TravelSeriousHai

It was a couple of years ago and I was all set for my trip to the United States of America to meet my hubby working there. Hearing all sorts of stories of the super tough American Immigration department who have detained Shah Rukh Khan and Dr Kalam, I knew that the travel part was not a joke and was as serious as any trip could get! 

Chapter 1 – Bengaluru International Airport Limited

All set to check in. Luggages intact. Those which are not intact have been opened and reshuffled right in front all the astonished onlookers in front of the check-in counter. Immigration counter in sight and we soon reached the front of the queue. ‘We’ here refers to me and SreePriya – both participants of ‘onsite-offshore’ programme (husbands onsite and wives onshore!). The guy at the counter looks up and asks what he feels is a very obvious question, ‘can you please show me the invitation?’. It’s obviously non-obvious to me and I chose to respond politely, ‘may I know what you need MY wedding invitation for?’. He probably thought in his mind ‘here comes another lousy passenger who has no clue about how important this is’, and said ‘not yours, your husband’s’.  This time, the frustration clearly showed up on my face and he proceeded to explain,  ‘did your husband send you an invitation asking you to join him in US?’. I chose not to respond when he asked the same question to Sree. The look on her face was much better than mine for it spoke a thousand words that he immediately shut his mouth up. 

We soon passed all the hurdles, and were all set for boarding.

Chapter 2 – The flight

We boarded the flight set to Paris, and chose not to look at the good looking flight attendant.  It’s very true that we made that choice ourselves, and this was not a reaction to the fact that he not even threw as much as a glance at us. Guys can be really stupid at times. They just don't understand the gravity of situation and look at people! But then we decided to be good Samaritans and forgave him. How noble of us!

After 2 failed attempts to upgrade ourselves to the Premium class, we soon settled into our respective seats, and fell asleep discussing about the CSAT(Customer satisfaction) points for this particular flight. It ought to be in the negatives. And before long, the Captain made a very smooth landing in Paris. 

Chapter 3 – Paris

After frantically searching for Eiffel tower during the landing and having seen only a couple of mobile towers, we realized how beautiful Europe was. Every single field, every vehicle and all trees reminding us of DDLJ and SRK J. We were looking forward to see Charles De Gaulle Airport. We waited patiently for the bus to arrive, did not scamper for seats and Sree even made the silver lining by giving away her seat to an elderly person. But the next few hours at CDG did not live up to our expectations. The picture-hungry beasts in us died of starvation! I had to console myself clicking a pic of that of Sree lying down in a make-shift bed of 2 chairs(yes, she fits in!). Soon, I went in search of 3-4 beds lined up(and yes, I don’t fit into 2). After a short nap, we fought a war of Dollars and Euros, and finally found coffee.And we even found courage and appetite for croissants at CDG.

Chapter 4 – The flight, yet again

The next flight from Paris to Newark definitely scored better CSATs. I slipped into sleep and pursued my dreams(literally), and Sree browsed though the movies available before falling asleep. But that did not stop us from waking up every now and then and asking for hot chocolate. By the time, we woke up and got all set, the crew announced landing. Probably the flight was indeed long, but having good company always helps to see the lighter side of things even when you have a raging temperature.

Chapter 5 – United States of America

We moved into the immigration counter. One look at us and we were both placed into this huge room which was most definitely not the place to be, as far as we knew. There a girl sobbing and this set off another animated conversation between us – whether we will be bound on a passenger flight back home or will that be by cargo! 

Not sure which of these helped – our innocent looks/never ending conversation now in whispers/complete info about our lineage on their screens – but they soon let us out. We sighed out of relief. But alas no, not so soon. The customs officer decided to check our luggage in the next counter. Hooooray(n uff) we came out clean!

At this point, we had this huge grin pasted onto our faces as we collected our baggage which further widened on the sight of our wonderful husbands standing at the Arrivals gate. As we ran to them, it was love and hugs and stories and smiles everywhere. To hell with jet lag, there is so much to say… And Kuch meetha ho jaye - https://www.facebook.com/cadbury5star