Making the Most of It!

May 5 th 2026 – Making the most of it

Happy May, everyone!

I do hope the sun is shining and that – if you’re UK based - you’ve just had a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend. Of course, I am writing this in advance, so chances are it was raining… but I’m sending some positive thoughts ahead and hoping that it wasn’t.

And more than that, I hope you got to be where you wanted to be. Whether that was for the Bank Holiday, or for Easter, which has only just passed too. Because that’s one thing you can never quite be sure of in this job, is it? Even when you think you’ll make something, there’s always that slim chance that you won’t.

Take me, for example.

All ready to join the extended family for an Easter Sunday roast dinner. Just a cheeky little Florida beforehand, in and out, no drama… and then - boom. Your flight home is cancelled. So, where was I on Easter Sunday? Well, at home I was on my daughter’s phone screen at the table, trying to be involved, while they’re all getting on with things without me. And in Florida I was on the beach with a cocktail in my hand trying to make the most of it…

But… I’m getting ahead of myself…

Because, first, there was the flight, a whirlwind of a trip that switched on my summer mode and definitely deserves a revisit here.

So, I’ll set the scene. It was the start of the Easter holidays, and we were absolutely full to the rafters. It’s the same at the start of all the big holidays - busy flights out, and mercifully light home, for the first few days at least. I have to admit, I checked in with a certain level of fear, or anxious anticipation should I say, after what had been a blissfully quiet few months.

But here we were - catapulted straight into full blown holiday mode without even a chance for a warmup.

And you could feel it the moment people stepped on board.

Whole families of them. Kids, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles- filling the air with their chaotic holiday energy, and the overhead lockers with their overstuffed bags. They double check the numbers on their boarding cards, usher kids into seats… before immediately switching them like it’s a tactical game of chess. Then they pull out emergency supplies to get them through the next nine hours and start nesting, tucking pringles and Haribo into seat pockets, dishing out the electronic nannies and hoping its enough to keep the peace.

They’ve saved for this. They’ve planned it down to the smallest detail. They’ve booked the park tickets, mapped out the days… and they are absolutely determined to enjoy every single minute of it from the time they leave home. And honestly, I think that they started off well… It was nine hours of noise, mess and relentless requests for snacks and drinks. There was airsickness, probably more down to the cola and sweets than the turbulence, and a few tears from the nervous flyer who had tried to find courage in the wine. By the end, the cabin looked like a battlefield: rubbish everywhere, crumbs ground deep into the carpet, and a crew so thoroughly drained it felt as though every last ounce of energy had been wrung from them.

But, I have to say, there was something quite lovely about it too.

Getting to be a part of their holiday. Adding a little bit of magic in our own little way. Being the reason someone smiled, even if all it took was an extra snack or a double vodka. It’s not hard, really. Although… it is quite exhausting. And I won’t lie - by the time I dragged my wheelie bag down the jet bridge, no less than 15,000 steps later, there was a quiet sense of relief that it was over. Even more so knowing the flight home would be light.

What I didn’t realise, of course, was that at that exact moment, someone back at base was deciding which flight to cancel because an aircraft had gone tech… and that within the hour, all of our Easter plans would be pulled out from under us.

I’d barely peeled off my tights when the notification from crew scheduling came through. And you know that feeling, don’t you? That little knot in your stomach when you see it - because nothing ever changes for the better. There’s always a moment of confusion first. Trying to work out what it means, what happens next, how it affects you personally. And yes, I know - some of you will be thinking there are worse places to be stuck. And you’d be right. But I have to say, that wasn’t my first thought.

Because while Florida does have its merits, and usually I’d be quite happy to stay a bit longer… I had plans back home that I really would have liked to have made. As the WhatsApp group whirred into life, it became clear everyone else was doing the same, too - working out what it meant for them.

For Keira, it meant missing a brunch that had been planned for ages.

