37 Hours of Secret Travel

Sorry it’s been so long! So much has gone on, none of it to do with traveling. When the business of home began, I totally forgot we had a blog going. Whoops!

Let me get you up to speed.

We had it planned all along. To most everyone’s knowledge, we were traveling indefinitely. Normal for them to expect that from us nowadays. Little did our friends and family know we had booked flights home from Jakarta, Indonesia before we even left for Asia. We were to arrive home just in time for Christmas. I had to get some people back for the surprise party they threw us when we returned home from 7 months in South America. Dusty felt a little guilty lying to everyone, but I thought the idea was awesome + hilarious. He eventually came around.

After three weeks in Bali, we were ready to come home, if you can believe it. Traveling didn’t feel the same this time around. It was tiring and felt like a chore some of the time. We tried to do too much. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed the places we visited, but were excited to spend Christmas with our families after missing the last one. I suppose it’s a good thing when you’d rather be home with your family in Cincinnati than on a beach somewhere. Or, maybe it’s just psycho.

The trip home was exhausting. A short flight from Denpasar, Bali got us to Jakarta for our flight home. In Jakarta, we enjoyed a 7 hour layover without an air conditioned interior to rest in and only American fast food to fill our stomachs. We settled for an A&W burger, which we shared and still didn’t finish. It was that bad. After a month of eating vegetables, rice, curries and fish, that burger tasted like burnt cardboard. America, why did you ruin food?

Next, on an 8 hour flight to Seoul, South Korea, we tried our best to stay awake in an attempt to get back on Eastern Standard Time. For everyone else, it was bedtime. Luckily, in Bali I hadn’t been falling asleep until 5 a.m. I have no idea why. It started at 1 a.m., then the next night 2. Eventually, I was fading into sleep when the roosters began crowing. There was no need to fix the problem, though, as it would actually help in flipping our schedules the full 12 hours.

Once in Korea, we again struggled to find something to eat. Don’t get me wrong, it was the most fancy airport we’ve been in with some nice, yet expensive restaurants. And let’s not forget your go to American style fast food. NTY. We again craved inexpensive, real food. Not prepackaged crap. We settled for a banana and coffee at Starbucks. Four hours later, we took off on a 13 hour flight to Dallas. Another 2 hour layover, one more flight to Cincinnati and we were finally home.

Thirty seven hours of travel complete.

One of the only people who knew of our secret arrival was our friend Jed who was staying in our condo while the floors in his home were being installed. After he picked us up from the airport, we immediately headed (airplane stank and all) to BW’s for wings and beer. Forget what I was saying about American food. Mmmmmm.

The next few hours was a blur. In a haze of delirium, giddiness and sleep deprivation….we finally arrived home where we decided we needed some wine. We hadn’t had any in 2 months. Not to worry that we didn’t have a bottle opener. A wall and a shoe would do.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t carry on any longer. Dusty passed out during a conversation, sitting straight up. I finally gave in and we went to bed at around 8 p.m. The next morning at 5:30, we were wide awake. Being careful not to wake Jed in the other bedroom, we snuck out to grab some breakfast in Downtown Cincinnati. It was wonderful. Christmas lights hung in the stores and a big Christmas tree shined at Fountain Square. We shared a breakfast and coffee in the quiet early morning darkness before the rush of work began.

It was nice to be home.