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Tech Ops Intern by weekday, “Weekend Warrior” by weekend

erubinstein
Explorer C

During the week, I am an Intern on the Airworthiness and Compliance Team in the Tech Ops Department.  Our Team ensures all the SWA aircraft are within FAA compliance guidelines.  Now, during the weekend, I like to think of myself as a “Weekend Warrior!” There are many things to love about working at Southwest; the Company Culture is wonderful, I can eat as many peanuts as I want, and lastly (but certainly not least), I also am lucky to have a flexible schedule that allows me to travel all over the country. I wanted to share with you two trips, that without Southwest, these stories wouldn’t have been possible.

 

Recently, I decided to take a weekend trip to New York. It wasn’t my first time in New York, but I did get to experience several incredible things for the first time. I walked around Central Park, toured the Met, and ate incredible food along the way. Now, the coolest part about the trip was that I somehow landed tickets to be on the Jimmy Fallon show.  There were a few of us in the audience who wore plaid, and Jimmy thought it was the funniest thing, so he invited us all down to the stage where we took a selfie! 

 

Fast forward a few weeks…I could not decide where I wanted to go next, and then it hit me. I’LL GO EVERYWHERE! I studied our routes carefully and found a series of flights that would take me coast-to-coast in one day, yet still have enough time to eat a meal in each city. My plan was to eat a New York bagel for breakfast, Chicago pizza for lunch, and California seafood for dinner, all in the same day.  After flying in Friday night, I woke up in NYC at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday  and went to grab breakfast at a diner, then headed off to LGA airport, and I got on a 9:00am flight to Chicago. It was a relatively empty flight so I got a whole row to myself. So far my plan was coming together!  My layover in Chicago was pretty short, but luckily I had enough time to grab a slice of pizza before boarding. After a little waiting for the standby list, I was able to get a seat on a flight to San Diego. When we finally touched down in San Diego my internal clock was all out of whack, but local time read 3:00PM.  I took a Lyft to a little place called “Fish Market” right next to the USS Midway. I sat on the patio overlooking the water and it was absolutely wonderful. The swordfish tacos were delectable and the house-made sourdough bread was the best I’ve ever had.  After my dinner, I decided that instead of paying for a hotel, I would try and catch the last flight out back to Dallas. Unfortunately, I had to make an unexpected connection in Phoenix, so by the time I got home, it was about 2:00 a.m. Dallas time.

 

Although I had been awake for 22 hours, it was so worth it…I had three awesome meals and I would do it again in a heartbeat. #CampusReachIntern Eden Rubinstein on the Jimmy Fallon showIntern Eden Rubinstein on the Jimmy Fallon showFood Crawl.jpg