Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
IF you have ever wondered what the life of a Gulf Air girl is like then a new book published by an ex-member of its cabin crew will satisfy your curiosity.
Angie Grainger, who worked for the airline from 1993 to 2000, has just published her autobiography, Searching For Mooneyes.
The book takes the author from a childhood in Iran, Oman, India and the UK to the Middle East to pursue a cabin-crew career, followed by a teaching stint in England and eventually a spiritual awakening in South Dakota, US, where she was to find kinship with the Lakota Sioux.
While Ms Grainger's life is a fascinating journey peppered with drama, heartache and calamity, it is the account of her life in Bahrain and her revelations about working for Gulf Air that are likely to captivate readers here.
After seeing an advert in Cosmopolitan for air-stewardesses the author is offered a job with the airline and heads off to Bahrain.
For seven years she travels to scores of countries, meets countless characters and stays in dozens of glitzy hotels.
But the book also describes the decidedly unglamorous aspects of the job, including finding a giant tapeworm in the lavatory, being screamed at by drunken passengers and sent to look for an explosive 'like a sniffer dog' by a petrified pilot during a security alert.
Life in Bahrain was a whirlwind of parties.
"Basically it was Sex and the City ... but in the wrong city. The Muslim community looked down on us despairingly," she writes.
She dated a Bahraini who she claims tried to palm her off on an elderly local. Far from being "bowled over by the offer of a Mercedes, an allowance and an expensive villa," she says she was appalled.
Unlike the "girls who were attracted by the fast boats and promise of money" she was determined to find true love.
She said: "So many of the girls seemed to get involved with wealthy men and then be part of a line-up of women who were all paid for. It was perhaps good for their bank balances but on several occasions it was heartbreakingly sad when they were discarded for a newer model."
All the familiar characters of the high-flying expat world are described from US Navy men, to rich playboys and an array of cabin crew from around the world.
There was plenty of cat-fighting, deception and betrayal - all of which made for a fascinating, if somewhat guilty read.
Today the author is a clairvoyant, hypnotherapist and reiki healer and lives in London.
Speaking about her time in Bahrain with Gulf Air she said: "I loved working for the airline. It was very hard work but the benefits of living in Bahrain were many. It is a small country but it has a lot of charm.
"I loved to be out in the desert horse-riding and being under the stars in a tent by an open fire. I could have easily lived out there as a Bedouin forever.
"If you are under the night sky listening to the call to prayer it is a spiritually moving experience and one that I dream of often whenever I long for the old days."
Asked if she was concerned that her book could have a controversial fall-out she said: "I did not intend to be controversial although on reflection I expect there will be people who disagree with things that I have written but this is the joy of freedom of speech and in truth. When I wrote the book, I was merely reflecting on what I had experienced.
"Some of the experiences are better than others, as with all life.
"I was never afraid of controversy. Mostly I found the people I worked with genuine and wonderful. The people who thought they were powerful and had money were the worst."
Searching for Mooneyes also chronicles the problems that face children and young adults who live peripatetic lives as expatriates.
"I have found it very difficult to adjust to living in just one place," she said.
"After all, I never really knew where I was from. Being born in India and then living in the Gulf had a remarkable effect upon me and being sent to England was a bewildering experience. I had to return to the Gulf as it called to me and I longed for it, yet in the end I had to accept that I was actually not meant to live there either.
"I am sure that travel will figure in my life always. I have learnt that as long as one is happy within oneself then really one can be anywhere and have a wonderful time."
Ms Grainger said she had received a lot of positive feedback about the book and is writing her second which focuses on the Native American Indian tribe of the Lakota, which she said has had a huge influence on her life.
She is expecting her first baby next month and hopes to one day take her children to Bahrain to "show them the desert and all the fabulous things about the Arabic culture".
Searching for Mooneyes is published by Athena Press and is available at Amazon.com
