Heading Home – Day 20

It came too fast — time to return home from Turkey. I woke early and got started on organizing and packing. After the girls finished their packing, we all headed up to our final breakfast in Turkey. We retraced our steps of two days ago – walk to the funicular, take the funicular, ride the tram, catch the train and walk through the airport. Checking in was a breeze, once the complicated family ahead of us was done. The agents were all a bit surprised when we told them we had no bags to check. I guess that is unusual for a family traveling of four spending three weeks abroad!

Through passport control and then the long walk to the gate. We didn’t have time to buy food or final gifts. Once through security, we were stuck in the gate area where they only concession was a coke machine that was broken. In just a bit we boarded and settled in to our seats.

I watched movies for most of the flight… “Leap Year”, “The Bounty Hunter”, “Percy Jackson”, “Valentine’s Day”, “The Last Station”. We ate a strangely flavored lasagna for lunch and then a mini-pizza for dinner. Landing in JFK was no problem, but then it took us 1.5 hours to get through immigration, customs and security. At first the immigration line moved a good pace, but then most of the agents left, and our huge line was being served by only one person! Sheesh.

Once out, we settled in at the Sky Lounge and had some healthy snacks before heading to our gate. The plane boarded late, but then we sat, on the ground, for a long time. Long enough for me to sleep through an entire movie (“Date Night”). We finally got bumped up in the line and were off. A bumpy flight, but we landed in Atlanta before midnight and were home around 1am. Unfortunately, there was a small flood in the basement that Rob dealt with before going to bed.

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