I recently set up a new account over on Instagram called cabincrew.to.pilot. I put a poll on my story asking what my next blog post should be and so by 35% of answers this was the most voted for topic. Closely followed by 'Secrets of the galley - cabin crew' which will be my next post in the coming week. If you want to get involved with upcoming polls and some fun interactions I have planned, click the link above and follow my Instagram so you don't miss out!

Ok so what has living in Spain taught me... I've been here 5 months now and so far my Duolingo streak is 145 days of trying to learn Spanish, at least some basic conversational skills so I can go out and order food and drinks. At the moment its hard to practise everyday Spanish because of where I am living, however this is set to change in the coming weeks so I will be able to intergrate into Spanish culture a bit more which will be exciting. I would say I'm passionate about learning the language of where I am living, I think its important to be able to speak to local people in their language, and especially because being British, it is too easy to not bother and expect everyone else to speak English.

When I initally moved here the thing that I found different was the supermarket and all the food choices (I know this sounds obvious and kind of silly), for me it was the little things like cheese, I would love a block of cheddar but in Spain its either really expensive or hard to find so you have to get an alternative and its taken me a while to find good alternative products. As well as this would be bacon, another item I love in the UK but here its just different, not as salty or as tasty so I'm looking forward to going home just purely for that, haha. I've learnt how to become more flexible and adaptable to situations because of this, being thrown into the deep end of moving countries and having to figure these things out, cooking a recipe and it doesn't taste quite right because maybe you haven't found the correct brand of chocolate to use for cooking or the milk is sweeter than you are used to. The small things like this make the most difference for me because I enjoy cooking and I notice these little details in my food.

Another lesson living in Spain has taught me is to always check that where you are going is actually going to be open. The amount of times I have gone somewhere thinking it will be open and its shut because either its a Sunday or its the middle of the day so its siesta time is countless. Having to plan ahead I have found to be essential because all the shops and restaurants close from 2pm to 5pm for siesta and that is usually the time I would want to get a drink or tapas if I was out, and so many things are closed on a Sunday, such as supermarkets, which is another reason I have to plan my meals and food so I can do my food shop any other day but a Sunday. I would also say that in the UK I'm used to eating dinner around 6-7pm, however if I go out to the city in Spain a lot of resaturants don't start serving dinner until 8pm so that is another thing to take into consideration, plan eating times around when places close and re open.

I have hired a car twice since being here and I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was driving on the other side of the road. I was really worried about this before I had done it for the first time, but it came naturally and I felt really comfortable driving on the right side of the road, although I would say following directions can be really confusing because there are lots of different side roads along the main highway and these aren't really highlighted on Google maps (or whatever maps you would use). In a similar vein would be turning off at a junction on the highway, sometimes there are two different junctions within 500 meters of each other labelled 'A' and 'B' so double checking the junction number is super helpful because I have definietly turned off the wrong one and added an extra 15 minutes to my journey because of it . On the topic of cars and roads would be traffic. I really haven't come across much traffic whilst being here, even when driving into Murcia city. I don't know if thats because of the time of day but I feel like at home I am constantly sitting in traffic or if I leave the house around 3pm its rush hour and you can't get anywhere quickly, whereas in Spain even around 3-4pm I haven't been stuck in traffic. Its a treat honestly.

15th June 2026 was my first solo in Spain. It was almost exactly 3 years to the day when I did my very first solo at White Waltham on the 13th June 2023, although I don't have any photos because I wasn't expecting to fly solo that day, my instructor literally just said 'how would you feel if I got out and you just did one circuit on your own' and that was how it happened. However here, in Spain its more of a big deal so I do have photos to mark the occasion.

It was completely by chance that my Spanish solo fell around the same date as my original solo, I've never had more reason to trust the process than this. Looking back to how I ended up here I've constantly felt 'behind' with finishing my exams, and then getting my visa, and then actually moving out here, its been one thing after another. But I feel like I'm finally making progress and feel like I am right where I am meant to be. I didn't remember the date of my 1st solo so when I knew I was scheduled for my first dual to solo lesson I had a look through my photo memories, because luckily I did record my reaction afterwards when I was in the car, so I can remember the feeling and when it happened 😉

That's when I saw the date as the 13th June 2023, which was almost 3 years to the date, considering how slow the training process has been here, anything could have happened and it could have been any random day, but for me to be scheduled around the 13th June was truly part of the plan.

It may be surprising but I actually didn't feel all that excited after landing solo. It was more relief that I'm progressing and onto the next lesson. Not relief that I landed, haha. I know when I did my first solo in Maidenhead I was so shocked afterwards because I really wasn't expecting it, I knew I could do it, but I didn't see it coming, so once I let it sink in I felt so badass landing a plane on my own. For me now its hard to celebrate because well, 1. It wasn't my first time so its not as exciting and 2. I'm just moving on to the next lesson and the next thing. Sometimes I find it hard to acknowledge the little things and be in that moment, I'm always looking at the next thing which can take away from the here - and - now.

The actual solo flight was so quick, just one circuit that took me probably 10 minutes. My landing was a bit heavy but the plane wasn't damaged so that is a win:) Although I could definitely improve on my parking skills; I literally cannot forward park in a car, and it appears I cannot forward park a plane either. At least there is consistency somewhere. Its a shame I can't reverse park an aircraft because I reckon I'd do that so much better!

