Washington Dulles International Airport:
We reach Washington Dulles around 1:40 pm in the afternoon. Soon we get transported to a mobile lounge to be taken to the International Arrivals Building. There all the wheelchairs are waiting for its passengers. The person takes us to the 1st floor where our customs will be cleared. There are actually 2 lines from here. One is for the citizens and one is for the non-citizens. The line for non-citizens must be 3 times longer than the line for the citizens. Since my dad was in wheelchair, we passed through that line and went straight to the officer's counter. The officer asked us couple of questions like "why did we go to India?", "What did we buy?", and "roughly how much do we think the items are worth in total?", etc. and then stamped our passports and we were off to the baggage claim. I got to tell you that since last time I was at Washington Dulles airport, this building has been remodeled because from what I remember, the place was very small that everyone would be bumping into each other. But this time, it's big and very spacious. In fact, they have new baggage claim conveyor belts that are longer and the space is enough to handle all the passengers from 2-3 international flights at the same time.
I swore last time I was at Washington Dulles that I will not fly though here again but the remodeling of the place has changed my opinion. Last time, our baggage came almost after 2 hours and this time, almost all the bags had already arrived before we even got there, only to find one bag in complete surprise. One of the bags was in such a bad condition that its chain and lock were completely broken and things were falling out of the small space. Thankfully, due to the tag/string that they put in the middle of the bag in Ahmedabad held the bag together otherwise we would have nothing left in the bag. Also we had tied the belts inside the bag which held things in place but still it was not enough as there was a possibility of things falling out when they transfer the bags. Unsure on what to do, we took the bag in whatever condition it was in and headed to the transfer desk. Unfortunately, we had nothing with us that we could use to tie the bag with. We went to the transfer area where we needed to transfer our bags for the connecting flight. I asked the agent who was going to screen the bags before transferring if he would be able to tape the bag or tie the bag somehow to prevent things from inside falling out. He assured me that they can take care of it and told me to just leave the bags.
It was a bit of relief to get an assurance from the agent who said they will be able to take care of it once the bag is screened. We leave our bags and head to the next flight gate. All of this process must have taken us anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours. And I was worried that we might miss our flight if we keep the connecting flight at 5:30 pm. It turns out that we were done by 3:30 pm and it would have been nice if I had kept the flight at 5:30 pm, BUT I did not. Instead I had assigned our flight times to be at 9:50 pm at night which would get us home after 12 am :(. Well I had decided late flight simply from my last experience at Washington Dulles. Who knew that they are going to remodel the place to make it better and faster for the passengers? Well, we had no choice but to wait till our flight. We were all so tired that we were falling asleep on the seats near the gate but at least one of us had to stay up since we had 3 carry-on bags, 1 purse, 1 hand bag, and a computer bag with us.
From Washington Dulles, we had to catch the United Airlines, so we were in Terminal C. Now, this terminal is pretty small compared to Terminal A and B, and it can get very congested near a gate close to a flight departure. I was just waiting for the time to fly and ready to go home. Finally, we boarded around 9:20 pm, and flight took off on time. We reach Denver earlier than scheduled and head to get our bags. Thankfully, all the bags come back in one piece and in good condition except the one that was ripped apart from Washington Dulles itself. The agent who told me that he will take care of the bag by taping it somehow to keep it together did not do anything!!! The bag was as it is we received in Dulles airport and he didn't do anything to keep it together. It was late and I didn't have energy to get mad. And who am I going to get mad at? It was just some agent at the Dulles airport, not a particular employee of United Airlines or Qatar airways. We gathered our bags and headed to pick up area where one of our family friends came to pick us up. We got home around 1 am and I was wide awake :P. I wasn't sleepy at all, but had to force myself to sleep to avoid jet-lag.
About the damaged bag, I had to follow up on it with Qatar airways and that can be a separate post in itself :). Till then, See ya. I will post the details on the damaged bag soon.
Tata!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
India Return Trip 2010 - Part 1
Although we were in India for 3 weeks, it feels like those 3 weeks just passed by in a blink of an eye. It's very short time especially when you go for someone's wedding because most of your time is involved in the wedding which doesn't give you enough time to explore other places. But I have no complains....the wedding was fabulous and loved and enjoyed every moment of it. Now about the returning journey which was just as interesting as the arriving journey, maybe little less hassle or not.
We had a flight back to US from Ahmedabad on Dec. 4th early morning around 5:20 am. We all got to the airport around 1:30 am with my relatives. Apparently, in the international airport, once you go in with your bags and once you get your boarding passes, you can not come back outside to meet your family and friends. So just hang out outside with your family until you are ready to go in. We said our goodbyes and started to go in around 2 am. Before you stand in the line for Qatar airways, or any other airlines, you need to get your bags screened at the airport where they tie a tag/string in the middle of each of your bags that you are going to check in. I think we arrived at the airport at the right time because it got really crowded just after we finished screening our bags. We got in the line to check-in, gave our bags, and got the boarding passes for all the way to the final destination. I don't understand one thing. If Qatar airways is able to give us boarding passes for United airlines flight, then why wasn't United Airlines able to give us boarding passes for Qatar Airways flights? Anyways, the process was pretty quick. The agent requested that we put one or two of our hand baggage also in the checked baggage at no cost which we will get directly in US with our other checked baggage because they did not have enough room in the plane. Now, I didn't tell you guys, but when we were coming from Doha to Ahmedabad, the agent said the same thing on the bus and they didn't even give us an option but just took our hand baggage to give it to us directly at Ahmedabad airport. When we boarded the airplane, it turns out there is plenty of room for hand luggage to fit. So this time when the agent asked us to volunteer and put 1-2 hand bags in the checked baggage, I just gave them 1 bag since I knew there was going to be space on the plane and I was right. There was plenty of room.
We got a wheelchair for my dad and headed to the security screening. Surprisingly, the person assisting my dad's wheelchair was the same guy who asked my dad $50 to get through custom clearance when we landed in Ahmedabad. But he didn't demand anything this time. He took us to the 2nd floor for Qatar Airways gate area. The airport is pretty big, really nice, and decent. But one thing that is lacking big time is the notification aspect of the airport. The airport has big monitor screens where they list the upcoming 3 or 4 flights with their departure time, but no gate information, no info on whether the flight is on time, or delayed, and the agents won't have an idea either. Just an hour before our flight, couple of ground staff workers came and got the wheelchair people to take to another gate. Apparently, the gate must have changed for the Qatar airways, but there was no way for the travelers to know about it. They told me and my mom to stay behind and come with the rest of the people since they were just taking the wheelchair people. After a while, all the ground staff comes back to get the rest of the Qatar airways flight travelers by shouting "Qatar", "Qatar Airways"..., so people for Qatar airways flight can follow them to the new gate. It was just going down the stairs to 1st level and wait for the bus to transport us to the plane. As far as I can remember, we fell asleep as soon as we got in our seats. We woke up when the food came but I was so tired that I didn't really care for the food. This time, the food was OK, nothing special and not even that tasty. I also noticed that they were playing Anjaana Anjaani but wasn't interested in seeing that movie either. Our flight left Ahmedabad on time and we reached Doha around 6:15 am.
