Home.

The plane ride home was long. I took a few sleeping tablets before getting on the plane and was feeling pretty drowsy and I hardly slept the night before as well. As soon as I found my seat, I was asleep. However, half an hour after take off, they woke me up to ask if I wanted a drink.
"No thanks, I've got my water here."
And then I was awake. For 15.5 hours.
16 hours of a single TV screen shared with the entire plane, that had the image flickering with every movement. It was also on mute because nobody's head set deck was working. Among some b-grade movies, they showed Taken 2. (Bit of a kick in the face for anyone nervous about travelling. Hah!)
The food was dulce de leche (caramelised condensed milk) on bread, so I practically starved because I never want to eat that stuff again.
I did make friends with the guy sitting next to me, Franco. He is from Argentina but is moving to Sydney to do his doctorate at Newcastle Uni. He was very friendly and it made saying goodbye to the holiday a little bit harder. It was a reminder that I am not going to be meeting people every day anymore. Sydney people are just not interested. Everyone already has friends and they don't have room for more. And I think that's what I'm most upset about.
I think about the 2 months I had travelling alone, and about the copious amounts of people I met. And the fact that I had to go overseas in order to meet people. It shows me that there's absolutely nothing wrong with ME, because I can make friends very easily apparently!! And not just travelling friends either. I am still in touch with Gabby, Sofi, Mathilde, Anna and Paula via whatsapp and Facebook and we have every intention of staying in touch and catching up again if our paths end up crossing again later in life.

As the plane touched down in Sydney, my heart dropped a little as I realised how different life is going to be now.

The plane landed 15 mins early and I didn't wait for the captain to tell me I could turn my phone on before messaging Shane. It was 2:05pm and he hadn't left for the airport yet! I thought that maybe with security, baggage claim and customs, there would be a lot of waiting around and he would get away with it.

But no.
There were no lines for anything. I waited about 10 mins for my bag to meet me on the carousel but that was the extent of it. I walked out of the gates at about 2:40 and there was no sign of any familiar faces. At first, I thought that someone was going to jump out from a hiding place and surprise me.. But after waiting a bit too long, I resolved to think that I had been stood up by my husband because apparently two months wasn't long enough to be apart from each other.
Completely devastated, I fought back the tears while I ordered McDonalds because the hunger pains were really getting to me. Shane eventually came and met me (he was late because he couldn't navigate the new car park). As furious and upset as I was, all was forgiven when he hugged me. It was so good to see him, to smell him and breathe him in.

After being home almost 2 days, I've caught up with some family and Jana, the backbone of this trip. It's been so good to see everyone again. It already feels as though I've never left, but I keep seeing little changes that have happened since I've been away. My 18 month old niece, Scarlett is a little tentative towards me (before I left, she loved me the most) so that was a little heartbreaking. I guess it means that I'm not aloud to go anywhere again. (That is, until they move to Africa at the end of the year!)

When Jana and I caught up at the beach, there was a stronger bond and connection than before I left, because now we have both experienced the intricacies and the marvel of South America, and in particular, the Galápagos Islands and Iguazu Falls. It was ultra special because after going on about how incredible it was to see God's creations in their natural environment, we spotted a pod of about 20 dolphins swimming so close to shore. With our arms in the air and screaming for joy, we both felt so lucky to be in at moment together, at the same time cursing Sea World and other animal enclosures for not allowing them to be free in the wild.

Spoke to my mum and daddy on the phone today at 6:30am because I am jet-lagged and just assumed that my retired parents would be awake at 6am Adelaide time. Well they weren't... but they were so happy to finally hear my voice. I let the cat out of the bag and told them about two new tattoos I acquired while being away. (Thanks for not freaking out!) They are really quite beautiful and they have such cool stories behind them. The tattoo I got in Detroit, while staying with Nath and Kel, says hallelujah. Everyone I had encountered after getting the tattoo has asked me about it. I've even had people stop me in the street and ask me.. What is it? What does it mean? and Why is the word so important to me to have it tattooed on my body forever. Such a cool experience to think of my God every day while I explain to people from all over the world what hallelujah is and what it means to me, not to mention having a daily reminder to "praise The Lord", even on the days that it was hard to do.

So with the copious amounts of reunions and familiar faces and voices...being home isn't all that bad. There is just going to be a bit of post-travel blues from time to time.