Returning Home

One of our expat friends once said about leaving Dubai that it was "hard to leave but easy to come home." That's exactly how I felt once the time had come for us to leave Dubai and head home to Texas.

Jeff's work schedule ended up allowing him to travel home with us, which we were so thankful for. We loaded up on our last Careem ride (like Uber in the UAE) and took off for the Dubai airport for one final time. Our Careen MAX vehicle barely fit our luggage but we made it work!

It felt surreal to be at the DXB airport for the last time. We had looked forward to this day for so long and here we were, excited but also dreading that long flight home.

Every time we took that flight, it was like hitting the lottery if we ended up with empty seats near ours on the plane. We ended up sitting on 2 different rows so that we could spread out a little bit. And I wasn't sure why, but it seemed like the flight path had changed a bit from my last few flights. This time, we were flying directly over the North Pole. Fascinating!

It is always the BEST feeling to be back on Texas soil! Our plan for the first few days was to stay in a hotel as we made arrangements at our new house. But before we could stop anywhere, we made a beeline for our new house so that everyone (besides me) could see it for the first time. Luckily we still had some daylight, because we drove up to the neatest surprise on our front porch.

Our great friends, the Lettows, had arranged for us to have the best Welcome Home surprise - fun decorations and a gift card for Mexican food. Talk about the perfect way to be welcomed back!

I was so excited for Jeff and the kids to see this new house that they had only seen before in photos and videos. It was a lot to take in, but everyone was very happy to finally see the house.

Of course, all Connor could think about was hitting up his American restaurant favorites like Chickfila and Lupe Tortilla. There's nothing like food to make us feel back at home again!