When I was a kid, one of my ambitions was to be become a pilot and take to the skies on a plane. To be able to soar through the skies, dress up in an awesome uniform and be all round cool, that was the dream. That dream quickly became obsolete as my eyesight deteriorated because I couldn't control my gaming and television addiction. My dream of flying was finished...

...Until last Wednesday, when I was given the opportunity to become a cabin crew for AirAsia, under the AirAsia Bloggers' Community event. This was an insanely crazy opportunity, because while I thought I knew how prim and proper and easy (this word will come back to haunt me later) being a flight attendant was, I couldn't have imagined the amount of work and effort put in on their part to become the balanced and perfect flight attendants who serve us on our flights.

Below is a true account of how I went through a single day of training to becoming part of AirAsia's fleet of elite cabin crew members. Yes, that means I am qualified to serve you on your flight so PREPARE YOURSELVES PEOPLE.

The first thing to do was to put on the uniform of the day. I had no chance of being a pilot, but the next best thing was to put on a T-shirt resembling a pilot's uniform. So in a way, my childhood ambition of being a pilot has been fulfilled by a simple T-shirt.

We met up with our instructor for the day, Elson, who was probably one of the most friendly people around. He also had a knack for telling really, really cold aviation related jokes, most of which were met with the same cold response, with a few polite chuckles. But yes, Elson is a very, very nice guy.

We were then brought into a classroom for the briefing. I haven't been in a classroom since I left uni, and the experience was one which wrought so much memories; mostly of fear and assignments.

And like all university students, I couldn't help but play with my phone during the briefing. BECAUSE IT'S A HABIT I CANNOT CONTROL MYSELF FROM DOING IN A CLASSROOM. Sorry Elson, if you're somehow reading this.

The next stop after the briefing was to crash a classroom and learn more about personal grooming. In the 15 minutes that we were in the class (with other REAL flight attendant trainees), I learned that almost all of AirAsia's trainees and staff are beautiful, male and female alike. They take their personal grooming so seriously that their seating posture, smiles, makeup and everything is perfect. AirAsia Academy has the most beautiful people I have seen gathered in one place, and I'm not even joking. So yes, in 15 minutes, I learned a lot.

Also, another one of Elson's cold jokes which were met with the same response as the Polar Vortex.

We also crashed another class of AirAsia Thailand cabin crew who were practicing their CPR for passengers. A picture was required, of course.

Visiting the flight simulators was unfortunately not a go, because real pilots were using them to practice flying around. It did make me remember a time when I went into a flight simulator, suspiciously similar looking to the one we took a group picture in front of.

(Oh yes, here's the blog post: http://leonhart90.blogspot.com/2013/06/flying-high-with-airasia-bloggers.html)

An obligatory jump shot, because we're all flying high with AirAsia. Oh man, I'm so punny.

Being a flight attendant requires a lot of training, especially when it comes to serving the passengers and guests on the flight. That means that we had to do stuff like learn how to make in-flight announcements, sell merchandise, do the entire safety procedure demonstration, and generally learn how to do everything a flight attendant does.

Elson came up with ANOTHER cold joke midway through our session, and no kidding, I had actual goosebumps from how cold it was.

After lunch came the actual taxing activities that all trainees have to go through before becoming full fledged flight attendants. The door drill taught us how to open the plane doors, and how NOT to accidentally release the RM 35,000 escape slide. That's 5 years of service as an air steward, by the way. The door may be motorized, but it still requires a lot of strength to open, another valuable lesson I learned about air stewardesses, most of whom can easily beat me in an arm wrestling match.

 Yes, yes it is. 

We were given a short preview of what we were going to go through in a bit, the water drill, as shown by actual flight attendant trainees. It was both amusing and terrifying to see them struggling around so much in the water, because we knew that we had to do something similar in a while.

The slide drill was something extremely fun, albeit something I hope I never get to experience in real life *touches any kind of wood nearby*. Leaping off the edge and sliding down burns the butt, and that's all I have to say about the slide. Because c'mon, who doesn't know how a slide works?

The water drill was undoubtedly one of THE most challenging tasks we had to do as flight attendants. Imagine throwing all 10 of us into the 10m deep pool with only our lifejackets as a support and expecting us to make it up onto the inflatable raft. It was harrowing, tiring and I really applaud all the trainees who do this on 2-3 times a week.

To end the day and to commemorate all of us becoming full fledged flight attendants, we had to snap group photos. Of course we did. How else could we prove to people that we are legit when serving them on the flight?

So I'm starting work next week as your flight attendant. You better get ready for my brand of serving you, because I'm going to be the best air steward you have ever kno-what? I'm not an air steward yet? I still have to go for the recruitment session? What recruitment session?!

Oh THAT recruitment. The one on the 22nd of February in Park Royal Hotel, KL? I know about that. So my one day training is not enough for me to become a flight attendant? Or is this because I'm not beautiful enough? It must be because of that right? RIGHT? Don't lie to me.

Cheerios!