Day 10 -- June 17

Today was our final day of the trip. We woke up at 3:30 (*groan*) and left the hotel at 4:00, saying goodbye to Mrs. Titus and hugging her. We reached the airport and began the ordeal of checking our baggage and getting ready to depart. Although I don't really like airports, because the whole process takes a very long time, I wanted to stay because I couldn't believe it: The trip was over. We were going home. We finally boarded the plane and started our return journey back to Chicago. The flights weren't too bad, except I didn't sleep much. From Sydney to LAX we flew through a storm and there was terrible turbulence. I enjoy plane rides, but after being on one for 15 hours, I'm glad I don't have to do that again for a while. The whole International Date Line confused me. We got home approximately ten hours after we left Cairns, even though the total number of hours spent coming home was about 23. It makes me feel like I was in a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space -- it's a time machine from Doctor Who). Although I do miss New Zealand and Australia, it is nice to be back home. The whole trip was absolutely fantastic. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.