My First trip to USA

‘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 .

-          Had a family and friends to take care of me and show around places

-          Ample exposure to Americans and American Culture.

-          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.

Sweets market in Istanbul

Colorful market in Istanbul

Blue Mosque 

South African traditional face art- got painted with friends

Enjoying Ethopian food in Cape town

Half way through climbing Table Mountain

My fellow climbers to Table Mountain - Me , Martin, Chris & Raffa

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.

First Starbucks store in Pike Market Seattle

downtown in Seattle

Aunt & Nephew time :) 

Family time at Rattlesnake Park

Me & my brother with his wife 

Way down from Olympic Park to downtown in seattle 

Chilhuly glass garden Seattle

Me & Aruna aunty on ride on the ducks tour 

Fun time with capation

Space needle free photo shoot :) 

Round two Space needle photo shoot - Me, Dev & Megha

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.

Me & my bro before the flight

Training before we go on flight 

After finishing the Skydive - certificate with my instructor 

Me in air 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf4-1AsWGyE

 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.

Max's Parents 

Paula cooked Max's fav food - Corn bread and eggplant baked 

Californiaidaries with cousins

Avacado toast - Yummy 

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.

Whute house at the back 

Like counter a different experience - Banhantia restaurant 

Latha akka, Bava, Jeetendra anna and his family in Virginia

Memorial Day celebrations 

Shilpa's house and Car

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" 

My first Hike with IH (India hikes) - Sandakphu-Phalut Trek

Before I go into detail here are the highlights of the trip
Tough Facts of the trek

·         First high altitude trek

·         Sleeping in tents that too in chilly night when it snowed

·         Using toilet papers

·         Taking no bath literally for 6 days

·         Sleeping inside a sleeping bag and a sleeping liner

·         Slept in 3 layers of clothing almost every night

·         Limited or absolutely no access to internet and phone

·         Dry toilets near the tent camp

Fun facts of the trek

·         Sharing a single mug, plate and lunch box with my 3 trek mates and later fighting on who will wash them

·         Sleeping in sleeping bag and sleeping liner

·         Playing in the snow

·         Chatting with all other 22 people on our trek

·         Chai aka tea made with YAK milk

Missing L about the trek

·         Early morning sunrise and sunset

·         Eating Wai Wai and Maggi in the chilly weather, most delicious food for that weather

·         22 trek mates and their jokes

·         Pleasant views, nature, mountains and beauty

·         Fresh air and water

Sweet memories of the trek

·         Met Lovely people  

·         Sunrise before 5:30 am

·         Fixed chai time,soup time and dinner time

·         Singalila National park

·         Colourful flowers and soothing greenery

·         Rhododendrons (National flower of Nepal)

·         Amazing Landscape

·         Photography, felt to capture every moment of it.

·         Chai aka tea made with YAK milk

·         Pass by Nepal Border

Couple of tips for the trek

·         Neither underestimate nor be over confident about your capabilities.

·         Do not take medicine without telling your trek leader.

·         Drink lots of water to keep hydrated.

·         Carry dry fruits, chocolates, chips, energy bars for munching in between the breaks.

·         Be prepared for the sudden surprises by nature.

Most of the itinerary proposed by IH was in place except the Day 6, where we have to cut short our journey from Sabargram to Gorkhey. We did not go to Phalut as the view was not clear because of the bad weather. We missed the sleeping Buddha and Clear view of Makalu, Lohte and Everest.

 8^th April – Hyderabad to Kolkatta

Four of us, me and my 3 MBA classmates (Dilshaad, Sayantan and Kaushik) took a flight at 6 :15 am from Hyderabad to Kolkatta and reached at 8:15 am. I decided to visit Dakshineshwar Kali temple and rest of them went to Sayantan’s parents’ home in Kolkatta. I took an Uber and reached temple in half an hour. It was a very nice temple with a systematic que system in place to visit the goddess. I spent an hour to get my turn, later took another cab, and reached Sayantan’s parents home. Aunty fed me with a nice breakfast and later in afternoon; we all had a lavish traditional Bengali food prepared by aunty. We had Sukto (typical Bengali dish), Bhaat, Fish curry, Prawn curry, Parwal curry, potato curry and Mishthi Dohi (a fav dish of all Bengali’s). Last but not the least Rasogulla, it was a feast in Lunch. Later she packed Chikcken curry and Jeera rice for dinner for four of us. We all started from their house to reach station to catch our HUMSAFAR J it is the name of the train we travelled from Howrah station to New Jalpaiguri. Train was 2 hours late and after we boarded it was 3 hours late so we reached our destination at 7:30 am instead of 4:30 am.

Dishaad, Sayantan, Kaushik and myself

9^th April 2017 - Day 1: Getting to base camp –  Jaubhari. Pick up from NJP at 9:30 AM. The travel time to Jaubhari is 4-5 hours.

 Sumo cars arranged by Indiahikes picked us at 9:45 am from NJP station. Two cars with 11 people started for a 4- 5 hour journey. In between, we stopped at Mirik Lake for Lunch and later were dropped off at first camp Jaubhari at around 3:45 pm. We checked into our rooms and got introduced to our trek organisers, their team and rest 19 trekers. Information about the trek and health & safety was discussed. BP and oxygen levels was monitored and were issued health card to monitor daily. We had dinner and slept early. Let me introduce other trekkers of my batch.

