2025/06/01

Two weeks ago, I traveled to a few European countries for a business trip. You know, most business trips are boring, but you have to handle them. The interesting part of this trip is definitely shopping, I bought pretty many clothes of famous European sport brands for me and a really expensive LV handbag for my wife. I had never think of the risk I would face to before I returned to Hong Kong airport. By that time, I suddenly thought that the custom might asked me for the tariff of the bag if I could not explain why I took a new handbag of women style. So I rushed up to a washroom and went through my luggage to find something for hiding the new handbag. I got so nervous as I had not found anything could hide the handbag or just let the handbag to be seemed older. Maybe I should drop the metal strap of the handbag which must would be an obvious thing when my luggage would passing through the X-ray machine. At last, I decided to run straight to the custom and put all my bags on the belt of security checking machine, and nothing happened!

Two weeks ago, I traveled to several European countries on a business trip. As you know, most business trips are boring, but you have to handle them. The interesting part of this trip was definitely shopping: I bought quite a few clothes from famous European sportswear brands for myself and a very expensive LV handbag for my wife. I hadn't considered the risks I might face until returning to Hong Kong airport. At that moment, I suddenly realized customs officers might ask me to pay tariffs if I couldn't explain why I was carrying a brand-new women's handbag. I rushed to a restroom and frantically searched through my luggage for something to conceal the new bag. Growing increasingly anxious when I found nothing to hide it or make it appear used, I even considered removing the metal hardware that would clearly show up when my luggage passed through the X-ray machine. Finally, I decided to stride confidently through customs, placed all my bags on the security conveyor belt, and miraculously, nothing happened!

20250602

A long trip

As I was saying, I went to Europe for a business trip two weeks ago. It's my first trip to the other continent and I was so nervous for the long trip would taking too much time that I had to prepare everything which might be related. Before the flight's departure day, I had bought a new sim card of unlimited data for European contries, I had exchanged some Euro cash for shopping and paying taxi cost, I had prepared some masks, a neck pillow and a small blanket for the long trip which might be uncomfortable. I really could not account for the feelings of how to sit quietly for over 13 hours. Finally, my coworkers, Zeng and Sun, and me started our trip on May 10. We took a ferry from Shenzhen to Hong Kong International Airport, then we was waiting to board the plane for 3 hours. Honestly, I had been tired by that time. But after we boarded the plane, we had another 13 hours flying time which I could not do anything. The worst part of the flight was that we had a extreme long night because we was flying to the opposite of the sun. So I was still staying in the dark with the enormous sound from the plane engine, I was thinking of my career, my life and my family who always inspire me. Sometimes, I could not determine whether I had slept or awaken. It suddenly occurred to me to believe what's the important thing in my life. When we arrived at Frankfurt Airport, so weried, it was just a morning! For sure, we would stay in the airport for waiting the next flight to Romania. Absolutely, the long trip was even longer than anyone's expectations.

As I mentioned, I went on a business trip to Europe two weeks ago. It was my first trip to another continent, and I was extremely nervous because the long journey would take up a great deal of time, so I had to prepare everything that might be needed. Before the flight, I bought a new SIM card with unlimited data for use in European countries. I also exchanged some Euro cash for shopping and paying taxi fares. Additionally, I prepared some masks, a neck pillow, and a small blanket to make the potentially uncomfortable long journey more bearable. I really couldn't imagine how I would manage to sit still for over 13 hours.

Finally, my colleagues, Zeng and Sun, and I started our trip on May 10. We took a ferry from Shenzhen to Hong Kong International Airport and then waited for three hours to board the plane. To be honest, I was already exhausted by that time. After boarding, we faced another 13 - hour flight during which there wasn't much I could do. The most challenging part of the flight was the seemingly endless night, as we were flying against the direction of the sun. So, I remained in the darkness, accompanied by the loud noise of the plane engine. During this time, I thought about my career, my life, and my family, who always inspire me. Sometimes, I wasn't sure whether I was asleep or awake. It was then that I suddenly realized what truly matters in my life.

When we arrived at Frankfurt Airport, to my surprise, it was morning! Of course, we had to stay at the airport to wait for our next flight to Romania. Undoubtedly, the entire journey turned out to be even longer than we had expected.


20250607

The casual Romanian

It was a nice trip by plane from Frankfurt to Bucharest where is the capital of Romania. After I had been watching the European country views out of the window of the Lufthansa plane for three hours, I arrived at Bucharest Airport and got a big surprise that there was nearly no Asian in Romania. The first stunning thing in Romania happened a short while later, we were waiting for our luggages for over one hour!  It could not been imagine when you were in any airport in China. But the other passengers were very easy that they were just waiting with casual expressions. Finally, we rushed up to the uber taxi after getting luggages. Unlike the people at the luggage belt, the car was drive so fast that I had to hold myself tightly. The houses, plants and shops outside were seemed old and poor which led me remember the trip in Vietnam.

