It was not the first time that I was flying out of country but the butterflies in my stomach this time I had were infinite in number.
The chief reason was that I had to go for a long term this time, and on top of that I would be managing everything on my own, from accommodation to food,laundry,commute.
Virtually Everything !!
So, I took a BA flight via London. The flight was comfortable ,I had a nice aisle seat with an old women sitting besides me blowing her nose every now and then.
Food ,drinks were as usual, not a new thing to me.I started reading a book and dozed off .Then after some time, the old women and her friend
started chatting with me. One of them was a professional painter. She gave me her small painted postcard. They gave me their email Ids.
One thing I observed in BA flight was that the flight attendants , none of them you can say were some beauty pageants or great figure.This and that.
Totally unlike India. I fly in Jet airways or domestic Indian crafts. All have young girls with toned body.
Britain seriously cares for its people, and one can see the hypocrisy of Indian mindset.Why not a healthy female or bald male be the flight attendant.
So, this was a new and good thing that I observed.
I landed at Heathrow at around 3:00 pm and had my flight at 4:15. Terminal 5 it was, connection itself took 45 minute. I bought coffee and clicked few photos.
Texted few friends from there and soon I was off to the plane heading to JFK, New York.
I made good friends with the lady sitting besides me .Shelly told me about New York, what to do and what not to do. She gave me her email Id to contact her
if I needed any help. She was a great drinker, 5 bottles of Red wine and no sign of stopping. Anyway, we talked about various things, movies,books etc
She was not much educated but was a keen learner. She wanted to know about what this Visa business to US is?
I explained everything. The food in the flight was I would say , a sincere effort was done by BA people to give me Hindu veg food.
I dozed off and on waking up we were half an hour away from NY.
Immigration was easy, no questions were asked . I collected my 2 large bags and took a 5 dollar trolley on my way out.
People had told me already to take the yellow cab and not the black ones, so I was aware of this cab thing.
The moment I came out of the doors of airport into the open,it felt like Siberia. It was so cold and freezing.
I managed to get a cab and used the cab driver's phone to call the landlady of the room I had intended to stay.
The cab driver said its Long Island, Queens and charged me extra 8 dollars. But gave me only receipt of $29.5.
I could have asked him to give me the receipt of $37.74 , but it was late at night and the guy was african american.So I backed off but noted the number of his cab down.
Entered the house. The room was on the attic, fairly large one with a good closet.I settled myself down. Connected to internet and at that moment,
someone called up at landlady's phone number.I felt so happy and overwhelmed.
Owner had prepared dinner for me, I had it and went to the room. Unpacked some of the things and went to sleep.
Of course, Jet lag can't let you sleep for a long time.I kept on waking up in the middle of the night staring at darkness with thousands of questions in my mind.
The chief reason was that I had to go for a long term this time, and on top of that I would be managing everything on my own, from accommodation to food,laundry,commute.
Virtually Everything !!
So, I took a BA flight via London. The flight was comfortable ,I had a nice aisle seat with an old women sitting besides me blowing her nose every now and then.
Food ,drinks were as usual, not a new thing to me.I started reading a book and dozed off .Then after some time, the old women and her friend
started chatting with me. One of them was a professional painter. She gave me her small painted postcard. They gave me their email Ids.
One thing I observed in BA flight was that the flight attendants , none of them you can say were some beauty pageants or great figure.This and that.
Totally unlike India. I fly in Jet airways or domestic Indian crafts. All have young girls with toned body.
Britain seriously cares for its people, and one can see the hypocrisy of Indian mindset.Why not a healthy female or bald male be the flight attendant.
So, this was a new and good thing that I observed.
I landed at Heathrow at around 3:00 pm and had my flight at 4:15. Terminal 5 it was, connection itself took 45 minute. I bought coffee and clicked few photos.
Texted few friends from there and soon I was off to the plane heading to JFK, New York.
I made good friends with the lady sitting besides me .Shelly told me about New York, what to do and what not to do. She gave me her email Id to contact her
if I needed any help. She was a great drinker, 5 bottles of Red wine and no sign of stopping. Anyway, we talked about various things, movies,books etc
She was not much educated but was a keen learner. She wanted to know about what this Visa business to US is?
I explained everything. The food in the flight was I would say , a sincere effort was done by BA people to give me Hindu veg food.
I dozed off and on waking up we were half an hour away from NY.
Immigration was easy, no questions were asked . I collected my 2 large bags and took a 5 dollar trolley on my way out.
People had told me already to take the yellow cab and not the black ones, so I was aware of this cab thing.
The moment I came out of the doors of airport into the open,it felt like Siberia. It was so cold and freezing.
I managed to get a cab and used the cab driver's phone to call the landlady of the room I had intended to stay.
The cab driver said its Long Island, Queens and charged me extra 8 dollars. But gave me only receipt of $29.5.
I could have asked him to give me the receipt of $37.74 , but it was late at night and the guy was african american.So I backed off but noted the number of his cab down.
Entered the house. The room was on the attic, fairly large one with a good closet.I settled myself down. Connected to internet and at that moment,
someone called up at landlady's phone number.I felt so happy and overwhelmed.
Owner had prepared dinner for me, I had it and went to the room. Unpacked some of the things and went to sleep.
Of course, Jet lag can't let you sleep for a long time.I kept on waking up in the middle of the night staring at darkness with thousands of questions in my mind.
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