1st Base camp 

Sunrise at Jaubhari 

Me and nature 

Apart from IH crew we were 23- Me from Hyderabad, My MBA mates from Hyderabad – Dilshaad, sayantan and Kaushik, Vidya ji from Goa, Shri sir from Bangalore, Bindu from Gurgoan, Mythili from Chandigarh, Anu from Mumbai, Lavanya from Hyderabad, Rakesh GP from Hyderabad Raakesh Ramesh from Bangalore, Vinay from Devanhalli,  Poojan from Bangalore, Vijay from Hyderabad, Surya from Hyderabad, Rohit from Kolkatta, Sheetal from Mumbai, Dorina from Mumbai, Mrinmoy from Kolkatta, Dripto from Kolkatta, Simanthini from Dehradun and Sandeep from Bangalore.

India Hikes team - Buddha ji(our trek guide), Abhirup (our trek leader) and Sanjeev (our trek sweeper, who make sure that all 23 of us reached safely to the destination). Jhum Jhum was the code Buddha ji use to call us to start and we have to respond Yella yella but we ended up saying cala cala J.

I totally agree with this quote –

 “It’s always further than it looks. It’s always taller than it looks. And it’s always harder than it looks.” (the three rules of mountaineering)and beautiful sceneries.

Journey started with straight road to hilly mountains, trails. Every day was mystery whether we will ascend or descend the mountain, trust me both are hard in their own style. While ascending your lungs speak with you loudly and while descending your knees curse you for going on the trek. Initially I assumed that 11 kms or 6 kms is a easy distance which can be covered in 6 hours but once I started trekking understood it was not an easy affair. I literally huffed and puffed at every 3 steps while ascending the uphill and the pain was worse in my knees while descending. For the first time I realise that walking 1km in this trek was sometimes walking 10km or more.

10^th April 2017 - Day 2: Jaubhari (7,000 ft) to Tumling (10,128 ft); 11 km, 6-7 hours

For the day 1 trek - I woke up at 5 am to see the sunrise. During my entire trek I woke up early to watch sunrise before 5:30 am. We all finished our breakfast and couple of us offloaded our backpacks. Offloading is an option in which you can drop our heavy backpack at the base camp and horses will carry them for you to all destinations.

Most enthusiastic day of the trek where novice like me are excited about the entire trek fun. Unware of the difficulty, thoughts wandering in mind with high expectations from the trek starting from sunrise to sunset, watching birds, Rhododendrons, red Panda and what not. The entire trail was up and down with mostly rocky road. We had short breaks to recover the tiredness and again walk on the trail during which we use to munch snacks. We had a Lunch break and chai break every day during our trek. Somehow, we all dragged to the first destination Tumling. After checking into our rooms, the best part after finishing every trek was to do stretching with Abhirup. Later we had our tea, soup time and dinner.

All set for the trek ! 

Mountains in betwen them sn

Treak leader in action 

Agree to this - “In the mountains there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.” (Rusty Baille)

11^th April 2017 - Day 3: Tumling (10,128 ft) to Kalipokhri (10,400 ft); 11 km, 7 hours

Woke up at 5 again to view the sunrise. I watched sunrise from the front side of our homestay and as the sunrays started coming up the view of Kanchenuganga range became clearer. Sleeping Buddha was not very clear but able to see the White Mountain made my day. It was mesmerizing to watch it while sipping my morning tea. We all had breakfast and started our route to Kaliphokri. We walked through the Singalia National park; we were hoping a few wild animals to be spot including Red Panda but unfortunately we could not see any. We keep walking the ascending and descending trails, I swear I do not even dare to count them. We walked further post lunch to reach Kalipokhri before Lunch. We reached the destination and checked into our new homestays for the night. Regular oximeter check-up, stretching and dinner were like daily rituals. After asking my trek leader, I took Combiflam tablet, as my legs were paining badly. However, that was the first and the last pill I took for the entire trip. I appreciate Abhirup for constantly discouraging to take medicine. We had some fun chat and took rest at night in our rooms.

12^th April 2017 - Day 4: Kalipokhri (10,400 ft) to Sandakphu (11,929 ft); 6 km, 3 hours

Day began with beautiful sunrise and we started our day with Jhum Jhum slogan by Buddha ji. This was a quite a windy day with slight chilly waves. The entire trail was ascending so we walked very slowly and few trails were very narrow where I felt just to save myself by not tripping over or slipping. I forgot that I want to see the flowers and beautiful valleys, it was just me and my concentration to walk carefully. We took approx. 4 hours to reach Sandakphu. We had a little free time to roam around if interested, but I was confined to the canteen room as they have fire and cozy place to stay away from cold. Another excitement or say fear was to sleep in tents. They gave sleeping bags and sleeping liners to sleep inside the tent. It was chilly outside but my 3 layers of clothing and sleeping liner saved me from the cold. First experience of sleeping inside the tent with sleeping bag and liners.

