Hyd to LA .. The Journey Begins..

Hey !!

We reached LA y'day at around 4pm.. (LATime)... The journey was not so eventful except the KualaLumpur Airport and the Taipei Airport. KL Airport was amazing.. So big n neat and.. it even has a mono rail passing through it .. It has been the worlds best Airport .. this was wrtten there all over .. must be in some category i suppose but ya it was much better than any other Airport i have seen so far ..better than the LA Aiport as well.

Let me tell you from the very beginning..

Scene : The Indian Airport..Vamsi and I saw the huge Q outside when we were trying to locate her (Our Managers wife.. we had to accompany her).. At last Vamsi recognized her .. i was still skeptic that it was her .. Its always difficult to tell real from a photo... Then we proceeded .. Kala was a lil behind in the line.. we got our baggage weight check done .. Now we were standing in the Q to get our Boarding passes.. Me and Vamsi stood in one line and Kala and M were in other line.. Then the tragedy struck me!! My cabin baggage was a little overweight. around 8 kgs and permissible was 7kgs. So he said either i have to remove luggage from the cabin one or pay fine upto Rs 6000.. I said i would remove the excess but he was trying to scare me that i would have to go back to the check in security again n everything ..finally i said i have only 1000 bucks so he said ok give me that but not at that moment.. he would collect it from me in a moment. so i got my boarding pass and was waitin for vamsi. He asked Vamsi if i was his frend.. Vamsi said yes so he asked vamsi to get money from me in Vamsi's passport. He chupke se took the passport and put money in his pocket.. This was the way i got duped of Rs1000 (25$) even befoe leaving India :)
After the usual hustle bustle of the airport, immigration check and security check .. finally the flight took off to KL and after 4 hrs 20 minutes landed extremely smoothly at KL. Then as we entered the Kl airport, our eyes were met with the first shots glittering airport. It was really awesome.. we wen through the formalitites and the security check and were waiting in the Security hold area when the ladies expressed their urge to go to the Tandas.. ya thats wat they call loo there. :)
Now we were waiting for the ladies to come and they started announcing for us to board the aircraft.. we kept waiting and were getting tensed when finally these ladies came back.. smiled and said "Late ho gaye na" (ofcourse in Telegu). We boarded the plane expecting the flight to take us directly to LA in over 17 hrs but we were in for a surprise.. We were going to land at Taipei and then get back in the same plane to go to LA. Many ppl got off at Taipei, the airport of which was also good!! Now we again went through a line and reached a holding area .. where i almost forgot my passport pouch in a hurry but realized after some time or shud i say within time.. went running back and found it there.
We all had got different seats in the plane and hence were mainly indulging in either sleeping or drinking water/juices.. Kala drank a lot of juices as they were offering juices time and again hehe.. In the 11 hr journey we went over to each one but everytime some one of us was sleeping so dint disturb .. ya just 4hrs from LA, we united and filled our I 94 forms together .. The wind current was so strong that it was a very rough landing..
After we reached LA .. again had to stand in a line for customs clearance.. A lady police officer was wandering with a cute little pup which was actually a sniffer dog.. He was sniffing everyones cabbin luggage.. it was so small that nobody got scared of him or anything. He even sniffed out mangos from an old couple's bag. It was so cool to see it get its reward from the officer when he sniffed out something.. Then we claimed our baggage and ya had a tough time to get our baggage.. Altho i had gift wrapped mine with silk ribbons and probably thats y could locate it easier than usual..
Outside the airport we found the shared services and dropped off Malleswari to Mahesh's place.. and then we carried on in the same shared cab to Guru's/Justin's place..Their appartment is like a prison .. the whole locality has a security system and unless u have a security card u cant enter.. so the taxi driver (oops sorry cab driver) instructed us to use the intercom and went away ..Now wen we tried to use the intercom..it wouldnt work as we dint know how to use it... Me and Vamsi looked at every gate of the Apts which was as secure as the first one.. Kala was meanwhile standing with the Baggage (9 peices of big baggages).. And to top it all we couldnt see ppl around .. However a few ppl came along ..mainly mexicans and Americans who asked us and offered to help but all they could do is tell us to use the intercom or something that we dint understand. We were waiting hopelessly, all excited with our very first adventure in US and yet getting scared as to how to reach Guru/Justin. We dint have a phone and there arent any public booths also in Montebello so just wondering what to do.. thats when Guru came and saved the day for us.. guru had actually called Mahesh to find out if his wife had come and he had told that the cab driver dint have a fone..hence he had come down to see. We were so glad.

This was my first hand experience with USA. Oh forgot to tell u abt the most exciting part .. The bikes and the cars ..Beamers, Audis, mercs, And even amazng bikes all going at 80mil/hr zooming past and that too in one lane.. the best part was everyone sticking to their lane and keeping a distance of atleast 15-20 ft and still calling it as bumper to bumper traffic!! :) heheh they shud see it in India to realize the literal meaning..

Now i am sitting here in the apt trying to savor the weather which is also nice.. around 20 degree C. Altho it gets a little coool in the night which also has its own flavor..
Chalo now i have to get ready and we would go shopping.. Yo !