I had been Bucharest for three days this time. The most part was the discussion with a local internet giant who has been launching a e-commerce website for serving the customers in southern Europe. I walked across many different streets and parks in my spare time as I really believe that you can understand a city more closely when you are involved in the city’s real life. As I mentioned, the buildings were old and the roads were even not flat with random holes, but people always walked slowly that seemed they have not much work or activities to join.

One evening, I decided to grab a dinner in the hotel steak restaurant after working. My colleague, Lewis, and I went together. But both of us had so bad English communication skills that we went through an embarrassing experience. At first, we had sat down for a while, but no one came to serving. Then I said, 'Hello?', the only waiter with a red beautiful uniform came immediately, 'Sorry, sir, I have to serve the other customers first, they came here earlier', we had to nod and noticed that all people in the restaurant were smiling to us. After the waiter left, I told Lewis, 'Maybe it’s not polite to call waiter to come'. 'I think so.', he said, 'we should learn more table manners from AI chatbots'. 

About a half hour later, the waiter came and smile, 'Welcome, sir, what would you like to drink?'. I pointed the items on the menu with my finger, 'I would like two bottles of juicy. And a T-bone, an Argentina steak. And two chocolate cakes. Thank you'. The waiter was very very confusing, 'OK, sir, are you sure you order food and dessert now? and you order together?'. 'Yes, yes, sure, sure, thank you', I said nervously. I said to Lewis in Chinese with low voice, 'Maybe we should order the food separately, and normally no one orders for others!'. Lewis said quietly, 'You are bright, we will finish it as soon as possible and learn English after we back home.'

After waiting another half hour, we got our juicy which was fresh and sweet but less than 300 ml. We drank out the juicy in five minutes. Then I had plenty of time to observe the others. It’s nearly two hours when I got my steak from the time we went into this restaurant. Frankly, it’s the biggest and most delicious steak I had ever eating. The commit weight on the menu was 220g, but the steak I got was at least 400g. However, I had no good mood to enjoy it as I was so beaten. 'The dessert would not carry on if we don’t tell the waiter, my chatbot told me', Lewis said. 'seems to be, it’s your turn now, you call the waiter for dessert, then we will eat and leave', I replied. 'Sorry, bro, I am not able to say a word. I will speak English perfectly next time. Could you finish all these things today, please', he asked for me. 'Well, wave your hands to let the waiter to come, I will tell him what we want.' Then he waved slightly, the waiter replied a winkle and came at our table, 'What can I do for you, sir, do you like our foods?'. 'Sure, dessert, our dessert, please', I said sadly. 'OK, you want the dessert now. of course, please wait a moment, sir!', the waiter said.

You know, a half hour of waiting again. The truth I had noticed was that Romanian all had casual lives, they could enjoy drinking over an hour and they chatted with each other all night even just with a salad. After our three hours dinner, I thought I almost went crazy, I said to Lewis, 'We have to celebrate for this dinner, it’s difficult but important to us. But now, the only thing I want to do is that we are calling the handsome waiter,  paying the complex bill, leaving the fucking palace and going to the fucking bed to dream that I am sitting in a place I can speak fluently!'. Then Lewis waved again and paid by his credit card. Certainly, I was responsible for speaking. 'Sorry, sir', the waiter said to me, 'the card can’t pay, it returned an error message which I have never seen'. 'Ohh, can we pay with Euro cash?', I was frustrated. 'Sorry, sir, we only accept Romanian Lei for cash', he said. 'Sorry, I really sorry for this. Can you wait me a few minutes, I will pick my other cards from my hotel room to pay the bill?', I asked for him. The waiter touch my shoulder with his warm hand and said politely as usual, 'Sir, you don’t need to apology for this, I’ll wait you, just take your time.'

But all my cards also couldn’t pay the bill, the reason I learned from the Rednote app is that Chinese banks had forbidden the credit cards without IC chip to avoid credit card fraud in some European countries. Fortunately, Lewis got his only idea that night, he asked for a Singapore colleague to pay the bill and it worked. At last, I said to the waiter, 'Thanks for your patience, It’s really a great night, I won’t able to forget the experience, the culture and the casualness!'

