Paris - Notes from the 3rd World

Strike Up the Band!
It didn't matter than I'd checked the Air France website twenty minutes before arriving at Changi airport.  When I saw "Cancelled" next to my flight I knew the strike was real.  Air France went on strike to protest a new rule that would require them to give 48 hrs notice to go on strike.  Can't say I blame them - you should be able to strike at will.  There was a scrum of smelly Frenchies yelling and screaming at the Singaporean staff, who were doing their best to calm them down.  Being a Platinum trillion mile flyer helped me out, I think - they swapped me over to the Singapore Airlines midnight flight.  That, my friends, is like hitting lotto.  Going from Air France to SQ is like moving out of the slum into the penthouse.

I stretched out on the flatbed, munched on great food, watched a Taiwanese movie and then slept soundly for nine hours.  As we were landing the captain said that it was "moins neuf" outside - which converts to 16 degrees farhenheit.  I don't travel with a coat so it was really fun to wait outside at the empty taxi queue for twenty minutes.  Why was it empty?  Because the French are lazy?  I don't know.  Strikes, no taxis, freezing weather.  Welcome back to the 3rd World!