Well, I’m sure you are all on the edge of your seats wondering how we finished in the Fantasy Tour de France league, right?
Well, in the last week we made some rider swaps (you get a budget for a small amount of swaps and we didn’t do any in the first two weeks).
Turns out we had our best showing on the final stage, ranking 388th for the stage! Amazing, I’d say.
However, overall, we fell to a pretty sad 137,546th place. I still don’t know how many teams there were, but surely we are near the bottom. But we spent none of our own money.
Anyways, we managed to check out if the hotel by 7:25am and made our way by tram and train back to the airport. Outside the train station we marveled at the bikes parked there!
Dropping off our baggage was pretty quick; security was longer, but manageable.
We had time to get Dutch sausage rolls and coffee before boarding.
I thought it was cool to see a fish tank in the airport!
Spirits were high. We couldn’t believe our trip was over, but we all looked forward to home too. I had told the kids before we left that one of the gifts of travel is the joy of homecoming and how you appreciate everything about home with renewed joy.
Love River’s photobombing skills.
One surprise we got on the way to the airport was a text from Adam with a treat for us to look at while we waited for our plane.
It’s a blog with photos and stories of Sepp and Sonny while we were gone! There’s even a fake news section (utilizing some AI-faked photos like the kids taught him how to do) and a quiz! We all loved it, but the kids especially were in love with every photo and story, and it definitely helped ease their brains and hearts towards home. Adam is the best.
And our last family photo in Europe:
Want to see the outtakes?
The 10hr27min flight home was smooth as could be. The nice tall ceiling on the plane made it feel more roomy, and I never had to wait more than 2min to use a toilet. Together, we watched Hoppers (super fun—River laughed SO hard at the animals-using-emojis parts), and Anaconda (not terrible, not great). Sean mostly slept. Then River bounced around media entertainment while I read a novel (The Wizard’s Butler) and watched Project Hail Mary (my second viewing, and I still thought it brilliant), and Cold Storage (funner than I thought—I like gross-out scary where there aren’t really any bad guys). Bo listened to music and dozed. We all ate the big meal they served and partook of drinks and snacks (the best of which was a cup of salted caramel ice cream that was out of this world).
The harder leg of the trip was the layover in Dallas. We had to pick up luggage and go through customs and our line was sooooooooo long. I read a book to pass the time but the rest of my family went slowly crazy.
Then we dropped off our luggage and went through another 20-minute security line (arg). We walked super far to get to our gate, where we informed we didn’t have a plane, so we were delayed and delayed again. Finally they got us a plane, but it was at the other end of the D terminal. I was so glad we had decided to check our backpacks (we hadn’t on the way to Barcelona). After getting to the new gate we had time still, so we got a surprisingly good salad from chick-fil-a. Who knew?
Finally, 2 hours late, we took off on such a silly short flight (not even time for beverage service).
We got all our luggage from baggage claim (small miracles), and Adam picked us up!
We were so excited to be almost home. Bo told me I had been right about what I said before the trip—about part of the fun being the homecoming.
The children and Sepp collapsed in a heap of happiness as soon as we got home. It was heart-exploding fun.
I tried to stay up and visit, but I lay down and fell asleep, still in my travel clothes, and didn’t wake up until morning. Very early morning. I took Sepp out for a long walk before the sun was all the way up. It felt humid.
Around 7:30am Sean and I decided to run to HEB to restock the larders. We came home to place settings! Bo had made pasta and River was offering made-to-order omelette. Definitely a tasty surprise!
Then we turned on Tour de France replays to watch some stages we had only seen in French (we like hearing Bob and Phil and the American commentators). Sort of not wanting it to be over.
We did some laundry.
There was lots of animal cuddling and admiring.
I fell asleep for a “nap” around…3pm? I woke up around 8pm to find Bo and River zonked and they were out for the night!
Well, Bo said she awoke at 3am. This morning after my morning walk, Sean grilled chicken and made rice and homemade potato salad. Now, I’m lying in Bo’s bed while Sean naps and writing this last update.
But keep an eye out for some post-trip reflections!
Thanks for following along. All your comments made me want to write even more! It was fun to share our journey, and create this memory book.
Leave a Reply