Doha Airport:
We were still really tired but had to catch the next flight to Washington Dulles at 8:05 am. As we reached Doha, the wheelchair people had to wait until everyone got off. It turns out that within the 3 weeks we were in India, they must have made a new rule that only 1 person can accompany the wheelchair person. Well, they didn't announce this at the beginning and now when my mom and I were going with my dad, they said "Sorry, only one person can go with him! The other person need to go with the rest of the people". The bus that transports people from plane to the terminal had already left and they wanted 3 or 4 people to wait until the bus came back. I was little mad and demanded that I will only go with my dad since they didn't announce this at the beginning. Along with me, 2 other families were mad since they told us this on last moment. They didn't have a choice but to take us with the wheelchair people. Unlike last time, this time it took us about 10 minutes to be transported to the main terminal from where we had landed. We got to the main terminal and to the wheelchair waiting area. The airport was pretty crowded for the morning flights and there was quite long line for the security screening as well. I had the same problem with another agent who insisted that only 1 person accompany my dad and the other person should go through the regular security screening. I left my mom with my dad and went in the main security line. I knew he would be transported faster this time since our flight was in an hour and luckily I was through the security screening within 15 minutes I think. Again, I didn't have to take off my shoes or jacket to go through the screen so that was faster. Soon my parents came through the security screening and the man assisting my dad's wheelchair took us to our next flight gate on 2nd floor.
It turns out that for all US flights, there is a secondary security screening before you can get transported to the plane. This time due to wheelchair, we got to cut the line and go straight to security screening otherwise it would have taken us another 15-20 minutes because it was pretty crowded. During this screening, we had to take off our shoes and jackets and put them through the screening. Once you get your belongings, you get transported back to the 1st floor to get on the bus which takes you to the plane. Since our flight was just in 1.5 hours, we didn't really have any time in-between to relax and look around. We mainly just got transported from one plane to another.
From Doha to Washington Dulles International Airport:
We got situated in our small seats on Qatar flight for another 13 hours of journey. This time, we were lucky with the neighbors where they were not loud at all. For entertainment, they had couple of different movies from the previous list on Bollywood movie list. I watched the movie "Dabangg" but honestly, I think I kept falling asleep in between so I don't really remember the story anymore. Food wise, we got lunch and snacks. Surprisingly, we got the same lunch that we had on the flight from Ahmedabad to Doha which kind of surprised me. I ate very little since it wasn't as tasty and who would want to eat the same thing again!! For the snacks, they gave us veggie sandwiches which were very delicious. It was more like subway sandwich but with less items. It contained tomatoes, onions, banana peppers, green peppers, and other things. They had these sandwiches at every station if anyone wanted more of them. I think all 3 of us slept a lot on this flight due to lack of sleep from couple of days. Ohh, on the plane, the staff gave us custom clearance forms for everyone to fill out. Between sleeping and watching movies, we reached Washington Dulles around 1:40 pm on Dec. 4th.
Not to bore you with all the details in one post, my next post will describe the experience of baggage claim at Washington Dulles, and the last leg of the journey to our home state :).
We had a flight back to US from Ahmedabad on Dec. 4th early morning around 5:20 am. We all got to the airport around 1:30 am with my relatives. Apparently, in the international airport, once you go in with your bags and once you get your boarding passes, you can not come back outside to meet your family and friends. So just hang out outside with your family until you are ready to go in. We said our goodbyes and started to go in around 2 am. Before you stand in the line for Qatar airways, or any other airlines, you need to get your bags screened at the airport where they tie a tag/string in the middle of each of your bags that you are going to check in. I think we arrived at the airport at the right time because it got really crowded just after we finished screening our bags. We got in the line to check-in, gave our bags, and got the boarding passes for all the way to the final destination. I don't understand one thing. If Qatar airways is able to give us boarding passes for United airlines flight, then why wasn't United Airlines able to give us boarding passes for Qatar Airways flights? Anyways, the process was pretty quick. The agent requested that we put one or two of our hand baggage also in the checked baggage at no cost which we will get directly in US with our other checked baggage because they did not have enough room in the plane. Now, I didn't tell you guys, but when we were coming from Doha to Ahmedabad, the agent said the same thing on the bus and they didn't even give us an option but just took our hand baggage to give it to us directly at Ahmedabad airport. When we boarded the airplane, it turns out there is plenty of room for hand luggage to fit. So this time when the agent asked us to volunteer and put 1-2 hand bags in the checked baggage, I just gave them 1 bag since I knew there was going to be space on the plane and I was right. There was plenty of room.
We got a wheelchair for my dad and headed to the security screening. Surprisingly, the person assisting my dad's wheelchair was the same guy who asked my dad $50 to get through custom clearance when we landed in Ahmedabad. But he didn't demand anything this time. He took us to the 2nd floor for Qatar Airways gate area. The airport is pretty big, really nice, and decent. But one thing that is lacking big time is the notification aspect of the airport. The airport has big monitor screens where they list the upcoming 3 or 4 flights with their departure time, but no gate information, no info on whether the flight is on time, or delayed, and the agents won't have an idea either. Just an hour before our flight, couple of ground staff workers came and got the wheelchair people to take to another gate. Apparently, the gate must have changed for the Qatar airways, but there was no way for the travelers to know about it. They told me and my mom to stay behind and come with the rest of the people since they were just taking the wheelchair people. After a while, all the ground staff comes back to get the rest of the Qatar airways flight travelers by shouting "Qatar", "Qatar Airways"..., so people for Qatar airways flight can follow them to the new gate. It was just going down the stairs to 1st level and wait for the bus to transport us to the plane. As far as I can remember, we fell asleep as soon as we got in our seats. We woke up when the food came but I was so tired that I didn't really care for the food. This time, the food was OK, nothing special and not even that tasty. I also noticed that they were playing Anjaana Anjaani but wasn't interested in seeing that movie either. Our flight left Ahmedabad on time and we reached Doha around 6:15 am.
