Imagine this: you’re halfway through your plane journey, anxiously anticipating your arrival to whichever exciting holiday destination you’ve chosen.
The weather has taken a turn for the worse – and, all of a sudden, lightning strikes.
You’d be forgiven for feeling terrified.
But what really happens if a plane is hit by lightning?
Globetrotting flight attendant Mateusz Kowalewicz has revealed the highs and lows of life in the skies – from lightning strikes and brutal sleep deprivation to ticking off the world’s greatest wonders.
Mateusz first caught the travel bug as a teenager after joining a school exchange with Israel – his very first trip abroad.
He soon began exploring Europe on the cheap, hitchhiking to save cash, before eventually deciding to become a flight attendant so he could get paid to do what he loved.
But it’s not always smooth sailing. Mateusz recalled one flight he was on being struck by lightning.
Globetrotting flight attendant Mateusz Kowalewicz has revealed the highs and lows of life in the skies – from lightning strikes and brutal sleep deprivation to ticking off the world’s greatest wonders
Mateusz first caught the travel bug as a teenager after joining a school exchange with Israel – his very first trip abroad
But it’s not always smooth sailing. Mateusz recalled one flight being struck by lightning
‘It felt like someone flashed a camera straight in my eyes. A moment later, we heard from the cockpit that we had to turn back to Warsaw.
‘The aircraft was fine, but logically it’s better to return and take another plane than risk finding out in Rome that the aircraft must be grounded.’
Mateusz, 29, grew up in Białystok, Poland, and now lives in Warsaw, travelling the world for work.
He told Polish media: ‘It’s very hard to describe a typical month, because every single one is different.
‘My airline operates three types of aircraft, which means it never gets boring, and the roster looks different every month.
‘My biggest travel achievement is visiting all the ‘New Seven Wonders of the World’. I owe a lot of that to my job – I visited four on layovers and flew to another using staff tickets.’
When asked what frustrates him most, he didn’t hesitate: ‘Not being able to fall asleep, especially in the East on long-haul layovers.
‘I’m a heavy sleeper, so any unexpected wake-up in the middle of the night because of time zones is awful.’
He soon began exploring on the cheap, hitchhiking to save cash, before eventually deciding to become a flight attendant so he could get paid to do what he loved
Mateusz, 29, grew up in Białystok, Poland, and now lives in Warsaw, travelling the world for work
His job has also allowed him to splurge on bucket-list adventures
What he loves most is the unpredictability.
‘Sometimes you fly to Chicago on a layover and end up meeting a Polish priest who invites you to an American christening for nearly 200 people – and one of the guests is a passenger you met on a flight a few months earlier.
‘Absolutely incredible!’
His job has also allowed him to splurge on bucket-list adventures such as skydiving in Dubai and taking a seaplane ride in Mauritius.
As for travel dreams still on the list: ‘I’d like to climb Kilimanjaro, and I can see I’m being drawn towards Africa, which is the continent I’ve explored the least after Australia.’
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