Shraddha's Diary: 10/26/2008

The Journey has been without any hitches and so far things are good.

Our flight from Bangalore to Brussels started on time at 1:30 am on Nov1, Indian Time(IST). The flight was mostly empty
especially in the economy area. The business area too looked empty when i entered the plane but then, that was in the front
of the plane and I didnt have much view to it once i was seated. BTW the checkin was with no problem. Although my cabin bag
was weighing 10 kg when we checked outside, they never weighed it!!!! or atleast i never saw them. so i sat in the flight
with my 10 kg bad and laptop bag tucked in the hold.
I was waiting for goodies and great food. But was dissapointed. First they gave us socks and brush+paste.after waiting a
lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time they brought us some breakfast -> Upma(not good) + Vada(tasted of preservatives) +tea+ juice.
there was inflight movies. I watched Ugly and Pugli. The movie is good.
I slept for a while and kept looking at the watch. It was showing indian time and i spent much time wondering what you guys
muct be doing. The lunch/dinner(??) came after much waiting by which time my hunger was gone. It was Kerala Paratha and
Babycorn vegetable.I liked them.

We reached Brussels at 7:15 am Nov 1 (Brussels time) which is 11:45 am IST Nov1 in India. It was raining and the temp was 6
deg. The Airport was huge I guess twice the size of Bangalore Airport. We waited in a queue for the security check. They made
me remove my watch,coat and open the laptop bag and thankfully i didnt have to open the cabin bag. one of my colleagues was
made to open all her bags!!! she was carrying some pastes,liquids and metal spoons in her cabin baggage!!!! and these things
are not allowed so she had to open and show them. they took away the paste and threw the water bottle.

After that it was a wait for 2 hours for the next flight. The waiting lounge was mostly filled with indians. It was Jet
airways again, but a different plane . This was sort off full. considering that most of the people were indians from
different jet airways flights. This flight was also not uneventful. They didnt give us socks; food was also given very
sparingly. We waited and waited and hunger died and then came the food. it was not so good either and hence i dnt even
remember it!!!

I started watching Mere Baap Pehle AAp but unfortuntely couldnt complete it. But the movie seemed good.but we landed before
it finished. I landed here at newark airport at 12 am nov 2 IST which is 2:30 pm here. I had a long wait in the immigration
check it was a long queue. But once i came in front of the officer, it was fast. He asked me to be back to india by Jan
30th,(my visa is b1 and tht is the duration you are allow ed in US for tht ie 3 months). From there i proceeded to collect my
bags. I had to pay 3 dollars for the trolley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Thus i spent my first dollars, on a stupid
luggage troley!! my mind was saying "150 rs" for a trolley!!!! anyways there was no other check now and we came out of the
airport to colect a taxi. 3 of us got into a taxi .

We gave the taxiwala the printout with directions and even though he had GPS on, he couldnt locate the place that well.
instead we ended up in the wrong colony and passed the same set of houses for 4-5 times before he actually could get out and
off to the right road. We finally reached at 5:30 pm. the taxi bill was 95 $ (basic)+ 2.4 $(toll fee) + luggage + tip = 110 $

Thus we reached the apartment.

My apartment is on the third floor. no lifts and tht sthe last floor.
Its very posh and a 2BHK. My colleague Snehal is sharing it with me. Its fully furnished with quessn beds, sofa, dining set, study table, phone, modem. The kitchen has Blender(mixer), coffee maker, toaster, plates, spoons,bowls, pans, knives, microvave, 4 burner electriv stove, dishwasher. The taps have hot water also. They have provided towels, toileteries,blankets. its great.

Shraddha's Diary

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Saturday, November 01, 2008

The Trip..

Friday, October 31, 2008

hello allllllll