Doha Airport:
We were still really tired but had to catch the next flight to Washington Dulles at 8:05 am. As we reached Doha, the wheelchair people had to wait until everyone got off. It turns out that within the 3 weeks we were in India, they must have made a new rule that only 1 person can accompany the wheelchair person. Well, they didn't announce this at the beginning and now when my mom and I were going with my dad, they said "Sorry, only one person can go with him! The other person need to go with the rest of the people". The bus that transports people from plane to the terminal had already left and they wanted 3 or 4 people to wait until the bus came back. I was little mad and demanded that I will only go with my dad since they didn't announce this at the beginning. Along with me, 2 other families were mad since they told us this on last moment. They didn't have a choice but to take us with the wheelchair people. Unlike last time, this time it took us about 10 minutes to be transported to the main terminal from where we had landed. We got to the main terminal and to the wheelchair waiting area. The airport was pretty crowded for the morning flights and there was quite long line for the security screening as well. I had the same problem with another agent who insisted that only 1 person accompany my dad and the other person should go through the regular security screening. I left my mom with my dad and went in the main security line. I knew he would be transported faster this time since our flight was in an hour and luckily I was through the security screening within 15 minutes I think. Again, I didn't have to take off my shoes or jacket to go through the screen so that was faster. Soon my parents came through the security screening and the man assisting my dad's wheelchair took us to our next flight gate on 2nd floor.
It turns out that for all US flights, there is a secondary security screening before you can get transported to the plane. This time due to wheelchair, we got to cut the line and go straight to security screening otherwise it would have taken us another 15-20 minutes because it was pretty crowded. During this screening, we had to take off our shoes and jackets and put them through the screening. Once you get your belongings, you get transported back to the 1st floor to get on the bus which takes you to the plane. Since our flight was just in 1.5 hours, we didn't really have any time in-between to relax and look around. We mainly just got transported from one plane to another.
From Doha to Washington Dulles International Airport:
We got situated in our small seats on Qatar flight for another 13 hours of journey. This time, we were lucky with the neighbors where they were not loud at all. For entertainment, they had couple of different movies from the previous list on Bollywood movie list. I watched the movie "Dabangg" but honestly, I think I kept falling asleep in between so I don't really remember the story anymore. Food wise, we got lunch and snacks. Surprisingly, we got the same lunch that we had on the flight from Ahmedabad to Doha which kind of surprised me. I ate very little since it wasn't as tasty and who would want to eat the same thing again!! For the snacks, they gave us veggie sandwiches which were very delicious. It was more like subway sandwich but with less items. It contained tomatoes, onions, banana peppers, green peppers, and other things. They had these sandwiches at every station if anyone wanted more of them. I think all 3 of us slept a lot on this flight due to lack of sleep from couple of days. Ohh, on the plane, the staff gave us custom clearance forms for everyone to fill out. Between sleeping and watching movies, we reached Washington Dulles around 1:40 pm on Dec. 4th.
Not to bore you with all the details in one post, my next post will describe the experience of baggage claim at Washington Dulles, and the last leg of the journey to our home state :).
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
India Trip Highlights
Once we landed in India, there were a lot of things I wanted to do in the first week including, most importantly, shopping :). In the first week, my first priority was to get all my dresses for the wedding ceremonies (sangeet, wedding, and reception). The reason I say first week is because even though the wedding was after 2 weeks, the ceremonies were going to start from a week before, starting with the "Bethak" which starts from a week before. "Bethak" is kind of like a get-together every night where all the family members come to meet at night, chit-chat, have snacks and fun time!
Let me start by the "Sangeet" for the wedding. My cousin had hired a choreographer to teach all the cousins, his friends, all the aunts/uncles the dance for the actual ceremony. You can't imagine the chaos to get everyone together for practice all at once....but believe me...it was crazy! We didn't have all the steps done, or all the dances done until the day before the ceremony. This leaves no time for practicing on the actual stage. But somehow things always work out and the ceremony was fabulous. I was supposed to get the dress for Sangeet a week before and must have gone to zillion shops, I have lost a count now, to find a dress that I like for the Sangeet ceremony, but no luck. There were only 2 days left and I still did not have a dress. Finally, I find the ONE dress I was looking for just 2 days before the ceremony, and hope that the blouse comes back stitched fine. Next day, I find out that the blouse is stitched wrong with just a day to go and have to give back for stitching on the day of the sangeet. I am going nuts but I was also relieved because my cousin was supervising the stitching and making sure we get the clothes in time. Finally, I get everything back and sorted just 2 hours before the sangeet and start getting ready. I will be lying if I say I wasn't worried...because I was! If I didn't have that dress in time, I think it would have been a complete disaster. For the dance, I was part of a medley which included songs "Main albeli" from Zubaida, "Gunji angana mein shehnai" from life partner, and "O bekhabar" from Action Replay. I also did a dance with my 2 cousins on a rajasthani song "Ghoomar", beautiful song. A lot of my cousin's friends danced on latest songs from golmaal 3, action replay, I hate luv stories, Aisha, etc.
We had a day break after sangeet and before the wedding. On the wedding day, all the ladies, meaning my mom, mom's sisters, and all the other aunts had to be at the groom's place at 4:45 am in the morning for one of the rituals which is to put "Haldi (turmeric)" on my cousin brother's face :). This is kind of hard to explain but let me give it a shot. Basically "Haldi" ceremony is celebrated on both sides of the families in their homes where haldi paste is applied to the bride and the groom which includes turmeric, other herbs, mixed with milk. Its been followed for ages and haldi is supposed to be good for your complexion :). Following this ceremony was the actual wedding. Before the wedding is taking the "Barat" to the wedding venue. For "Barat", we all got together at my cousin's place with the band people and did tons of dancing at the front yard of the home. Then we all drove to 1 mile before the actual wedding venue, got out of the cars, and danced our way to the wedding place. We were from the groom's side,so we could demand whatever we want before the groom goes in. We demanded for them to bring the bride out before my cousin goes in, and they did. She came out and she was looking gorgeous. The fun was unlimited. The wedding took place for 1-2 hours and then we sat down to eat lunch with the bride and the groom. Then comes the "Bidaai" part which is kind of sad. "Bidaai" is basically where the bride's family is giving their daughter to the groom's family and sending her off to the groom's house. This gets kind of emotional since everyone starts crying from the bride's family. Controlling our emotions, we get everyone in car and then get to the groom's home where the couple of remaining rituals take place. Finally my cousin and his newly bride gets to take a moment to breath, they need to get ready for another ceremony! It's actually a wedding anniversary of my uncle and aunt (my cousin's parents) and they have invited the entire family for dinner, so they don't get to sit and relax. I didn't get to sit and relax since I was with them the whole time, but freshened up, changed and got ready for the party! The wedding was fantastic. I just love weddings, where everyone is so happy, dancing, and the entire atmosphere is very joyful.
