His travel-worn features can no longer be seen…

I had planned with my sister for some time to arrive back in Australia early and surprise the rest of my family. Mostly this was just to avoid a scene at the airport with my mother (she’s a little emotionally unpredictable at times).

Two weeks before I’m scheduled to return and I get a call from my mother, who says she has a feeling I am planning to come back early (how did she work that out?). And she emphatically said that she would be VERY disappointed as she wanted to meet me at the airport. So much for avoiding a public confrontation.

I had already booked my secret flight and organised it all, so there was no changing plans now. However, my sister came up with the great idea that Mum and Dad were down in Adelaide the same weekend and that I could then go and meet them at the airport instead of them meeting me. I figured it would still pay off as there’d be less of a crowd at the domestic terminal than the international for me to be embarrassed in front of.

My mate Rafael came to pick me up at the airport and then I went over to my sister’s place and hung out slowly acclimatising back to Oz!

A few days later and it was time to meet Mum and Dad at the domestic terminal. Mum came through the terminal doors, down the escalators, saw me and then screamed. As I had anticipated, everyone in the terminal looked up worried about a possible terrorist attack, only to find the happy reunion of a mother and father with their travelling son.

But I was back in Australia and certainly it was going to be good to acclimatise back into the Australian way of life.