Home bound!

The morning of our departure Judy and I woke up exceedingly early (4am) to pull our suitcases together and shuttle to the airport.  Sleepy-eyed and excited to go home, we hopped in the long line to check our bags and get our boarding passes upon arrival at the airport.  Our hotel had thoughtfully packed us a little sack breakfast, so we snacked as we waited in line.  

so ready to be home!!

After getting through security (much more lax than in the U.S.), we found our boarding gate and used some free Internet time to update our respective social media sites.  The plane ride to Madrid was only a couple of hours, but I didn’t get much sleep on the plane, as usual.  Upon arriving in the Madrid airport, we had to shuttle to a different terminal, and go through security again to reach our boarding gate.  After a quick snack and bathroom break, we hopped in line to board our behemoth 9.5 hour flight to Chicago.  The boarding took forever since the plane was so big, and we ended up departing late.  

waiting in the Madrid airport

Over the course of the flight I was happy to find that my Spanish was still strong from my time in Valencia.  It was actually a relief to speak a language I knew since in France and Italy I was rather lost.  Across the aisle there was a family with two little boys- and you guessed it, I made friends with the toddler named Daniel!  He was completely adorable and I had fun talking to him in Spanish.  Upon our late arrival in Chicago, Judy and I ran off the plane and grabbed our priority slips to be rushed through customs.  We only had 20 minutes to take the tram to another terminal, grab our checked bags, go through security, and go through customs before our next, and final flight, departed.  That’s the second (and hopefully last) time I’ve had to run through the Chicago O’Hare airport.  We made our flight, and I sat down to try and calm my poor little lungs down before take off.  In no time at all we were beginning the descent into Sioux Falls!  It was wonderful to see my family and spend time relaxing at home my first night back in the U.S.  Though I loved my time abroad, nothing beat lying down in my own bed that first night at home! 

A big thank you to everyone who followed me through this once in a lifetime journey- I couldn't have done it without your support and prayers! Once I'm a little more settled in, I plan to write a handful of miscellaneous blog posts about packing, travel tips, things that surprised me/I wish I would have known, etc. Hopefully these upcoming posts will provide a little insight for future travelers! :)

Love,
Maggie