Day 12-Travel Back

At SDU airport

       On our last day in Rio, we awoke with a feeling of sadness and dread. We had to wake up very early since our flight left at 7:00, but we barely noticed. Today we would be leaving this beautiful country and going back home. The end of our vacation had snuck up on us, it had all gone by so fast, and none of us wanted it to end. We were all quiet as we double checked our bags, and ate breakfast, realizing that this would be our last meal in Brazil. We looked out the window of our room onto the street below. Even though we had only been there for a few weeks, we felt as if it was our home. Finally, we checked out of the hotel and the taxi arrived to take us to SDU (Santos Dumont) airport. The ride to the airport was a little over an hour, but we barely noticed the time because we were so busy looking out the window at the city. Soon, we arrived at SDU.

Brasilia from the airplane

       Our flight was to Brasilia, which is the capital of Brazil. It was short, only about two hours. Our plane was a decent size, but the isles were narrow and the seats were too close together.
We passed the time by sleeping (it was still so early) and sharing memories of our trip.  After we arrived at Brasilia, we had a two hour layover until our next flight. We were annoyed at that, but we were very glad we didn't have to switch airports. While we waited, we went to Starbucks and got some drinks, but we weren't very hungry as it was still only  9:00 am. At around 11, we boarded our next flight which was to Miami, Florida. None of us were excited about this eight hour flight, and we were reluctant to board the plane. We played games on our phones for the first few hours. At around lunch time we started to get really hungry, and were regretting not eating anything at the airport. We tried to fill up on the complimentary pretzels, but when we finally exited the plane, our stomachs were still growling. Because of the time change, it was only 3: 30 pm which really confused us. It felt like it should be nighttime, and we were extremely tired.

      As soon as we got off, we went and ate lunch at Pizza Hut. It had been so long since we had pizza, and this made us realize that our trip was truly over. We were in the U.S. now,  and would no longer be exploring the exotic locations of Brazil. We had a five hour layover until our final flight, so we stayed at the Pizza Hut for a long time, eating cheese pizza and talking about what we would do when we got home. As much as we missed our friends and families, none of us were excited about going back to our boring everyday lives. After our refreshing meal, we went to our terminal to wait. Our flight left at 9:30 pm so we still had a lot of time to wait. We were all silent because we were either dozing off or on our phones.

The plane we took to RDU

      Finally we boarded the plane and tried to fall asleep. Even though we were exhausted, the seats were very uncomfortable and small. Our final flight was to RDU (Raleigh-Durham) airport. Two hours later, we arrived in North Carolina. As we collected our luggage and waited for our rides, we went through our favorite experiences and talked about what we would miss most. It had all gone by so quick, and arriving home had been very bittersweet. We were all excited to see our families and friends to tell them about our trip, but we knew that we may never go to Brazil again. Of course, we were all thankful to have had the opportunity to go on this trip, and had all bonded over this vacation. Even though the next day we would be jet lagged and tired, it was well worth it.