get some sleep to prepare for the flight home.

While we were eating, a crew member we were there to “rescue” (there had been a landslid flooding their hotel, and leaving them stranded for about four days at this point) asked if we had noticed we were deadheading home.

“What?” “Yeah, you’re all deadheading home now.” “We’re not working?” “Doesn’t look that way.” After some back and forth with our lead flight attendant, we saw we are in fact not working the flight home. And so the blessings continued.

To get just a few more hours out of our impromptu vacation in Rio, we went back down to Copacabana to walk, eat, and pick up some souvenirs.

Every trip is not like this. And in my entire career, I may never get a trip like this again. But to have this opportunity, to spend two days in a city I’ve never visited, and then to have an amazing crew on top of it, it really was a dream.