Long Haul Life

[kingaira90]

For those of you that fly for long haul, long time on the road companies how does it work for you?
Such as:

Laundry on the road? Do you just put it on the hotel bill/pay the high price or spend your 1/7s on the road doing laundry? Or haul around 3 suit cases for the 20 days on the road?

Calls home? Skype, cell phone, calling card?

Is it still standard to have crew meals supplied? I know that has disappeared from most domestic flying.

Sick on long trips? Do you haul the medicine closet with you or just but medicine when you need it? Ever had to shut down a trip on the other side of the world because you were too sick?

How do you deal with getting you body clock really messed up?

Just like to hear how you make it work.-kingaira90

 

[N817AA]

Sick Of ABQ already?

 

[kingaira90]

smart azz

Sick Of ABQ already?

No, I like ABQ. Just had a nice weekend down state at this big lake (in the middle of the desert no less). I don't know what I will do when the hotel points run out! Lots to do outdoors in NM.

Just like to know how they do that. I have never spent more than 7 days on the road in a row, just thinking of the practical aspects. -kingaira90

 

[Huck]

Welllll.... I'm getting home today after 18 days, so since you asked:

1. Laundry - I carry 7 days worth. On laundry day I dump it in the tub, pour a bottle of hotel shampoo on it, and agitate. I carry 50' of parachute cord to hang it up in the room. I send my uniforms out.

2. Calling home: doesn't really work for us. I've got 3 (soon to be 4) kids and if I call, she is always busy with something else. We ALWAYS get along better if we email - she only writes when she's in the mood to talk. We email 2-3 times a day.

3. International flights are always hot catered at FDX. Excellent choices.

4. I carry aintihistimines, ibuprofen, and (the biggie) a bottle of Cipro. If you get food poisoning (it's happened to me twice) it'll kill it quickly. Nyquil capsules also.

5. Body clock: plan on taking a day for every two hours of time change. I am getting home from Singapore, and I'll feel pretty bad for the next 5 days or so. Exercise helps some.

Any other questions?

 

[kingaira90]

Welllll.... I'm getting home today after 18 days, so since you asked:

1. Laundry - I carry 7 days worth. On laundry day I dump it in the tub, pour a bottle of hotel shampoo on it, and agitate. I carry 50' of parachute cord to hang it up in the room. I send my uniforms out.

2. Calling home: doesn't really work for us. I've got 3 (soon to be 4) kids and if I call, she is always busy with something else. We ALWAYS get along better if we email - she only writes when she's in the mood to talk. We email 2-3 times a day.

3. International flights are always hot catered at FDX. Excellent choices.

4. I carry aintihistimines, ibuprofen, and (the biggie) a bottle of Cipro. If you get food poisoning (it's happened to me twice) it'll kill it quickly. Nyquil capsules also.

5. Body clock: plan on taking a day for every two hours of time change. I am getting home from Singapore, and I'll feel pretty bad for the next 5 days or so. Exercise helps some.

Any other questions?

Wow thanks for the insight! I was spent on questions with the first post. Anything that was more difficult than you expected related to that type of flying?

In relation to your quote, I saw Cowboy Mouth in Charlotte at the Neighborhood Theater. Probably one of the best live shows out there. Just a rock band but their lead singer puts his all into the show. The whole drummer/lead singer thing was kinda cool too, with the drum kit up front, not hidden at the back of the stage.

Thanks- kingaira90

 

[Huck]

Anything that was more difficult than you expected related to that type of flying?

I actually enjoy the "epic" days, followed by 2 or three days to recover. Once at Gemini (Fedora will back me on this) I did 24 hours in the seat on a DC10. We did Harare - Lagos - Amsterdam - Brussels. Oh yeah we started at midnight too. But then we got 3 days off in BRU.

I'd slit a vein if I had to fly more than 4 or 5 legs a week......

As for Cowboy Mouth, I always listen to "Jenny Says" from the Live at the Zoo album when I'm running. Greatest rock track ever. EVER.

I heard my 4 year-old singing it in the shower recently. Made my day!

 

[spitfire1500]

Long Haul is a blast!!! You wanna call home use Skype it's free. I also take 7 days of clothes and wash as I need them.In Germany they sell detergent in a tube just for doing clothes in a sink. I usually have plenty of time for this since layovers are usually a few days.
I havent had much of a circadian clock issue until I arrive home. I am usually up at nights the first 2 days home...doesn't matter I end up watching stuff I recorded off of Direct TV while i was awy those nights.

