My Great American Adventure - The trip to New York

I landed in New York on a Friday night and was exhausted! I mean think about it, I had had a lot of travelling (for those of you still catching up, you’ll have to read my previous post) and moving through time. I landed at La Guardia and called the aunt (who was still making up her mind about whether or not she should pick me up at the airport). Anyway, I took the shuttle to the Newark airport, where I was met by the family *sigh* (please excuse the poignant moment being replayed in my head – my aunt on the sidewalk looking around her anxiously for anyone that looked like me, my cousin B spies me and gets out to open out the trunk and cousin V jumps out of the car (belatedly) with a smiley face balloon) Once we finished the oooos, aaaahs and the waterworks, we went out to dinner at a Thai place. We got home and almost immediately crashed out. The weekend had officially begun.

The next day was a relaxing one – I got to sleep in late, eat yummy south Indian mummu for lunch and even take an afternoon nap. Then we went to the mall and wow! It was amazing! We went to a whole lot of stores and generally had good fun trying out stuff. Needless to say we had dinner at a place closeby – Chipotle’s (Mexican cuisine).
Sunday was even better. Cousin V and I got up early to go see the city  Yay!! But I thinking twice about beginning to list all the things we did because it is a pretty long list (but you can check out the pictures on Facebook). But I’m going to tell you anyway – we went to ‘Toys R Us’, ‘M&M’, ‘Swatch’, ‘Rock & Roll McDonalds’ (Cousin V – Have missed anything here?) and then we took the city-bus tour through Downtown NY. It was amazing!! We finished the tour in the later part of the afternoon and we met by the rest of the family post lunch. We drove to family’s new apartment in Jersey City. And I was in love! The apartment is everything I imagined that I would want in my own place (whenever I got it) – It faces the river and the entire east wall is glass! And it is just enough for 2 people :)
Picture this – you’re making this amazing dinner and all you have to do is just lift your head to drink in the NY Skyline. It is beautiful (prat – I hope you’re listening. :) I want the same thing even if it were only in Nariman Point)

Monday had a teary start with all the byes. But it was time to get steely and go to work. Uncle B dropped me at my hotel. I couldn’t check in yet because my room would’ve been ready only at noon. So I left my stuff at the holding room and went to work. My office is the building right next to the US Postal Office. And it is also a 1 room space. Then again it has only 2 or 3 people working from it. It was a good but slightly different from what I had become accustomed to in LA. I went back to the hotel to check-in and got a rude shock. Unlike my other hotels, this one was not paid for in advance! Well, I guess there’s nothing to get dramatic about because I paid for it. The only problem was that I had maxed out my card after paying for the room! So after a hurried fluster of emails, the situation was rectified. I also got to see Times Square at night and I also went to the Apple store. It’s amazing and what’s more? It is open 24 hours a day and definitely full of people at 10:00pm! And the customer service is sooo good :)

Anyway, moving on, Tuesday was a good day because I met some friends for lunch and met them again for dinner because my colleagues cancelled on dinner plans. But it was also bad because I didn’t go to Washington.

Wednesday was full of people in the office with hardly space to move around. It was also a busy day because there were a couple of important meetings that the big bosses were going to. It was also the day that I was going back to LA. Got back in LA at around 9:30pm.

Thursday and Friday were rather uneventful. So nothing to report there :) But the weekend is here and hopefully I’ll be doing some fun things :)

I’ll keep you posted babies :)

My Great American Adventure - The Story So Far

I landed in LA on a sunday afternoon :) And as I went through the immigration, I was thinking "Oh what nice people. They're smiling at me (the way Indians smiles at foreigners when they're in India)" ;) I was booked at a hotel in Santa Monica while my colleagues were put up near LAX (the airport). Paavama, I had to fend for myself - took a cab alonely and checked in and all :D Anyway. I checked into my hotel and found out the my hotel was walking distance from the Pier. Needless to say, that was the start of my sightseeing in the USA :) My colleague picked me up for dinner and we went back near the pier - I saw Bubba Gump Shrimp & Co. :) and as a snack I got to have a small cup of Ben & Jerry's chocloate ice-cream. In an effort to make my first meal in the USA memorable, we went to a steak house (Daddy - i missed you much here). We lost our way back to the car and walked in circles for about half hour before I remembered and reminded him to use Google maps. pch.

The week went in a blur -
Wake up at 6:30-7.
Start servicing India - personal (30 min), professional (120 min)
Go to office
Meet a couple of customers
Come back to hotel
Continue to service India - personal (30 min), professional (180 min)
Sleep around 12:30-1

Wednesday - My colleague was sad for me cuz i was working all the time and i hadnt done any sightseeing. So he took me to Hollywood :) I got to see the Kodak Theatre, the Walk of Fame, Ripley's Believe it or not Odditorium, the Chinese Theatre, Madam Tussaud's, Beverly (not the Hills).

