The Final Trip HOME

Our flight departed from Perth at 6am, so we were all up by 2:45am to get the car loaded and get to the airport in time. These two boys popped out of bed and were so excited to get back on the plane! They're such great travelers.

Good thing we were checking in at 4am because we got a brand spanking new agent and threw just about every challenge his way. I think he paled a little when he saw all our bags, carseats, surfboards, and stroller. But he must have done his job well because we made it to Houston, along with all 16 pieces of baggage.

This was a rare treat for us - we got to fly business class for the first time since our relocation trip to Singapore four years ago. The timing was funny because just two weeks ago Ben noticed that part of the cabin had bigger seats and asked to sit there. Lucky for him, it worked out on our last trip and this boy was thrilled!

Alex was a teensy bit excited, too.

We flew Emirates for the first time and it was a much easier trip because it was only two flights. Since we've always wanted to see Dubai, we scheduled the longest layover of 13 hours to relax a little in the complimentary hotel rooms, shower (whew! always a luxury on a long trip), and explore the amazing city.

There are skyscrapers all over the place but the Burj Dubai dwarfs everything. It's currently the tallest building in the world by a long shot.

It's over 2,000 feet tall! In comparison, Taipei 101 is 1,670 ft and the Empire State Building is 1,250 ft.

Even from a distance, the Burj is amazingly tall.

We also got to see the Burj Al Arab, the world's first 7-star hotel. Rooms start at over $1,000 USD per night but they include use of the Rolls Royce fleet. Still couldn't talk Matt into staying there! It's on a man-made island and I've heard you have to pay just to drive out to see the lobby (we didn't).

Next stop was another series of man-made islands called Palm Jumeirah. We saw a show about its creation on Discovery years ago and it was really an amazing feat, so Matt and I were both excited to see it in person.

We drove straight up the trunk, which ends in an underwater tunnel to connect it to the outer ring where the massive Atlantis resort stands.

I don't think they do anything small in Dubai...this resort was bigger than anything Las Vegas could possibly dream up!

Beyond the Palm was another slew of skyscrapers and if you look closely nearly every one still has a crane on top, so these things must be going up like crazy.

The crew in the taxi did well but weren't all quite as interested in the sights. Alex totally passed out in the back seat but Ben never did go to sleep. He held out until we were back at the hotel and then crashed. We woke everyone up later in the evening, had some dinner, then headed back to the airport for our 16-hour flight to Houston.

These seats were awesome. We all had room to stretch out and sleep and I didn't have little people touching me for two days straight. I love cuddling and having the boys sleep on me, but after 10-20 hours of it my need for personal space gets extreme! This trip was over 44 hours because of our long layover so the extra space was greatly appreciated. Alex learned how to use all the buttons for his seat and would raise and lower it frequently. Hey, why not?

The kids watched Mary Poppins about a hundred times, along with a bunch of other movies and shows. Ben even tried out his cute little sleep shades.

Can you believe this is how we left the US four years ago?

It's hard to believe we're done living overseas. Everything happened so quickly that I haven't had time to process anything yet but it's exciting to think about living in our own house again and putting down some roots. This will be Alex's first time to live in the US in his life!