“雙飛”苦與樂
每天穿越經緯、周游列國的工作軌跡,使空乘人員的生活方式變得與眾不同,光鮮亮麗的背后,更多的是超乎常人的付出。在航空公司,有這樣一種特殊的家庭,“雙飛”家庭,夫妻雙方大部分時間都是天各一方,生活又是怎樣的一種眼花繚亂呢?


Left: For Wang Lei and Ji Yanwen, their uniforms are a dispensable part of their life.左:對王雷與季艷雯而言,身上的制服是他們生活的重要組成部分,有著別樣的意義。
Right: A family tour is the best time ever.
右圖:全家人一起出游,是最難得的美好時光。during that long period of absence,” he recalled. But that meeting sounded more like a movie scene than a true story. They had a rushed meet-up across a wall of glass as their crews changed shift at Amsterdam Airport. “When she came down from the plane, my crew was ready to board the same plane. We managed to exchange a few words through the glass. Two minutes later, we bid each other goodbye,” he recalled.
Due to the couple's long-time absence, their daughter has basically grown up at her grandparents' in Changzhou, a city in China's Jiangsu province. Most of the time, Wang and Ji were on duty in London, Beijing, Amsterdam, Christchurch or elsewhere, when the Chinese people were celebrating their most important of all festivals – the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. They did observe the Chinese tradition of paying a New Year call to their parents, parents-in-law and daughter, though through a video chat on WeChat. Even if Wang could make it to return to Guangzhou, where China Southern's headquarters is based, he could not put himself in a festive mood. “My daughter lives in Changzhou and my wife also has to work during the Spring Festival holiday. For several times, I spent the New Year's Eve up in the air. When we landed, it was already the fi rst day of a New Year. By the time I woke up the next day, another day had passed by,” said Wang.
Despite the tradeoffs and “pains”, the family has its own moments of fun. As a shutterbug, Wang takes pictures of every place that he travels to. This is how he tracks his footprints. When their daughter got old enough, they took her around some of the places that they had been to. “We want her to build a contact with the outside world and to see how it looks like,” added Wang.
Knowledgeable travellers as they are, the couple are able to show their daughter the best parts of each place – England, the United States, Japan and more. These family journeys have created memories in a way that group tours cannot. Now Wang feels delighted to see that his daughter has grown into a teenage girl with a broadened horizon and an amazing awareness of independence. The travel experiences and such qualities will surely benefi t her for the rest of her life.
王雷和季艷雯都是空乘,兩人同在 1992 年進入南航,如今已飛了24年。兩人在1999年結婚,隔年有了女兒。但是女兒如今已經 16歲了,一家三口在一起過的年不超過三個。
兩人都是空乘,一年到頭全世界到處飛,一家三口相聚的時間很短。實際上,王雷與季艷雯相處的時間也很少。“一個月加起來能見到十天面已經不錯了。”王雷說。
從拍拖到結婚,王雷與季艷雯最長有一個半月沒見過面。“嚴格來說,還是見了兩分鐘的面。”那次見面就像電影一樣,王雷與季艷雯所在的機組在阿姆斯特丹換班,兩人在機場隔著玻璃匆匆見了一面。“就是她剛從飛機下來,我的機組就準備登上那架飛機,我們隔著玻璃聊了兩分鐘,又分開了。”王雷說。
因為兩人經常不在家,女兒從小在江蘇常州跟著外公外婆。過年的時候兩人可能在倫敦、北京、阿姆斯特丹、基督城……他們只能通過微信與女兒、父母視頻拜年。就算過年的時候可以飛回廣州,王雷也常常感受不到過年的氣氛。“女兒在常州,過年時艷雯也在外面飛。我好幾次都是年三十晚上在航班上度過,落地后已經是年初一。回家把窗簾一拉,蒙頭大睡,醒來已經是年初二了。”
雖然有相聚不便的煩惱,“雙飛”家庭也有著普通家庭沒有的樂趣。王雷喜歡攝影,每到一個地方他都將當地的美景拍下來,用這種方式留下他的足跡。女兒大一點后,王雷與季艷雯就找機會帶女兒到處走走,讓女兒看看爸爸媽媽走過的地方,王雷說:“也讓她接觸外面的世界,看看國外是什么樣子。”
有了對各地都很熟悉的王雷、季艷雯引領,女兒每每都能發現各地的最美之處。英國、美國、日本……留下的美好回憶是跟團游無法給予的。經過這些游歷,王雷欣慰地看到女兒的視野也逐漸開闊,性格也十分獨立,這些獨特的體驗都會成為她一生的財富。

Footprints of Wang and Ji over the past year這一年他們走過的足跡