My flight to USA

I chose to do my Master’s in US to gain International exposure. But it was mostly a distant dream, rather it was a castle in the air for a middle class guy like me. I am happy that I have crossed a milestone in my life landing in US.

I got relieved from my company the week before my journey started. There was little time left and more to act upon. When I arrived at the Chennai airport for the check in, I learnt that my hard and soft boxes are really small in dimension when compared to others. I was asked to fill the address details where I will be staying – in case the luggage is misplaced it will be sent to that address. I obtained my boarding pass and my father reminded me to keep my passport, tickets and boarding passes safely in the hand baggage. I bid adieu to my parents and my sweet sister; proceeded towards the immigration check along with Hari, my present room mate. His hand baggage was more than 8 kg so the lufthansa folks asked him to distribute the weight in another small bag. We got an immigration seal on the passport and proceeded upstairs to the security check. We got it cleared, but one north indian lady was having a kind of knife in her handbaggage. The airport officials had some issues with her. Watching that for a while, I boarded the lufthansa flight. It was my first flight journey, so there was some excitement. It was a bit cold and I left my warm clothes in my check-in baggage itself and got one warm blanket from the airhostess. I was very tired so I retired for the day plugging in the headphones into my ear.

Whenever the food was served I took it in the flight and I took plenty of liquid foods like juices and water as suggested in many websites. I was served ‘Asain Vegetarian’ food. My cousin sister in US advised to take little cash and get a travel card or travellers cheque instead. I was little bit skeptic as I was carrying lot of dollars in cash and checked it very frequently. Anyhow people accompanying me in flight were pretty decent, but my father’s words “be careful in a foreign land” were ringing always in my ears.

Finally I reached Frankfurt, one of the biggest transit points in Europe. There everything was in ‘Euro’(the functional currency). I didn’t have Indian rupee in cash, so hari exchanged some rupees for euro, at the travel exchange counter. We got a calling card to inform our parents that we reached till this point safely. Hari was heading towards Charlotte and me towards Philadelphia. We toured the airport for sometime, but things were pretty costly. We had Krishna Sweets and the jam bun for our breakfast. It was a season for F1 students and I could see many Indians. I met my colleagues Gokul and sriram heading towards Virginia tech.

After searching for a while I reached the correct terminal to board my US airways flight. I had a check by the Airport authorities. They asked my I20, passport and admission letters too. They asked me “where are you from?”. I said “I am from India”. She said “India is a very big country, from which part of India?”. She then asked me “What is there in the suitcase?”. I didn’t mention anything about ‘food’, but I told some ‘books’ and ‘clothes’. “She asked me jovially whether the entire box is full of books”. It was the end of the questionairre. Then, I boarded the plane and felt very sleepy. I learnt that, this is what people called ‘jet lag’. Then I suddenly woke up and to my surprise the flight was still there. I came to know from the folks nearby that it was almost 1.5 hrs delayed. I was not worried as I had enough time to catch the next flight. Only in Frankfurt, I learnt that the flight timings indicated on the Airticket is not the Indian time, but local time. I didn’t adjust the Indian timings to the local time. But it is better to avoid any confusion. I would say lufthansa is better than US airways in terms of comfort, food and the airhostess . But it has a display where I watched some movies. Finally I landed in Philadelphia. Earlier, I thought I need to check out my baggage only at houston as some idiot told me on the flight. Later I understood that Philadelphia is the ‘port of entry’. Ya that should be right coz we go to houston from philadelphia through a ‘domestic flight’. I was given custom immigration forms to fill. I was also given an I94 to fill in. The air hostess was also selling malbaro, some scents and other duty free articles on the flight. I was acting fast so that I should not miss the domestic flight. I went straight to the immigration check and stood in the long queue. I showed my passport and got a stamp and they stapled the I94 to the passport. Also, my index finger was scanned once again and a photo was taken. hmmm….security measures….Also a stamp on the I20. Everyone should keep in mind that F1/DS is written in both I94 and I20. Also in the i20 make sure that ‘visa date’ and ‘visa issuing port’ are written by the airport official in the I20. I forgot to get it and did it later. Then I hurried to collect my baggage(check-out at the port of entry). I had only 100$ with me. So it is better to get some coins when you get your foreign exchange. Luckily the american lady there at the cart had a change for $100. I got a cart for $3 and finally went to collect my baggage. My hard box was heavily damaged in transit. I tied a green rope around the boxes to identify the boxes quickly when they go around in conveyor belts. Some people tied little ribbons around to identify it easily. I got both the boxes soon, placed them on the cart and rushed to board the next flight. On the way, I gave the custom declaration form to the officials there. Then I have to do a check-in once more. I told the hefty lady there, that my baggage is damaged and handle with care. She said that’s ok and then throwed it along with the other check in luggages. Oopss…its gone forever. Everywhere you have directions and security checks. Follow the directions and easily you will reach the terminal and gate indicated on the airticket.

I went to the proper terminal and found a different flight. pochuda, the flight has gone and stood stupified for a while… But I understood that I went early by an hour. At this juncture only I thought it is better to adjust your watch to the local time. Then, I was roaming around the airport for a while. I felt very thirsty but I could not find any place where I could get some water, there were only shops around. Finally, I got one from a co-passenger. I boarded the houston domestic flight and finally reached Houston airport around 10.30 pm local time. Then I went to collect my baggage and rushed to terminal ‘C’ – limousine exit. One guy helped me to get the cart and showed me the way to the train to go to terminal ‘C’, but i have to pay him 5$ (3$+2$ tips which is implicit, also I didn’t have a 3$ change). I hurried to the terminal ‘C’. Finally the shuttle arranged by the IA was waiting there and Hari was sitting inside. Finally we both reached College Station.