As a Leading Edge tradition after a first solo you get thrown into the swimming pool. Unfortunately for me I also got thrown in to the pool in my uniform, thankfully that was recorded and was actually pretty funny. I'm looking forward to my next few lessons with more solo flying so I can perfect the landings, as well as making progress through the syllabus, its nice to feel like I'm finally getting somewhere after being out here for 4 1/2 months. 

When I finished ground school the next thing was moving to Spain to start flying. The idea of this was so exciting, especially after 8 months of the hell that was ground school. However the actual principle of getting things sorted to move to Spain was more complicated and confusing. Initally I was told being in Spain was for only 6 months, however when I was applying for my visa I needed to make sure I got a 1 year student visa. As it transpires, it is now a minimum of a year in Spain with some people being here longer than that. Anyway, once I had got over the thought of being in Spain for a year I had to figure out how to pack in two suitcases for a year. That was hard enough considering the weight limit for each bag was 23kg

The visa process was confusing and I had problems with some paperwork so it might I was delayed by a month coming out here. Trying to get a Spanish visa is so complicated and expensive. The school do refund you for the cost but initally you have to pay. It took me about two months from starting the process to getting the visa and on top of that all the documents need to be translated into Spanish through a legal translation service, so its not like you can just google translate it! A long process that I got so frustrated with because it was harder than it needed to be. The next issue I had was with my car, I had been planning on driving down here which would have taken a few days and about £600 one way. Having a car here would be very beneifical since we are in the middle of nowhere, but I was worried about breaking down during the drive and the hassle and stress that would have been. Plus the logistics of car insurance, breakdown cover and spanish laws around foreign cars, I am glad I didn't drive my car down here now only because it would have cost so much and then of course petrol whilst I'm here driving most days, I also would have had to change car insurance since the company I am with in the UK wouldn't cover me for longer than 90 days in the EU. Quite honestly I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of all of this, just to have a car here, and I am lucky to know a few people with cars which makes it easier to go out. Its worth mentioning that Leading Edge do provide transport from the accomodation to the airport and they also organise supermarket trips as well as day trips, so even if you don't know anyone with a car you are not completely stuck, you are just on someone else's schedule for any trips or days out.

What are some things that surprised me moving here?

Where we are based in south Spain there is no food delivery service to our accomodation resort, public transport is basically nonexistant, you would have to go to the nearest town to get a bus but its getting to that town that is the issue. The general remoteness of where the accomodation is shocked me when I moved here.

The prices of food and drink here are cheaper than in the UK. For a comparison I'm used to paying £10 for an average bottle of wine, whereas I can pay £5 for a really nice bottle of wine in Spain, equally a cocktail in the UK would be £12, in Spain its about £8 in a restaurant. The food and drink culture here is really nice, people are out late and the atmosphere is lovely. It goes without saying that Spanish do food really well and I have definitely enjoyed my share of tapas the last few months.

The fair weather base 

This phrase has been thrown around so much and I thought that Spain would be a fair weather base, compared to the UK the weather here is a lot more stable, however the weather cancellations are plentiful. Sometimes you will look outside and it will be another hot day, then you go to the airport for a flight and everyone is being cancelled because its too windy, or the weather further North is just cloud, or its raining (very occasionally but still..), or my new favourite reason flights can get cancelled is because its too hot. So basically there will always be a reason for why flights are being cancelled, regardless of where you choose to do your flight training. A more specific Leading Edge reason flights get cancelled is because of maintenance issues and planes not working but then not getting fixed for a while. This is a work in progress, as we have been told they are improving on this front, however it is still something to bare in mind.

What I have been doing to stay busy here

I have averaged about 3 flights per month, it doesn't take much maths to work out that I have A LOT of down time here, hence this website. Some other things I have been doing to keep busy include: -cooking/baking, -reading, -playing keyboard, -learning Spanish, and I started running which means I have entered a new level of boredom.

The hardest thing for me during this period has 100% been having so much free time. Going from ground school and never having a day off to the other extreme has been difficult, I anyway don't like sitting around 'wasting my day' so coming here and being so isolated meant I had to come up with things to do or ways to kill time. I've become ok with the idea of doing nothing in a day and just lounging around, because truthfully there is nothing to do here so its hard to find a reason to leave my apartment. Off the back of this point I have found it really important to still keep a routine of sorts, so even if I don't get out of bed for a while at least waking up around the same time everyday has been good, sticking to a dinner time is another example of this. I really like a routine, even if that looks like getting into bed at the same time. Having some sort of structure in my day where I have no plan has been a lifesaver, mainly because when I am scheduled for a flight it means I will at least sleep well the night before as a minimum. 

Another thing I am making a conscious effort with is spending time with friends, such as going for a coffee or a long walk and chatting about whatever, mainly losing track of time which is nice to do out here. I purchased a keyboard from Facebook marketplace so I have been playing a few pieces on my keyboard which makes me feel a bit creative, I have been learning to enjoy playing again so this is a nice way to do it. I'll try and go for a run a couple times a week in the morning because it gets so hot by midday. I don't really enjoy running but its nice to just go out and listen to my music at the least. I'm using my time to form better friendships that are more meaningful, as well as learning Spanish on Duolingo (my streak is 122 days which I'm very proud of:)), and also getting more adventurous with my cooking which has been fun.