Day 16-Homeward Focus

We woke up at around 6-6:30am so that we can be ready and downstairs by 7:30am. Our taxi was coming at 8:00am, but it would be nice to experience the continental breakfast before we leave the hotel for the last time. We make it downstairs, had a HUGE breakfast with croissants & biscotti (and I smothered them all in nutella :))
Lilliana & Christina were also going to the airport to fly back to Romania. Their flight was later than ours, and when they found out that we would be sharing a cab, they were upset because they would have to be at the airport earlier. Since Tim & I try to be as accommodating as possible, we offered to leave an hour later than we wanted. Well, that was problem number one. Problem number two was trying to fit 4 people with luggage and a driver into one car. Our driver, Carlo, did not want to part with his Mercedes for a Van (which would have made more sense), so I volunteered to have one of the most uncomfortable seats in the car. I chose to have a seat behind Tim (who was in the front seat holding my bag up on the dashboard so that it wouldn't cover the gear shift) and I had his smaller bag where my feet should go and 3 other bags on top of me. Christina, seeing my discomfort, offers to take one of the bags off of me, which was very nice of her. And the third problem was being in this position for an hour! My feet were falling asleep.
We finally get to the airport and we only have an hour to get our bags checked in, go through security and get to our terminal. This is all because we wanted to accommodate others. Tim is in a panic, but I just keep thinking that the lines are short and the plane hasn't left yet. We should be fine. I print our boarding passes while Tim checks our bags in. We get through security quickly and get to our terminal with 20 minutes to spare. Whew! We do some last minute shopping that we didn't get a chance to do and walk back to the terminal just as they were boarding. And thank goodness we didn't need a bus to get to our plane.
The plane ride was only 5 minutes late, so getting our next flight in Paris wasn't going to be a problem. We arrive and we have to take a bus to our terminal. Ahh, what is up with all the buses in airports?! We get to the area where our terminal is and I am floored. Why wasn't my Paris airport experience like this before?? High end stores everywhere. A really nice food area and elevators and bathrooms. AND an internet cafe. Where were you internet when I needed you a couple of weeks ago for 5 hours?! Ahh!
Anyway, we make it to the airplane and Tim and I were supposed to be in an aisle and middle seat. The window seat was open. We were getting anxious to see if someone would be sitting there or not, since it would be extremely nice to have this row to ourselves. Too good to be true, especially when a woman comes around saying that she thinks she's supposed to be in this row. But she then freaks out in front of the whole plane, "Why did they tell me I have an aisle seat when this is a WINDOW seat? I WANT AN AISLE SEAT!" "We don't mind moving down.." Thank goodness we were so accommodating AGAIN.
The plane ride wasn't too bad. We hit some turbulence from time to time, but I was able to watch a few more movies: When in Rome, Dear John and The Bounty Hunter. I fell asleep for maybe a half hour, which was definitely not enough. I just couldn't get comfortable. I don't think Tim had slept either on this 7 hour flight.
We finally land and it is like American heaven! Everything is in English...People are speaking in English...For once in the past couple of weeks, I actually know what's going on! Even a little boy who was standing in front of us at the customs line was pointing out us speaking in English. America America America! I love America!
My parents pick us up and they treat us to a lovely Chinese meal. Chinese in America! Awesome! There are some other foods on our list of things to eat: fruit (surprisingly, not very good in Italy), Japanese and Mexican. I'm excited for Mexican and Margaritas at my favorite place, Dos Segundos! Or even just to have a restaurant open throughout the whole day! There are so many things that I look forward to doing and enjoying more from this trip.
Tim and I also picked up our cars. A big thank you to my parents, my brother and Leah. Thanks guys for giving me a full tank of gas and my car in one piece. It was just the way I left it.
Although, it may seem like I didn't enjoy my trip, I really did. It was a great experience and I saw so many good things. It just also made me appreciate the things that I have at home that I might not have appreciated before. I am a lucky girl <3