“When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home”

Our journey came to a close on Saturday morning when we pulled into our driveway at 2:00am. Our travel time home was a cool 33 hours and we were very much exhausted when we crashed into bed our own home. Our trip home took us through the extremely unpleasant airport in Moscow, Russia. No need to go in to the details on here, just send me an email if you're ever planning on going through Moscow and I will tell you all of the reasons why I would discourage it! haha.

From Moscow, we had a 10 hour flight to JFK airport in New York City, and from there we had to take a train to Newark airport in New Jersey. Sounds simple, right? False! It was not simple. When we landed in New York, it was 4:00pm Eastern time, but according to our bodies, it was 1:00am. We made our way through customs, collected our luggage, and started the trek to Newark airport. First, we had to take the airtrain to the metro. Easy enough. Then we took the metro to the train. We were on the metro for at least 45 minutes and when we got out at our stop, we were really confused that the train station wasn't there. We finally decided that we must have to exit the metro stop to find the train station.

So, with our two 50lb bags, a carry on, and two back packs we exited the station... to find that we were in downtown New York City at rush hour. We ascended the stairs and assessed our situation. I was a bit shocked when I realized what I was looking at was the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING and brilliantly asked Josh, "um... is that the Empire State Building?!?" Looking around, I concluded that we were on 34th street, just a couple of blocks away from Madison Square Garden looking also at the legendary downtown Macy's. THE Macy's, people! Completely disoriented, exhausted, and anxious about making our flight, we asked a couple of people on the street where the train was. It was two blocks away. So we dragged our luggage through downtown NYC, trampling toes and bumping shoulders with fellow commuters. We finally made it to the train (Josh had to carry our heavy luggage up many, many flights of stairs... he was a total rockstar. If I had had to carry anything other than my backpack and the little carry-on I really would have started crying which we can all agree would have been completely unproductive) On the final 30 minute train ride to Newark, we pulled out the ipod and listened to "Married Life" from the Up soundtrack. Listening to that song (the theme of the movie) turned our thinking around so that what had been a thoroughly unpleasant experience suddenly became a bit of an adventure.

Needless to say, we made it to our flight (with 25 minutes to spare before boarding) but will probably never, ever do that again haha. We saved A LOT of money by taking the long way home, but it was definitely a huge sacrifice of personal comfort and convenience. (Dave Ramsey would be proud!)

So anyway, I know this is a bit wordy but I thought it was interesting and it was the last step of our journey to share. I crashed on the last flight and was so happy that it was my Mama who was at the airport with a big sign and open arms. Nothing says I'm home like seeing my Mom!

Oh and just as a side note, I was quite pleased with myself upon our return home. The house was spotless! I mentally high-fived myself for my efforts before we left to get the house in order, knowing that when I walked in the door at 2:00am when we got back, I would appreciate it immensely... and I most definitely did! Do you ever do things with your future self in mind? My main thinking for thoroughly cleaning the house before we left was: "Future Leslie is going to really appreciate this!" It might be a little weird, I know, but it was motivating nonetheless.

So, thanks for being a part of our journey! I'm sure over the next few weeks, we'll be posting more pictures, experiences, and thoughts about the incredible trip we just took. Right now, we are simply enjoying the ease of being home and appreciating all of the family and friends that make this small town a place that we love so much.