(Halfway) Around the World in One Day

And finally…the journey’s begun. I’m at the airport, waiting to board my fight to NYC via Abu Dhabi. It’s the middle of the night – kids and parents are dozing off alike, people are striding around purposefully with their strolley bags (none of them as pretty as my purple one though :P), and classical, or ‘plinky-plonky music’ as Phoebe from Friends would put it, is playing on the speakers, interspersed with announcements.

There are two more hours for my flight. I’ve said all my goodbyes… tons of them. It still feels very unreal; I got my visa just three days ago, after months of desperate hoping and praying. I’m going to miss my parents, my brother…a LOT. But I guess it hasn’t really sunk in yet – till the very last day I didn’t know if I’d be leaving on time!

Checking in two heavy bags (22.2 and 23.2 kilos – thankfully they didn’t make a fuss). They made me weigh my hand luggage as well, which turned out to be 7.5 kilos. I was holding my breath, hoping they wouldn’t say anything… but say they did, oh yes – “Perfect!” Umm… sure! 😛

Filled out my immigration form, stood in a long winding queue, talked to the lady in Marathi,  and went off for security check. Found my departure gate, bought a new book, spotted a really cute guy standing in the adjacent line, found myself a seat. Surrounded by 8 little kids who looked utterly adorable. Said so to one of the frazzled-looking moms sitting there… she said sure, they look adorable right now, ‘coz they’re fast asleep. 😀

It’s 3 A.M. and I’m not sleepy in the least. Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed… that’s how I feel! It’s really nice being in the middle of so many people – everyone from totally different walks of life, different backgrounds… all together in this place and time – everyone’s paths crossing and overlapping in weird and wonderful ways. A sea of humanity… swelling and cresting and seething – all waiting to take to the skies. Beautiful… deep down, we’re all connected. (Huh. Perhaps I’m sleepier than I thought…)

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In the Mumbai-Abu Dhabi flight. Insanely sleepy… fighting to keep my eyes open. Dozed off before the plane took off from the runway 🙂 Drifted in and out of consciousness. I managed to catch the sunrise out of the window… the sky all lit up with a fiery orange glow… maybe I was emotional after leaving my country, maybe I was excited to see the Middle East (I could have sworn I saw domes and minarets down below… but those could have been clouds) and maybe it was just one of the very rare sunrises I’ve seen in my whole life, but this one was one of the most magnificent sights I have ever seen.

After the transit at Abu Dhabi airport (which is extremely lavish… dripping with opalescence and grandeur), I got into the next flight (Abu Dhabi – New York) and busily set about exploring the contents of the small television in front of me. It was a nice flight, got lots of food to eat. Not that I liked it much, but it’s always a thrill to see what you’re going to get next 😛

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Landing: The first thing I did when the plane touched down on American soil was to silently cheer ‘woohoo… terra firma!!!’ in my head. The second thing I did when the plane touched down on American soil was to bleed from a papercut I managed to inflict on myself in my excitement. Sigh. Symbolism, anyone?

Alright, so I reached the airport and stood in a very very long line at Immigration for over two hours. Saw a lot of interesting people, tried not to stare! There was a girl with green hair, and one with bright blue streaks on her legs (paint? stickers? I have no idea). There was a guy who looked exactly like Sheldon Cooper from BBT, and two others who resembled Dr. Webber from Grey’s. The great thing is, it could actually be true. Running into celebrities and TV stars is not an impossibility in New York City.

Anyway, so after waiting in line for ages, I finally reached the immigration desk, and promptly tripped over my purple strolley bag. So much for the calm and collected exterior I’d been practicing for the past two hours… when I finally faced the immigration counter, I ended up all giggly and apologetic. Oh well.

Immigration, baggage claim, customs, and I was out at last. NYC, here I come!!!