I woke up at 9am, and realized that I slept for 11 hours. I can’t even remember the last time I slept for that long! I felt perky and fresh as a daisy. My flight to Auckland wasn’t until 6:50pm, so that gave me the whole day to still enjoy Melbourne. When I asked JR what his plans were for the day, he answered back with a list of recommendations.

JR picked me up around 11am, and I had to say goodbye to Jo and her family. They are so lovely, and their strength in moving from Poland to Australia with just a suitcase still baffles me.

When I went to give Jo a hug, it all hit me. This was it. This was the last time I would see Jo on this trip. And then the tears came (I unexpectedly cried a lot, actually). Jo and I share a lot of travel memories together, and I hate that we’ll hold them half a world away from each other.

And then JR and I were off to experience a little more of Melbourne before it was time for me to leave. But the first thing on our agenda? Food. Always food.

We ate at this amazingly cute cafe, and I ordered the potato croquettes. So so delicious.

I love walking down memory lane with JR about the Topdeck trip. I’ve held these memories alone for so long in Texas, and it’s such a treat to indulge and reminisce. JR and I basically did everything together for a month during that trip, so I said, “Remember that one time…” a lot to him today.

We fully intended on walking around a cool, hip part of Melbourne, but it was too hot of a day. So instead, we walked around the botanical garden and hung out in the shade.

And just like that, it was time to head to the airport. But look! JR and I managed to remember to get a photo together! Look at us go.

I always forget to look up which terminal I need. After going to terminal 2 and 3, I finally got to the right one (terminal 4). Check-in was standard, if not a little tedious. I realized today that 95% of my airport experiences (in my whole life) have been alone. That’s kinda crazy to me, but I also enjoy being alone at the airport.

Three hours later, I was in Auckland and reunited with my friend Tama (my friend that was in Bali with me).