Back in sunny and warm Florida after a great DO in a somewhat
rainy but warm Singapore. It was absolutely great to meet all
you FT'ers and being able to put a face to a "handle".

A big "thank you" to the organizers for a good choice of restaurants
and activities.

I'll jump over to the SIN DO 2008 page now and sign up for
the next one.

Thanks to all who inquired about my passport adventures.
To make a very long story tolerable:
My wife and I arrived at ORD on Thursday morning at about 8:45 am for flight 829 to Hkg-Sin. At check in, we were told that we would not be able to get on the plane..I thought that the agent was joking, and that Bseller was lurking behind the counter and playing a joke...but it was no joke.
We were told that because we only had 2 months remaining on our passports, Singapore would not let us into the country because they demand 6 months to expiration, and therefore, UAL would not let us board. I thought because we had a return ticket that that restriction wouldn't matter, but UAL was firm..."Mr and Mrs. Geeza, you will not get on the plane".
So we rushed downtown to the passport office, got pictures taken, got an appointment, paid the extra fees, and in about 5 hours, had new passports.
Unfortuanately, the last flight to Sin left two hours earlier...so that even though we had express passport service, we were still too late to make the fllight.
But UAL was pretty terrific about rescheduling us for the next day, however, in E+ and not C. But we were on the upgrade waitlist.
I got up early the next morning and checked, but was still not upgraded. My wife had had enough though and didn't want to go any longer, especially in E+, and I really couldn't blame her.
So I went to ORD anyway, expecting not to get my C boarding pass. But to my great suprise, we were both upgraded at least to NRT. I called my wife, but she would have no part of this adventure.
Well, I finally arrived in Sin on Saturday night and spent a wonderful time with Bseller, Violist, Newself and Lori_Q. on Sunday afternoon. It was a great trip although a little short, but I learned a very valuable if not expensive lesson.
So the moral to this story is: if you are planning to go to Sin, make absolutely sure that you have 6 months remaining on your passport to support you return fllight.
Best regards to all!
Boris

I was wondering if this a true requirement from Singapore so I searched.
http://www.mfa.gov.sg/internet/idx_foreignVisaFor.html

Let me add my voice to the chorus and extend my thanks to gfowler-ord-1k for taking care of the reservation at the Esplanade, miles4all for providing the guided walking tour, and Sweet Willie for taking the reins even though he ended up not being able to join in the fun.

It was great seeing so many familiar faces, including violist, the very first Flyer Talker I met just one year ago on the way to last year's SIN Do, and becoming aquainted with some people I'd not met before, including Lori_Q, who was on UA 803 on Friday from NRT to SIN.

I hope to make it again next year -- provided, of course, I can confirm all of the upgrades at the time of booking!

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience.

Thanks for double checking. I thought when this originally happened that I could get to Sin and bluff my way in..Good thing I didn't try it, and it didn't matter anyway because UAL wasn't going to let me on the plane anyway.

Thanks for the thoughts W.

Just added 10 more photos on photobucket.com

Many, if not most, countries require a minimum of six months remaining passport validity. I think of passports as effectively expiring six months before the printed date.