I’ll start where I left off. We didn’t board our flight until after midnight. This once again broke Millie’s record of being the latest she’s ever stayed up. It could have backfired but worked in our favor; by the time we were on the flight she could barely keep her eyes open and passed out. She slept 6 hours straight and woke up an hour before landing. Nick and I did our best to sleep. It could have been a terrible flight but was tolerable, maybe even good.

We landed at 7am and went through customs. The lady in duty free saw us and, assuming we were Aussies, said “welcome home!” This is obviously not our home, but after so many months in Asia, it feels close enough.

We picked up our rental car and drove to our Airbnb. Every other country we’ve been in seems to switch from left hand to right hand driving. By now, both feel natural. Nick didn’t have to adjust at all to driving on the left.

Once we were checked in, we walked a couple of blocks to find some food and coffee. We are staying in a great little neighborhood near Fremantle, outside of Perth. We had a bunch of coffee shops to choose from and had an excellent breakfast with amazingly good coffee.

We walked around the neighborhood some more and found some playgrounds. 3 hours in and I was already looking up real estate prices and immigration rules.

It’s summer here, with a forecast of 90. We were worried it would be too boiling to do anything, but the air is dry and it’s cool in the shade. It feels a lot like LA. Between the British influence and the Californian vibes, I feel very at home.

We thought we could power through the tiredness but at noon, we all started to crash. We came back to the apartment and took naps. After we woke up we went grocery shopping.

Millie ran around the store like supermarket sweep yelling “mom, they have salami!! Mom, they have pears! Mom, they have hummus!” It’s been a while since we’ve done a shop in a fancy grocery store for anything beyond cereal and milk. It cost an arm and a leg, but I was also beyond happy to stock up on some basics. The food from home I end up craving most is crunchy vegetables and dip.

We came back to unload the food and then went to a nearby craft brewery. Again, it was so nice to have some of our creature comforts from home. Hoppy beer and a cauliflower appetizer.

Millie saw some kids and remembered that all kids here speak English. She confidently asked to play with them and they played until it was time for us to leave. We walked along the docks as the sun was setting. Every time she saw kids she stopped to play.

We had some fish and chips while she ran around more. We walked over to the shore to see the sun go all the way down.

I already love it here. I know that some of this is the novelty after so much time in Asia. There were so many things today that felt like miracles. Millie couldn’t believe that she could just put toilet paper in the toilet, since most Asian countries don’t allow you to flush it. We forgot to buy water at the store and remembered, oh yeah, tap water. And just being able to communicate in the same language with fluency. A random woman at the store made a joke and I was able to joke back.

I will end on this bizarre statue.