Heading round the world, then back home again

For me, one of the best selling points for our move to London was that we could essentially double our savings when we moved back to the States someday because of the highly favorable exchange rate. (Sigh, oh how I'll miss the all mighty Great British Pound.) I thought we'd live here long enough to save up and then we'd buy a house in whatever US city we landed in. I dreamed of a Manhattan condo bought by biding our time in London.

Turns out those were the dreams of an ignorant immigrant. After two short years in London, we're going to blow all the money we have leftover on two weeks of awesomeness and instead of landing with an inflated bank account, arrive almost broke. Oh, well. WORTH IT!

Sept. 26 we leave London for good. Our good friends the Seeleys are very generously putting us up at their place in Barcelona for a few nights where we will cross paths with Cass and Caleb. Then we head to Rome for three nights before spending five nights in, wait for it...OMGIcan'tbelievemylifeisthisgoodrightnow!... Cairo to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. We will land in Chicago on October 9 totally worn out jettlagged and under-prepared to start work on October 13.

Remember when I said 2008 was going to be a good year? We're such lucky people, me and Marty.

I've got mixed feelings about returning home, mostly because the last few months have been really good in London. I've felt like after a long time of feeling like a foreigner every day, one day I woke up and this city was a part of me. It took me a while to get comfortable here, and when I finally did, living here sort of seemed like a victory I kept wanting to celebrate and remember. But on the other hand, it isn't like Chicago ever stopped being my first love. I just fear now that it might take a short while to remember what I loved about it.

Anyway, we won't be blogging again until well after we land in The Windy City, so maybe more on that later. Now, packing needs to get done!