Hoang Minh Quy (born in 1996, from Thanh Hoa) is the chief flight attendant of a Vietnamese airline, famous for his Tiktok channel Storyteller in the Clouds with more than 500,000 followers. With his humorous storytelling and realistic images, the young man from Thanh Hoa has helped viewers better understand the work of a flight attendant as well as many practical rules and experiences when flying. Each of his videos attracts from several hundred thousand to more than ten million views. Minh Quy shared that the job of a flight attendant not only helps him have a stable income and a civilized working environment, but also gives him many opportunities to "go abroad" and explore the world. After 6 years of working, he has set foot in more than 10 countries, more than 20 cities, including places he returns to many times.

Minh Quy on a trip to Australia

"Rapid" advancement Sharing with VietNamNet, Quy said that in 2012, when he was 16 years old, he traveled by plane for the first time. Quy was not only excited about the feeling of flying in the sky, but was also quickly attracted by the flight attendants who were neatly dressed, had a professional demeanor, spoke English "like the wind" and always had smiling faces. "At that time, information about flight attendant jobs or recruitment forms was scarce and vague. About a year later, I chose to take the entrance exam for Tourism Management at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics. During my time in university, I researched information and planned to take the flight attendant exam," Quy said. At one point, Quy wanted to stop studying at university to take the flight attendant exam. However, his mother advised him to calm down. She promised that as long as Quy graduated from university, his future would be entirely up to him. In his fourth year of university, he attended a flight attendant training course taught by a former flight attendant of Emirates (Dubai's national airline). After two months of "exam preparation", carefully preparing his communication skills, English certificate and appearance, Minh Quy registered to attend a flight attendant recruitment fair of an airline in Vietnam. Quy had to go through five rounds, including catwalk (runway performance), talent, panel interview, English test and health check. "The day I graduated from university was also the day I officially became an airline intern," Quy recalled. Quy received great support from his family. His sister gave him 30 million VND for eye surgery, and his mother sponsored 60 million VND for tuition. Later, when he received his first few months' salary, he paid it all back to his relatives, even though they didn't need it back. "Becoming an intern was a smooth start for me. However, the 3 months of training were a real challenge. If I was discouraged, even for just one day, all my previous efforts and my family's trust would go down the drain," the young man shared. During the 2.5 months, he had to complete more than 10 subjects on manners, appearance, customer service, flight safety, first aid skills... and absolutely could not fail any subject. When he met the theoretical requirements, the intern was allowed to practice on real flights for the remaining 2 weeks. During that time, Quy slept almost only 5 hours a day. He lost up to 8kg. "Despite lack of sleep and fatigue, the principle of a flight attendant is to always be neat and polished in appearance when appearing," Quy said. After the training period, Minh Quy officially became a flight attendant. At the age of 24, after 1.5 years of working, the young man became a chief flight attendant. "I think I'm lucky in my job. But to have that luck, the most important thing for every flight attendant is attitude: work attitude, attitude towards colleagues, attitude towards carrying out orders from superiors... I also constantly improve myself, knowledge, skills to become the best version of myself," Quy shared. The young man also revealed that the job of chief flight attendant comes with high responsibility, but the income is also better.

Minh Quy became chief flight attendant at the age of 24.

"Travel privileges" of flight attendants Since becoming a flight attendant, Quy has been labeled by his friends as a guy who travels for free around the world. Quy admits that this job brings interesting "privileges". According to Minh Quy, after each international flight, flight attendants have a minimum of 12 hours of rest and there is no maximum time because it depends on when the return flight will take off. Sometimes, he and his colleagues have 24 hours, 48 ​​hours, or even 4-5 days abroad. As soon as they leave the airport, the flight attendants are provided with a shuttle bus by the airline and booked into a 4-star hotel or higher for the most comfortable rest. In addition, they are also paid a business trip allowance for their stay abroad, about 30 USD/day (about 760,000 VND). "No matter how little or much time I have, I often take advantage of it to explore the culture and landscape of other countries," Quy said. However, according to regulations, flight attendants are not allowed to go too far from the hotel, maximum 20km. The schedule and route must be reported specifically to the head flight attendant. Because in fact, this time is still counted as duty time.

Minh Quy has many trips to explore Japan.

Quy also revealed that the airline's flight attendants get 16 days off a year, and 7-10 days off a month. The Thanh Hoa man often uses this time to fly home to visit his family or travel with friends. "On holidays and Tet, we often work and take days off. Traveling at this time is not crowded and the cost is cheaper," Quy said. Some other priorities for flight attendants or airline employees: Check-in at priority counters instead of waiting in line, 20 free flight tickets per year (regardless of domestic or international flights, tickets are used for flight attendants or their families), discounts on food/drinks at the airport, priority security... Minh Quy said that when he first started his career, when traveling abroad, he also encountered many "half-crying, half-laughing" stories. On his first trip abroad to Korea, he was extremely excited. He flew all night long but as soon as he got off the plane, Quy "got dressed" to go out right away. "I prepared "extremely hot" and outstanding clothes but did not know that the weather in Korea at that time was very cold. So, I was shivering while exploring Korea, my hands and feet were frozen. It was true that when I went, I went all out, when I came back, I was scared. A lesson for life for traveling without research", the head flight attendant said. Up to now, Quy has had dozens of trips to Korea. There were months when he went to Korea for work 3 times, to 3 different cities. He is familiar with many places to have fun, eat and shop in the land of kimchi.

South Korea is the country you visit and work the most.

Another time, when he went to Japan, Quy got lost because he did not understand the rules of taking the subway in this country. According to him, in Japan, the signs are often not in English and the people are not good at this language. It took him more than 2 hours, asking everyone to get on the train back to the starting point. Among the countries he has visited, the 28-year-old flight attendant was especially impressed with India - a country with a diverse and distinct culture. "The only thing that made it difficult for me to explore India was the difference in cuisine. On one occasion, during the 2 days in India, I only ate instant noodles brought from Vietnam," Quy said. Minh Quy admitted that if he had not been determined to become a flight attendant, he would hardly have had the opportunity to explore many countries, many cultures, and meet many new friends like he does now. The Thanh Hoa boy sets a goal of visiting more cities to broaden his knowledge and increase his experiences.