 ————

The casual Romanian

It was a nice trip by plane from Frankfurt to Bucharest which is the capital of Romania. After I had been watching the European country views out of the window of the Lufthansa plane for three hours, I arrived at Bucharest Airport and got a big surprise that there were nearly no Asians in Romania. The first stunning thing in Romania happened a short while later. We were waiting for our luggage for over one hour! It could not be imagined when you are in any airport in China. But the other passengers were very relaxed and they were just waiting with casual expressions. Finally, we rushed up to the Uber taxi after getting our luggage. Unlike the people at the luggage belt, the car was driven so fast that I had to hold myself tightly. The houses, plants and shops outside seemed old and poor, which led me to remember the trip in Vietnam.

I had been in Bucharest for three days this time. The main part was the discussion with a local internet giant who has been launching an e - commerce website to serve the customers in southern Europe. I walked along many different streets and parks in my spare time as I really believe that you can understand a city more closely when you are involved in the city’s real life. As I mentioned, the buildings were old and the roads were even not flat with random holes, but people always walked slowly. It seemed they had not much work or activities to join in.

One evening, I decided to have dinner in the hotel steak restaurant after work. My colleague, Lewis, and I went together. But both of us had such poor English communication skills that we went through an embarrassing experience. At first, we sat down for a while, but no one came to serve. Then I said, 'Hello?', and the only waiter in a beautiful red uniform came immediately. 'Sorry, sir, I have to serve the other customers first. They came here earlier,' he said. We had to nod and noticed that all the people in the restaurant were smiling at us. After the waiter left, I told Lewis, 'Maybe it’s not polite to call the waiter like this.' 'I think so,' he said. 'We should learn more table manners from AI chatbots.' 

About half an hour later, the waiter came and smiled. 'Welcome, sir. What would you like to drink?' I pointed at the items on the menu with my finger. 'I'd like two bottles of juice, a T-bone, an Argentine steak, and two chocolate cakes. Thank you.' The waiter was very confused. 'OK, sir. Are you sure you're ordering food and dessert now? And you're ordering them together?' 'Yes, yes, sure, sure,' I said nervously. I said to Lewis in Chinese in a low voice, 'Maybe we should order the food separately, and normally no one orders for others!' Lewis said quietly, 'You're right. We'll finish it as soon as possible and learn English after we go back home.'

After waiting for another half hour, we got our juice which was fresh and sweet but less than 300 ml. We drank up the juice in five minutes. Then I had plenty of time to observe the others. It had been nearly two hours since we entered the restaurant when I finally got my steak. Frankly, it was the biggest and most delicious steak I had ever eaten. The committed weight on the menu was 220g, but the steak I got was at least 400g. However, I had no good mood to enjoy it as I was so exhausted. 'The dessert won't be served if we don't tell the waiter. My chatbot told me,' Lewis said. 'It seems so. It's your turn now. Call the waiter for dessert, then we'll eat and leave,' I replied. 'Sorry, bro, I can't say a word. I'll speak English perfectly next time. Could you finish all these things today, please?' he asked me. 'Well, wave your hands to let the waiter come. I'll tell him what we want.' Then he waved slightly, and the waiter responded with a smile and came to our table. 'What can I do for you, sir? Do you like our food?' 'Sure, dessert. Our dessert, please,' I said sadly. 'OK, you want the dessert now. Of course, please wait a moment, sir!' the waiter said.

You know, we had to wait for another half hour. The truth I had noticed was that Romanians all had casual lives. They could enjoy drinking for over an hour and they chatted with each other all night even just with a salad. After our three - hour dinner, I thought I almost went crazy. I said to Lewis, 'We have to celebrate this dinner. It's difficult but important for us. But now, the only thing I want to do is call the handsome waiter, pay the complex bill, leave this fucking place, and go to fucking bed to dream that I'm sitting in a place where I can speak fluently!' Then Lewis waved again and paid by his credit card. Certainly, I was responsible for speaking. 'Sorry, sir,' the waiter said to me, 'the card can't be used. It returned an error message which I've never seen.' 'Ohh, can we pay with Euro cash?' I was frustrated. 'Sorry, sir, we only accept Romanian Lei for cash,' he said. 'Sorry, I'm really sorry for this. Can you wait for me a few minutes? I'll fetch my other cards from my hotel room to pay the bill,' I asked him. The waiter touched my shoulder with his warm hand and said politely as usual, 'Sir, you don't need to apologize for this. I'll wait for you. Just take your time.'

But all my cards couldn't pay the bill either. The reason I learned from the Rednote app was that Chinese banks had forbidden credit cards without IC chips to avoid credit card fraud in some European countries. Fortunately, Lewis came up with his only idea that night. He asked a Singaporean colleague to pay the bill and it worked. At last, I said to the waiter, 'Thanks for your patience. It's really been a great night. I won't be able to forget this experience, the culture, and the casualness!'