‘Better late than Never’ It has
been a while (approx. 3 months) I came back from my first trip to USA (21 May
to 10 June 2017). However, was lazy & busy to write down my experiences. During
this trip, I visited my brother’s family in Seattle, lovely cousins &
maternal uncle and ex-student Max’s parents in California and my best friend in
Virginia. Also met my six ex- CIEE students from the past batches in Seattle.
It was such a lovely experience to see all of them and had a memorable trip with
each one of them.
I Landed in USA, Seattle after
taking 19 hours long flight via London Heathrow where I took 2 hrs layover. I could
not sleep much in flight but watched most of the movies collection they had
onboard. Enjoyed all the meals and hot beverages served on board. Technology now
days is very advanced and I was able to connect to my family before boarding
the flight, in London airport and in Seattle after landing. Free wi-fi with a
whatsapp calling facility is a bliss having said that you should to know how to
use it. I was impressed with the London airport facilities for transit and
other transport support.
After working for CIEE (an
American organization) for more than 7 years, it was not a very different cultural
experience for me in USA aka foreign land. This might be for several reasons
but a couple I felt were as follows .
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Had a family and friends to take care of me and
show around places
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Ample exposure to Americans and American
Culture.
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Already travelled outside of India to Istanbul,
Turkey and Cape town, South Africa
Many people asked me how was I
feeling being first time in USA, honestly I felt I the same when I was like in
Turkey & Cape Town. Definitely, my first trip out of country (Turkey,
Istanbul in 2014) was much more fearful. However, trust me Istanbul is a beautiful
place in the world to visit. That Journey gave me an idea to get along in a foreign
land where you meet different people, places, eat different food etc. My second
trip out of India was to South Africa, Cape Town in 2015 that was different and
unique in its way. Both of these places have a different history, tradition,
food & culture. I enjoyed both the places and had a different experience in
each of them. I got a chance to roam around all alone which itself was a success.
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| Sweets market in Istanbul |
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| Colorful market in Istanbul |
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| Blue Mosque |
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| South African traditional face art- got painted with friends |
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| Enjoying Ethopian food in Cape town |
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| Half way through climbing Table Mountain |
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| My fellow climbers to Table Mountain - Me , Martin, Chris & Raffa |
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| After climbing the Table Mountain |
I climbed Table Mountain with three other CIEE colleagues from Berlin, Brazil
and Spain. That was the first time I ever climbed any rock/mountain without
rope support. It was approx. 3000 ft from sea level. In Istanbul, I went around
seeing the local touristy places, lost my way to Blue mosque, and tried to take
help from local college going students who were standing on the street. No one
in Istanbul speaks any other Language than Turkish. I literally sat down and
show them how people do namaz and draw mosque on a paper too J then they understood I
was looking for blue mosque they explained me with directions in Turkish Language
but I understood. My drawing and signal skills worked there. That was my first experience
abroad. Here are my experiences in Seattle.
Seattle –
Loved the green city with lots of
greenery around and covered Space Needle, Pike market, Bulleve, Rattlesnake
Park, Redmond, industrial museum, chilhuly garden, jazz perfomances, Museum of
POP culture, Seattle Aquarium, Argosy cruise, Olympic Sulpture Park, Lake
Unioin, Pioneer Square, and many more. Ride the ducks of Seattle was lots of
fun where you will go by bus that will cover few places around and later take
same bus into water. Taking a city pass was a wise thing to do for an
economical city tour. Apart from city tour, I learned how people fix their own furniture;
discard their trash & carton boxes on their own. There are no house cleaners,
helpers, or technicians for these activities. We can opt for technician to fix furniture
but he will be very expensive to afford. Pedestrians were kings on the roads,
if a car or bus any other transport will see a pedestrian trying to cross the
road they will stop their vehicle at a distance so that these people can cross
the roads. Pressing the button to cross the road was a very safe method, which
will tell when to cross the road to avoid accident.
Tried different food including
Vietnamese, Japanese, Italian, Mexican and Indian too. Visited Amazon and
stayed in a colony where most of the Indians are staying. Trust me you will not
have the feeling that you are in USA, there are tons of Indian’s around. Missed
the hike to the mountain in Seattle. However, apart from meeting friends &
family did my first tandem Sky dive. As far as my knowledge, I am the first female
in my both Paternal and maternal side of family to do such a daring thing of
this kind.
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| First Starbucks store in Pike Market Seattle |
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| downtown in Seattle |
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| Aunt & Nephew time :) |
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| Family time at Rattlesnake Park |
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| Me & my brother with his wife |
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| Way down from Olympic Park to downtown in seattle |
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| Chilhuly glass garden Seattle |
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| Me & Aruna aunty on ride on the ducks tour |
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| Fun time with capation |
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| Space needle free photo shoot :) |
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| Round two Space needle photo shoot - Me, Dev & Megha |
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| Me and past CIEE students - From left Kristen, me, Hannah, Mike, Sarah and Gary |
Tandem Sky diving – One of the craziest things I have ever done in
my life. But No regrets
I never even dreamed of flying in
air but was excited for my first skydiving; I just wanted to do for thrilling experience.
