25h on the plane is just so darn tiring

I survived my first US long overhaul! Congrats to me!
it's a total of 25 h on the plane including of transit, and it just isn't fun at all.

Firstly, traveling to US means lots of security checkpoints. Like it or not, you really have to be well-prepared for it. I tried to travel light (for my hand carry), so I cleared the custom pretty fast. At the Changi Airport, instead of the usual check-in, there are also security officers checking with each and every passenger their passport, their itinierary, and where their accomodation in US will be. They will look into your eyes and ask you what was the purpose of your trip, before they let you go the counter to proceed with your check-in. Right before boarding, there is another round of X-ray scan of your hand carry, and the laptop has to be taken out of the bag, and switched for the officer to see (though I am not sure what's the purpose).

If you think that's all, it's not all. Once I arrived in HK for my transit, my hand-carry was X-ray scanned again,and the laptop taken out of the bag. It's pretty fast, so I thought it was ok. But alas, before boarding the plane, they manually searched through all passenger's hand carry, and some people aren't very happy about it. I was lucky I only had my poster along and one back pack. So I got up the plane really fast. :D

Then it's the long overhaul. I was sitting right in the middle column, second from the left. Sandwiched between a female elderly and a rather well-built Viet American uncle. It's kind of squeezy in my seat and the air-con was blasting right into me (it took me after 10 h of my journey to realize that I can adjust the knob of the air-con so that it doesn't blast at me...oh well...). UA stewards and stewardess are really old, and I meant old. They are grannies and uncles in their 40s-50s! Only one stewardess looks like she was in the middle 30s, but she was too busy having small talks with uncles such that her service to the others sucks. Like she missed giving me a meal (the meals with chicken are rather nice and tasty), and took half an hour to get back to me after two repeated request for water (they serve water too infrequently). The toilets were surprisingly clean (I like that!). But the UA pilot who was in charge of the HK landing is terrible. He made three consecutive altitude dips, and my heart nearly lurched out of my mouth.

Once I landed in America, it's the clearing of the custom again. I have to scan my four fingers on both hands, and the two thumbs together. I have to look into the camera for them to take a photo of my face, and to answer the officer several questions. And then before I board onto the domestic plane, my hand carry has to be X-ray scanned again, and shoes had to be taken off. It's lucky I wore my crocs shoes, but I think the next time I wear it, I will wear it with my socks. It's more comfy on the plane with socks.

So traveling to US is really troublesome and tiring. I'm glad I finally made my way here. :D