Day 5 : Officially Home!

I’m sad to be leaving the DR after an amazing few days, but I’m happy to be heading home to my own bed and my husband. Our flight wasn’t until 1:30, but with international flights you have to get to the airport 3 hours ahead, so after some breakfast we were on our way around 10am. 

I’m not sure if this is common at international airports or not, but at the Punta Cana airport you can pay for VIP to essentially skip the line. It’s $30 and it allows you to go through a separate security and customs spot. This is great when it’s peak times and the customs lines are outrageously long. When we arrived it honestly didn’t look too busy, but we still did it. Well worth the price! 

Again this is my first time traveling internationally, so I’m not sure how the process normally is. However, there was practically no customs when we left. We paid for the VIP Fast Track, went through our own security line, and then went to our gate. We were nervous about whether we’d have any issues bringing back souvenirs or anything but no one even asked. I’m not sure if this was because we paid for VIP, because we’re Americans (we also had a completely separate line when entering the country where they didn’t check our bags), or because that’s just how it is. Not complaining at all, just slightly confused. I had more customs security leaving Hawaii than I did leaving the DR. 

We walked around the shops, hung out, and eventually grabbed lunch before boarding our flight and getting on our way. About 3 hours later, we touched down in Orlando. 

Given that we had no customs when leaving, we figured we’d have it when entering. We de-boarded, went to where immigration was, got into the US Citizen line, checked our passports, and that was it. No questions, no bag checks, nothing at all. 

Again, not complaining… however… theoretically… we could’ve brought practically anything back with us and no one would’ve known (outside what the typical security machines detect – which maybe in my naivety is actually sufficient – but would that detect if I brought back a plant, fruit, or meat??). WE DIDN’T – Mr. FBI Agent reading my post as I’m typing – however no one asked us any questions, we didn’t fill out any paperwork, and other than typical security, that was it. Not quite what I was expecting, and all I’m saying is not everyone is as nice and good as we are… so maybe they should be checking. And if they don’t because we’re Americans… they should definitely be checking. Just saying. 

Anywho since I had a connecting flight to get back to CT and everyone else was getting off in Orlando, we went our separate ways in the airport🥺. Courtney, Izzy, and Madison all went to transportation, and I went back through security to get to my second gate. 

Oddly enough, here is where I got questioned. We had purchased some alcohol in the airport before leaving so that way we could bring it back with no issues (which is funny and ironic since we didn’t really drink all week), but they put mine in a special bag knowing I had a connection. I was under the impression the point of this bag was to essentially let the next TSA person know that it was purchased post-security and wasn’t tampered with (since the bag was still sealed), however apparently not. It got flagged in security and pulled to the side where the TSA officer (agent?) questioned where I bought it, when I bought it, and had to stick it in a machine to ‘run tests’. I ended up not having any issues, but the whole experience was odd. I suppose this is part of learning how to travel internationally. 

I was able to get some more work done while sitting in the airport, and a few hours after landing I was boarding my final flight heading home. When we booked our trip, it was technically round trip from CT, so all 4 of us had boarding passes both ways. On the way to FL their seats were given up to others so I didn’t end up with the row to myself like I was hoping. The way back was no different. I was keeping my fingers crossed, but it wasn’t enough as I watched the flight attendant move someone from the exit row to mine. Sadness. 

On the bright side though, I had the window seat and since my flight was in the evening I was able to catch part of the sunset! This nearly never happens because I’m either not flying during that time, am sitting in the aisle seat, or am on the wrong side of the plane. So there’s the bright side! (Pun intended) 

I touched down around 10:45pm and shortly after my husband was there to pick me up!

It feels so good to be back home, but I couldn’t be happier with how this year’s New Year New Place trip went. My first international trip, with some of my favorite people, in honor of my 10th trip for this goal I made as a 20 year old, and it went amazingly. We had great weather, did fun things, made memories, and stayed safe the entire time as a group of young girls (since my sisters keep saying I’m old😒) in a foreign country. What more could a girl ask for?

If you’ve followed along all week, thank you! I hope you’ve enjoyed living vicariously through us and keeping up with what we’ve been up to ❤ 

If you’ve been a long time reader of Traudt’s Two Cents, THANK YOU🫶🏽! Whether you came because of my NYNP trips, my student loan journey, my children’s books, my early days of blogs, or anything else I’ve written, your support means the world to me. It warms my heart to see you read, subscribe, like, comment, and share these posts no matter what they’re about. If you’re interested in seeing anything in particular, let me know! 

This concludes the 10th Annual New Year New Place series. I hope to see you again some time next year! 

Until next time ❤