25,124

Pete and Grace during their two hour power nap on the second flight home.

So… we’re home, but you knew that already.

We left Sydney at lunch time on Friday, flew to L.A. (13 hours), then flew to D.C. (5 hours), and then drove home (2 hours). In all, we were en route for more than 24 hours. During that time, we each got between one and two hours of sleep total, none during the first long flight. By the second flight, Ellie was so exhausted that she was asleep before the plane had backed out of the gate.

We got home in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Since then, we’ve all been trying to catch up on sleep and get back on schedule.

It’s now Monday morning. Pete’s back at work today and open house at the middle school is tonight. School starts Wednesday. Whether we like it or not, our summer is over and it’s time to put our vacation behind us and face reality.

To conclude our tales* about our adventures Down Under, we here in Jenworld have compiled some final antipodean numbers:

• Flights taken: 9
• Suitcases packed: 2 (for 4 people)
• Suitcases lost among 9 flights: 0
• Suitcases damaged during 9 flights: 1 brand new one and it happened during the last flight
• Loads of laundry done in half-size Aussie washing machines over 21 days of travel: 12
• Number of pairs of trousers Pete packed: 1
• Number of times worn: 0
• Total number of times any of us held a koala: 6
• Number of kangaroos and wallabies fed and/or petted: 10-ish
• Number of giraffes fed: 3
• Number of lion cubs petted: 1
• Jars of Nutella bought: 6
• Jars of Nutella consumed: 5
• Number of jars of Nutella confiscated by airport security: 1
• Number of times I was randomly selected to be checked for explosives using some sort of TSA magic wand: 2
• Number of times I was found to be carrying explosives: 0 (I mean, duh, but I figure it has to be said.)
• Number of flights that Ellie carried a full water bottle in the bottom of her bag before it was discovered by airport security (and remembered by her): 4
• Number of times Pete had to super-glue Grace’s glasses back together after they broke on Day 3 of our trip: 2
• Number of hours I waited between pulling into Jenworld shortly after midnight on Saturday and taking Grace to get new glasses: 15
• Photos taken in 21 days: 1,500-ish (approx. 1,100 left after deletions)
• Number of shark attacks, crocodile deaths, redback and funnel web spider bites, and babies eaten by dingos: 0
• Number of miles flown: 25,124-ish
• Number of memories made: countless

What an adventure!

 * If there’s interest, I could do a mega Chocomania post. Also, I snapped dozens of photos of Aussie students in their school uniforms, which were far more interesting to look at than you might imagine. Let me know if you’d like to see some.