US Trip May, 2010

This was my first US Trip so thought of penning down the experience. I left on Sunday 9 May, 2010 from Delhi International airport with heavy heart saying my bye to my hubby.
After all the formalities I boarded Qatar Airways flight to Doha, which was packed fully and I got the seat which I booked through web-checkin. Qatar Airways provide 24 hr prior web check in to US flights. And after 3 hrs I reached Doha.
It was treat to eyes, A beautiful turquoise blue sea shore with a never ending sand beach. It is a dessert area. So all I could see was sand meeting the sea on one end and other end sand meeting the horizon. The airport was good with lots of shopping options. But I resisted doing that for now :).
My flight to Washington DC was after 2 hr 45 mins after I reached Doha. Roamed through the Airport shopping complex.
Finally I boarded my flight for Washington and landed at 4:30 pm. It was a mixed feeling of enjoyment and loneliness since this was the first time I was traveling alone so far. I felt the same way the years before when I landed in Bangalore with no place to stay.
I reached my hotel around 6:00 pm and just dropped into bed as I was feeling jet lag and was very tired of the long journey and woke up at 2 AM could not sleep after that I guess it was the jet lag feeling. I did some unpacking and cooked something to eat. And started preparing for next day office. In the morning at 8 AM, I reached office. The best thing was that hotel was providing shuttle service to and from AOL office. It was really easier to manage this way otherwise It would have been really difficult to commute to office.
My manager over there was very helping and made me comfortable by knowing he is there to help me. It put me at ease, since its difficult when you are traveling for first time and that too alone to a new country.

Rest of the days went as usual at office. Lots of meetings to attend, trainings to be in. It was a great learning experience for meeting different people looking at their perspective of work and technology. And I love traveling to new places.

So finally the long awaited Friday came :). I was planning to go to New york city which was about 4 hrs drive from there. But this plan could not work out since there was no direct transportation available to reach New york from dulles and more over I did not have cell phone with me, so it would have been very difficult to reach out my friends in case of any issues. So I dropped the plan. I was li'l sad as I did not have any idea what I will be doing alone on weekend. But then I packed my bag on Saturday morning and thought of going to Washington DC. I did not know that the bus guy need the exact change and a couple from hotel helped me with the change. It was really nice of them :). Later in the night, I dropped a Thank you note along with the money in their room.
So I reached Washington DC at 10:00 AM in the morning. It was a beautiful sunny day. I saw white house, treasury building, FBI building, National Mall, Museums, Old post office, down town and lots of other buildings. Yes I did a lots of shopping too :). Being a girl I think its irresistible :d. By end of the day I was really tired and finally found the bus stand to catch a bus back to Dulles. Over all it was great day, had fun roaming alone on Washington streets.

When I reached hotel, I was so tired that I slept without having dinner. It was a great feeling that still one more holiday is there. On Sunday morning, I slept till 10:00 AM and then had my breakfast and started on expedition of Dulles :). I did lots of shopping from Dulles town center mall and many more stores around it.

So this is how my first week ended in US. The new week, with Monday having lots of meetings and stuff It started on a hectic note. There were few trainings and sessions I had to finish before I leave for India.
The best part was, I was able to talk to all my friends with whom I have not talked for almost ages and only get to read about them through social networking sites. It was really great talking to them and never felt that they were away for such a long period of time.

So there comes the Friday again, the day I had to leave for India. I was really excited to go back as I was missing my husband alot and had lots of things to show him that I bought.

Over all It was a great trip, learned about lots of stuff, interesting to meet new people and how they behave and work. It was like looking at other end of your team and putting faces to the voices that you hear on a day to day basis. All the team members I met there were really good and very helping.

So a good one! :)