Cairo, San Juan, London, Dublin.
Sometimes, you just need to get out of Dodge and out of your comfort zone by spending time in totally different surroundings. Barbados, Rome, even a quiet cabin across the state will work, if you’re in the right mood. Travel may be a little difficult these days, though, so how about some armchair travel? Read “Fly Girl” by Ann Hood and prepare for takeoff.
Ever since she was a preteen, Ann Hood wanted to be a flight attendant. She also wanted to be a writer and she figured they’d go hand in hand: she’d travel on the job, around the world for free and have “adventures” that would enhance her writing. That was the plan, and her dream never faded: when she was nearing college graduation and her parents asked her what she hoped to do with her English degree, she told them she was applying for flight attendant school.
She quickly found out that attending TWA’s flight school was harder than four years of college.
Hood and her classmates had to learn how to deal with drunks and heart attacks. There were dozens of things to remember, from uniform codes to weight restrictions to knowledge of airport codes to menus. They had to learn how to carry trays and fill coffee cups while wearing high heels on a moving airplane.
There was so much to absorb, so much to know that Hood barely paid any attention to the talk of airline deregulation. She was more focused on working her way up, learning to bid schedules, and doing the best job she could. Bonding with the other attendants was important. Keeping passengers safe and happy was, too, and the ability to fly free anywhere there was an airport kept her happy. Hood dated, enjoyed her life as a single woman of the world, started writing a novel, put it away, started another, and procrastinated.
And then deregulation actually happened, and Hood was furloughed for the long term. She downsized, wondering if she’d ever fly again, and she started writing in earnest.
“I had the best job in the world,” she said. Or maybe two of them…
Like most people with interesting careers, author Ann Hood says that folks ask her all the time for stories. If you’d like some, too, “Fly Girl” is a good answer.
Once not too long ago, flying was glamorous and special, with meal service, free drinks, and people dressed up to go. Hood’s stories casually straddle that, and the beginning of modern air travel, and they go beyond the airport. There’s not a lot of tell-all – certainly, other books in this genre are juicier – but you won’t notice the lack of scandal much, since Hood’s life outside the cabin is more heavily featured here, and those stories are just as fun. It’s like lucking out and finding that your seatmate – the person you’re delayed with on the tarmac for the next hour-and-a-half – is a former attendant and is happily, wonderfully chatty.
So. Seat backs upright, tray tables locked, get “Fly Girl.” Buckle up.
