Come From a Land Down Under

I'm finally home! I still have a few adventures that I haven't quite gotten to write about yet, but I wanted to let everyone know that I made it home safely. The flight was long and I got so sick, but I am so happy to be cooking in the Arizona sun with my family.

We got to the Sydney Airport at about 7am on July 3rd. I swear it took us about thirty minutes just to get to the correct terminal to check in from the parking garage where our Uber driver dropped us off. That airport is honestly way too big! We also had had a bit of trouble checking in because Devyn had put Jess on my ticket instead of Jessica and the computer wasn't too happy about that. However, THANKFULLY our bags were under the weight limit for once and we were off to our gate! Of course, we got there crazy early so we ate Macca's one last time, got Starbucks, and bought more Tim Tams to bring home. Then we were finally on the plane and heading back to America to see our families!

I did not sleep a wink on the plane ride... I was wide awake until the last few hours and I just could not fall asleep. On the bright side, I got to watch a lot of movies so I guess it was worth it?? Other than that, the plane ride was actually pretty good except I got really, really motion sick and was absolutely miserable when we got off for our layover. The layover was only supposed to be two hours and we spent about 30 minutes just sitting in the plane at the gate because there was some construction going on and the plane had to be towed. Then we got in a HUGE line to go through security which took an hour on its own. The line legitimately took up the length of the airport. People were cutting each other, there was zero order, the guards were yelling at the people in line, it was madness.

Apparently, they had had to delay a bunch of flights the previous day and they were backed up. So, our two-hour layover in San Francisco ended up being a four-hour layover and we weren't able to board until the time we were supposed to be back in Arizona. That ended up being a bit of a blessing in disguise though because we never would have made it on time had it not been delayed. During the layover, I was sooooo sick! I legitimately thought I was going to pass out or something. I got a snack and something to drink because I thought it might help, but it only made me feel worse! I eventually just laid down on the floor to try to sleep. I probably slept for about thirty-ish minutes until they called us to board and I only felt worse when I woke up. I was so miserable! I did get to see the Golden Gate bridge for like, a second, when we were taking off which was really cool and I slept for a little while, but that was the only good thing about the whole situation.

When we finally arrived in Phoenix I could tell instantly! The roads below us were in a nice grid pattern and it was all brown! Plus, when we reached the ground you could feel the heat coming through the windows. I had never been so happy to be in the 100+ degree heat before! I was so excited to see my family, but nobody else seemed to care because they were all taking their sweet time getting their bags down and heading off of the plane. I just wanted to get off and get to the gate! My nephew, Kadin, ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug! Quick little side story, my niece, Maddy, hates the phrase 'hot minute' because she doesn't think it makes any sense, but I like to use it a lot. So, when I was leaving, I told her I was going to say, 'It's been a hot minute' when I got off of the plane and she didn't think I would remember. However, I remembered the entire time I was in Australia and y'all best believe that was the first thing I said to her. I was so happy to finally get to see them that I teared up a bit walking out to see them. Kadin was the cutest thing and was helping me get my bags off of the carousel and wheel them to the car. He was very adamant about pulling my big suitcase all on his own, but I helped him with the medium one instead and he kept running over his shoe as we pulled the suitcase along. It was the sweetest thing!

I loved Australia so much and definitely am really sad to have said goodbye, but I am so happy to be home! I can't wait to go back to Flagstaff and move into my new apartment and just back into the groove of things!