It has been little more than two weeks since Daniel Andrews resigned as Premier of Victoria, and he’s already looking a world away from his suited-and-booted, camera-ready self.
Andrews was spotted on Wednesday evening in the arrivals line at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
Veteran entertainment reporter Peter Ford shared a photo of a slightly scruffy version of the former premier to social media on Thursday morning.
“You never know who you’ll spot in arrivals line at JFK airport New York,” he wrote.
It was undeniably Mr Andrews, even without his iconic North Face puffer jacket – and with more facial hair than we’re used to seeing on the former premier.
News.com.au asked Ford for details about the impromptu paparazzo shot, which he revealed was taken by a friend who was also in the arrivals queue.
The friend had no idea whether he shared a flight with the ex-politician, and could not see if he was travelling with anyone and appeared, in the photo, to only have carry-on-size bag at his feet.
While some users had their own ideas for what Mr Andrews could be doing queuing with the arrivals at JFK, others were not convinced it was, in fact, him.
But others put his somewhat dishevelled appearance down to him “busting for a durry”, a jab at the rumour that Dan likes a sneaky cigarette from time to time.
That rumour was apparently confirmed just days before he handed in his resignation, when another sneaky phone captured him taking a quick cigarette break with a mate outside an event.
Tom Naylor wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “He can’t wait to get outside so he can puff on a dart after the long flight.”
It’s a mystery what Mr Andrews could be travelling to the Big Apple for, or if it’s just a first stop on a US jaunt for leisure or, perhaps, business.
It does, however, explain why Mr Andrews broke with an unspoken political tradition and voted early in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
The Herald Sun reported after his exit the self-confessed “workaholic” had a hankering for a New York gig in a so-called “Danhattan” transition.
Meanwhile, a federal Labor source told The Age in September that the job of Australia’s consul-general to New York is Mr Andrews’ “if he wants it” – despite him reportedly saying he’s not interested in the gig that, by the way, is already taken.
Either way, PR guru Max Markson said the former politician will be employed “wherever he wants to go”.
Not that he needs to, or probably wants to, jump back into the workforce after calling time after nine years heading Victoria’s government.
The man probably wants a bit of a break, some time off to ditch the suit and tie, let the beard grow out, or perhaps “get on the beers” as he once famously said.
The Nine newspaper also suggested Mr Andrews might be on holiday or catching up with family, given his daughter Grace is understood to be studying in the US.
Perhaps the “keen golfer”, as is his only identifier in his social media bios, might be heading for a round on the States’ links. His own version of Eat, Pray, Love … on a golf cart.