Vacations in my house are painfully detailed and highly pre planned. We are not usually one of those "lets just pack our bags and hop out of home and THEN decide where to go" types. Therefore the planning for recent vacation to USA started one year back; yes back back in May 2011. So my sister and I went through the entire ordeal of excitement, super excitement, informing all known people in the US of our future visit, planning how many days, where, when,WHY, whom to meet, what to wear ( face it, we are girls), anxiety (for our visa), super joy (on getting 10 year visa) etc etc.
This being the first vacation we sisters were doing together; we found out every painstaking detail for each city we were to visit. We had tons of help along the way; all of our excited friends and family did their bit too. Thousands of BBM/Whatsapp/FB messages and pictures were exchanged on "so we HAVE to go here", "ohh look look sale starting when we go here", "that looks sooo good, we have to EAT here" and many many more. If you think planning a trip is easy, you are sadly mistaken my friend. The route, the mode of travel, the PRICES, the hotels, the PRICES, the spots you want to see, the shops you just don't want to miss, the time to want to relax (coz you are on vacation after all); so many many details but the joy of seeing that final plan and actually living the plan is spectacular.
Advice comes flying at you from every possibly direction; make sure you don't get knocked out cold with it. Parents always worry about money - don't overspend, don't waste, be careful with wallets. So my parents come up with the this wonderful plan to avoid being robbed at security check. The two of us stand a few people apart in the line; one person goes through and clears and then the second puts both bags in for screening. That way one person is standing on the other side to receive the bags and keeping an eye out for thieves. Did we do it; you've gotta be kidding me !!!! We laughed at the idea all the way through security check and no, nothing was stolen.
You would find all kinds of people at airports. Its quite the tapestry of human beings; from the loud, over excited ones, to the mushy, romantic newly weds; hyper active children to the down right stupid ones. Our encounter with the last kind happened when a man walked into the women's washroom, stands there for 3 seconds notices women there and says "yeh ladies hai kyaa???". And you think you have seen them all !!!
All international airports envision looting tourists even before they board their flights; that's why they have Duty Free stores. You will see all passengers going "Oh soo cheap", "Oh discount", "Arre one pe one"; my sister and I were strong; we walked through all the stores, checked out all prices, tried on every perfume we loved (don't scoff; i know you would do it too) and yeah also kept in mind what we wanted to buy on the way back (read alcohol). By the time we boarded the flight; the excitement had vanished and sleep was haunting us. After the 20-30 odd calls and sms to our parents about our baggage, our check in, our security check, how we are killing time, did we eat, have we boarded; the cell phone was switched, to be switched on a day later. Bags were stowed away safely and seat belts were buckled. It was time to say Bye Bye India for 3 weeks and Hello USA !!!!
This being the first vacation we sisters were doing together; we found out every painstaking detail for each city we were to visit. We had tons of help along the way; all of our excited friends and family did their bit too. Thousands of BBM/Whatsapp/FB messages and pictures were exchanged on "so we HAVE to go here", "ohh look look sale starting when we go here", "that looks sooo good, we have to EAT here" and many many more. If you think planning a trip is easy, you are sadly mistaken my friend. The route, the mode of travel, the PRICES, the hotels, the PRICES, the spots you want to see, the shops you just don't want to miss, the time to want to relax (coz you are on vacation after all); so many many details but the joy of seeing that final plan and actually living the plan is spectacular.
Advice comes flying at you from every possibly direction; make sure you don't get knocked out cold with it. Parents always worry about money - don't overspend, don't waste, be careful with wallets. So my parents come up with the this wonderful plan to avoid being robbed at security check. The two of us stand a few people apart in the line; one person goes through and clears and then the second puts both bags in for screening. That way one person is standing on the other side to receive the bags and keeping an eye out for thieves. Did we do it; you've gotta be kidding me !!!! We laughed at the idea all the way through security check and no, nothing was stolen.
You would find all kinds of people at airports. Its quite the tapestry of human beings; from the loud, over excited ones, to the mushy, romantic newly weds; hyper active children to the down right stupid ones. Our encounter with the last kind happened when a man walked into the women's washroom, stands there for 3 seconds notices women there and says "yeh ladies hai kyaa???". And you think you have seen them all !!!
All international airports envision looting tourists even before they board their flights; that's why they have Duty Free stores. You will see all passengers going "Oh soo cheap", "Oh discount", "Arre one pe one"; my sister and I were strong; we walked through all the stores, checked out all prices, tried on every perfume we loved (don't scoff; i know you would do it too) and yeah also kept in mind what we wanted to buy on the way back (read alcohol). By the time we boarded the flight; the excitement had vanished and sleep was haunting us. After the 20-30 odd calls and sms to our parents about our baggage, our check in, our security check, how we are killing time, did we eat, have we boarded; the cell phone was switched, to be switched on a day later. Bags were stowed away safely and seat belts were buckled. It was time to say Bye Bye India for 3 weeks and Hello USA !!!!
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