Homeward Bound

We woke up this morning at 6:30am (6:25am, actually, but I'm telling myself I got those extra five minutes of sleep) and shortly thereafter boarded a minibus with our bags to make our way to Tbilisi. After a handful of stops in some villages along the way to pick up an ever increasing number of passengers and bags of potatoes or boxes or eggs, we got to Tbilisi. Since we had more luggage than usual, we splurged and took a taxi to the PC office (it set us back a whole $3... but we're used to taking the metro or the bus around town for just a quarter, so this felt like some big-time cash to drop just for a trip across town). We dropped off our bags, bought some shwarma, went to a museum, wandered around town, got some dinner and some ice cream. Now it's 9:48pm and we're back in the PC office, biding our time and trying to stay awake until it's time to go to the airport. Our flight leaves at 4:05am, Tbilisi to Istanbul, a 2-and-a-half hour flight that takes us one step closer to home. Sam has heard there's an Arby's in the Istanbul airport and plans to spend our 5-hour layover eating roast beef and cheese sandwiches. I've heard there's a Starbucks and plan to camp out there, like any sensible person running on a sleep deprication schedule should. Next step, we'll board a flight for Washington Dulles Airport at 10:50am local time. In 11 or so short hours after that, we'll be back in DC, explaining the contents of our bags and the reasons for our just-shy-of-a-year-long absence from America to US Customs. We can't wait to see everybody (and eating some Chipotle again won't be so bad, either)!