So I get to travel on a plane at last. I got to the Chennai airport well ahead of time and entered the international terminal and proceeded to the Lufthansa counter (the one with the prettier hostess, hehe). My paranoid fears of my luggage exceeding the weight limit, fortunately, didn't come true. I asked for a window seat and the hostess was kind enough to give me one. Proceeded to immigration and after that came the long wait for the flight to arrive. It was kinda funny observing all the people there. Some trying to doze off and yet finding it impossible to do so due to unknown reasons (me being one of them), some checking out the book store for the most abstract of books you can imagine and some still talking over the mobile saying those last minute good byes. Looking at them made me wanna talk to my parents and friends. That's when I saw the free phone booths!!! I rushed there to call up my parents and one of my closest freiends. I decided to stop once I saw people like me waiting to talk to their close ones. Suddenly I saw a very beautiful face. A similar one... Genelia!!! The "Harini" from Boys!!! What is she doing there??? And Bharath is with her too... And with them is director Vikraman. They should be travelling somewhere to shoot some duet song I suppose. And the title of the movie they are gonna shoot is "Chennai Kadhal"! Duh!
Another hour of waiting and finally I hear the announcement to board the plane... And I sit near the window accompanied by an old man from Italy. 'twas nice talking to him, but it would have been better if it was a young woman, I thought to myself.
The flight started moving in "taxi" mode (thats what they cal it) until it reached the runway, and then came the jerk. The plane started moving at breakneck speed and after sometime it took off... It was a nice feeling taking off the ground...it was different. Going through the clouds, looking down at my home town, remembering my last moments with friends, etc. I try to doze off unsuccessfully because of the airhostesses giving me dinner. Actually all through my journey, I wasn't able to sleep that much because I was always being offered something to eat or drink.
After a long time the plane comes out of the clouds and I'm able to see frankfurt from above. Houses stacked up like matchboxes, green fields, indstries... Frankfurt must be a beautiful place, I thought. Franfurt airport is almost dominated completely by Lufthansa. Everywhere I turn I see the Lufthansa logo. And Frankfurt airport is really hewge... But I see a lot of indians in this place. Lots of these faces look familiar as I had noticed almost everyone of them during my waiting period at Chennai airport. I had some tough time finding my way to the B22 gate, and luckily I found another guy in the same situation as me. We enquired a Lufthansa official and he guided us how to proceed to the terminal. We finished the checkin procedures and then came another wait for the plane. We could see the cargo being loaded from the waiting lounge. Should be a cool job, I thought. Another boring hour of waiting for the plane and then we proceed to the gate. The airhostess in this flight were prettier than the ones in my first flight... hehe... Unfortunately I was feeling damn sleep and dozed off this time. And there wasnt much being offered in this journey to eat or drink like the first one so I had a pretty peaceful sleep this time.
Reached Washington after what seemed like eternity. I thought Frankfurt was hewge. I was wrong. Washington airport is heeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwge!!! And it is not completed yet! Phew! People say Chicago airport is bigger and busier. I can only imagine how that would be.
I had plenty of time before the next journey so I decide to roam around. One day would not be enough to walk along the waiting lounge here. Feeling hungry from walking a long distance, I spent my first dollar on a donut from Dunkin' Donuts. It was delicious. And heavy. Proceeded to my gate (it was C11 terminal, I think). This was a United Airlines flight, the domestic carrier. Both lufthansa and UA come under the same group, Star Alliance. This one was a much smaller one and not a very sophisticated one. For a journey of just over an hour, this would suffice, I thought. This journey was uneventful but for the landing which was pretty rough due to strong winds at Hartford. After landing there I went on to collect my baggage and proceeded outside expecting my friends to be waiting for me. I was greeted by nothing but the cold winds at Hartford. Not knowing what to do, I search here and there for my friends, call them up on their mobiles and everything turns out unfruitful. After 20 minutes of desparation I see a familiar face. Ha! Atlast, here they come. It is only after meeting them that I learn that the flight was 20 minutes early. Duh! Too much of punctuality can be harmful.
Well, there ends my journey to the United States of America. More to come. Will post my experiences at Middletown soon...
