Well, I’m back home. A mountain of bills and other mail awaited me at home last weekend, and my workplace looks like you’d expect (Hurricane Katrina comes to mind). I spent part of the weekend going through some 600 emails that I had only casually glanced at during my trip despite the ever-present CrackBerry. Ahh, the joys of traveling.
Anyways, feels good to sleep in my own bed again. Oh, one piece of advice: if you want to do yourself a favor, avoid friggin’ Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. I’ve seen my share of unorganized airports, but Charles de Gaulle is by far the worst. Talk about a convoluted, nonsensical layout. I’ve had the pleasure of using this airport a few times now, and it’s been a pain every time. Getting from the check-in counter to my terminal and gate was an almost comical odyssey that at times made me and fellow travelers feel like we were going in circles.
One thing that struck me coming back was California’s air. It’s just amazing how polluted the air here is compared to most of Europe. On the other hand, it’s equally amazing to see how smoking in public places (bars, restaurants) is still so commonplace in most European countries. It never really bothered me all that much while I grew up in Germany, but now that I’ve lived in smoke-free California for a few years, I notice (and am bothered by) cigarette smoke so much more. I guess I’m spoiled. In any case, from what I hear all of this may change soon, as many countries are discussing or already implementing legislation prohibiting smoking in public places. Hallelujah.
By the way, can somebody please explain to me how the pricing algorithms for airfares work. I’m trying to book a trip to India (vacation, not work – yay!). It’s driving me nuts. I’m obviously trying to find the best deal and am using various websites to check flight options. It’s absolutely amazing what a huge bandwidth of prices you can find for the same flights on the same dates, depending on what source you consult. On top of that, the prices for any given flight seem to change arbitrarily, sometimes within minutes. It’s ridiculous.
Oh well, enough ranting for one day :)