Farewell to BIL
Bid farewell to BIL who headed to CMU for his starting his Graduate program.
This reminded me of my first flight to US. I didn't have blogging habit then. Let me see how I would have blogged that event.. Taking back the story to Jan 2003.
It was Jan 13 when I had to board my flight from Bangalore to Chennai first. In Chennai, my friend who was working there came to meet me. He got me a masala dosa in a hotel near the airport. After Chennai, my hops included Singapore, Tokyo, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. Nothing was in my mind when I started from Bangalore. It was a relief to get my visa which got delayed for many reasons. School had already started a week ago. When I sat in the flight, all I had was to reach my destination and start studying next hour.
International travel was not new to me as I was working in Dubai after my bachelor's in Bangalore. That made lot of things simpler in case of getting the logistics right in the airports. Singapore transit was fruitful with an arranged tour of the city. One big jacket in my hand made me look like one joker in that hot sun!
Not many would land in US for the first time at the Gambling Capital, Las Vegas. But, I had to because of last minute booking of flight and non-availability of the route I wanted. Once I put my foot in LA, $-Rs. calculator switched ON automatically. Everywhere, I saw $ $ $. "Play here" boards made me question, "Do I put $1, i.e., Rs 42 in to this machine?". "No way" was my instinct. After spending couple of hours resisting to see the fun of slot machines, I boarded the flight to complete my last leg.
SLC airport was deserted at 1:00 am. I thought I would board the shuttle at 1:30 am and reach my host's place by 3:00 am. Sadly, there was no transport after 11pm and next one was at 8:00 am. From 1:00 am to 8:00 am, I got the experience of Tom Hanks in the movie Terminal. I saw few people washing the floor with 'awesome' machines. One guy came in to check all the ceiling light with an automatic ladder. All high-tech! For stomach, 1 Hershey's and a bottle of water was all that I had :(. Reached home at 10am to get coffee and breakfast from my 'new' friends.
That was my first journey from India to US. The rest of story is a long one to narrate in blog ;).
This reminded me of my first flight to US. I didn't have blogging habit then. Let me see how I would have blogged that event.. Taking back the story to Jan 2003.
It was Jan 13 when I had to board my flight from Bangalore to Chennai first. In Chennai, my friend who was working there came to meet me. He got me a masala dosa in a hotel near the airport. After Chennai, my hops included Singapore, Tokyo, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. Nothing was in my mind when I started from Bangalore. It was a relief to get my visa which got delayed for many reasons. School had already started a week ago. When I sat in the flight, all I had was to reach my destination and start studying next hour.
International travel was not new to me as I was working in Dubai after my bachelor's in Bangalore. That made lot of things simpler in case of getting the logistics right in the airports. Singapore transit was fruitful with an arranged tour of the city. One big jacket in my hand made me look like one joker in that hot sun!
Not many would land in US for the first time at the Gambling Capital, Las Vegas. But, I had to because of last minute booking of flight and non-availability of the route I wanted. Once I put my foot in LA, $-Rs. calculator switched ON automatically. Everywhere, I saw $ $ $. "Play here" boards made me question, "Do I put $1, i.e., Rs 42 in to this machine?". "No way" was my instinct. After spending couple of hours resisting to see the fun of slot machines, I boarded the flight to complete my last leg.
SLC airport was deserted at 1:00 am. I thought I would board the shuttle at 1:30 am and reach my host's place by 3:00 am. Sadly, there was no transport after 11pm and next one was at 8:00 am. From 1:00 am to 8:00 am, I got the experience of Tom Hanks in the movie Terminal. I saw few people washing the floor with 'awesome' machines. One guy came in to check all the ceiling light with an automatic ladder. All high-tech! For stomach, 1 Hershey's and a bottle of water was all that I had :(. Reached home at 10am to get coffee and breakfast from my 'new' friends.
That was my first journey from India to US. The rest of story is a long one to narrate in blog ;).
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