Thursday - We went to and helped him do some shopping for India (he was leaving on Friday).

Friday night, I got picked up by some friends who stay at Pasadena. So I got to see Downtown LA, Staples Center, Nokia Plaza & went to place called Yard-house which apparently has the world's largest variety of Beers. I even got to go for a movie :)

Saturday - I saw the Malibu beach, the Hindu temple society of CA (it has a Balaji temple & a Shiva temple), Got to eat puliodarai, koottu & thair-saadam :D saw the Hollywood letter (through all the fog), passed the campuses of Perpperdine university & UCLA, passed the Dodger's stadium, then went to Universal Citywalk (where I went to the Hard-rock cafe, took a pic in front of the Universal Studios Globe, did some time-pass, took a picture with one of the kids who come in the movie the Role models and saw Sean Kingston perform), had dinner at an Ethiopian place.

And to help quickly put everyone at ease, i'll do the round of FAQs :)
1. Yes, I'm working longer hours here. But thats only because I am actively involved in a lot of projects in India.
2. My company's taking pretty good care of me - they're putting me up in 4star hotels & pay for travel, stay and food + plus i get a $25 daily allowance that I can spend on personal stuff like souvenirs, alcohol etc.
3. I'm not exactly jet-lagged because I'm used to staying up late hours in India. But my guess is that it's gonna be really hard when I get back to India.
4. I'm loving the food here - I try to eat something dinner for each meal. I've had some good Japanese, Ethiopian, Diner food, Breakfast food, Take-away Sandwich, Subway and the works.
5. Yes I hope to get a local number today, so that I get a little more accessible :)
6. The sunshine state isnt exactly having sunshine weather. It's a little chilly but apparently that's normal at the beginning of summer.
7. I dont know what my itenerary is right now. But I will get to NY on tuesday. (I will confirm exact details). And keeping NY as a base, I will be travelling to a couple of other places like Atlanta & San Francisco for a day or two each.
8. My thoughts about the US? It's just like in the movies :)

My Great American Adventure - The Beginning

Now that I've been in the USA for a week, I thought I'd quickly write about my great adventure :) But I've got the feeling that this is gonna be a LONG email. Please read at leisure.

My route to the USA - Blore => HongKong Airport => Los Angeles

The flight was fun (in some trans-dimensional parallel universe way) :D But think about it - I was travelling ahead through time (HK is about 4 hours ahead of India) and then I was gonna travel back in time (LA is about 12 hours behind India). The best part? I was gonna do it all in 1 day!! How cool is that?
Anyway. I landed in the Hongkong Airport. Next Step: Look for a celerity to take pics with :D Nah! I'm just kidding. But what I was doing was looking for a phone to call home. Thats when I spotted them :) So I walk up to them, all hesitant, while Ranbir Kapoor checks me out to see if I'm some crazy fan (Come on!! I mean I'm already grinning from ear to ear & he's probably thinking "Oh NO! Not here also!! Gimme a rest!"). Then this booming voice calls out "Don't be afraid. Come on over. We're not gonna eat you". I very nearly fainted when I realised who it was :) *sigh* Arjun Rampal *sigh* Can this get better? Actually it could have if Kat was there too. Lol. Then the below scene followed -
Entourage person: Do you want a picture?
Me: Yes. That'll be great.
Entourage person: Do you want to be in the picture?
Me: err..
Arjun Rampal: Of course she does
Me: err.. that'll be great?
(Arjun Rampal moves to give me place next to him, while the entourage person gets ready of the pic & i go to be seated right between RK & AR)
Me: So where you guys headed?
Ranbir Kapoor: No where. We're gonna be chilling here
Me (thinking): Yeah right dude. You're sitting in the Transit lounge
(Entourage person takes the picture)
Arjun Rampal: Hey you might wanna check that picture
Me: Huh?
Arjun Rampal: He's half blind. So you might wanna do a double check. (then he doubles up with laughter)
Me: Ok (Grinning away and checking the pic.)
Me: It looks great. Thank you.
Arjun Rampal: Sure (smiling); Ranbir Kapoor nods & Manoj bajpai still doesnt say anything
Entourage person: You should be glad its a sunday
Me: Huh?
Entourage person: I would've charged for the pic if it were any other day
(everyone doubles up with laughter)
Me: Ok. Thank you. Have a good trip. Bye
Everyone's still laughing and nod their acknowledgment.

i'll post the picture really soon