We get another day off before the reception takes place. But this time, it wasn't too much of a hassle since there was no dancing or preparation involved. We just had to get ready and get to the reception, take bunch of pictures with the newly wed couple and enjoy the magnificent menu my uncle had decided on. I sat down to eat with my cousin and at that time they served everything from starter soup to the main course dinner. But honestly, there were so many dishes that before the main course dinner came, I was completely full. I told the waiter to put just one spoon of everything to taste but other than that, I had no room for anything else, not even the delicious ice cream they had for desert :(.
With reception coming to an end, we only had about 3 days left before we head back to US. Now in these 3 days, I still had shopping left, plus all the remaining relatives invited us for either breakfast, lunch, and dinner which booked the 3 days completely. So on Dec. 1, 2, and 3, we were booked for breakfast at 8:30 am at someone's place, then lunch at another family's place around 1 pm and then dinner at night around 8 pm. I was just worried we were going to get sick eating around the clock non-stop. But no one was willing to take a "No" for an answer :P. My parents' wedding anniversary was on Dec. 2nd, so we celebrated it with my mom's side family at a nice restaurant with dinner and a yummy chocolate cake. It was a lot of fun.
In between the celebrations, I met couple of my school friends after many many years. Got to spend some quality time with them over dinner and catch up on all these years on what they have been doing.
Also after the reception was done, my mom's side family (around 40-45 people) decided to go watch a movie together. Basically it was a small theater that they reserved for the entire family (with about 80 seats) so it was just for us :). The problem is that they picked the wrong movie to see....Break ke baad starring Imran khan and Deepika padukone. A bad bad choice. It was complete waste of time, well, not complete waste because it was fun listening to the commentary by the family members during the movie. I can't believe Imran signed that movie. There was no story, no concept, Nothing at all. I was waiting and waiting for the story to start or for the movie to make sense...but nothing! Well I wasn't the only one that was disappointed with the movie... I wished we had instead gone to see "Guzarish" and I know it wouldn't have been this disappointing but oh well.
Ahmedabad has changed a lot in all these years but one thing I don't think has changed and will never change is the traffic sense. The reason why roads are so packed with vehicles is because everyone wants to make their own way and no one wants to follow the rules. I was so scared to sit in the front seat in car with my cousin since he always drove bumper to bumper at the same time when 4 vehicles from 4 different directions wants to crunch in that same space! However, I love to sit on bikes, scooters, and travel in rickshaws, and I fulfilled this wish by traveling in all those 3 vehicles :D.
That's all I can remember for the trip highlights. If I remember something else that I haven't mentioned here, I will update this post again :). Till then, See ya!!! :D
Let me start by the "Sangeet" for the wedding. My cousin had hired a choreographer to teach all the cousins, his friends, all the aunts/uncles the dance for the actual ceremony. You can't imagine the chaos to get everyone together for practice all at once....but believe me...it was crazy! We didn't have all the steps done, or all the dances done until the day before the ceremony. This leaves no time for practicing on the actual stage. But somehow things always work out and the ceremony was fabulous. I was supposed to get the dress for Sangeet a week before and must have gone to zillion shops, I have lost a count now, to find a dress that I like for the Sangeet ceremony, but no luck. There were only 2 days left and I still did not have a dress. Finally, I find the ONE dress I was looking for just 2 days before the ceremony, and hope that the blouse comes back stitched fine. Next day, I find out that the blouse is stitched wrong with just a day to go and have to give back for stitching on the day of the sangeet. I am going nuts but I was also relieved because my cousin was supervising the stitching and making sure we get the clothes in time. Finally, I get everything back and sorted just 2 hours before the sangeet and start getting ready. I will be lying if I say I wasn't worried...because I was! If I didn't have that dress in time, I think it would have been a complete disaster. For the dance, I was part of a medley which included songs "Main albeli" from Zubaida, "Gunji angana mein shehnai" from life partner, and "O bekhabar" from Action Replay. I also did a dance with my 2 cousins on a rajasthani song "Ghoomar", beautiful song. A lot of my cousin's friends danced on latest songs from golmaal 3, action replay, I hate luv stories, Aisha, etc.
We had a day break after sangeet and before the wedding. On the wedding day, all the ladies, meaning my mom, mom's sisters, and all the other aunts had to be at the groom's place at 4:45 am in the morning for one of the rituals which is to put "Haldi (turmeric)" on my cousin brother's face :). This is kind of hard to explain but let me give it a shot. Basically "Haldi" ceremony is celebrated on both sides of the families in their homes where haldi paste is applied to the bride and the groom which includes turmeric, other herbs, mixed with milk. Its been followed for ages and haldi is supposed to be good for your complexion :). Following this ceremony was the actual wedding. Before the wedding is taking the "Barat" to the wedding venue. For "Barat", we all got together at my cousin's place with the band people and did tons of dancing at the front yard of the home. Then we all drove to 1 mile before the actual wedding venue, got out of the cars, and danced our way to the wedding place. We were from the groom's side,so we could demand whatever we want before the groom goes in. We demanded for them to bring the bride out before my cousin goes in, and they did. She came out and she was looking gorgeous. The fun was unlimited. The wedding took place for 1-2 hours and then we sat down to eat lunch with the bride and the groom. Then comes the "Bidaai" part which is kind of sad. "Bidaai" is basically where the bride's family is giving their daughter to the groom's family and sending her off to the groom's house. This gets kind of emotional since everyone starts crying from the bride's family. Controlling our emotions, we get everyone in car and then get to the groom's home where the couple of remaining rituals take place. Finally my cousin and his newly bride gets to take a moment to breath, they need to get ready for another ceremony! It's actually a wedding anniversary of my uncle and aunt (my cousin's parents) and they have invited the entire family for dinner, so they don't get to sit and relax. I didn't get to sit and relax since I was with them the whole time, but freshened up, changed and got ready for the party! The wedding was fantastic. I just love weddings, where everyone is so happy, dancing, and the entire atmosphere is very joyful.
We get another day off before the reception takes place. But this time, it wasn't too much of a hassle since there was no dancing or preparation involved. We just had to get ready and get to the reception, take bunch of pictures with the newly wed couple and enjoy the magnificent menu my uncle had decided on. I sat down to eat with my cousin and at that time they served everything from starter soup to the main course dinner. But honestly, there were so many dishes that before the main course dinner came, I was completely full. I told the waiter to put just one spoon of everything to taste but other than that, I had no room for anything else, not even the delicious ice cream they had for desert :(.
