Following on from Munich, I had two back to back trips to the UK. First up was a layover to Manchester which is home for me! My parents have recently moved house (still upset they’ve sold my childhood home but let’s not get into that) so it was time to check out the new neighbourhood as much as possible.

Landing into Manchester at 6:50am, my mum met me at the hotel where I quickly changed before we drove to the best place in the whole wide world, that has my heart forever, Yorkshire. Driving into the idyllic countryside we pulled into my parents new home. Check out this for a view from the driveway.

First things first a cup of coffee was needed, it had been a long night flight for myself and I’d also not slept great prior to the flight either. Myself and my mum sat chatting away and thought of a plan for the day.

We drove into Harrogate for some lunch and went to a place called The Wild Plum. We grabbed a table and looked through the menu after a placing a drinks order. I went for a Bloody Mary (some of us had had a long day) and my mum a pot of tea before I seriously struggled to choose what to eat.

Seriously, check this out for a menu! And if you’re ever in or around Harrogate I highly recommend heading to this aesthetically pleasing cafe located above an occasion wear shop. I eventually decided on the festive hash which was a bowl of diced potatoes and onion, pork stuffing, sausage, sprouts, burnt onion puree and a fried egg with a side of smoked halloumi.

The food arrived and it tasted divine. I honestly couldn’t get enough. We finished up our lunch and had thought about going to the Christmas Market. But a beverage and a stomach full of food had me feeling sleepy and I couldn’t fight the need for sleep anymore, so I napped for a couple hours before going to visit my Grandparents.

Earlier that day I had called my Grandma Myra to ask if she would be free around 3pm for me and my mum to come over. On the phone she asked if I would like a sandwich making, to which I said “well I wouldn’t say no”. Who can deny your grandmas food? And this is what I rocked up to. What an absolute dime she is. If you’re reading this Grandma (which I know you will be) thank you and I love you.

We sat chatting away into the late afternoon filled up on sandwiches, pots of tea, home made cakes (thanks for sending me back to Dubai with a lemon drizzle cake) and a cheeky glass of wine, before we then made our way over to my other Grandma’s house.

My Dad also met us at my Grandma Carol’s which was so lovely to have a catch up with everyone. I hadn’t seen my Grandma Carol in a while, before I then popped to the pub for an hour before making my way back to the hotel. With the wake up call being super early for this flight, I always stay in the hotel rather than home due to traffic and also because I want a decent night sleep before an already early 5:45am wake up call to go back to Dubai.

A few days later it was time to fly again and this time to London Gatwick. It was another family orientated layover and it was time to catch up with my auntie, uncle and little cousins. Again it had been a while since I’d seen them and I couldn’t wait for a nice home cooked meal and to just do absolutely nothing other than some quality bonding time.

My uncle made a beautiful roast pork dinner with all the trimmings and I just had a perfect evening in. It soon came round where it was time for me to make my way back to the hotel so I could get a decent nights sleep before the flight back to Dubai. Thank you for a lovely evening guys!

What was exciting was my best friend from uni, Kitty, was flying back as a passenger with me to spend a week in Dubai. Not only this, but this was my last ever flight as an economy crew member!

An already out of the ordinary flight, but made even more special by someone who could be described as my favourite passenger ever. Meet six month old baby Piper travelling from London all the way back to Australia after a month of visiting family in the UK.

Piper is without a doubt the smiliest happiest baby ever and spent a good hour with us in the galley laughing and giggling and entertaining us crew! What was so wonderful, was the next day I managed to see this tweet that Piper’s dad had shared…

Shout out to @emirates and their amazing staff who went above and beyond to make sure our long haul return trip from Aus to UK was comfortable with our 6 month old daughter. Future cabin crew maybe? 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/xnmUuhVsVf

— Matt Mays (@matty_mays) November 21, 2019

The power of social media! Isn’t it amazing? I look forward to being able to catch up with them all the next time I’m sent to Adelaide. So wonderful to meet you guys.

And that wraps up my time in Economy. Roll on wherever business class may take me! As always, feel free to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube:
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