We're back in NYC baby! The 13 hour plane ride was a breeze. Planes have bathrooms (unlike some of those buses down South) so as my Dad said, we really could have ridden forever.

It feels great to be back. Hard to believe just two days ago I was in a tank top on the beach in Valparaiso outside of Santiago, Chile and now I'm all bundled up writing this final blog in a Laundromat in Brooklyn. No more Internet café around every corner. We've been in a hostel in the Upper West Side for the last two nights and almost got kicked out when they found out we were sort-of residents. Odd being taken for a tourist in your own city. But so far New Yorkers have been very friendly to these two vagabonds; and you definitely meet more people with the backpacks.

Josh is relieved to be back in a place where he can understand everyone and take care of business himself. And I think I'm even more relieved! For the next 6 months my sentences will all start with, "Hon can you ask… can you tell them…" In other words, payback time :) But seriously, he says the one thing he would change about our trip would have been learning more Spanish before we left. I've thought about it but I don't think I would change anything.

Yesterday was Josh's birthday so we celebrated that and our homecoming with a proper brunch, Starbucks coffee, and lots of bookstore time. It was so much fun just walking around the city too. Then we had dinner with friends at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Park Slope. We met some great people traveling but our dinner reminded me that there's nothing like being with old friends and family. Whenever we got lonely traveling an email from one of you or a quick Internet phone call was there to cheer us up. We met lots of travelers who were planning on going home only to earn more money to head out on the road again, but this trip reminded me that while I love to travel and see the world, the thing I love even more is a good conversation with good friends or family in a cozy coffee shop just around the corner. We're excited to be back and to have the holidays to catch up with all of you. We feel very blessed to have you in our lives.

And of course our adventures aren't over just cause we're back. Before we can settle into our mellow urban existence there are a few things to take care of: two jobs to find, one apartment to lease, one wedding site to contract, and a little doggie to adopt. Liz and Josh EstiloNuevaYork Take Two is just beginning.