Friday, June 15, 2012

Day 10: The Trip Home!

So at midnight on Thursday we packed up our luggage and headed to the airport. We checked our bags and spent a few more minutes with Patrice and Ernie before we went through security and to our gate. They waved good bye to us and then we walked through the first security check point and into the restaurant area. The Changi airport is probably one of the best airports I have been to. It is very new and luxurious looking. The only thing that was frustrating early this morning was that we bought water and Kacey bought a coffee, but when we went through the security check at our gate they made us throw away our drinks. It was really frustrating because of how overpriced things are there. My water bottle was $3.50, but luckily they just let me pour our the water when I went through security so I just refilled it. Changi airport is pretty relaxed but flights heading out to the U.S. had higher security checks than other flights heading elsewhere. We basically went through the security check and then had to sit in this glass box until they started boarding the plane. We couldn't go to the bathroom at that point and there was only a little water fountain there. It was kind of weird.

Kacey's feet were cold! So stylish!
Picture of the airport - sorry it's blurry, I was walking!
Departure Gate
Our fave!
Their immaculate bathrooms! Loved them!
I decided to go ahead and carry my vase onto the plane. I was afraid that it might get smushed with all of the baggage, because they are really rough with it around here. Kacey's luggage got ripped on the way over and we saw a guy today who had one of the wheels of his suitcase ripped off! So "Baby Vasey" made the trip on board with us today. I felt like I was carrying around a little baby the whole time lol.



Our first flight to Moscow was about 9 hours and 50 minutes. The Moscow airport is not the most pleasant I have been too, I would rank it right above Mexico City's airport if you've ever flown through that one lol. It was hot and crowded and again, they did a security check for us and herded us into this glass box to wait for the plane to load. This boxed area was much smaller than the Sinapore one and only maybe a third to half of our flight could sit down. The rest of us all had to stand and wait. We did meet a few nice people here though, one girl was an Aggie working in the oil industry in Singapore and was traveling home and getting married this summer. Another guy was from Singapore and going to school at SMU and we met another man from New Orleans that rode rigs or some type of transport boat with rigs and oil, and he was getting back from a 56 day boat ride transporting product. I also was mistaken for being Russian at the Moscow airport today, it was pretty hilarious. This couple came up to me and started asking me questions in Russian and I was like uhh, "Sorry I don't speak Russian!" Kacey was laughing because they came over and talked to me rather than her haha, she said I must look Russian, even though we didn't' think I did.


Our second flight of the trip was 11 hours from Moscow to Houston. We sat by a guy from Belarus on this flight, and he was on his way back to Austin for school at University of Texas. He was studying physics but also interested in neurosciences. He was a nice kid to talk to. One of the things that is so fun about traveling internationally is just the people you meet. In Singapore, there aren't a lot of friendly people, and it was the same in Russia at the airport, but you can always find someone nice to talk to who is interested in sharing their lives and learning about yours. The flights were a little more difficult coming back this time, Kacey and I were just completely worn out and exhausted. We technically hadn't slept in about 43 hours by the time we got to Houston. Just little 20 minutes naps here and there. We were definitely glad when we made it back to Houston and proud of ourselves that we made it haha!


So happy to see this!
We saw our flight crew loading up to go to their hotel while we were waiting on Kacey's mom to pick us up.


So we finally made it home, and Jacey was so excited and beside herself to see me! She's barely left my side since I got here. Jacob even came home a little early to see me and was happy I am home too! Jacob went and got some WingStop and then I took a three hour nap tonight haha and am about to go to bed to sleep some more!!! I hope you have all enjoyed reading my blog, I love sharing my travels with people and it makes me happy that other people are interested too!


Thank you to all of you who called, sent emails saying you missed me and making comments on my blog! I really appreciated it!! It makes it a little easier being so far away when you have friends and family staying in touch with you and supporting you. Love to you all!


Haha - Stay tuned for our trip in July! Jacob and I will be traveling to Australia for about ten days right after my birthday for our 5th year anniversary. Hopefully the hotel will have wi-fi so we can keep everyone posted of what we're doing!




6 comments:

  1. Yea!!! So glad you are home and I have loved reading about all your adventures! Hope you are up for another mini-adventure to Austin this month!

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    1. Thanks so much Adam! I'm glad you enjoyed the posts and thank you for your comments! It was so fun to hear from you over there!

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    2. And we are TOTALLY ready for an Austin mini-adventure! Whoo hoo!!

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    3. So glad you had a good time. I had been looking forward to you coming all year long. It was really tough not being around my girls for so long. I would say maybe we can do this again in some other country, but I think the farthest that I'll live from you after next year will be the Woodlands.

      I hate to warn you about wi-fi in Australia. We had to go to the lobby for free wifi. You could probably pay extra for it. It may be worth it. I don't remember how much it was.

      Have a great time anyway. I'll be looking forward to your blogs.

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  2. Hi there,

    I was actually searching online to see where I can find sweet strawberries in Singapore, since most of the produce here are imported. Hence, strawberries are harvested early and are extremely tart.

    Ended up, I chanced upon your blog, aptly named "7sweetstrawberries" and read your 10 day adventure in my home country. Having borne and raised here, things doesn't excite us as much.It has been an immensely interesting read, to see Singapore from the perspective of a tourist.

    You definitely saw a lot of things in those 10 days, shops, buildings, church, mosque, temples, chinatown, little india. Have to say you did some things which even many Singaporeans probably have not done (Pottery Jungle, Cemetry...) However, it was a waste that you didn't visit Gardens by the Bay, one of our latest attractions.

    Remember the dome shaped things you saw across the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and while on the Flyer? It is a huge garden with lots of different plants, with ponds, lakes, Super Trees and 2 exhibit domes (Cloud Forest and Flower Dome). Cloud Forest has an artificial waterfall inside, temperature is set to around 20 *C, with plants from temperature regions of the world (which normally wouldn't survive the heat). There are information regarding Global warming, and beautiful plants).

    If you ever come back to Singapore, be sure to check them out. I am glad you have enjoyed your trip here and absolutely enjoyed reading your posts. Now back to hunting sweet strawberries...

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    1. Haha I am so glad you enjoyed the read! I know this is so late in responding, I was actually working on organizing and updating my blog and just now saw your comment! Thank you for the suggestion of the gardens, I would really like to go back to Singapore one day with my hubbie so that will definitely be on the list! Hope you found what you were looking for with the strawberries hehe!

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