Chronologically older experience...still fresh in my memories...an archieve of my mails.... the travel to US.
We started off on april 22nd sat nite from Chennai. I was a bit scared about the coming fwd tiresome flight journey and yukkie food they will serve in the flight. Only thing is Raj was there to take care of everything else J .
We screened our luggages and about to checkin. The bad time started…we booked Indian airlines for chn – Singapore travel. And then Cathy Pacific for Singapore – hongkong – LA travel. In CP, max wg allowed is 32 per luggage and a person can check in 2 baggage. IA customs say max 25 only otherwise we have to pay 25$ per piece [adeenga…thamma thudu kadugu packet irukum athuku 25$ pay pannanum…] sema kaandaaitom. Now we have to remove 5 kgs from each luggage. Luckily we have asked our family to come inside and so we removed the items [including my precious bajji-bonda maavu mix L ]. Ithula vera oru packet got opened and airport floor got covered with paruppu. Sema comedy. The funniest and worst part is…ppl that we have never met in our life were conveying their regrets , consoling us and gosh…advices..advices from all directions…errrrrr…pongayya velaya paathuttunnu kathanum pola irunthuchu. Then aft that we had to scan the baggage again. There was some problem with the machine that will tie the suitcases after scan. Athuku security was scolding us..…“next time bring luggage with proper weight and don’t waste our time and time of other passengers too“. Naan poda panni nnu manasukkula soleetu vanthuten. Then onwards things went very smooth until we were seated in the plane.
It was Indian airlines and I really don’t wanna say but our deluxe buses are better than that flight. Old seat covers…head phones were not working. Raj asked for another set and to our irritation, it was broken. Sarinnu oru vazhiya padam paaka aarambicha it was Satham Podaathe movie. Then started the actual comedy. There was a guy seated in the adjacent row. Started asking Raj for guidance…first he asked how to watch the movie. Raj plugged his the headphones properly and turned back. After some 10 mins he called us again and said…like it is coming in hindi. Ada paavi 10 nimishama therialaiya athu tamizh illannu ninachukittom. Then ennadaannu paatha…channel tune pannalai. May be he doesn’t knw it anaa..athukaaga 10 nimishama hindiya kettu apram soli irukka venaam. J . Finally we landed in Singapore.
I was damn tired and sleepy. Our next flight was due in 4 hrs. Thought of taking room and then abandoned that idea…we refreshed and my longing for a good coffee started from here. He bought me a coffee but not southindian. I didn’t like it but at that time it was good for me J We jus roamed around taking some snaps etc. Then it was time for us to check in again for hongkong flight. This time it was in Cathy Pacific. When we were standing in the queue…there was a guy who was chkg our passports and stuffs. His name was written as Arumugam. [Raj dad’s name is also the same]. I was trying to tell this to Raj and that guy noticed that and said to me “I knw what u are noticing” ahaa…bulbu aayiduchu. I smiled and went ahead. Avamaanama pochu J I think he was a tamizh guy. After this enakku romba pasika aarambichuduchu. Long live my relatives. Some one bought us some sweets and I had taken it in my cabin luggage. So atha saapiten.
Now the date was 23rd March, Sunday. Finally we were seated and this time the flight was better. Perhaps too tired to notice anything. Since my tickets were booked through his office finance dept, they didn’t specify anyting about my food. L so we couldn’t get Indian vegetarian. Luckily he preferred the same when he booked his tickets, we jus swapped our food. It was some fried rice, paratha, potato curry and usual fruits , sweet and salads. His food was some asian veg. I don’t rembr the items but he didn’t finish it . athu mattum nyabagam irukku, we shared mine. Thatz all I rember. I watched an English movie and slept off. He woke me up as we reached HKG.
We got some 3 hrs for check in. Again we spent some time in roaming around and the airport was very nice. I was very much-scared abt the 13 hrs flight journey. L and had severe head ache. Then the announcement came for our flight. Again the same cathy pacific. He wanted to join the queue immediately. Queue a bit long so I said we would join in the last. But suddenly we realized that the queue is growing like anything. Poi paatha…avalo persu. We walked for some 3 mins to find the end of the queue. Our passports were checked while we were standing in the queue quite far behind the gate. The weather was good and not too sunny for that Sunday. This time the flight was too crowded and the seats were not better than our Volvo bus seats. It was a bit congested for us. L I tried watching some movies but got severe head ache and ears started paining due to altitude. It was horrible and I wished I could go back to India. L Then I started sleeping. Raj used to woke me up for food and refreshment . Thatz all I rembr abt tht journey. Finally when I woke up it was 2hrs to reach. I jus watched part of om shanthi om and started thinking like…how my life will be? Would I be able to adjust there…when will I go back to India…etc. was very mood out and upset. This stupid head ache…and it was jus 10 mins to land, I felt very nauseating and about to vomit. It was then Raj asked me to look out the window…yup..i reached California !!! And it was Los Angeles airport. The first sight of the airport I didn’t like it. It was too dry and unfortunately it was very sunny on that day.