Capturing Sunset t Sandhakphu

Sunset at Sandhakphu 

Nepal border

13^th April 2017 - Day 5: Sandakphu (11,929 ft) to Sabargram (11,807 ft); 14 km, 6 hours

Next day morning, I woke up little late for sunrise as it was cold and I could not sleep well inside the bag. We all had our breakfast and headed to our next destination. Today it was little longer distance as the trail was more flat than ascend or descend. Weather was cloudy and windy so had our warmers on while walking. As our trek started climate kept changing. After couple of hours it started with drops of water, which turn later into small ice balls (ole in Hindi) and once we reached our camp Sabargram it snowed. Snow covered the entire field, lovely view but chilly weather. We geared up with extra layer of clothing’s and warmers and started playing in Snow. It was an hour fun and later we ended up sitting in a cozy room to finish our tea, snacks, soup and dinner. It was a scary night for me as I was preparing mentally that I have to sleep in tent in this snowy weather. Somehow, I fall asleep and I was happy to wake up without any problem. Tent nights were over J

Me in my tent surrounded with snow 

Beyond that thread was our tents place

Snow at Sabargram 

14^th April 2017 - Day 6: Sabargram (11,807 ft) to Gorkhey (7,546 ft) via Phalut; 17 km, 6 hours

We started half an hour late as the weather was cloudy and we decided not to go Phalut and instead go to Gorkhey directly. We walked through a beautiful bamboo forest for almost entire trail. We reached beautiful Gorkhey village in 4 hours. This was the most pleasing environment with many beautiful houses and landscape. In between, we passed water canals too. This was the last night with the entire gang. After checking in homestay, we all wandered in this beautiful village with full of colourful flowers, beautiful houses and came back for dinner. This was the special dinner because we could order chicken curry separately with the regular daal, chaawal and sabji. After dinner, we had a bonfire with musical night. We all sang songs and spent our last chilly night in bonfire along with IH team. It was fun. On the top Abhirup and IH team gave us the certificate of Accomplishment for finishing the trek successfully.

Route to Gorkhey 

15^th April 2017 - Day 7: Gorkhey (7,546 ft) to Sepi (6,234 ft); 15 km, 5 hours.

This was  the last morning of the trek with the group and after breakfast we all started little early as many of us has to catch trains and flights from either Darjelling or NJP (New Jalpaiguri). We took 5 hours to reach sepi for our last stop. We had lunch and said good-bye to rest of the trek members. Me, Kaushik, Dilshaad, Sayantan and Abhirup took a cab to NJP. Abhirup got down at Jaubhari (1^st base camp) and we went further to NJP. We reached around 8:30 pm to Siliguri, went to Kaushik’s grandmother’s house, and took some rest. I got to chance to have again a Bengali food with delicious fish curry.  We started at around 12:30 pm to station as our train was at 2:45 pm. The moment we reached to station, we came to know that our train was initially 30 min late and it prolonged further. It came at early morning 4 am. It was 4 hours delayed which also affected our plan to visit Sayantan’’s house in Kolkatta on our way back. We got down at New Jalpaiguri station at 4:30 pm on 16^th April and rushed to Airport, as we have to catch our flight at 7 pm. Finally we made it and was back to Hyderabad home by 11 pm and had a most awaited shower.

 “My journey for this trek began with fearful thoughts wandering “How will I stay so many days disconnected with my family but my journey ended with these thoughts J - why I was not connected to nature and mountains earlier”.

lov

me and Buddha ji

certificate

In midway of the trek I wasn’t worried about the flowers or the animals instead I was worried about me and my life. A small wrong step or slip can throw me down in the bushes. Whenever it was steep corner I just said to myself be brave and cross the danger. Dedication, discipline and endurance are the key points for the success of any trek.

Inspired by nature jotted down few lines of poem, I use to write in college days, now again after 15 years :)

रंग बिरंगे फूल और पौधो की हरियाली, आंखों को भा गयी ।

ताजी हवा के झोकों से जैसे, वो मस्त हो कर नाचने लगी ।

एक बार पलक झपकाई कि नहीं, वो दिल को छूकर चली गयी ।

हम कदम आगें बढाते रहें, और वो वही रुक मुस्कुराती रही ।

दिल कहता रहा कि बस एक बार, हम उन्हें और देखें जी भर के ।

पर हमारी टोली रुकी नहीं, आगे चल पडी, पर

रंग बिरंगे फूल और पौधो की हरियाली आंखों को भा गयी ।

ना अंधेरे का डर था, ना मंजिल की फिकर, बस हम राही चलते गये।

दूर दूर तक सिर्फ पहाड और हरियाली थी

समझ न आया कि ये रास्ता कहा तक जायेगा

एक मोड दिखा कि नहीं मंजिल और दूर नजर आयी ।

इतने में मौसम ने अपने रूप बदले

धूप, बारिश, ओले और बर्फं की बौछार गिरायी ।

फिर भी रुके नहीं हम, बस यूही चलते रहें, क्योंकि

रंग बिरंगे फूल और पौधो की हरियाली आंखों को भा गयी ।

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