 

[Stryker]

a good jet lag cure for me is a 40 minute nap upon arrival, force yourself to get up, go to the gym (this will sting a bit) and do what you have to do to stay up till 9 pm local and then sleep a good 8 hours. This usually drops my recovery time from 3 days to 1

 

[GogglesPisano]

I always tried to stay on East Coast US time -- no matter where I was, even if it meant sleeping during the day and being up all night in Asia. You don't do much sightseeing, but at least you're not jet-lagged.

 

[Mooseflyer]

Eat 'till you're tired, sleep 'till you're hungry....

 

[jercdevil]

Ambien

 

[FreightGod]

Aye, long haul ain't that big of a deal.

I started long haul 20 years ago on the DC-8s with a European base and no internet for information on how to do laundry.

Bring some shirts and socks/underwear. (duh)
In cheap countries like China or India, let the hotel do the cleaning for a few pennies.

The same job in Western Europe may cost $30 to $40 bucks..That is where the bath-tub comes in.
The long 2 week trips are usually with the non-sched freight outfits and nobody gives a darn if yer shirt is wrinkled or not at 2 AM on the freight ramp.
Go back to back and stay 4 weeks on the road: No big deal, turn the underwear inside out or spend the few bucks to have it cleaned. (Better put a smiley after this one, )

The pax carrying long-haul folks barely stay out more than a few days so laundry ain't a factor in that camp.
(Air Atlanta excepted, as well as Tower Air..RIP)

Bring cash to avoid having your card swiped the wrong way in Islamabad or Hong Kong...There is a few crooks out there waiting for a clean shaven newbie to flash his plastic.

Also, use some common sense out there:

We had a station manager in Bombay some years ago who got tangled up in a smuggling ring:
We all did "soft" smuggling, gold, gems, booze and so on, nothing heavy.
Anyway, this station manager was into a bit more than that.
One fine day he got a phone call with a tip-off that the cops were on the way to arrest him.
Being a native Indian he knew what an Indian jail would be like for the rest of his life.

To avoid being caught he took the elevator up to the 5th floor of the hotel we stayed, the climbed the final stairs to the roof top.
Without hesitating he jumped off the roof so as to kill himself rather than being caught and doing time in the local jail.
He survived the jump, crawled back to the elevator and back up on the roof, then jumped again.
This time he made it.

Kind of sad, but true story.

Crazy stories from the Midde East as well:
Don;t push the limits over there, go easy and enjoy the ride, otherwise laundry will be the last of your worries.

 

[metrodriver]

I bring a couple of shampoo bottles filled with detergent and a bar of soap will do wonders on the tough stains. Bring some clothes pins and pin the wet stuff to the ac unit after a few hours after most water leaked out. Your clothes will be dry by the time you wake up.

Thank the unions for the fact that there is still catering

getting sick can be problematic, better to see if you still can go and end up in a more civilized place to get care.

Skype, calling cards cell phone. all of them. $20.- for internet access for a 1 minute phone call does not make sense. $0.99 is a lot cheaper with a cell phone. Also in an emergency you get a cell phone call immediately, not many hours later when you decide to turn on a computer and call home.

 

[wildbill]

You guys really know how to open the eyes of those of us who don't do long haul freight. All of you have learned to be very creative. Very informative posts.

 

[Narco-leftseat]

skype with webcam really helps with kids.
Wife can show you thinngs you've been missin'

 

[belchfire]

Eat 'till you're tired, sleep 'till you're hungry....

...

and do laundry when you can.

The sink or tub work, laundry is cheap outside the hotel in Hong Kong (don't use the valet service anywhere unless you want to pay $8/pr of socks) and many places have a laundramat within walking distance. Some hotels even have one.

 

[TurboS7]

I use text messaging it works pretty good. Usually I will tell my wife that the Bangkok girls are prettier than the Romanian girls, but the Swedes have them all beat. That makes her feel good. The best thing about long haul is getting home again. I do the laundry the same as the rest of you guys. I often wonder what the maids think when they come in the room with all those clothes hanging around.We do non-sked people our contract says max 14 days but if you take a day off you can stretch it to 28. Crewing loves to keep you out as long as possible, i never figured out why??

 

[McNugget]

Wow, I thought you guys only went out for 7 days at a time.