Right. Here I am - This is me! All too easy for a blog description. My first attempt on a personal blog post. Never thought I would be doing this. What the heck? Let me just give it a shot. No agenda. No motive. No nothing. Just key in whatever I feel like. Vow! Sounds fun ... Lets see how long this thing goes from here.
It has been quite an awesome last week - The Thanksgiving Holiday Week. For a change I wasn't working during the holidays this year. I took a day off from office and flew for Orlando, FL on Tuesday afternoon. BG and SG flew from Washington DC; AA and fly drove from Atlanta - All of them reached there are couple of days before AKS and myself. They cribbed about all the troubles they had while checking in to the villa we had rented for the entire week.
AKS flew from Dallas and met me in Hartsfield, Atlanta where I had a 4 hr stopover. I had resisted myself from carrying my laptop during this trip - My first such trip for nearly 2 years I guess. And guess what - Surprise Surprise!! I survived. I actually could live without the laptop and with nothing to do at the airport (Except of course my favourite pastime of observing people and having to hide that smirk all the time). Confession: I did have my cellphone with me and I accessed gmail and some websites (at snail's pace - Sprint rules)
Reached on time. No hassles with the luggage. All of us were meeting up after nearly 3 years. Tuesday night we slept at 5 am and woke up at 8 am on Wednesday to leave for Magic Kingdom. Oh ya ... We had a sumptuous breakfast in the morning thanks to the ladies. These guys had purchased tons of things to eat from an Indian Store .... Worth $200 .... Un-Freakin-Believable .... But it helped!!
The next few days were quite simply unforgettable. An awesome trip. Naaah ... Disney was ok .... and so was Universal. But, we were unbeatable. Unstoppable. Hardly slept over 3-4 hrs everyday . So much to talk. So many things to discuss. Gossip. Global Issues. Leg Pulling. The camaraderie hadn't diminished even a but with time.
A short list of things we discussed:
It has been quite an awesome last week - The Thanksgiving Holiday Week. For a change I wasn't working during the holidays this year. I took a day off from office and flew for Orlando, FL on Tuesday afternoon. BG and SG flew from Washington DC; AA and fly drove from Atlanta - All of them reached there are couple of days before AKS and myself. They cribbed about all the troubles they had while checking in to the villa we had rented for the entire week.
AKS flew from Dallas and met me in Hartsfield, Atlanta where I had a 4 hr stopover. I had resisted myself from carrying my laptop during this trip - My first such trip for nearly 2 years I guess. And guess what - Surprise Surprise!! I survived. I actually could live without the laptop and with nothing to do at the airport (Except of course my favourite pastime of observing people and having to hide that smirk all the time). Confession: I did have my cellphone with me and I accessed gmail and some websites (at snail's pace - Sprint rules)
Reached on time. No hassles with the luggage. All of us were meeting up after nearly 3 years. Tuesday night we slept at 5 am and woke up at 8 am on Wednesday to leave for Magic Kingdom. Oh ya ... We had a sumptuous breakfast in the morning thanks to the ladies. These guys had purchased tons of things to eat from an Indian Store .... Worth $200 .... Un-Freakin-Believable .... But it helped!!
The next few days were quite simply unforgettable. An awesome trip. Naaah ... Disney was ok .... and so was Universal. But, we were unbeatable. Unstoppable. Hardly slept over 3-4 hrs everyday . So much to talk. So many things to discuss. Gossip. Global Issues. Leg Pulling. The camaraderie hadn't diminished even a but with time.
A short list of things we discussed:
- Life in India v/s Life in the US (At least five thousand times everyday)
- Relationships and the Cultural Divide
- Arranged and Love Marriage and Kids and Life before and after each
- Eduction Framework in India v/s US
- Business Ideas - How can we start our own big venture
- Office News (Just AA and I are in the same company where we all started out)
- Career Path
Each discussion must have gone on well beyond 3-4 hrs. All shouting to the top of our voices. I was on medication. I could barely talk but was still shouting. Wonder where I got my energy from. Super Brilliant!!
Sunday morning AKS dropped BG, SG and me to Orlando Airport. BG and SG had missed their flight and were put on stand-by for the next flight. Luckily, I was on time. But by the time I was to board they flight, they stopped me. The flight was overbooked and they didn't have place for me inspite of them having issued me a boarding pass with a seat #. I was put on stand-by for my flight from Orlando to Atlanta and onward to Kansas City. Got confirmed for the Atlanta Flight. But wasn't lucky for the 2nd leg of my journey. Realised stand-by is no good. The airline offered me a confirmed flight only after 48 hrs. Luckily PP and fly were travelling back from Dallas to Kansas the same day. I took a confirmed flight to Wichita which is on route for PP. But he had to wait a good 4 to 5 hrs before seeing my face (I am sure he would never have been happier to see me at the airport .... Must be thinking why he accepted my call!!) But, really, it was very kind of him to save me the hassle. So, Jimit Shah reached home at 3 am instead of 12 noon. An 11 hr long harrowing experience in Atlanta airport. But, I kept reminding myself that this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Live it. Face it. Enjoy it. And so I did. I am so proud of myself. Can anyone else do something like this?? Maybe I am crazy!! But I love being like this ... :-) I called a thousand people from the airport. Caught up with old friends. Made friends with people at the airport. Kept thinking. Was fun. I was alone (Remember not even my laptop to keep me company)
A nice trip. Really Memorable. Unforgettable due to so many reasons.
2 comments:
I guess now I understand what blogging is all about. Writing lot of things about nothing....lol. Its a nice blog though...sequences of events wriiten in plain language... making us think that vacation/trip is not all about the places you see but also about the unexpected experiences. But really it was an unforgettable trip..even after 5 days I feel there is so much to talk about and so much to see around. Btw, you missed out some important details like I prepared the breakfast, arabian nights, relaxed trip to tampa(unlike other busy days).
@AKS:
I deliberately didn't mention your breakfast thingy on the blog. But, since you mentioned it ....
This was a deliberate ploy by John and myself to get you all worked up just so that we can relax. And did it work or what?! :)
Arabian Nights does not deserve space, time or attention. Enough spent already.
The one thing I was really tempted to mention but resisted was the whole "Restroom Concept" which emerged as the winner!! How simple lines are immortalized by legends (like us) ;-)
Lets plan for some more such experiences in 2007.
AA - We shall miss you and your generosity!! :)
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