Full circle - a pilot's journey home
- Jul 05, 2011
Travel guest blog on how Dubai can turn your husband into a walking zombie and cook his internal organs. And, how it can offer financial freedom, professional growth and endless creature comforts to a struggling family. And, how Virgin America offered a chance to reclaim the American dream and a normal family life.
In the aftermath of 9/11 and subsequent financial meltdowns many US pilots faced uncertain futures as carriers battled bankruptcy and layoffs accelerated.
But worldwide the picture was slightly different. A number of airlines in Europe, Asia and the Middle East offered pilots and their families a chance to enjoy higher compensation packages and enjoy renewed professional growth.
One of these pilots, Darrin Lee, saw an opportunity to fly for Emirates Air in Dubai after a successful term with Miami Air in Florida.
The Rise of Dubai
Moving to a desert kingdom halfway between Asia and Europe was a drastic step for the Lee family. At the time, his wife Kimberly was a marketing manager at The Catamaran Company, a leading yacht sales and charter outfit in Fort Lauderdale. A position she was reluctant to leave. The move would entail pulling out their two-year old son Matthew and five-year old daughter, from school into the ex-pat community of Silicon Oasis and United Arab Emirates.
But, American pilots were in high demand and the young Emirates airline promised numerous tax-free benefits, retirement plans, vacations and the opportunity to fly a young fleet of sophisticated Boeings that were challenging the traditional hegemony of western airlines.
It would also allow them more regular annual visits to Kimberly's nation of birth, South Africa, where her parents Annemarie and Paul still resided.
They took the plunge and began the painful, yet exciting process of relocating to a foreign, unknown destination where they would join other American, Australian, British and South African pilot families who became part of the global outsourcing revolution.
The schools were great, the accommodation even better. Emirates went to great pains to make their villa homes comfortable even providing a chauffeur driven car to pick up Darrin for his scheduled flights.
He travelled the world, piloting brand new Boeing 777s, using the opportunity to surf spots in Indonesia, Australia and California. His wife Kimberly had reverted to a part-time, remote role in her previous job. Not an easy adjustment, but she made it work.
Isabella enjoyed a range of activities including dance at which she excelled. This would lead to a later role in the award-winning play, Aladdin, staged in Dubai. Matthew on the other hand made friends quickly and dreamed of becoming a pilot like his dad. Dubai – Kimberly and Darrin were learning – was “kid friendly”, a huge relief.
Desert trips to neighbouring states such as Oman followed along with sojourns into the restaurants, malls and ocean hotel pools situated on the fringes of the Dubai Ocean or littered amongst the various desert construction zones.
But, the modern architecture (much of it unfinished), eclectic attractions and government modernisation efforts could not disguise an underlying homesickness for the beaches of Fort Lauderdale and the cultural comfort of the United States.
A Walking Zombie
The constant long hauls around the world were beginning to take their toll on Darrin, too. He was a away from his family for long periods and the time-zone changes made him endlessly tired; almost to the point of becoming a walking zombie.
“I feel like life is passing me by,” he remarked to Kimberly one day out of the blue.
Kimberly was forced to spend long periods on her own while she grew accustomed to living in a foreign land, albeit with other ex-pats.
Conversely, because the Dubai lifestyle allowed them to have an inexpensive live-in maid she could use the unbearably HOT summer months to escape on long vacations with the kids while Darrin was on his long hauls. This created further emotional and geographic distance in their marriage.
Thus, while Dubai elevated the comfort level of daily living it also loosened the family bonds.
Boiling Point
On each stopover back in Dubai, he would use some of his free time to surf the small waves around Dubai.
One particular day the water reached what felt like boiling point. In Dubai, temperatures may often soar past 140 Fahrenheit while humidity regularly tips 80%.
Feeling faint he got out the water and noted with some anxiety that his internal organs felt like they were being slowly “cooked”. Obviously dehydrated, he sat down to regain his breath and let the sensation pass.