With reception coming to an end, we only had about 3 days left before we head back to US. Now in these 3 days, I still had shopping left, plus all the remaining relatives invited us for either breakfast, lunch, and dinner which booked the 3 days completely. So on Dec. 1, 2, and 3, we were booked for breakfast at 8:30 am at someone's place, then lunch at another family's place around 1 pm and then dinner at night around 8 pm. I was just worried we were going to get sick eating around the clock non-stop. But no one was willing to take a "No" for an answer :P. My parents' wedding anniversary was on Dec. 2nd, so we celebrated it with my mom's side family at a nice restaurant with dinner and a yummy chocolate cake. It was a lot of fun.
In between the celebrations, I met couple of my school friends after many many years. Got to spend some quality time with them over dinner and catch up on all these years on what they have been doing.
Also after the reception was done, my mom's side family (around 40-45 people) decided to go watch a movie together. Basically it was a small theater that they reserved for the entire family (with about 80 seats) so it was just for us :). The problem is that they picked the wrong movie to see....Break ke baad starring Imran khan and Deepika padukone. A bad bad choice. It was complete waste of time, well, not complete waste because it was fun listening to the commentary by the family members during the movie. I can't believe Imran signed that movie. There was no story, no concept, Nothing at all. I was waiting and waiting for the story to start or for the movie to make sense...but nothing! Well I wasn't the only one that was disappointed with the movie... I wished we had instead gone to see "Guzarish" and I know it wouldn't have been this disappointing but oh well.
Ahmedabad has changed a lot in all these years but one thing I don't think has changed and will never change is the traffic sense. The reason why roads are so packed with vehicles is because everyone wants to make their own way and no one wants to follow the rules. I was so scared to sit in the front seat in car with my cousin since he always drove bumper to bumper at the same time when 4 vehicles from 4 different directions wants to crunch in that same space! However, I love to sit on bikes, scooters, and travel in rickshaws, and I fulfilled this wish by traveling in all those 3 vehicles :D.
That's all I can remember for the trip highlights. If I remember something else that I haven't mentioned here, I will update this post again :). Till then, See ya!!! :D
Sunday, December 19, 2010
India Trip 2010 - Part 3
At the Ahmedabad International Airport:
So after almost 28 hours of journey, we get to Ahmedabad 45 minutes late compare to our original arrival time. We get off the plane and get transported to a bus to be taken to the terminal which is like less than a minute away and honestly in walking distance but who would want to walk after a hectic journey? Since there wasn't much walking involved, my dad didn't take the wheelchair and we headed for immigration line. It turns out there is a huge line where we could end up waiting a long time. It might have been better if we had kept my dad's wheelchair to get passed the whole line, but luckily we got hold of a person who was assisting a wheelchair person. The guy was nice and got us out of the line to take us directly to the immigration counter. We got our passports stamped in no time and headed to the baggage claim area. Here is where the worker must have mentioned to my dad that "Give me $50 and you will be cleared through all the way"......Well he did mention 50 dollars and not rupees. My dad did not give him any attention and he thought that he might not have any good chance at getting the money, so went to the first wheelchair person whom he was assisting.
So the new ahmedabad airport is big and very spacious. It has 5 new baggage conveyor belts which are pretty long for all the bags to fit. Our bags came very quick within 10-15 minutes. Thankfully, there was a flight just before our flight whose baggage had been cleared so it didn't take long for our bags to come. The real challenge now was to actually get through the security where we need to screen our bags. There was HUGE crowd lined up and there were only 2 security screenings. Apparently there were 5 lines which somehow end up being 2 lines and you can imagine all the pushing, and cutting in line when it actually comes to screening the bags. While in line, I remember that there was another wheelchair person behind me and a worker who was assisting that wheelchair, who was asking for money to get them through. But I guess the lady wasn't backing down and wasn't really going to give out any money. I think no matter how much they ask you for the money, you have to stay strong at your decision.
About putting the bags through actual screening, it was piece of cake. I put the bags from one side and my dad took it from the other side and we were done in less than 3 minutes. We didn't have that much electronics with us except in my bag where I had my phone, camera, jewellery, and an IPad. But they didn't ask anything for any of the bags. Sweet!!
We could see all the family members through a see-through glass, smiling and waving at us :). We rushed outside and met them all....there was a joy!!! :). I must say though that it was really hot for a November weather. We got in the car, stacked our bags, and headed to my aunt's home. Home sweet home!
Well that's it for the travel part of the journey. In my next post, I will tell you about all the exciting things we did for the wedding!!
Till then, see ya!
So after almost 28 hours of journey, we get to Ahmedabad 45 minutes late compare to our original arrival time. We get off the plane and get transported to a bus to be taken to the terminal which is like less than a minute away and honestly in walking distance but who would want to walk after a hectic journey? Since there wasn't much walking involved, my dad didn't take the wheelchair and we headed for immigration line. It turns out there is a huge line where we could end up waiting a long time. It might have been better if we had kept my dad's wheelchair to get passed the whole line, but luckily we got hold of a person who was assisting a wheelchair person. The guy was nice and got us out of the line to take us directly to the immigration counter. We got our passports stamped in no time and headed to the baggage claim area. Here is where the worker must have mentioned to my dad that "Give me $50 and you will be cleared through all the way"......Well he did mention 50 dollars and not rupees. My dad did not give him any attention and he thought that he might not have any good chance at getting the money, so went to the first wheelchair person whom he was assisting.
So the new ahmedabad airport is big and very spacious. It has 5 new baggage conveyor belts which are pretty long for all the bags to fit. Our bags came very quick within 10-15 minutes. Thankfully, there was a flight just before our flight whose baggage had been cleared so it didn't take long for our bags to come. The real challenge now was to actually get through the security where we need to screen our bags. There was HUGE crowd lined up and there were only 2 security screenings. Apparently there were 5 lines which somehow end up being 2 lines and you can imagine all the pushing, and cutting in line when it actually comes to screening the bags. While in line, I remember that there was another wheelchair person behind me and a worker who was assisting that wheelchair, who was asking for money to get them through. But I guess the lady wasn't backing down and wasn't really going to give out any money. I think no matter how much they ask you for the money, you have to stay strong at your decision.
About putting the bags through actual screening, it was piece of cake. I put the bags from one side and my dad took it from the other side and we were done in less than 3 minutes. We didn't have that much electronics with us except in my bag where I had my phone, camera, jewellery, and an IPad. But they didn't ask anything for any of the bags. Sweet!!
