When I was a young child my mother, sister and I were travelling to New Zealand to visit family. One of the flight attendants asked if I would like to offer sweets to the passengers. From that moment I knew that when I was older I wanted to be a flight attendant.
After many years of trying (Virgin didn’t think I was good enough. Silly Virgin…) I finally landed my dream job. That was nearly ten years ago.
My final days with Qantas didn’t end as I had imagined. Due to illness I didn’t have an official last flight. I missed out on a final silent review, a chance to sit in the Flight Deck on last time, to get a standard photo with the captain’s hat on and the obligatory A380 “stair shot”.
But my memories of flying weren’t reliant on that final flight; my memories were built during the last nine-and-a-bit years.
I couldn’t possibly name every person that has touch my life in a special way since I started with Qantas. But there are a few people that played a major role in many of my experiences.
On day one of training I met the most amazing lady – Lucy Goulding. We car pooled to training, studied together and she still remains an amazing friend to this day.
Graduation Class
And then there were my Bellevue Hill/Double Bay posse: Bec #1, Bec #2 and Sarah. See there is one problem with flying, if you don’t have flying friends and all your other friends work 9-5, it’s a very lonely world.
These girls were always there for midday, midweek coffee dates. Bec #1 was my soft sand run buddy and we would always plan to have tea and toast after, but we never actually drank tea…I still never worked out why we called it tea and toast.
Bec #1 and I cruising Dallas
And finally a shout out to Hatice, Eli, Caroline, Baxy, and Bobby.
I am forever grateful to Baxy, who put a roof over my head when I moved back to Sydney to fly long haul, with a weeks notice. Thank you to Caroline and Bobby for being my fellow London wanderers. And Eli, it all started when I text you your name while trying to save your number. There have been so many funny moments flying together – the swizzle sticks incident will never be forgotten. And Hatice, so many great days solving world problems on the rocks of Clovelly.
I couldn’t tell you how many flights I’ve flown, or how many hotels I’ve stayed in. But there were some special trips that I’ll always remember.
From Safari in South Africa…
…to cruising the Rhein in Germany…
… even getting sunburnt cycling along Venice Beach and Santa Monica.
I saw big bridges…
…and Great Walls
But there was also serious training involved. Like learning to evacuate from crew rest.
But nothing compares to the time spent with friends at 40,000ft.
So although I may have to Photoshop my face into some “final flights” I am not upset that the universe dealt me those cards.
Goodbye, Fuchsia… it’s been a blast.
