our flight home (June 2)

The day – our last one of the trip – began early.  We packed, went down for some breakfast, went back to the room and finished packing, set out our suitcases, headed back to the breakfast room to say our good byes and then went to the lobby to wait for our taxi.

OAT has certainly taken good care of us, and Mai rode with the four of us to the airport (Greg, Cheryl, Oren, and Harold/I).  We talked a bit about having Mai’s aunt write a memoir of her experiences.  Maybe.

Our flight home went off without a hitch.  We first flew from Saigon to Hong Kong.  We had a 3-4 hour layover, longer than I realized, but we hung out at the upscale international terminal in Hong Kong before we boarded our Cathay Pacific flight back to Newark.  We slept some, watched a couple of movies, and were glad we had spent some extra money for premium seats.

Got to Newark on time and tried out our new Global Entry passes which allow us to go through customs with only a quick pass through an electronic kiosk.  Took only about 45 second each!  Unfortunately, our luggage was about the last to come out at the baggage claim, but eventually it arrived, and Randall came to get us.  Now we are looking forward to a good night’s sleep and getting back on track in a time zone that is 12 hours different from what we are used to.  Yikes!

Spent a couple of days enjoying Ella (and Randall and Olive) and then started the drive back to Pittsburgh.  Unfortunately, a semi plowed into us, we spun 360 degrees and hit the concrete barrier head on.  Car is totaled; we are fine (whew).  Decided to buy the same kind of car again because it did well by us!