Amrika Darshan: Phase 1- The planning

May 9th 2005: It had been a year since we were married, so Sri decided to make a short trip here so we could atleast celebrate our first anniversary together. Meanwhile I was just scared that I might not recognise him after so long. We were really excited and I planned for months on the places to visit and dishes to be prepared and the people to be met. I created an elaborate excel spreadsheet, filled up an entire diary with airline and hotel deals and after almost two months of gruelling 'research' the itinerary was ready. Now you would wonder 'itna fight maarne ki kya zaroorat hein ? . But when you are a graduate student, there is no other way you (+1) can visit places from New York to California unless you spent hours and hours finding out the best (read cheapest) airfare and hotel deals. The research will not go waste ...I guarantee that . Because at the end of it , you will be amazed at how much you can save . And the immense joy you will experience when you can point and laugh at those poor souls who tell you that they payed through their nose for the same trip :-) .
Another reason for the ironclad itinerary was because Sri was going to be here for just three weeks and wanted to see as much Amrika as possible. So basically I had to work on a shoestring budget coupled with a tighter schedule ..I could'nt have been prouder of what I planned.

The plan was to basically cover most of the standard places every visiting desi went to...you know Niagara , New York, Universal Studios etc etc. The advantage was that it would be that much easier for your folks back home to recognise most of the places.

You (screaming on the phone thanks to that 8c/min calling card) : "Did you get the pictures amma ? ...sorry I did'nt get time to write details of each picture on the back. "

Mom (screaming at the other end coz her voice has to reach all the way to the US ) : "Oh don't worry molle...I recognised the places immediately. You went to "Neeeagara Faals", "Umpire State Building" and that big valley in caalifornia, no ?. Just last week, Mrs Perumal came back from Ameriga after visiting her son and showed me her pictures. Their pictures were also taken at the exact same spots "

You: "oh amma you should have said that earlier , i could have send some chocolates and these photos with her only ...could have saved me that much postage. "

Anyways, week 1 , we were to make pit stops at Chicago, stay a day at Niagara, breeze through New York on to DC and then back to IC. Week 2 and 3 were spent between IC and California visiting friends ...and Shamu !!!

Looking back, although the trip was exhausting , it was a lot of fun . We got to spend a lot of time with each other and for the first time I did'nt mind the 2 hour wait at the airport or that overnight greyhound journey !!! Now I am already having crazy ideas about taking a road trip through the US or who knows ...maybe even go backpacking through Europe ..anyone ???