US East Coast Travelogue 1 - Shopping and Check-ins, Los Angeles!!

US East Coast Travelogue 1 - Shopping and Check-ins, Los Angeles!!

Think of US and images that will flash in your mind will be of Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center, Washington DC, Hollywood and Niagara falls.. places all tourists want to visit and all of these, are on the East Coast of US except Hollywood. Thanks to my company deputation i was on the west coast, famous names on this coast are Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple. I am sure you will be hardly interested in visiting these ones like me.. And even if you are, entry is not that easy. These are the most talented places on earth and you need to be wonder kid to go there. As i was not the one... i decided to visit the east coast like the rest of cattle class.

I had spent two and half years in US and urge of visiting these iconic places was increasing month after month. So both of us, my wife and me started a watch for good time to visit these places. Initially we thought of going on our own, mapping out different destinations; US is 4th largest country in world, planning routes to visit each ones, about food and other stuff as we were going with our 3 year old daughter, more we planned, more it started turning out be hectic, spending more and more time, day after day on managing all the logistics, as if we had no other thing to do in this world... If long weekends were there, then not the hotel accommodations and if accommodations were there, flights were costly. So, we had to found a way to get all things together and that's how we narrowed down to tour companies and selected package, months in advance for 6 days tour - covering New York, Washington DC, Niagara Falls and Boston, it felt as if these were 'Char Dham' of US.. With flights and tour package being ready, i realized- suddenly i was left with plenty of time.

As the months turned into days, the eagerness of going on tour started increasing, so started the planning for tour again - with shopping! and as expected, females in family were on shopping spree, choosing different options for different destinations and me? I was standing in queues with credit cards in my hands. As the day arrived near, bags started filling and my stuff got the smallest area in baggage than i thought, may be should have used less of credit cards.

The day was here, bags packed and ready to go, pick up was 2 am in morning and we could hardly sleep. As the pick up arrived, we reached with bags and baby stroller.. as soon as the driver saw stroller, he said '$7 for stroller' that's Mexican with heavy voice for you... with looks as if i asked for his half property.... before i could speak anything, he went on call again, i just nodded with 'Yes' unknowingly. Van started, collecting all the pick ups for airport, exactly when i used to close my eyes for a nap! People were saying bye to their dear ones and packing bags in van for departure.

As this was my first domestic travel in US, little anxiety was there about how to manage throughout the tour with family, will we get to see all spots, will the rain play spoiler, hoping no one falls sick as it was a long, hectic tour.. I was in my thoughts and noticed, we reached LA airport. Being used to grand international terminals, this was smaller, more like railway ticket hall or bus station, people were checking in their bags and moving to gates for the departures. We joined the queue, it was around 4 in morning, people were standing with heavy faces, maybe because of morning dizziness and in all that scene, there were 2 ladies; dressed as if they had come to a party around 8pm in evening, without a hint of sleep in their eyes. In fact, those 2 were with heaviest make up and dressed up, so much so that men started looking at them from corner of their eyes, who don't want beautiful dose in morning and women with jealousy, may be thinking... why didn't they got ready? May be... they didn't expect somebody to turn up sooo dressed up 4 am in the morning. I looked at my wife, poor lady was occupied with daughter or may be being Indian, she didn't give a damn at this hour.

Announcement for planed was made, apart from those 2, almost everybody was under 5.30 am dizziness. While boarding the plane, Chinese lady next to me was keeping her bags in carry-on compartment, made a mistake! her bag of 7 Kgs while putting in overhead compartment slept through her hands, sliding on her back and bang! hit hard on the head of 50 Year old American woman... American shot back 'What the f**k? How dare you do that?', my eyes opened wide, mind stopped for a minute to think what just happened. Chinese lady looked with surprise, as if she didn't knew what happened. I thought there would fight just like Indian women, but to my disappointment both looked angry, giving cold looks to each other and then looked at Air hostess may be to ask for judgement that who should be thrashed, but air hostess looked at them very calmly as they were already trained to handle such situations... gave a big smile to them, exactly the way they give when announcements like ' Please fasten your seat belts' happen and nothing more.... Had this been Indian bus or railway, there would have been at least half an hour show for travelers..... but nothing happened here, more than them I was disappointed, both took their seats side by side and plane started 5 hr 30 mins journey towards New York!!

This travelogue series covers our journey to cross 9 states, 1 capital, 3 of worlds' icons and enjoy the most needed family vacation!! Please read the next ones to know more!

P.S. - This is part 1 of travelogue of US East Coast tour, there are 4 more I am planning to post. Please visit next post. Thanks.