Initially my brother was not happy that I wanted to do such a crazy thing in my
life and he tried to convince me that it was dangerous (of course, it is no
doubt) and I should drop it. However, I was very firm that I wanted to do it
and later we found that my brothers other three colleagues also wanted to do
the same. He was a little bit relaxed that I have partners in crime with me who
wanted to do this. He drove us all to the Snohomish Tandem Skydiving center.
Let me give an idea what exactly
it is - Tandem skydiving or tandem parachuting refers to a type of skydiving
where a student skydiver is connected to a harness attached to a tandem
instructor. The instructor guides the student through the whole jump from exit
through freefall, piloting the canopy, and landing. Tandem Skydive is the
technique where a trained professional will help you throughout the experience,
he will jump with you.
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| Me & my bro before the flight |
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| Training before we go on flight |
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| After finishing the Skydive - certificate with my instructor |
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| Me in air |
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| My brother and his colleagues |
There were different slots in
every half an hour where 8 people will be on board with their instructors to experience
the fall from 13500 feet high. We signed No objection form where every line
speaks that you may die because of this. If any of my family member will have
to sign this, they will never allow me to do this crazy thing. Once we sign the
risk awareness form we were explained the rules and few steps to be taken care
before and after the dive. I paid extra for video coverage of the entire dive; it
is worth it to look your scary shouts if you are alive J worth paying if you are
daring to do this. We were asked to put on separate clothes to prevent injuries
withhold cold. Our instructor or fly partner helped us to get along all this
procedures. I was little nervous but was happy that I was able to do this. My
package was free fall of 60 seconds and then parachute. My instructor make me
understand the rules and try to make stress free. 3, 2, 1 and each one of the
fellow skydiver started jumping off the plane from the distance of 13500 feet.
My turn came and I was feeling like falling down from air and it was damn cold
as the temperature was 7 degrees. I was unable to breathe properly in between.
That fall of 60 seconds was most thrilling experience where you do not have
time to think at all you just feel the fall and once my instructor opened the
parachute I shouted with excitement. The view of Seattle was beautiful at the
same time I was happy that I was aliveJ.
I was in air for another 4-5 min enjoying the beauty of Seattle. Here is the
link to the video
California and Virginia
I stayed in Seattle for 4 days
and decided to visit my uncle and cousins in California I took a direct flight
to SFO (San Fransico) and my uncle was expecting me arrive at 11 am as I
boarded my flight at 9 am. At 10 am they announced that they will be landing at
Oakland instead of SFO as there were some repair work going on at the runway.
We were told that a bus will pick up from Oakland and drop at the SFO or we can
even book Uber to reach and the airlines will repay us the cab money. That was
a warm welcome by California. I communicated this new changes to family and
uncle who was waiting at the SFO airport first they were worried but later they
understood the situation. Finally, I met my uncle after 2 hours whom I met after
7 years. He drove me around and later visited to my aunt’s office. I stayed 3
days in California and nest day my paternal cousins took me around places in
California. I met Max’s parents (Max was in CIEE in 2011 and unfortunately we
lost him in tragedy) He was a sweet boy I met in our program, I was glad that I
could meet his parents near my uncle’s place in California to share their
sorrow. It was such a pleasure to meet his parents and Paula (Max’s mom) cooked
all of his favorite food for us. I spent unforgettable moments with them.
Thanks for Social Media to connect us.
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| Max's Parents |
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| Paula cooked Max's fav food - Corn bread and eggplant baked |
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| Californiaidaries with cousins |
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| Avacado toast - Yummy |
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| California diaries - cousins meet |
After successful three-day tour in California,
I went to Virginia to meet my best friend and stayed for 3 days. They showed me
around Washington DC, White house, Maryland and all the nearby places. I
visited Washington DC on Memorial Day and the celebrations were grand on that
day. It was a great feeling to witness their patriotism.
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| Whute house at the back |
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| Like counter a different experience - Banhantia restaurant |
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| Latha akka, Bava, Jeetendra anna and his family in Virginia |
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| Memorial Day celebrations |
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| Shilpa's house and Car |
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| My friend shilpa, her husband Krishna Pradeep and son Krishik in Virginia |
I also visited my dad’s extended
family whom I met for the first time. They welcomed my friend’s family and me
warmly and gave us a delicious dinner. It is always happy to spend time with family.
After exploring Virginia, I took back flight to Seattle where I learned that I could
get a tea, coffee or water on flight only if I have a credit card. I had cash
only with me, I requested my fellow passenger who was student in the nearby
college. He generously agreed to pay for me and later I paid him cash. So,
better to have a credit card in US. Spent a week again in Seattle with my
family, ate many cuisines, shopping and back to India.
Learnings from my trips : -
- Observe, adapt, adjust and enjoy your stay
- Try to taste the food offered at that place
- Explore the city as much as you can
- Feel free to ask help strangers, not all strangers are bad.
- Meet as many as people you can and stay in touch.
- Be dare to try new things do what you like and love to do.
"
Contest entry for The Adventurer Blog Contest November 2017 by Bikat Adventures"