We could see all the family members through a see-through glass, smiling and waving at us :). We rushed outside and met them all....there was a joy!!! :). I must say though that it was really hot for a November weather. We got in the car, stacked our bags, and headed to my aunt's home. Home sweet home!
Well that's it for the travel part of the journey. In my next post, I will tell you about all the exciting things we did for the wedding!!
Till then, see ya!
India Trip 2010 - Part 2
OK...so ready to hear about the 2nd leg of the journey from Washington Dulles to Doha and 3rd leg of journey from Doha to Ahmedabad on Qatar airways??
Qatar Airways:
Our flight was at 9:50 pm but it left little late around 10:30 pm. Once boarding started, we got to our seats first and faster with my dad's wheelchair. I got to say that I had expected the seats to be better and spacious compare to what we get on United Airlines flight since this was going to be a straight 12 hours flight....but I was disappointed since the seat space was very little :(. Well, what can we do now?? Do we have a choice?? NO. So we got situated in our little seats.
I must say that their service is pretty nice right from when you get in the airplane. Once everyone got seated, first they brought out was basket full of candies for you to just grab some. Then they bring out hot towels. After a while they served the dinner which was very delicious. We chose to have Asian Vegetarian Meal.
Food:
The dinner included rice, dal, mixed vegetable, moong dal chat, one bun, butter, water, one chocolate, and one gulab jamun.
The breakfast included chana, one small paratha, one small kachori, one bagel and cream cheese, fruit yogurt, and orange juice.
Entertainment:
For entertainment, they did not have very many choices for bollywood movies, but a lot of choices for hollywood movies + dramas, plus some other indian shows. They even have video games with a controller/remote for you to play with which was fun.
Neighbors:
Now, let's talk about neighbors. When you have a looooooong flight like the one we had, you would hope that you get good neighbors, more like quiet neighbors :P, to make your journey peaceful. But things don't always go as you plan. Btw, I had the window seat. Right behind our 3 seats, we had 3 sisters sitting together who just loved to talk...too much talk. This wasn't it. Once the flight took off, they took off their shoes and socks, and made themselves feel like home by placing their feet on the back of my seat handle and even on the window! Can you believe it?? I wouldn't have minded the feet on the handle BUT their feet were honestly stinking the entire row :(. To give her little signal about her feet on my handle, I tried to cover the entire handle by placing my hand on it and started pushing her feet back with my elbow but I guess the sister was not backing down!! Instead she pushed her feet towards my elbow to signal me to remove my hand so she can sit comfortably in her seat!! I guess I had no option but to start the fan right above me to get rid of the smell. Oh wait, there is more! Every time I fell asleep, the lady behind me would torture the video screen such that it will shake the entire seat. Now, aren't they some neighbors!
Well, that was just one side neighbors, on the other side, there was a neighbor who had a non-stop crying kid :(. But honestly, I don't have any complains for that kid because on a long flight like this one, even I was exhausted so I can't blame the kid. That's it for the neighbors.
Qatar airways has one good thing at every station which is that they keep small snacks and drinks if anyone wants to get up and grab something to eat. And they have plenty of those to make sure they have enough for everyone. I think their service was pretty good and vegetarian food was good as well.
Doha Airport:
Between watching movies, sleeping, playing few games, and then sleeping again, we got to Doha around 10:40 pm at night (Nov. 12). Once we landed, they announced that if you have a wheelchair, stay in your seats until everyone is gone. So all the people gets to get off the plane first and be boarded on to the bus to be taken to the terminal. We waited for about 15-20 minutes until everyone was boarded off the plane and then they transferred the wheelchair people on to the bus. From where we had landed, it only took like 2-3 minutes to get to the terminal. Once we got to the airport terminal, they had separate area for wheelchair people to wait until their next flight. If you are not on wheelchair, you can either follow the sign for "Transfer" or "Immigration" once you get to the terminal. Basically, they take the wheelchair people prioritizing based on their boarding time. The people who are boarding first gets taken to the gate first. Apparently, when we landed, a lot of flights must have landed at the same time and it got really crowded, both in the security line and in the wheelchair area.
There was couple of hours before our next flight so we were just waiting in the waiting area and got some time to freshen up. We waited for like an hour and 15 minutes before they transferred my dad's wheelchair from one waiting area to another one which was just like 2 minutes away :P. We went through security which was pretty quick because you don't have to take off your jacket, or shoes to go through security and I even had an IPad in my handbag which I didn't have to take out. So it moved pretty quickly.
The Doha airport is not too big with only 2 floors. The first floor has bunch of duty-free shops with few boarding gates and the 2nd floor has alot of seating area, free wi-fi area, and the remaining boarding gates. The airport seems clean.
At the 2nd wheelchair waiting area, we waited like 2-3 hours. When it was close our flight time, they transferred us to the bus and then to the plane. Throughout the transfer process, they kept checking our boarding passes until we got to the plane.
From Doha to Ahmedabad:
Again, Qatar brought us candies and hot towel as soon as we got settled in our seats. We even got nice meal on the plane. Apperently, there were few pessangers who were transferring from another flight which was delayed and that's why our flight to Ahmedabad was delayed by 45 minutes or so. But at that point I didn't really care since we didn't have to make any more connections. The staff gave us the immigration forms on the plane for each person to fill out. And then 3 hours of journey to relax and sleep.
Next post will be telling you about the experience at the new Ahmedabad International Airport. I had heard terrible stories of what people had experienced in terms of going through customs, baggage coming very late, and workers asking for bribe...but will be giving you the latest update on it. So stay tuned!
Tata for now :)
Qatar Airways:
Our flight was at 9:50 pm but it left little late around 10:30 pm. Once boarding started, we got to our seats first and faster with my dad's wheelchair. I got to say that I had expected the seats to be better and spacious compare to what we get on United Airlines flight since this was going to be a straight 12 hours flight....but I was disappointed since the seat space was very little :(. Well, what can we do now?? Do we have a choice?? NO. So we got situated in our little seats.
I must say that their service is pretty nice right from when you get in the airplane. Once everyone got seated, first they brought out was basket full of candies for you to just grab some. Then they bring out hot towels. After a while they served the dinner which was very delicious. We chose to have Asian Vegetarian Meal.
Food:
The dinner included rice, dal, mixed vegetable, moong dal chat, one bun, butter, water, one chocolate, and one gulab jamun.
The breakfast included chana, one small paratha, one small kachori, one bagel and cream cheese, fruit yogurt, and orange juice.
Entertainment:
For entertainment, they did not have very many choices for bollywood movies, but a lot of choices for hollywood movies + dramas, plus some other indian shows. They even have video games with a controller/remote for you to play with which was fun.
