Tuesday

Air route to New York City



Yes I was excited, this was to be my first ever visit to the States, and boy was I like a 4 yr old so happy with her candy!

I have traveled the world and nowhere in my travels have I had to go thru such scans. First the passport, then the ticket get scanned, then one goes to the boarding counter and gets a boarding card but not before they scan the passport all over again

Immigration has to scan and then the airplane people scan again- they should write somewhere "happy scanning, happy journey"!

Anyway, once I crossed all the metal detectors and the physical handling and the computers and the security- I was in my seat in the plane- looking around , absorbing all details- after all I was to be onboard nearly 17hrs!

I settled into my seat, worked the remotes and realized I had a in built massager in the seat that became a bed when you want it to be one. It had doors that could be pulled out and I could be seated in my private jet to NYC

I figured our domestic airlines are doing a good job flying international waters now- the comfort of home is splendid when in a plane you can understand their English, know the food, and know you will not be served non veg guised as veg when you ask for veg:-)

We took off on time, did a short stop in Brussels and landed on time in Newark. I saw 5 movies, some in fast forward mode- all trashy - don’t know which was worst from the other! Very sad choice of movies indeed. Jet should improve its library of movies most certainly!

The food was de-li-cious. The service was excellent, the lounges were comfortable, the plane ride was smooth n beautiful

Newark was barren, big and had a HUGE parking bay- omg our airport looks very sad in comparison - this airport had some 8 vertical and 4 horizontal runway strips if not more! Planes were taking off with efficiencies of every minute! And landing fairly close too.

And now into immigration and collection of bags. Did the immigration rote and was out to baggage claim, they screened bags to see if I was carrying any alien with me, heard cheery "how r ya's , and gawked at the signboard that read - baggage trolley US$3 ! Nope- I trolleyed my bag out without it

And the smooth journey continued - we were met by a friendly cab driver who was waiting for us patiently, he got his car around and we were whisked to Manhattan from New Jersey whr Newark airport is.

I was feeling my eyes hurt with lack of sleep, but my mind would not allow it to shut or rest as it was soaking in with great amount of determination the sights and sounds of the Big apple!

NYC here I am:-)

7 comments:

Venuraj Janakarajan said...

neat... trust you to watch AB in New York. :)

Sonia Dsouza said...

Whoa!! What an excitement. Can actually feel your excitement running through us!

Unknown said...

when you are out on a long trip..u definitely want a comfortable seat, decent airline food and good movies. i see u had 2 out of three... that is fine too..

i have traveled to so many places as well and nothing will ever prep you for any trip anywhere. just when u think that nothing will happen and all will go smooth...no no no..something has to happen : like missing luggage or weird co passenger or air turbulence or a combination of all three.
my best flights were with emirates 1st class. thanks to Dad i have had the best times on those flights.

all this flying talk makes me want to go on a trip far far far far away.

Unknown said...

Its really cool to feel an Indian airlines flying so smartly in the international sky.

Every time i heard foreigners on that jet airways flight lavishing praise to the air cabin attendents, i felt saying-"now you know what Indian excellence can achieve".

The Business class was also awesome...thanks Meenakshi!. The flat beds with personal TV, and choicest magazines and soft feather pillows helped ease the flying stress a lot.

I saw vintage "Pakeeza" during the first leg of the journey. Imagine 11.35 pm, 42000 feet in the dark black sky, Puligny Montrachet red wine to sooth restlessness, ultra high tech gadgetary of seats, salmon with asparagus and lilting pakeeza songs and aethetically shot Meena Kumari dance sequence. It was a heady cocktail of senses, anticipation, contrast and comfort. all thanks to jet airways.

I love flying. You said it meenakshi, the best way airlines can satisfy passengers is just giving them what was promised.

On my trip I also flew US Airways domestically in US. Thats the story I'll share some other day.

Bombay BaNtEr said...

HEY!!! MIAL is working on it... give us a wee bit of time!!! They have already made some kickass progress!!!

God, i need one of these trips ASAP! It sounds soooooo AWESOME!!!

Bombay BaNtEr said...

PS: My boss will kill you if he knows you are trashing the airport!!!

Im going to put this in the coverage report ;)

Mee said...

loyalty is one thing and being realistic altogether another nika
:-)