Want to know something crazy? This is one of the final posts detailing my 2013 RTW trip. I started blogging about it in March of last year… and it’s taken nearly 18 months to show you how I spent 9 months of my life. Over the next week I’ll have a few more budget and recap posts, and then we’ll jump forward to my recent Africa travels. Exciting times ahead!

Without further ado, here’s a few final photos from Dubai.

The metro (above ground tram) is efficient and affordable. With the exception of three cab rides, I use it to get everywhere in Dubai. It goes all the way out to the airport but my arrival and departure flights are both after hours so I rely on taxis.

While the skyline looks full in Dubai, it’s still a developing city. There is construction going on everywhere… apparently you can’t have too many high rises.

My late night arrival into Dubai is frustrating because I spend nearly two hours waiting in line at immigration.

I grow so bored in line that I begin timing how long each person spends at the immigration counter. (Old habits die hard — this reminds me of timing scripts at work!) I get through, I finally find my bag waiting on the other side.

On my last morning in Dubai, I order a zatar croissant because my friend Kelley has raved about them. They are delicious!

And then, after nine months of traveling, it’s time to board my final two flights — Dubai to Cairo, then Cairo to JFK.

For Christmas, my uncle very generously used his airline miles to get me a Business Class seat. WHOA — it is so cool. I could lie completely flat and sleep for hours uninterrupted.

When they dim the cabin lights on this Egypt Air flight, there are stars that twinkle overhead in Business Class. Stars. How will I ever fly coach again?

Just before going to sleep on the longer of my two flights, I peek outside and catch a glimpse of sunrise.

I land at JFK and breeze through immigration / customs. I expect to be interrogated by gruff agents (“Why did you leave the country for 9 months? How did you support yourself? Did you sell drugs?”) but JFK has a bank of user-operated machines where U.S. citizens can check themselves back into the country. This is a relief, as I can’t even fit all the countries I’ve been to on the standard arrival form so I just wrote the last few “plus more,” which would’ve triggered questions if an actual human being had examined my form. But two minutes after getting to a machine, I’m done. Whew! I’m glad it goes smoothly.

I meet a friendly Dutch couple near baggage claim and they kindly snap this photo of me… my RTW ‘after’ pic.

I pop my Verizon SIM card into my iPhone for the first time since March and get texts and messages that are months old.

And then I take the subway into Manhattan and store my luggage at the Grand Hyatt for a few hours. My first meal back — something I put a lot of thought into — is Chipotle. The thought of guacamole alone is enough to set my saliva glands into overdrive. This California girl missed her avocados! My first beverage is a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks — a flavor I didn’t find anywhere else during my travels. It may be four days before Christmas, but peppermint lattes can wait… I still need my fall fix.

Then I head down to the Public Theater and catch one of the last performances of the off-Broadway musical Fun Home, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama this year. (In fact, it was such a hit with critics and theater-goers that a Broadway transfer was recently announced.) I laugh, I cry, and I am elated to be reunited with my great love — the theater.

The show ends around 9:45pm and I make my way back to mid-town, pick up my luggage, and catch the next Metro North train to New Haven. My parents have kindly left a car for me in the parking lot so I can drive myself home around 1am when my train gets in. I wake them up for big hugs — the first time I’ve seen them since early March, 9.5 months earlier — and it’s wonderful to be home.

Over the next week or so I have a few wrap-up posts coming. Thanks for taking this journey with me!