On March 31st at 6 am we got in a cab, went to the Melbourne Airport, and started the long flight home.
I can't believe our trip is over! We have been home for almost two weeks now and it seems like it should be time for us to move on to our next location, but there are no next location left!
Our flight home was relatively uneventful, with one 14 hour leg and one 7 hour. Our seatmate on the 14 hour flight was a hilarious guy from Tennesee, who, when they forgot to feed Subash and I, snuck in the back and stole us some hotdogs. (Note: airplane hotdogs may not be the best idea). Then they finally came around and gave us more hotdogs, and I ate them all, before having to turn over something like seven empty hotdog boxes to the flight attendant collecting trash. Hats off to you, seatmate guy, wherever you are.
We finally made it to New York, and my parents! It was so nice to see them after all this time.
My dad took some pictures of us with all of our stuff and when I looked at them later I found this amazing photobomb:
The purple suitcase I bought in a second hand store in South Africa (what could possibly go wrong in a sentence like that) made it to the end, mostly. The handle and wheels were broken off on its first voyage, and the stitching holding all of my treasures inside was giving way, so I had it plastic-wrapped at the Melbourne Airport. It seems to have worked, as all of my souvenirs from our 9 months made it. Plus it was easy to identify my bag at the luggage claim, as that one with the jaggedy plastic shard sticking out at the bottom where a wheel used to be.
For anyone curious about our financials, we ended the trip with about $400 to our name. Accordingly, we have now moved in with my parents!
My poor parents have already had our two cats all this time, who have been slowly destroying their nice house. One has scratched up their previously flawless couches, while the other chewed off all the pull-cords to their window blinds.
Seeing our cats again was one of the best parts of coming home, and we have quickly resumed our old positions of taking naps together.
So now what!
The first few days were rough as we dealt with all of the paperwork of normal stationary life. Taxes were due within two weeks of coming back. My drivers license had expired and we had sent back the license plate on our car so we didn't have to pay car insurance while we were away, and the car was also now out of inspection. Our health insurance had to be sorted. A giant box of mail awaited our attention.
I am very excited to say that I got in to graduate school, which I applied to before we left on the trip. I start a two year program in August, and it has been a huge help knowing that there is something set. We drove over to the area a few days ago to see where we should live, and I think it will be okay.
I've been looking for a job. Something, anything.
I can't believe our trip is over. Not that long ago we were in New Zealand. Even less than that I was surfing in Australia.
How do you keep all of the best parts of who you are when traveling in your normal daily life?
I'll have to try.