All of the above highlighted the emotional, mental (and very occasionally, physical) risks of living in a desert life. The veneer of comfort, financial freedom and a modernised airline could not disguise an underlying threat to family bonds.
Virgin Territory
With Darrin now reaching close to 10,000 hours in pilot hours and the family approaching four years of living in the desert, they noted with great interest the strides Richard Branson was taking in launching Virgin America in San Francisco, of which he owned 25%.
Sporting a phenomenal growth plan and a promise to inject the skies with “Branson-o-nian fun” Virgin America reignited the dreams of flying and living in the US.
Media reports, including this one by the New York Times, hinted that Virgin America could be ordering up to 60 new single-aisle A320 airplanes.
The airline seemed to represent different ways of doing things, both in terms of being a passenger and a pilot. They seemed to possess a more Google-eque approach to hiring pilots and injecting innovation into daily operations.
The airline had all the ingredients for long-term growth including plans to expand its geography of bases in the U.S. and the Americas. In a nutshell, only Virgin America (and none of the other US airlines) attracted enough attention from Darrin and Kimberly to consider leaving the creature comforts of Dubai.
They knew the longer they stayed in the desert the harder it would be to leave, since the kids were forming strong bonds and growing roots that would be harder to break in coming years.
They observed how some families had spent over a decade in the UAE, reluctant to give up the benefits and perks of flying for an airline that had deep pockets. Many families were unable to get ahead in the United States and thus forever wrapped themselves in the cocoon of Dubai life where at least they had some measure of financial security.
Time To Go Home
Thus, in early 2011, Darrin qualified for his first interview with VA in San Francisco. He would later remark after finally winning a pilot position at the airline:
"From the moment I interviewed there I found them very forward-thinking airline. Putting people first, which is quite a new concept; you can always take care of passengers but if you take care of employees they take care of the guests as well."
Ironically, Kimberly was reluctant to give up the comfort and perks of Dubai. Since Darrin was away for long periods, she had come to appreciate the creature comforts that Dubai offered. In their final year in Dubai she had finally began to form some deep friendships. Thus, while Darrin became increasingly disillusioned with Dubai and long haul flying Kimberly had began to make the most of it.
While she understood Darrin’s desire to fly for Virgin America she did not greet the return to the United States with unbridled enthusiasm and remarked to him that would be her “last” relocation experience. Isabella and Matthew were excited to come back home but both parents realised this would have both positive and negative affects.
The Dubai experience had thus been a mixed blessing; a portal to new financial freedom and professional growth, but laced with hidden taxes that strain marriages and family life.
Fortunately, the Lees have a strong marriage and Kimberly decided that in the long-term it would be better for Isabella and Matthew to return to the States now, rather than later on, when they were in their teens.
So began the journey home to Fort Lauderdale and the United States for the Lee family as they said goodbye to friends and colleagues. This was almost as painful as their first relocation to the Dubai several years earlier and a reminder of the hidden thorns associated with switching jobs, countries and cultures.
The kids are now back in American schools, Kimberly settled into at her old job and Darrin now flying airbuses instead of Boeings. He commutes back and fourth between San Francisco and Florida. To celebrate their return they picked out a new puppy for their daughter Isabella while Matthew continues to fantasise about being either a pilot or an astronaut.
Darrin loves flying for VA and is no longer a walking zombie or falls asleep during a conversation. This in itself has made Kimberly a lot happier. The kids, as kids do, have adjusted quickly. Dance lessons, surfing the Commercial Pier in Fort Lauderdale and making new friends has softened the blow of the relocation.
The Lee’s have a come a full circle, quite literally.
But their journey perhaps personifies the new way of life for a modern pilot and his loving family.
Jason Stevens is a Blogger, Journalist & Web Developer operating out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Join him as departs the Information Age and enters the Imagination Age at Jason-Stevens.com. Or, follow him on Twitter at _Jason_stevens_
This guest blog complies to Virgin.com terms & conditions.
