THE ONE WHERE WE MOVE HOME

HI! I just realized it is April 1st ...but this is no April Fool's joke. We are really moving back home!!! I am writing this as we are on our flight back to Chicago right now actually. Everything happened SO fast that I haven't even been able to share with everyone in my life so I thought I'd tell you what has happened since my last blog post. 

March 19th: The US rose to a Level 4 Travel Advisory, which for us meant we were advised to return home unless we were prepared to stay out of the US for an unspecified period of time. This news for us was a really scary thing to wrap our heads around. At this time we had already been working from home for a week in Germany and been staying very low-key. Rob's company sent an email to expats informing them of their option to return back home if they wanted. 

Rob and I were literally TORN on the decision to take their offer to move home or stay and finish our the contract. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. There was so many things we had to keep in mind when deciding what to do, like would we be bad employees for leaving so suddenly? Will we be able to get back to the states if we waited? When is the next time we would be able to go home? (Flights from Europe to US are sooo limited right now) What if something happens to our family back home and we wouldn't be able to get back? Where do we feel most comfortable if something were to happen if one of us were to get sick? Will this be something that passes in the next few months and we will be able to go on more trips? Those are just some of the many thoughts running through our head the past two weeks. 

March 27th: We talked to our parents and went back and forth with our pros and cons list all day  long, until we finally made the decision to go back home. We informed Rob's work of our decision and they began searching for flights.

March 28th: We started the process of packing our flat

March 30th: Rob's work confirmed our flight for April 1st!! 😅😅

March 31st: SCRAMBLING. Lemme just tell you, tensions were high in our little German flat. 😂 Rob and I were both working that day, all while packing and organizing everything. 

April 1st: Team no sleep since March 27th. We stayed up all night cleaning and then left our flat at 5:00am to drive two and half hours to Frankfurt. We usually have our layover there, but we decided the less we fly the better, so just decided to drive. The Frankfurt airport is usually so busy and it was a ghost town; the most spooky experience ever. It will be interesting to see what happens when we land in Chicago. Everyone on our flight received a form to fill out any and all symptoms. They want to know where we were sitting on the plane, where we've visited recently, what our temperature is, how we look.. so I am assuming we will be having our temp taken and stuff? 

I haven't even been able to wrap my head around this move. I am so excited to be moving home but also sad that it is on these terms of a pandemic. I am going to miss all of our friends and life in Germany and def will miss traveling Europe so easily! But I do know those friendships will last a lifetime and that we will absolutely be back before we know it. 

I just wanted to thank my friends, family and Live More Fuller supporters for all of the love over the past year and a half abroad! It has been so much fun sharing our journey with you. Looking back to when we moved to Germany and I started my blog, I was so scared and nervous about everything (traveling, writing, posting on insta) and now I am leaving this experience feeling like a new woman with an AMAZING relationship and friendship with my bf who has genuinely been my rock throughout all of this. 

This has been the most amazing experience of my life and can't believe "WE DID IT!" (Reese Witherspoon voice)

Well we've got 2 hours left on our 9 hour flight. I am about two champagne glasses deep, six episodes in on Gossip Girl down and even took a nice little nap. I think I am going to enjoy the last few hours of this flight. Lots of change coming though! Would you guys be interested in a "What's next?" blog post? Lemme know!!

XOXOXO