How Instagram star Dutch 747 pilot in Hong Kong stays fit, beats stress – and lives the dream
Eva Claire Marseille was captivated by the idea of flying Boeing 747s as a young child. She talks about how a dream came true, life in the air, maintaining work-life balance, and her fitness regimen
When she was seven, Eva Claire Marseille’s stepfather drove her to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport to look at aeroplanes, including the fleet of Boeing 747s. “I remember seeing the plane and feeling, ‘Oh my god, this is insane that people can fly that, they must be really special’,” she says.
Marseille thought the prospect was beyond her reach as she didn’t excel at physics, maths or other prerequisite subjects. Still, she aspired to a challenging and globetrotting career and enrolled in a journalism and Dutch literature degree programme. In her final year, though, she had second thoughts.
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“My friends and mother said, ‘Why don’t you do flight school as you made several comments that you are jealous or admire pilots,’ – I didn’t even realise I had said these things,” she recalls. The then 22-year-old toured a flight school, and after completing her undergraduate degree, she enrolled in flying classes and graduated in 2010. With a recession affecting Europe at the time, it took more than two years for Marseille to land a pilot’s job.
Now 32, Marseille says making dreams reality, keeping a positive mindset, and having the support of her Dutch partner at home has made living an itinerant life a breeze. Her enthusiasm is reflected in her Instagram’s @flywitheva posts that she started more than a year ago, quickly attracting 30,000 followers after a short time. She now has about 100,000.
Marseille says she strives to “stay fit, healthy and focused” and reveals how she deals with high-pressure situations in the skies.