In the immigration check, there was nothing much formalities. Verified his documents and asked him few usual questions and thatz all. Basically ennai koncham kooda mathikalai. Anyways pozhachu pogattum USA. ;) We collected our baggage and came out of the airport waiting for his frns. I was jus watching around , the system was very neat but still I didn’t like it. J Poor Raj!!!. Then came his frns and it was some 20 mins drive. He said that we were traveling thru freeway ..enna way o enakku enna puriyum…elame greek n latinaa irunthuchu.
Etho HI-FI la poganum apdi ipdeenaanga..athu etho special driving polannu ninachutten apram thaan therinchuthu athu I-5 [Interstate -5 road number]. Athu kooda paravala…etho one –O- one nnu soleetu irunthaanga..ennada ithu pongal - O – pongal maathiri irukennu yoischa ada namma one-NOT-one athaanga one hundred and one number solikittu irukaainga…apram thaan I realised oh oh…namma US of A la irukomnu. He heee… Apram, Inniku romba traffic apdeennu soleetu irunthaanga. Ada paaveengala ithelaam traficna appo namma Chennai guindyla irukratha elaam enna soluvaainga? Anyways I slept again :D oru vazhiya we reached home. And it was March 23rd Sunday evening. Crossed 4 time zones and traveled around almost half of the globe. Jus cant imagine...
We started off on april 22nd sat nite from Chennai. I was a bit scared about the coming fwd tiresome flight journey and yukkie food they will serve in the flight. Only thing is Raj was there to take care of everything else J .
We screened our luggages and about to checkin. The bad time started…we booked Indian airlines for chn – Singapore travel. And then Cathy Pacific for Singapore – hongkong – LA travel. In CP, max wg allowed is 32 per luggage and a person can check in 2 baggage. IA customs say max 25 only otherwise we have to pay 25$ per piece [adeenga…thamma thudu kadugu packet irukum athuku 25$ pay pannanum…] sema kaandaaitom. Now we have to remove 5 kgs from each luggage. Luckily we have asked our family to come inside and so we removed the items [including my precious bajji-bonda maavu mix L ]. Ithula vera oru packet got opened and airport floor got covered with paruppu. Sema comedy. The funniest and worst part is…ppl that we have never met in our life were conveying their regrets , consoling us and gosh…advices..advices from all directions…errrrrr…pongayya velaya paathuttunnu kathanum pola irunthuchu. Then aft that we had to scan the baggage again. There was some problem with the machine that will tie the suitcases after scan. Athuku security was scolding us..…“next time bring luggage with proper weight and don’t waste our time and time of other passengers too“. Naan poda panni nnu manasukkula soleetu vanthuten. Then onwards things went very smooth until we were seated in the plane.
It was Indian airlines and I really don’t wanna say but our deluxe buses are better than that flight. Old seat covers…head phones were not working. Raj asked for another set and to our irritation, it was broken. Sarinnu oru vazhiya padam paaka aarambicha it was Satham Podaathe movie. Then started the actual comedy. There was a guy seated in the adjacent row. Started asking Raj for guidance…first he asked how to watch the movie. Raj plugged his the headphones properly and turned back. After some 10 mins he called us again and said…like it is coming in hindi. Ada paavi 10 nimishama therialaiya athu tamizh illannu ninachukittom. Then ennadaannu paatha…channel tune pannalai. May be he doesn’t knw it anaa..athukaaga 10 nimishama hindiya kettu apram soli irukka venaam. J . Finally we landed in Singapore.