Neighbors:
Now, let's talk about neighbors. When you have a looooooong flight like the one we had, you would hope that you get good neighbors, more like quiet neighbors :P, to make your journey peaceful. But things don't always go as you plan. Btw, I had the window seat. Right behind our 3 seats, we had 3 sisters sitting together who just loved to talk...too much talk. This wasn't it. Once the flight took off, they took off their shoes and socks, and made themselves feel like home by placing their feet on the back of my seat handle and even on the window! Can you believe it?? I wouldn't have minded the feet on the handle BUT their feet were honestly stinking the entire row :(. To give her little signal about her feet on my handle, I tried to cover the entire handle by placing my hand on it and started pushing her feet back with my elbow but I guess the sister was not backing down!! Instead she pushed her feet towards my elbow to signal me to remove my hand so she can sit comfortably in her seat!! I guess I had no option but to start the fan right above me to get rid of the smell. Oh wait, there is more! Every time I fell asleep, the lady behind me would torture the video screen such that it will shake the entire seat. Now, aren't they some neighbors!
Well, that was just one side neighbors, on the other side, there was a neighbor who had a non-stop crying kid :(. But honestly, I don't have any complains for that kid because on a long flight like this one, even I was exhausted so I can't blame the kid. That's it for the neighbors.
Qatar airways has one good thing at every station which is that they keep small snacks and drinks if anyone wants to get up and grab something to eat. And they have plenty of those to make sure they have enough for everyone. I think their service was pretty good and vegetarian food was good as well.
Doha Airport:
Between watching movies, sleeping, playing few games, and then sleeping again, we got to Doha around 10:40 pm at night (Nov. 12). Once we landed, they announced that if you have a wheelchair, stay in your seats until everyone is gone. So all the people gets to get off the plane first and be boarded on to the bus to be taken to the terminal. We waited for about 15-20 minutes until everyone was boarded off the plane and then they transferred the wheelchair people on to the bus. From where we had landed, it only took like 2-3 minutes to get to the terminal. Once we got to the airport terminal, they had separate area for wheelchair people to wait until their next flight. If you are not on wheelchair, you can either follow the sign for "Transfer" or "Immigration" once you get to the terminal. Basically, they take the wheelchair people prioritizing based on their boarding time. The people who are boarding first gets taken to the gate first. Apparently, when we landed, a lot of flights must have landed at the same time and it got really crowded, both in the security line and in the wheelchair area.
There was couple of hours before our next flight so we were just waiting in the waiting area and got some time to freshen up. We waited for like an hour and 15 minutes before they transferred my dad's wheelchair from one waiting area to another one which was just like 2 minutes away :P. We went through security which was pretty quick because you don't have to take off your jacket, or shoes to go through security and I even had an IPad in my handbag which I didn't have to take out. So it moved pretty quickly.
The Doha airport is not too big with only 2 floors. The first floor has bunch of duty-free shops with few boarding gates and the 2nd floor has alot of seating area, free wi-fi area, and the remaining boarding gates. The airport seems clean.
At the 2nd wheelchair waiting area, we waited like 2-3 hours. When it was close our flight time, they transferred us to the bus and then to the plane. Throughout the transfer process, they kept checking our boarding passes until we got to the plane.
From Doha to Ahmedabad:
Again, Qatar brought us candies and hot towel as soon as we got settled in our seats. We even got nice meal on the plane. Apperently, there were few pessangers who were transferring from another flight which was delayed and that's why our flight to Ahmedabad was delayed by 45 minutes or so. But at that point I didn't really care since we didn't have to make any more connections. The staff gave us the immigration forms on the plane for each person to fill out. And then 3 hours of journey to relax and sleep.
Next post will be telling you about the experience at the new Ahmedabad International Airport. I had heard terrible stories of what people had experienced in terms of going through customs, baggage coming very late, and workers asking for bribe...but will be giving you the latest update on it. So stay tuned!
Tata for now :)
Saturday, December 18, 2010
India Trip 2010 - Part 1
India trip was sort of decided on last minute and certainly we did shopping till last minute...I mean literally we were shopping until the day before the flight. Just little background on the trip. We decided to go to India from Nov. 11th to Dec. 4th for my cousin's wedding. Since the ticket was decided on the last moment, there weren't that many choices of airlines since the tickets were kind of expensive. One option that came up was flying with United Airlines/Qatar Airways. My first answer to this option was NO....because 1) the flight was going straight to Ahmedabad and not via Mumbai, and 2) we had no idea how the airline was. Not knowing how the airline is, how the travel might be, we didn't really have an option and went ahead and booked the tickets. The journey goes something like this:
Denver - Washington Dulles (IAD)
Washington Dulles(IAD) - Doha (straight 12 hours flight)
Doha - Ahmedabad
If you read my last India Trip travel posts, I am sure you will recall that I swore not to travel through Washington Dulles airport again, but this time I had no choice since we didn't have many options with the airlines. Also my opinion has changed a little bit since Dulles airport seems to have re-modeled to make it bigger and better. I will explain that when I get to my return flight experience.
I will give details on the airline and the airport experiences because I know I always look for these info before traveling with a new airline :), so I hope this info helps out someone else.
On Nov. 11th, excited like never before, we got ready and left home around 9 am for a 12:45 pm flight. Got to the DIA around 9:45 am to find no rush or no crowd whatsoever, even our turn came pretty fast while standing in line. Since 3 of us were going, it was kind of difficult to get 6 big bags, 2 carry-ons, 1 purse, 1 handbag (not purse), and 1 laptop bag all the way to the agent when our turn came. Luckily, one of the United agents saw us pushing the bags and suggested that we just leave the bags near the end of the counter and then when our turn comes, we can just drag them...but the dragging was kind of difficult too. The funny thing was that I was pushing the bags mostly, my dad was standing where all the bags were and my mom was in the line, one of the agent asks..."How many of you are going?"...haha...he must have thought I am travelling with all the bags :P. We quickly got our bags tagged and got our boarding passes to Washington Dulles.
Note: Even though Qatar and United are partnered together, you will not get Qatar boarding passes from United airlines even though the customer service agents (when you call them) tell you that you will get them in Denver. Well there is no need to worry, because you can get your onward boarding passes for Qatar from the gate itself.
Moving on, we got done pretty quickly with giving our baggage to the agent in like 15 minutes. Next, we had assigned a wheelchair for my dad and so we had to go to the wheelchair section to get his assigned wheelchair. We waited for like 15 minutes before the wheelchair person arrives. One good thing about this was that we didn't have to wait in security line at all, we got to skip the line and go straight to the agent to get to the screening. But as I said, there was no rush that day at all that even if we had to wait in line, I bet we would have been cleared in 10-15 minutes. Now DIA already has the full body scanning machines, but I think they only make some people go through that machine and not everyone because we didn't have to go through those. We just went through the normal screening system and got done very quickly and then off to the gate. I think by the time we got to the gate, it must be 10:45 am or 11 am. After that, I had all the time to relax & eat & watch all the wonderful planes come and go :).
