The side left Cape Town then travelled via Johannesburg and Sydney before staying overnight in Auckland.
They then woke up early to arrive in Dunedin yesterday morning - a 30-hour plus journey.
With the flight delayed in Sydney for four hours, the team did not get to its Auckland hotel until 3am yesterday and most players only got a couple of hours' sleep before they had to get up to catch the plane to Dunedin.
Many of the team were planning to head to Gore yesterday afternoon to attend the funeral of Michael Saunders, the father of Highlanders midfielder Matt Saunders.
Mackintosh said the side should not linger over the long trip back from South Africa.
"We can't use that as an excuse this week. It can be as tough as we want it to be. Every team does it and if you want to play your best then we have just got to front up this week and play well," Mackintosh said.
The Highlanders pulled off a a great 35-28 win over the Bulls in Pretoria but had then dropped its first game of the season with a 18-6 loss to the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday morning.
Mackintosh said to be sitting top of the New Zealand conference in the Super 15 and to have won three of four games was great but they had to focus on this week, with the Crusaders coming to town.
"I'm happy that we have won three out of four but there is just the way we were beaten by the Stormers on the weekend. They beat us up and got really physical with us and that hurt a little bit.
"But we've just got to recover from that and look forward."
Mackintosh said it would be good to get home and play in front of family and friends, and he hoped for a big crowd on Saturday.
The squad did not have any major injuries and may have the services of first five-eighth Colin Slade back this week, as he recovers from a broken jaw.
Assistant coach Kieran Keane said it had been long trip back but he was confident the side would be ready to face the Crusaders on Saturday night.
"It was a bit disappointing to lose to the Stormers and if it was possible we could have got away with a bonus point. But to beat the Bulls at Loftus was a tremendous effort," Keane said.
"We're all OK. We've just got to watch the physical side of things as it was an arduous journey. But we'll be right come Saturday."
The team would have a relatively light training week, with the first training this afternoon.
The Highlanders have a bye after the Crusaders game.
