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"