Holiday story -Part 1

I am back!!!

Actually I came almost 2 weeks ago… first week went away in trying to settle in and fight jet lag, 2nd week was sheer laziness.
Well where do I begin?

It was an awesome awesome  trip. We had a great time and was in true holidays mood. We didn’t even keep track of the day, date, month etc.

26th Nov dawned and we (Hubby & I) just couldn’t wait to check in and board the flight.Vk was excited as he knew something was happening but didn’t really understand. It didn’t last long though. He was totally intimidated by the interiors of an aeroplane . He wouldn’t wear his seat beat, wouldn’t sit down and was screaming his heart out. Most of the passengers gave us dirty looks. During take off, he was also in a take off position. We kept trying to pull him down and he would try to wriggle out from the seatbelt and get down from his seat. It was just not a good start for an exciting holiday. Eventually he cried himself to sleep and there we were thinking “Oh god!! What have we done?” How were we going to manage him for the next 1, 2…err 10 flight journeys.” I was actually praying to all my ishtadeivams (favorite Gods) to put some sense into the 2 yr olds’ mind. He woke up after 8 hours and again started crying. He kept repeating” lets go outside amma!!” Poor boy, he dint know the aftermath of walking outside plane straight into Pacific Ocean. We had tantrums again during landing and for the fear of someone yelling at me, I used an infant seatbelt and had him on my lap. He was a little bit better but was still crying.

We had 8 hours stopover in LA before our next flight. The first two hours was spent waiting for my entry approval. I had all the docs and dint need visa. Since my visa was refused eons ago, I had to be interviewed to get the entry stamp. I had to wait for 2 hours (and I was actually on priority as I went with Vk to the interviewing section. There were about 40-50 people waiting before me ). I felt really horrible for those 2 hours. A hungry, sleepy child crying on one hand and the visa officers taking their own sweet time to call me. Finally they did call me and asked me the history and in less than a minute I was granted entry.

Phew!!One less thing to worry about.

We still had a long wait before our next flight. We went to a terminal that was deserted and let VK to run, scream, and roll on the floor to his hearts’ content. The last I heard was the carpet in that terminal are pristine clean because of Vk’s help. We feared about the drama to unfold on the next flight and were keeping all our ammunition (books, chocolates, DVD player) ready. However Vk slept even before takeoff and during landing and hence all was good. One last flight before we get to meet the family and it went uneventful. By this time he had got used to flights, take -off and landing.
This trip was meant to be a surprise for my sister. She in turn surprised us by receiving us in the airport.I had a pre-monition that this would happen and hence wasn’t too worried. Yummy hot food was waiting for us at home and after catching up sleep for about 2 hours, we went for shopping on the first day itself and it didn’t stop till the last day. I Shopped till I dropped. I think it’s so unfair for just one country to have all good stuff at cheap prices. I walked into every store possible (the clothing ones) and walked out with atleast one bag. The next one week was just the family bonding time. We were royally pampered starting with steaming hot filter kaapis to yummy lunches and multi-cuisine dinners.We also made a quick visit to Atlanta and managed to see the fall colours. It was just too good to describe. (see below pic)

Ah Life was bliss!!

(To be continued)