Surprise! It's true!
Today is November 19th and I am flying home to Canada to stay. I am sitting in the airport for the first time since I arrived in this country.
There is lots more to say before we get to the good parts.
It all started with the horrible ear infection. That alone had me marching into the office to give my notice to leave the company (I was sick of being sick) only to find out at my doctors appointment later that day that I have done excessive damage to my inner ear canals and have lost a little over 30% of my hearing since starting to fly three months ago. The aviation doctors signed all the paperwork that day and I had two weeks to say the goodbyes and pack my bags for the flight home. Time flew by, one day I had 12 days and then I had 12 hours. I tried to jam pack as much into my last few days as possible. I had planned to have three years to slowly cross things off my to do list but that didn't work out so I made a list and got started that day. Sick or not. I would have lots of time to rest and feel better once I got home I reasoned.
First things first I had to break the news to Melly. That was hard. Last we talked we were planning leave for December, January and April for birthdays and now suddenly I have two weeks left with her. She wasn't a happy girl. Cross that off the list, now to slowly break the news to the girlfriends around me but not too loudly so as to ruin the surprises I had planned for when I arrived back home.
We had fancy dinners, laid by the loveliest pools and I rode a camel and held another falcon! What was better was as soon as I had the stress of no roster looming over me disappear I felt a million times better!
I've got a few photos from what I got up to while you thought I was working which I may have lied about if you asked too many questions (you know who you are Nicole!) starting from the day I turned all my documents in that have been attached to my hip for the last 5 months, I can't tell you how strange it felt to hand them all across the desk to be shredded.
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Today is November 19th and I am flying home to Canada to stay. I am sitting in the airport for the first time since I arrived in this country.
There is lots more to say before we get to the good parts.
It all started with the horrible ear infection. That alone had me marching into the office to give my notice to leave the company (I was sick of being sick) only to find out at my doctors appointment later that day that I have done excessive damage to my inner ear canals and have lost a little over 30% of my hearing since starting to fly three months ago. The aviation doctors signed all the paperwork that day and I had two weeks to say the goodbyes and pack my bags for the flight home. Time flew by, one day I had 12 days and then I had 12 hours. I tried to jam pack as much into my last few days as possible. I had planned to have three years to slowly cross things off my to do list but that didn't work out so I made a list and got started that day. Sick or not. I would have lots of time to rest and feel better once I got home I reasoned.
First things first I had to break the news to Melly. That was hard. Last we talked we were planning leave for December, January and April for birthdays and now suddenly I have two weeks left with her. She wasn't a happy girl. Cross that off the list, now to slowly break the news to the girlfriends around me but not too loudly so as to ruin the surprises I had planned for when I arrived back home.
We had fancy dinners, laid by the loveliest pools and I rode a camel and held another falcon! What was better was as soon as I had the stress of no roster looming over me disappear I felt a million times better!
I've got a few photos from what I got up to while you thought I was working which I may have lied about if you asked too many questions (you know who you are Nicole!) starting from the day I turned all my documents in that have been attached to my hip for the last 5 months, I can't tell you how strange it felt to hand them all across the desk to be shredded.
Last time putting the famous red lipstick on.
Just some of the documents I carried around with me at all times. A few of them I stole to take home with me.
Last time in the uniform before packing it all up and taking it back packed to perfection!
Goodbye hat, shoes and luggage!
For some reason my shoes and handbag showed up black on this photo, they are actually bright red.
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The only personal thing I had on my piece of luggage to identify it as my own since this sort of thing isn't allowed in the company. Such rubbish.
Last dinner out at fancy Shangri-La! So exciting! We ate until we nearly burst and then ate some more!
Goodbye Dinner with the girls and Shane.
Just one part of the buffet!
Love you guys!
We spent a day in the snow at Ski Dubai in the Mall of Emirates.
Out those windows is the mall. So strange.
The chair lift in the background.
And they had penguins there!!
Little Melandi!
Here we go!
Then I spent a day in the desert on a safari!
This is my camel! I did tickled him and yes he did giggle!
The Danish family I went on safari with, they were lovely!
That camel behind me loved me to death! He kept nudging me and cuddling up!
Camel's need love too!
Sucky baby camel!
Weirdly enough there was also a pony there you could ride. It came up to my knee.
Hello Middle East Desert!
Then biggest falcon I've ever seen, and I've seen some big falcons!
I love him. See his smile?
He kept moving along the glove on my arm to get closer to me it was so hilarious!
He was trained to give kisses so he had just touched his beak to my nose as a "kiss" and the camera just missed it!
Just look at the nice photos, I don't really fancy talking about the "dune bashing" portion of the safari.
I wanted to sit down so badly, I felt so sick and dizzy from the stupid dune bashing.
Best smile I could muster up under the circumstances of trying to ensure I didn't throw up on the guys shoes who was taking the photo. Fun fun.
Coconuts and a machete!
Well that's my last few days in Dubai in a nutshell! Lots of lunches out and paperwork signing!
The parts I'd like to forget was the fact that it took me 10 hours out of my very last day in Dubai to disconnect the internet from the apartment since it was under my name and I wasn't able to hand my apartment keys in when leaving if I didn't have the paperwork to prove that I had disconnected the internet, so it was a horrible cycle I should have started to accomplish weeks ago instead of the very last day I had in the country. No matter, I banged it out with the help of Shane to argue all my best points to the moronic people. Thanks for the battle buddy!
It was a 14 hour flight from Dubai to Seattle, my very last flight on Emirates, this time sitting in a seat and watching movies (so much nicer than working, haha!) and then a quick two hour flight from Seattle home! I was home right at dinner time so I put in my order for real food and I got a roast beast, mashed potatoes and the most delish salad with real lettuce! My grandparents joined me for my coming home dinner and I opened a few gifts! Thanks Mum and Dad!
The next day was spent surprising my girl Nicole who was under the impression that I was at the time in Australia (sorry for all the white lies!) and in the evening one last surprise to let Mike know I was home who also didn't expect it, he was under the impression a parcel was being delivered.
In the days since I've just been spending them with family and friends catching up and Christmas shopping!
In short, I am happy to be home!
Love Leanna xo
P.S Thanks for reading along for the last 5 months, it's been fun making you laugh!
