Helllooooo New York!

Finally, the announcement was made. We had been flying over the outskirts of NY when I woke up. All I could see was an endless array of light bulbs glowing as if a billion lightening bugs were neatly stacked in blocks of varying sizes! The expanse of New York City was something that I had neither seen nor imagined. It was 1145PM on 03/Mar NY time. Our flight landed at the John F. Kennedy International Airport 5 mins later. Seeing the JFK made me realize that the Delhi Airport needs another 100 years to even come close to what JFK is today!

Anyways, we walked through the corridor towards the immigration counter, only to find a line for immigration. As I stood there waiting, I could feel my heart race with excitement about how I was finally here in US, my plans for the next two months and a million other things!! The gentleman at the immigration called out for me, asked why I was here and a few questions later, I was stamped for a max. stay of SIX months in US!!

I had to wait for half an hour for my luggage to arrive, the reason for which, as one could imagine, was that my bags would’ve been placed perhaps at the bottom of the whole stack as I was one of the few people on the flight who were flying from New-Delhi to New York. All that time was utilized in thinking and drafting an emergency backup plan in case my bags didn’t arrive at all!!! (hehe!) Guess what… it takes $3 (Rs. 120) for luggage trolley!! (All I could manage for this was… wtf!!)

I then reached the customs counter, which took away a pre-filled form, asked if I was carrying any food (No points for guessing the answer) and then, I was finally in the USA. I took an AIRTRAIN to the Howard Beach Station. It was an awesome experience riding in a train (slightly smaller than Delhi Metro) which runs on an elevated track (almost making you feel as if in air and hence the name). My friend (Ankit) had come to pick me up. It was getting late (around 1:30AM) and we decided to take a train to reach his house in New Jersey.

More in the next post!

 

From New-Delhi to Abu-Dhabi

With so many things to be packed and so less time, it was expected to be a hefty schedule! So many clothes, food and what not! Since it was going to be my first trip to the US, I didn’t quite know what to put in and what to leave out. Anyways, after toiling hard for many days, 70 kilos of ’stuff’ was packed into three bags and I was set to go!

I had a flight with Etihad Airways (the official airline of UAE) on 02 March (One might ask the question that why did I not take Air India or Jet Airways? Well, these are 3-star while Etihad was 4, so I guess it was a safe bet!). The flight was on time and I bid India good-bye at around 11:30 PM IST. I was sitting with a gentleman from Amsterdam and since he was a globe-trotter and a fun-loving guy, we had a very interesting conversation. And yes, being from the drug capital of the world, he increased my knowledge about certain* things!! By the way, it was a wonderful flight with superb food and beverage** but a rather cold hospitality (not unexpected from a new airline!). We were right on time and landed at Abu-Dhabi at 11:30 PM (UAE time).

The airport was a beautiful sight with marvelous architecture. My next flight was in 2:30 hrs, so I went window shopping in the duty-free zone at the airport. I found out first hand that all that glitters in Abu-Dhabi is really really expensive. With all the ‘most-famous’ brands at disposal, it was a feeling that I had never experienced! Then… we boarded the next flight to John F. Kennedy Airport, NEW YORK at 2:00 AM (UAE time).

…. to be continued!