World Travelers

We were hoping that Dave, our host, would wake up before we left for the airport in the morning but unfortunately we had to leave earlier than we had told him. We were both a little nervous about getting everything done in time especially since we had to exchange our money and clean out our storage unit all before the airport shuttle bus came at 10 o’clock. We left a nice note and TimTams on the counter for Dave so hopefully he can forgive us! Walking down George Street we realized that waiting until the last morning to exchange our money might not have been the best idea since most of the places were closed. We were hoping for at least one money exchange shop would be open and we were finally relieved to see one. Although it didn’t have the best exchange rate or service charge we were happy to have that checked off our list, but getting dull green money wasn’t exactly a highlight. It was pretty sad to turn in all our colorful money and get back the green money we know so well. We had mixed feelings since it also meant that we were officially going back. At this point we knew we had to book it to the storage unit to get that cleared out, get half our money back and make it to Neill’s place with all our luggage where the airport shuttle bus was planning to pick us up. While I ran to turn in our storage unit lock Riley started gathering the luggage and zip tying some of them together. Carrying five suitcases down the street is no joke and we had anticipated it being hard but I definitely took it a lot harder than Riley did. Halfway there we decided we were barely getting anywhere so Riley offered to take two of the suitcases up to UniLodge and come back! I was just been thinking the same thing so I was thankful and even more thankful when Neill returned with him. We had told Neill that we would be catching the bus outside of UniLodge and were hoping he would send us off so he had been waiting in the lobby. With the extra set of hands we were able to speed up the process which was perfect since the airport shuttle pulled around the corner as we were almost to UniLodge. That’s when I dropped the suitcases off and ran over to Coles to pick up a tube of vegemite that I could not leave behind for my sister. I was slightly thankful for the rushed goodbye because we meant we couldn’t get teary-eyed with Niell, but it was very sad to say the least! We both got hugs out of Neill before we took off. The shuttle was expected to take an hour to get to the airport with the extra stops that they had to make to pick up other people. Right at 11 o’clock we were pulling into the airport and struggling to get all of our luggage into the airport and organized. We were hoping to not have heavy carry-ons, but really had no idea where to put the extra clothes and souvenirs. A lady at Quantas was nice enough to let Riley weigh a few of our suitcases, although she gave us false, hopeful information that we could have 30 kilos in each suitcase. When we finally got to the counter to check in the lady let us know that it was only 23 kilos, but was also nice enough to let us open them up and rearrange since there wasn’t a line. We had found out the day before that our extra suitcase would be twice the price that we had expected to pay and I had spent a little bit on the phone trying to figure out how to get the online price or just a lower price in general. They told me it wasn’t possible since we were flying with two separate airlines, but of course I was going to try it once again at the actual airport. We weren’t so lucky, but we knew we had to pay the price since we had severely over packed! However, we did promise ourselves that it will never happen again! We made it through security and waited at our gate for a good hour, standing up of course since we would be sitting for the next 14 hours straight. Out the windows we could see Sydney’s skyline just calling our name, but we knew it was time to say goodbye. Sydney had been great to us and a wonderful place to call home for the last 5 months but it wasn’t really home to us. We were ready to see our family and friends and just be settled down again and not constantly moving. However, it was not easy coming to realization that we may never see Sydney again, since goodbyes are never easy in the first place. It finally came time to board our flight and we did so solemnly; thankfully the lady at the Quantas had been nice enough to put us next to each other. We were in the very bad row of the plane, but we didn’t care since we started a movie almost immediately after taking off. We hadn’t taken advantage of the free entertainment throughout the first flight but we made sure to do it this time by watching two/three movies each as well as a few episodes of Big Bang Theory. This also made the flight go much smoother with only a few episodes of turbulence. The food was delicious once again which they must have had an overabundance of because they kept handing us food very hour it seemed! We were thankful to have the longest flight first since we had predicted it would be a tough flight but really it wasn’t too bad although we were only able to sleep a few hours. We were getting more excited and anxious as we landed in Dallas but we still had to make it through customs and border control. We unfortunately didn’t get another stamp in our Visas, but we did however get to keep all of our souvenirs and food products except for our bananas. The security officers had to do a bag check on our sand from the Great Ocean Road and Cairns, but they let us go with both of them. The lady didn’t even bother to check the seashells though! We’re so glad that we had a four hour layover since we didn’t have to rush or worry about anything but rather got to go at a nice easy pace and even make it to our gate with plenty of time to spare. We mainly just took turns walking around to get our legs moving and I even wandered into a candy shop to check out the cheap prices again. The Dallas flight was of course a lot quicker, but still not short enough since we knew family was waiting for us on the other side as well as Cookout! We were able to catch up on a few blogs as well as look through the Where’s Wally book that I had picked up before we left. It was light outside almost the whole way so we were beginning to wonder when it was going to get dark! The sun set around 5 PM every day in Sydney since it was Winter time, so seeing the sun up past 8 PM was definitely something we were going to have to get used to. It’s not normal to go from Winter to Summer in less than 24 hours! Right when we landed I was already out of my seat with my backpack on my back and ready to be off the plane! I was speed walking through that airport with Riley right behind me on our way to the ‘Meeting Place’ to finally see everyone! Finally being able to hug everyone and see them was unbelievable and we both couldn’t stop smiling! We had just been through an experience of a lifetime but were more than happy to be safely back in the United States, which we will forever call home.

 

 

After lots of hugs we went downstairs to collect our luggage. Riley was able to call his mom and give her the good news while I waited for the luggage. I was starting to get worried since none of our five suitcases had shown up but apparently they were still unloading our flight. We were successful in getting four of our suitcases but Riley still hadn’t found his suitcase with all of his clothes in it. Finally we had to go place a missing luggage claim with a lady from American Airlines who had actually lived in Sydney for 5 years. She assured us that it was on the last flight of the day and we arranged to have it delivered. Finally it was time to all pile into the van and head to Cookout! We were both starving and couldn’t wait to eat our favorite foods but were also having a blast passing time by telling all of our stories. We stopped at the Smithfield Cookout which is one of the cheaper ones and were able to get meals/snacks for the whole family for the same price it would cost Riley and I to get one meal in Sydney! Finally – cheap American food again! We thought we’d be exhausted after we got home, but it was quite the opposite. We were pretty wired and ready to tell more stories, but my family was just ready to get their souvenirs! I didn’t mind though since I was ready for them to see what I had picked out for them anyways. Afterwards we stayed up talking even longer with everyone and didn’t get to bed until closer to 3 o’clock in the morning! That’s what happens when we leave for almost 5 months though – there’s a lot to catch up on!