Royalty returns home after going Down Under!‏

After the King & I woke up early Saturday morning on March 29th, we realized our amazing journey was almost over. After arriving in Sydney a week earlier after a long exhausting flight, we had a blast as you already know if you've followed along. With that being said, it was time to head back home. After all, all good things have to end eventually. With that in mind, we had to fly all the way home from Melbourne via Sydney & Los Angeles before we finally arrived back at JFK airport in NYC.

Here's the way it turned out for us. We checked out of the Easystay Motel in St. Kilda. We then walked up the block & we crossed the street & shortly thereafter our Airport Bus showed up to take us back to the airport. We wound up getting there around 7:10AM. We had just enough time to catch our flight on Virgin Australia Airlines that was scheduled to depart at 8AM local time. We arrived back in Sydney at 9:25AM. After having some time to walk around the terminal we caught our connecting flight on Delta Airlines to Los Angeles that left ‎at 11:20AM local time. We finally landed in Los Angeles early at 6:45AM Pacific Time Saturday morning. If your wondering how that's possible you have to take into account that Melbourne & Sydney, Australia are 14 hours ahead of us here on the East Coast in the States. In addition, we flew across the international dateline. By doing so, we gained the day we lost when we flew out there. Since we got in a little early we had to wait on the plane because we needed to go through Customs first. Unfortunately they didn't open until 7AM which turned out to be a disaster. 

Here I am at Melbourne Airport

Final Call for our flight from Sydney Australia

When the King ‎& I finally got through Customs we were told we needed to get checked in for our flight from Los Angeles to JFK in order to get through security to board the plane. That wound up giving me a reason to explode. I knew we were back in the States. When we went through Customs to depart Melbourne, the process was so organised. When we attempted to do the same in LA, it was a nightmare. As the clock ticked, I knew we had no chance of making our connecting flight that was suppose to depart at 8:30AM Pacific Time. As we went through a run around trying to find someone from Delta Airlines to help us, our original flight got delayed 20 minutes. That didn't make a difference. We still missed our flight. The King tried to calm me down. I was really upset because I had no idea when the next flight was leaving nor did I know that we would get on it. Finally a lady from Delta Airlines came to our aid. She took us to a representative who was able to rebook us on the next flight to JFK which wound up leaving at 1:30PM. In retrospect, things actually worked out for the best. If I knew what was going happen ahead of time I wouldn't have gotten so bend out of shape.  As a result, I got to relax by the gate area of our new flight until it was time to board. In the meantime, I was able to finally turn my phone back on. I sat down & I started charging it up. While doing so, I got to catch up on my e-mails, text messages & my social media activity. Thanks to modern technology, I was able to get in contact with a number of special people in my life. What seemed like a nightmare turned out to be a dream come true. In addition, when I heard the weather forecast for NYC was rain all day & night, I was more than happy to stay in LA longer. 

Here I am charging my phone at LAX Airport

We finally got back to JFK around 10PM Eastern Time safe & sound. With that being said, our journey was a success‎. We then picked up our baggage which was checked onto the flight we were supposed to be on. With that being said, our luggage arrived ahead of us. We then proceeded to take the Air Train to the subway in Jamaica as we made our way home. We dodged the rain drops as we walked from the subway station to our home. We walked into the house just before midnight. Home sweet home.

Here I am Outside the Barclays Center

After unpacking our bags, we went to sleep. That Sunday I did my laundry before the King & I shook off the effects of the jet lag as we took the subway to Brooklyn. We went to the Barclays Center to see the Nets play the Minnesota Timberwolves that night. The Nets beat the Wolves, 114-99. It was a game for three quarters then the Nets pulled away in the fourth quarter. The Nets were able to keep Kevin Love, the star forward for the Wolves, in check throughout the game. He finished with just 14 points & 9 rebounds. 

Stay tuned as I will do some special posts that we recap the Opening week of the baseball season here in the States.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman