Welcome to the next day of my journey. Logically, it was the third day of my trip, but, as we know the Earth is *NOT* FLAT and is round, timezones and dates made this the second day of the trip. I am no keeper of any sort, so, let’s just go with the last day of my first international trip. It sounds better and logical!
Anyway, if you have been following my journey so far, I took a car ride with my family to Nagpur Railway Station. The train took me from Nagpur to Mumbai, and I boarded my first international flight from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi. So, you can say, Abu Dhabi was the first country I landed outside India (if the airport stay counts).
The moment I got out of the airplane, I was surprised to see so many Indian faces in the crowd. Like every amateur traveler, I thought everyone outside India is a foreigner and I wouldn’t find anyone familiar face in a foreign land. Such a small bubble we live in, right?
Anywhoo, I was in awe of the architecture of the Abu Dhabi airport. Before seeing this, I couldn’t imagine a column morphing into the ceiling, as you can see below. May be I was not that much travelled, so I found this amusing.
After waiting for a couple hours at the airport, it was time to board the flight to Milan, Italy. I was excited to continue this life changing journey and was really looking forward to it. I always prefer takeoff than landing while traveling by air. So, I was experiencing some goosebumps when the plane finally took off as I realized the next time I get off this plane, I would be far away from home in a different continent. It was an amazing feeling and after looking outside for a couple minutes, I went to bed.
This is what it looked outside from my window seat.
When I woke up after a few hours of sleep, I was treated with this beautiful view of Italy. My love for greenery instantaneously multiplied looking at such a stunning view, especially after opening my eyes in a faraway land for the first time. It felt great.
That’s when the pilot announced that we would be landing in a few minutes and I started getting ready to land.
After landing, it was just a waiting game for me to climb my next flight to New York. I didn’t know so many things could happen during this waiting time and I wasn’t ready for it. Those few hours spent at the Milan Airport felt quite long as I yearn to get sooner to the US and prayed for this journey to get over sooner.
Let’s see if I can articulate those things. I will try to keep things short to avoid boring you wonderful reader!
- Flight Delay
When I reached the boarding gate, I was greeted with a bad news of my New York flight running late. If you are interested in details, the plane that was supposed to go to New York hadn’t returned from its earlier flight and was still midair somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. When I enquired about the rough ETA of the plane, I was given the old age reply that they didn’t have that information and passengers would be notified upon confirmation. I was a little sad to know the delay and started thinking about things I could do to kill my time.
- Trying a black coffee for the first time
While thinking about killing time at the airport, naturally, I got hungry and too lazy to roam around the airport, I just headed straight to the one food stand that they had right across the boarding gate. Upon reaching the counter, I dealt with so many choices about food and drinks, that I was under pressure for ordering the food in a correct way, as every first time traveler feels, I guess!
By the time I reached the counter, the only thing that I could order was a black coffee. When I placed the order with the server, I guess, she didn’t understand what I wanted to order, so asked me to be more specific, so I ended up saying “One Americana” please, because that’s what was written on the Menu for an American Black Coffee.
I was disappointed enough that they didn’t have a Chai at the Italian airport, the taste of coffee was adding fuel to the fire. I didn’t enjoy a single bit of that cup filled with black coffee. I tried adding sugar and milk, to no avail. At the end, I just took two more sips before the taste became unbearable and I threw the entire thing in the trashcan. I felt bad to have wasted, I think, 2 euros on a cup of coffee. My Indian brain started calculating how much that was in Indian Rupees and felt bad that I just threw away 150 Indian rupees just to kill some time.
- Striking a conversation with a stranger (sort of networking)
After going through the buyer’s remorse with my first black coffee, it was time to just sit back and kill time by one way or another. I remember dropping a message to my girlfriend about the flight delay and was waiting for her response.
I took a sit right across the boarding gate, so that, if there is any movement, I would be the first person to know about that. Maybe that’s how every new traveler behave, or maybe I was the exception. Who knows? I just fell like doing it and did it.
That’s when I was greeted by a Sardarji. He was also traveling to the US in the same plane, which I got to know after striking the conversation with him. He found it really surprising that I was going to the US for studies and not doing any business or work. I found it strange to explain my situation to a complete stranger in a short span of 5-10 minutes chat, so I said, may be you are right and tried diverting the subject. I asked him a few questions about his stay at the US and got some interesting answers like how easy it was to get a green card in the US and settle without proper documentation. Those are rarity these days, so he started reminiscing the good old times.
Anyway, I had to cut short our discussion as I was getting a call from my girlfriend who was responding to my text. I didn’t mean to be rude to him so just excused myself politely and carried on with my phone call.
- Having a serious talk with my then girlfriend (I think, for the first time)
When I picked up the phone, I thought it would be a quick call, sort of an update about my journey so far and how she was doing. I was so wrong.
We started talking and she expressed that she was sorry she couldn’t come to meet me in person in Milan. I was okay with that since I didn’t know my plane would be delayed on the way to New York. After this, before hanging up, I told her that I wanted to “talk about us” once I land in the USA. I deliberately said once I reached the USA as I didn’t want to have that discussion when I am traveling internationally, for the first time. Turned out, she wanted to have that discussion right then as she didn’t want to wait for several more hours panicking what I might wanted to discuss with her. I don’t blame her, I would have felt the same way.
Anyway, we got to talking and realized that even though we were apart from each other, at least I could feel her with me at that airport and felt like I was talking to her in person. The plethora of emotions was on display during this 100-minute phone call. We talked, listened, laughed, and cried, We shared what we felt about each other and what we wanted or expected from the relationship. It was a positive thing that we were on the same page. I was really happy to note that, because, it was the first time I was in a long distance relationship and it is definitely harder than it looks. By the time it was almost an hour, I looked at my phone and got worried as it was draining my battery quite significantly. The last thing I wanted was to drain my battery during the international travel, at the same time, I didn’t want to stop her from expressing herself, so I quickly got up from the old place and found a spot with the USB charging available and continued with the discussion. While doing so, I passed the sardarji with whom I talking a few minutes earlier and gave him a hard smile.
Anyway, by the time, it was almost an hour and a half, I told her that they were starting to board the flight and promised her that we would continue this discussion once I settle in the USA. She wished me the best for my future journey and I continued.
It was one of the most important discussions I have ever had with someone and I was glad that I had someone in my life to talk these things to and help me clear my mind with all the doubts and uncertainties.
After that phone call, I was excited about my future leg of the journey. We started with the boarding and within minutes were over the Alps. This was the first time I was taking a closer look at these world famous mountains and turned out I craved for more. Let’s see when I will get a closer chance to look at this beautiful natural phenomenon.
Don’t they look beautiful?
I ended up clicking many pictures during this flight. I enjoyed my favorite superhero franchise – Marvel. Got to taste a world class Airline food for the first time and it was the first time I got to taste Cinnamon – I didn’t like it and still detest it. Got to see some breathtaking views and off course a few selfies here and there!
And after spending I don’t know how many hours in the air, I was finally headed towards to the greatest city in the world. Landing at JFK was one of the pivotal moments of my life. I still remember the fresh breeze when I stepped out of the airport and was happy to see the Sun smiling at me. This was just after acing my immigration interview, which I dreaded at first, but turned out to be an easy affair as long you kept the straight face and answered all questions of the Immigration Officer. It was an experience of a lifetime and I will always remember those 2 minutes that I spent at the counter, providing all documents and answering all questions.
This is what it looked like outside the JFK airport.
The drive from JFK to Hartford, my final destination, was the final leg of my journey and I couldn’t be happier to enjoy the ride, sitting in the back of the car and trust a complete stranger (my cab driver) to take me to Hartford. I was so tired by this time that I didn’t even check whether we were on the correct path and remember dozing off for a few minutes during this 2 hour long drive. Before dozing off though, I clicked this photo, which at that time, I thought was Brooklyn Bridge. I was so dumb!
And who knew that this guy would be our president?
The moment I reached Hartford, I took out all my stuff from the cab and called my local contact who had promised to let us stay with him for a few days before we get our apartment. I was surprised to find out that my new roommates had already cooked some delicious food for me and were just waiting for me for dinner. It was such a sweet gesture from their side, even though we were meeting for the first time.
Here’s the delicious Chicken curry that they had cooked on the day of my arrival, brings water to your mouth, am I right?
The day was good!
The day was long!
The first trip had some twists and turns
But didn’t disappoint at all!
The future seemed better and cooler!
stochasticity 