I was damn tired and sleepy. Our next flight was due in 4 hrs. Thought of taking room and then abandoned that idea…we refreshed and my longing for a good coffee started from here. He bought me a coffee but not southindian. I didn’t like it but at that time it was good for me J We jus roamed around taking some snaps etc. Then it was time for us to check in again for hongkong flight. This time it was in Cathy Pacific. When we were standing in the queue…there was a guy who was chkg our passports and stuffs. His name was written as Arumugam. [Raj dad’s name is also the same]. I was trying to tell this to Raj and that guy noticed that and said to me “I knw what u are noticing” ahaa…bulbu aayiduchu. I smiled and went ahead. Avamaanama pochu J I think he was a tamizh guy. After this enakku romba pasika aarambichuduchu. Long live my relatives. Some one bought us some sweets and I had taken it in my cabin luggage. So atha saapiten.
Now the date was 23rd March, Sunday. Finally we were seated and this time the flight was better. Perhaps too tired to notice anything. Since my tickets were booked through his office finance dept, they didn’t specify anyting about my food. L so we couldn’t get Indian vegetarian. Luckily he preferred the same when he booked his tickets, we jus swapped our food. It was some fried rice, paratha, potato curry and usual fruits , sweet and salads. His food was some asian veg. I don’t rembr the items but he didn’t finish it . athu mattum nyabagam irukku, we shared mine. Thatz all I rember. I watched an English movie and slept off. He woke me up as we reached HKG.
We got some 3 hrs for check in. Again we spent some time in roaming around and the airport was very nice. I was very much-scared abt the 13 hrs flight journey. L and had severe head ache. Then the announcement came for our flight. Again the same cathy pacific. He wanted to join the queue immediately. Queue a bit long so I said we would join in the last. But suddenly we realized that the queue is growing like anything. Poi paatha…avalo persu. We walked for some 3 mins to find the end of the queue. Our passports were checked while we were standing in the queue quite far behind the gate. The weather was good and not too sunny for that Sunday. This time the flight was too crowded and the seats were not better than our Volvo bus seats. It was a bit congested for us. L I tried watching some movies but got severe head ache and ears started paining due to altitude. It was horrible and I wished I could go back to India. L Then I started sleeping. Raj used to woke me up for food and refreshment . Thatz all I rembr abt tht journey. Finally when I woke up it was 2hrs to reach. I jus watched part of om shanthi om and started thinking like…how my life will be? Would I be able to adjust there…when will I go back to India…etc. was very mood out and upset. This stupid head ache…and it was jus 10 mins to land, I felt very nauseating and about to vomit. It was then Raj asked me to look out the window…yup..i reached California !!! And it was Los Angeles airport. The first sight of the airport I didn’t like it. It was too dry and unfortunately it was very sunny on that day.
In the immigration check, there was nothing much formalities. Verified his documents and asked him few usual questions and thatz all. Basically ennai koncham kooda mathikalai. Anyways pozhachu pogattum USA. ;) We collected our baggage and came out of the airport waiting for his frns. I was jus watching around , the system was very neat but still I didn’t like it. J Poor Raj!!!. Then came his frns and it was some 20 mins drive. He said that we were traveling thru freeway ..enna way o enakku enna puriyum…elame greek n latinaa irunthuchu.
Etho HI-FI la poganum apdi ipdeenaanga..athu etho special driving polannu ninachutten apram thaan therinchuthu athu I-5 [Interstate -5 road number]. Athu kooda paravala…etho one –O- one nnu soleetu irunthaanga..ennada ithu pongal - O – pongal maathiri irukennu yoischa ada namma one-NOT-one athaanga one hundred and one number solikittu irukaainga…apram thaan I realised oh oh…namma US of A la irukomnu. He heee… Apram, Inniku romba traffic apdeennu soleetu irunthaanga. Ada paaveengala ithelaam traficna appo namma Chennai guindyla irukratha elaam enna soluvaainga? Anyways I slept again :D oru vazhiya we reached home. And it was March 23rd Sunday evening. Crossed 4 time zones and traveled around almost half of the globe. Jus cant imagine...
2 comments:
hehe ...its nice vani writing about the LAX travel...i still remember how tense we were when they started checking the weights .. and sweet memories like searching for movies and eating home made sweets ...we cant forget them easily..:)
Lol....hahhahahaha....lol....
"When we were standing in the queue…there was a guy who was chkg our passports and stuffs. His name was written as Arumugam. [Raj dad’s name is also the same]. I was trying to tell this to Raj and that guy noticed that and said to me “I knw what u are noticing” ahaa…bulbu aayiduchu. I smiled and went ahead. Avamaanama pochu J I think he was a tamizh guy."
Post a Comment