After almost 40 hours of travel we made it safely (luggage & all) to Carrboro around 10:30pm last night. There's lots to catch up on, including lots of laundry, grocery shopping & cooking, which are activities we have not done much of especially while we were in Singapore (we were spoilt rotten there).

Our trip back was mostly uneventful although the contrasts between Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Changi airport to United Airlines, Charles de Gaulle and Washington Dulles airports were astonishing. On the planes, we went from being addressed "Mdm" and "Sir" to "guys" and "hey you". The poor French lady sitting next to me didn't even get called at -- she only got the "watchya-want-chin-pointing" gesture. At least I did not witness anything as rude as the "we are not a bar" response I got from the United Airlines steward when I had asked for cranberry or cranapple juice back in June.

Needless to day, our dietary quality also fell quite drastically. Do not get me started on the malfunctioning headsets and seats that were about to fall apart. Marc & I cracked jokes to each other about Americans and their bad grammar. We thought about being mean and considered saying "Yes, you can, but I am not sure if you may" in response to the stewardess' question "Can I get you a drink". However, we figured since we still had another 8 hours to go, we had better not test our luck.

At the airports, efficiency levels were the lowest at Charles de Gaulle, though our experience checking-in at Dulles in Dec was bad too. While waiting around in CDG, I was missing the Singapore airport with its clean toilets, free internet, comfy couches and seats, and wide selection of cheap local treats (apparently there is also a free movie theatre!).

All of this also made me realize that the reason Singaporeans like to complain is because we are so spoilt. Everything works and runs smoothly in Singapore, so we have grown to expect that. I suppose this may not be a good thing, but on the other hand, we all need some kind of standard to work towards, don't we?

Meanwhile, it's back to reality for me!

~ Shuwen
ps: I've posted selected pictures from our trip to Singapore. click on the link to the right