Trip to USA-Jan 31,2009

United States of America-USA- who on earth would not have heard these 4 words or this 3 letter abbreviation. I was one among million-billion population in the world who has been hearing and reading about this beautiful country right from a very young age. One of the many things that definitely came to mind was the Gulf War- the hot discussion topic in School. Disney World, Walt Disney, New York City, Niagara Falls, Rocky Mountains, Golden Gate Bridge, Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami and Of course- Washington DC : The White House, Pentagon, Smithsonian; and many more names crossed my mind when I realised that I was going to live in USA. I had never ever had even thought that I would be living in this great country and would be listening to 'wanna-gonna-gotcha-see ya' version of the English I ever knew. Millions of places and dreams crossed my mind and I knew that they would all come true, when I met my life partner-My handsome Kichu.

Jan 31,2009, 03:30am IST, began our journey to this country. I had the longest single stretch flight of my life-13 hours. Being brought up in Dubai, I was acquainted to flying, but not more than 4 hours. I had assumed that the 13 hours would be much more like 4 hours , with just 9 hours more- which meant more movies, more songs, more clouds from the window and more talks with Kichu. But well I was completely wrong. We slept and slept and slept and woke up just to have some food!! :) We did not watch a movie either, despite many good movies being shown on TV. The times when I woke up, I was lost in thoughts. I wondered if I would ever understand the world famous American English, how the people there would be, if I would ever get a job, would be living in a house or a flat, how snow would be like, if I would make friends, when would I go back to meet my family next, and lastly, if people would ever understand what I say !!! I was pretty anxious- not just pretty but really anxious- like every other normal human being!

John F Kennedy Airport (JFK), New York City , welcomed us with the beautiful snow fall. My first experience in the US- NYC- the city I had always dreamt of. The Airport had long queues and large number of queues!! Well now I understand why the airport is one of the busiest ones in the world. I was welcomed by the Immigration Officer who sarcastically gave me the frequent flyer tag just because I had relatively larger number of passports! Well, I did not react as I had not understood what he had intended to say. The obvious next encounter was at the Baggage Claim counter. The busier the airport is, longer does it take for your baggage to even reach to your sight. We waited, waited and waited. Finally, our bags had arrived at JFK. Little did I know the red tape stickers on our baggages would definitely help us in identifying our bags. All Thanks to my Father in Law. :) Oh Boy!! after the long wait, we had to walk miles and miles ( kms and kms changed to miles and miles), up and down, escalators and elevators, just to reach the check-in counter for our next flight to our destination-Cincinnati. I am not sure if it was the jet lag, or the long haul fatigue or in plain english-tiredness; Kichu reclined his seat in the Delta airlines flight to Cincinnati- and I stretched myself and wow....slept beautifully!! Best sleep ever. Finally, the crew came and woke us up, How nice of him :)!! All this while, I had forgotten the worst part of it, our condo was damaged in a pipe problem and we were putting up in a hotel!! :( We grabbed a pizza slice, from Sbarro, collected our baggage, and waited in the cold cold windy weather for about 20 mins, for the hotel people to pick us up!!,the coldest experience I have ever had!!!

And Guess What!?? At the hour of midnight, of 31 Jan, I saw a lady drive the cab to pick us up! :) It was really a rare sight of its kind, atleast for a person like me who comes from places where women do not even go out of home after 7!! It was really a feast to my eyes.Country Inns and Suites, welcomed us at midnight, with a sweet note that said, 'Complimentary breakfast from 6am-10am, 7 days a week'. Who would not love it. Little did I know the breakfast would be ice cold eggs, ice cold milk, ice cold juices and cereals with the temperature outside being below freezing point!!! Well, I learnt it the hardest way!!! :)