What was supposed to be a nice visit home during my reserve period turned into a right mess. The trip that I was operating gets into Perth at around 2am, so with a very packed day ahead of me I bolted up to my room, showered and nodded off.

I woke up the next morning at around 10 or so, and I was feeling less than average, but no where near as horrendous as I did a couple of hours later. Tried to get into the city for some shopping, running of errands and catch ups, but after potentially infecting 2 of them and nearly fainting at one point decided it was best to go back to the hotel and call our international hotline for medical assistance.

After a very long wait I managed to see a doctor, who reassured me I didn't have Swine Flu, merely an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (aka the common cold) and as a result would be grounded until further notice.

Now I know what you're thinking. Even though I'm sick, at least I'll have my family around. Well one of the reasons I swapped onto this flight was to see my dad before he went into surgery to fix his nose that was infamously broken on my bidet in October. Now with me sick and all it's not worth risking him getting sick and delaying the surgery again.

In addtion to that, it really looks bad from the company's point of view to call sick at an outstation as it is, let alone from your home destination. This was the first time I had called sick overseas and I've always said to myself to avoid doing so in Perth, but to deadhead instead. Unfortunately I was stuck in Perth, insanely bored, no family to see and very depressed. Didn't take the laptop, no books to read. Couldn't leave the hotel. A horrible, horrible layover.

I was checked again 2 days later, and the doctor said I was fit to fly, so I deadheaded back to Dubai. I still need to send over some forms to my manager, but now I'm on leave and right now the priority is to relax and take it easy for the next week. And to maybe post a bit more on the blog ;-)

Labels: Homesick, Layovers, Work

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