Sam Kerr says she wanted to come home at times during her stunning English season.
As the English winter bit hard amid the global coronavirus pandemic, the Australian striker was pondering her stint at Chelsea.
"Everyone just sees the 90 minutes (of a game) and thinks it's so great," Kerr said.
"But it is a long and hard journey. This season has been so long and there has been so many ups and downs.
"There have been moments where I'm like 'gosh, I just want to go home. I'm missing my family, it's cold, it's hard'.
"It has been nearly a year since I have been home and it looks like it will be another year until I get home without quarantine so it has been tough."
Kerr kept at it. And was rewarded with not just a Women's Super League title with Chelsea, but also the league's Golden Boot award.
"Winning titles ... makes it all worth it," Kerr said.
"It's not all roses and butterflies for sure. But at the end of the day, I do it because I love it.
"There is hard days. But I do enjoy it, for the most part."
The Matildas star scored 21 times in her debut season for Chelsea to collect her sixth Golden Boot award in the 27-year-old's storied career, following five in Australian leagues.
The only other player to collect half-a-dozen Golden Boots? Argentina's male megastar Lionel Messi.
"It's cool that people are talking about men's footballers and women's footballers on the same level," Kerr said.
"At the end of the day we're both just footballers.
"He's a legend and probably one of the greatest of all time.
"I don't think I am close to his level yet but it's nice to have six Golden Boots like him."
Kerr's club season culminates on Sunday when Chelsea tackle Barcelona in the Women's Champions League final in in Gothenburg.
Then the West Australian turns her attention to the Matildas' campaign at the Tokyo Olympics starting in late July.
Australia has yet to settle on its preparations for the Olympics.
"I don't know what we're doing honestly," Kerr said.
"We have a camp in June, it's all up in the air at the moment.
"The government in Australia is really strict and we're not sure if we're going to be let in.
"We're just trying to figure out what is the best option for us as a team to prepare for the Olympics."
Australian Associated Press
