Adelle Roberts, 35, is a first officer for Virgin Atlantic. She lives in a village near Windsor with her husband, Pete, a manager for British Airways

My brother, a former RAF pilot, inspired me to enter the airline industry, so after working as cabin crew for a year, at 21 I trained to become a pilot. It costs a fortune to train in the UK – it’s currently about £100,000 – so I trained in Australia, where it’s cheaper, for 13 months. I’m now a long haul and ultra-long haul pilot so I only work four times a month but I am away between two and nine days at a time, flying everywhere from New York to Shanghai.

My longest trip is from London to Sydney via Hong Kong and back again. It’s a night departure from Heathrow so I get up at 8am, have a bowl of cereal and a black coffee and go to the gym. It’s important to be well rested, so after eating some homemade soup for lunch, I sleep for three hours at home. I’m a really good napper so I don’t need an eye mask – I just switch off, plus doing yoga at the gym helps me relax.

I get dressed into my uniform of trousers, white shirt with epaulets, cravat, fitted jacket and court shoes – we take our jackets off in the flight deck so it’s actually really comfortable. Travelling as often as I do, I’ve become an expert at packing – I fold rather than roll my clothes and always check the weather so if it’s hot I’m prepared. I never unpack my toiletry bag as I don’t want to risk forgetting anything. My skin gets dry but I don’t like taking liquids through security so I will slather on Estée Lauder Resilience Lift moisturiser before I fly.

At the airport I pass through the same security checks as the passengers with my carry-on – a pilot’s nav-bag containing my iPad, passport and pilot and medical licences. Although we get a discount at duty free, I don’t buy anything in England as I love beauty store Sephora in the US. The crew meet in the crew room and walk through theterminal together to the aircraft. We get lots of attention. It’s a bit like BBC2’s Pan Am – one of my favourite shows.

Adelle Roberts: Airline Pilot