For John he was going to miss his dear mother’s birthday, after a yearlong health battle, and

he’d really wanted to be there.

For Gina, it meant a dash to the mall in her gym kit - because that was all she’d packed.

For Fin, well, he was quite happy as it meant he was being bumped off his next flight.

And for me… it meant I would be missing Easter Sunday with the family.

And I have to say, when that sank in, I did feel quite sad. Because those moments don’t come around all that often anymore. We all live miles apart, everyone’s busy… and although the children are getting older, they still enjoy an Easter egg hunt with all the cousins and aunts and uncles they rarely see. And I would have liked to have been there for that. The food - cooked by the family’s best, which is definitely not me. A glass of wine with Uncle Colin afterwards. It all sounds so simple and normal, doesn’t it? But this job does have a habit of throwing a bit of a spanner in the works when it comes to those moments.

But… life’s too short to let things you can’t change get you down, isn’t it? And, as always, we did what crew seem to do best. After a bit of a debrief and a few messages back and forth, we pulled it together and made a plan. And actually… it turned out to be rather nice.

An extra night’s allowance.

A bit of sun - which definitely wasn’t happening back home.

Some food, plenty of drinks… and eventually, a quiet flight home the next day.

It did get me thinking, though… What on earth happened to our passengers?

They didn’t appear on our flight the next day, so they must have been rerouted somehow. But you can’t help thinking how unsettling that must have been. These were full families, heading off for Easter holidays - sunshine, Disney, the trip of a lifetime. The kind of thing people save for, plan for, organise down to the smallest detail. And then suddenly, everything changes. Just like it did for us.

Because you can never completely rely on it, no matter how much you plan. Aviation is a bit of a fickle industry like that, so easily affected by things outside of anyone’s control. I do hope they all made it home smoothly though, and that their holiday still ended on the happy note it started.

As for me… I FaceTimed the family from the beach, cocktail in hand. They all assured me they’d rather be where I was. I smiled, raised a little cheers to Uncle Colin, and watched the kids tucking into their chocolate. And I kept my sunglasses on. Because, if I’d taken them off, they might just have seen how sad my eyes were. And then, when they’d hung up and the moment had passed… Well… I ordered a bucket of margarita, and I made the most of it.

What else was there to do?

An afternoon on the beach, drowning our apparent sorrows, while the younger ones documented every second of it on their socials. Oh, I saw them - the declarations of joy from crew who had been thoroughly miserable just hours before. But they weren’t lying, because we really had turned it around. More cocktails arrived, soaked up with nachos and chicken wings, and as the sun set, we all seemed to settle into that shared mindset we’d been edging towards all day… There were worse places to be stuck.

And there are people having far worse days than us.

And some, it seemed, were determined to make the very most of it. By the next day, Galley FM was already in full swing - word was that one of the first officers had been spotted escorting young Keira into an Uber late that night. I’d already turned in by then, so for now I’m filing it firmly under rumour - pending proof. Still… you can’t help but wonder. Maybe it was the start of something lovely. One of those quiet, unexpected sliding doors moments - something that only happened because of a cancelled flight and an unplanned extra night. The kind of story that never would’ve existed if everything had gone according to plan.

So, we got home a day late, slotted back into our lives, with new memories made and new friendships formed… another Easter behind us, and a whole summer ahead. And I do feel a bit more ready for it now.

That busy flight, that little dose of chaos - it’s reignited something that had been resting for a while. That excitement for the unexpected, because life would be a bit boring if everything went to plan all the time, wouldn’t it?

So, until next month, I’ll leave you with a little motto to take forward with you into May…

Make the most of it - even when it doesn’t go to plan.

Or, perhaps this one is better:

If it doesn’t go to plan… order the margarita and carry on.

Whichever you choose, I wish you a merry and magical month ahead - and I hope you find yourself exactly where you want to be… or at the very least, somewhere that you can make the most of.

Much Love

Susan