Flight of fancy leads to life on the wing

After taking a short nap during an 11-hour Hainan Airlines' flight from Beijing to Los Angeles, United States, Katerina Galajdova took over the beverage cart from her Chinese colleague and rolled it down the aisle.

"Would you like any dessert or drinks?" asked the flight attendant in Chinese, while greeting each passenger with chunjie kuai le, "Happy Spring Festival", ahead of the plane's arrival in the United States.

The 28-year-old Czech national picked up some Mandarin during her time at college in France, and her first taste of traditional Chinese culture sowed the seeds for several visits to the country. In 2015, she accepted an offer to study Chinese for a year at Beijing Language and Culture University.

Her love of China and its culture, along with her desire to further pursue her language studies, led her to stay in the country after graduation and take a job as a cabin crew member. Three years of working for the Chinese carrier has taught her much more about the country - things that could not be learned at school or from textbooks.

"When Spring Festival - the country's most celebrated holiday - draws near, I can feel the strong sentimental bonds with families and friends among the passengers," she said.

Every year, Galajdova, who works long-haul routes to the US and some European counties, deals with large numbers of Chinese who fly more than 10,000 kilometers during the Spring Festival travel rush, or chunyun, to be reunited with their families for a week or so.

"What surprises me is not the young people who go home to join their parents for the holiday, but the many parents who can't speak any other languages but travel to see their children in foreign countries for the festival," she said.

She always chats with the parents when she's not busy, and provides extra care because they remind her of her own parents, who traveled from their hometown to visit her at Christmas when she was studying in France. "It is the quintessence of family unity, prosperity, joy and sharing; it's all part of the universal human experience," she said.

During Spring Festival 2019, Galajdova worked on a flight from Beijing to Brussels.

After the plane landed, the staff members headed into the Belgian capital for a festive meal and karaoke.

That was when Galajdova received her first red envelope from the cabin manager.

"Back home, we have similar important meals where we eat specific foods and extend our best wishes to each other," she said.

"It was the first time I had celebrated Spring Festival with my colleagues. The warmth and happiness made it feel like a second Christmas."

During the 40-day travel rush, her family always asks about Spring Festival traditions and which Chinese zodiac animal will be represented in the coming year.

"I hope I can bring my family to the country I love in the near future, and take them to eat dumplings, see temple fairs, view red lanterns and experience paper-cuts during Spring Festival," she said.