Arriving at Kingsford Smith

Hearing: traffic, mum and bro chatting.

Im home! Yay me.

This morning i woke up to my neighbours cat waking me up. She jumped on my mums bed thinking it was empty but found me there sleeping in. She gave me a startled look before dashing out the door. Not a bad way to wake up, the smell of brewed coffee waiting in the kitchen isnt bad either...heehee.

Arriving into Sydneys airport on a jumpseat was a very different experiance to arriving as a pax. Needless to say i was grinning from ear to ear as we came into land. The girls with me stated the obvious "So your excited to go home huh?" LOL! yeah, just a little.... *grin*

We passed several Qantas kangaroos, taxied in towards our gate and prepared for the shlep through customs and quarantine. My mum and bro wanted to come to the airport to see me arrive with the Captains and crew but since it was the 1st time and i wasnt sure how things would go i told them not to. Walking out of arrivals was weird though, familiar sights for people and my home airport but different in that ppl kept looking at us as crew and trying to figure out which airline we were.

We got to the hotel which was so cool. Right in the heart of the city and just a step away from Circular Quay. Perfect. But i didnt stay there. I checked in, took a shower (shoulda slept as per mums advice) and headed out home. Ahhh....its good to be home. Mums cooking is on the stove ready getting ready for lunch and im posting this up after a good chat with my bro and mum. I might head back to the hotel tonight with them or maybe tomorrow, will see how it goes. Either way i love getting paid to be home - nothing can top this!

VP

P.S. I almost forgot to mention this. One of my guests in business class was the contreversial Mufti of Sydney Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly. (Heres the article the Sydney Morning Herald wrote about his arrival yesterday.) He was very well behaved and actually didnt say much.