United Airlines:
Our first leg of the journey was with United airlines from Denver to IAD which was about 3-4 hours flight. We started boarding around 12:15 pm and the plane started taking off sharp at 12:44 pm. And after that I don't remember much since I fell asleep right away. I might have woken up for a glass of orange juice in between but then went back to sleep :P. No matter how uncomfortable the seats are, no matter how little space there is, but when you are sleepy, you don't really care and even though your head hurts, you just keep on sleeping...Haha.
Washington Dulles International Airport:
We reached Washington Dulles International airport on time around 5:55 pm. My dad's wheelchair was already waiting outside and then we headed to look for the Qatar airways gate. We got off at one of the C gates and I knew Qatar was not on either C or D gates, so the first monitor I encountered I checked the Qatar flight gate which showed to be at one of the A gates. See, the way Dulles airport has their gates is that C and D is in one terminal and A and B are in another terminal but to get from either A/B to C/D, you have to take the aerotrain. Well, we headed for the aerotrain. I am glad that we got wheelchair for my dad because there is a lot of walking even before we get to the aerotrain. The train comes like every 1-2 minutes, so don't worry if you miss one. It stops at A, B, C, D, and Z gates. We got off near A gates and when we get to the gate, guess what? There is no one there! There is no agent, no monitors showing the flight info, nothing! Well, the wheelchair person was nice and suggested we look at the monitors located in A gates since he knew that the Qatar airways have been changing their gates between A and B concourses and confirm the gate number. Good thinking....well it turns out that the Qatar flight is taking off from one of the B gates. Ha! Luckily, we didn't have to change terminals since A and B are on the same terminal. Now comparing the terminals, I think A and B terminal is very nice, big, spacious, and clean whereas C and D terminal seems very small and always crowded. Even with my dad's wheelchair, it must have taken us anywhere between 25-30 minutes to get to the Qatar airways gate.
Thankfully, there was an agent present and the monitors were showing the right flight info :). Within few minutes, agent opened up the booths and we got in the line to get our onward journey boarding passes from IAD-Doha and Doha-Ahmedabad. Then, again, all the time was there for us to just relax before the boarding.
To make sure I don't make the posts lengthy, I will write the experiences in separate parts. So stay tuned for the second leg of the journey experience with Qatar airways and the rest of the experience at the Ahmedabad's new international airport.
Tata :)
Denver - Washington Dulles (IAD)
Washington Dulles(IAD) - Doha (straight 12 hours flight)
Doha - Ahmedabad
If you read my last India Trip travel posts, I am sure you will recall that I swore not to travel through Washington Dulles airport again, but this time I had no choice since we didn't have many options with the airlines. Also my opinion has changed a little bit since Dulles airport seems to have re-modeled to make it bigger and better. I will explain that when I get to my return flight experience.
I will give details on the airline and the airport experiences because I know I always look for these info before traveling with a new airline :), so I hope this info helps out someone else.
On Nov. 11th, excited like never before, we got ready and left home around 9 am for a 12:45 pm flight. Got to the DIA around 9:45 am to find no rush or no crowd whatsoever, even our turn came pretty fast while standing in line. Since 3 of us were going, it was kind of difficult to get 6 big bags, 2 carry-ons, 1 purse, 1 handbag (not purse), and 1 laptop bag all the way to the agent when our turn came. Luckily, one of the United agents saw us pushing the bags and suggested that we just leave the bags near the end of the counter and then when our turn comes, we can just drag them...but the dragging was kind of difficult too. The funny thing was that I was pushing the bags mostly, my dad was standing where all the bags were and my mom was in the line, one of the agent asks..."How many of you are going?"...haha...he must have thought I am travelling with all the bags :P. We quickly got our bags tagged and got our boarding passes to Washington Dulles.
Note: Even though Qatar and United are partnered together, you will not get Qatar boarding passes from United airlines even though the customer service agents (when you call them) tell you that you will get them in Denver. Well there is no need to worry, because you can get your onward boarding passes for Qatar from the gate itself.
Moving on, we got done pretty quickly with giving our baggage to the agent in like 15 minutes. Next, we had assigned a wheelchair for my dad and so we had to go to the wheelchair section to get his assigned wheelchair. We waited for like 15 minutes before the wheelchair person arrives. One good thing about this was that we didn't have to wait in security line at all, we got to skip the line and go straight to the agent to get to the screening. But as I said, there was no rush that day at all that even if we had to wait in line, I bet we would have been cleared in 10-15 minutes. Now DIA already has the full body scanning machines, but I think they only make some people go through that machine and not everyone because we didn't have to go through those. We just went through the normal screening system and got done very quickly and then off to the gate. I think by the time we got to the gate, it must be 10:45 am or 11 am. After that, I had all the time to relax & eat & watch all the wonderful planes come and go :).
United Airlines:
Our first leg of the journey was with United airlines from Denver to IAD which was about 3-4 hours flight. We started boarding around 12:15 pm and the plane started taking off sharp at 12:44 pm. And after that I don't remember much since I fell asleep right away. I might have woken up for a glass of orange juice in between but then went back to sleep :P. No matter how uncomfortable the seats are, no matter how little space there is, but when you are sleepy, you don't really care and even though your head hurts, you just keep on sleeping...Haha.
Washington Dulles International Airport:
We reached Washington Dulles International airport on time around 5:55 pm. My dad's wheelchair was already waiting outside and then we headed to look for the Qatar airways gate. We got off at one of the C gates and I knew Qatar was not on either C or D gates, so the first monitor I encountered I checked the Qatar flight gate which showed to be at one of the A gates. See, the way Dulles airport has their gates is that C and D is in one terminal and A and B are in another terminal but to get from either A/B to C/D, you have to take the aerotrain. Well, we headed for the aerotrain. I am glad that we got wheelchair for my dad because there is a lot of walking even before we get to the aerotrain. The train comes like every 1-2 minutes, so don't worry if you miss one. It stops at A, B, C, D, and Z gates. We got off near A gates and when we get to the gate, guess what? There is no one there! There is no agent, no monitors showing the flight info, nothing! Well, the wheelchair person was nice and suggested we look at the monitors located in A gates since he knew that the Qatar airways have been changing their gates between A and B concourses and confirm the gate number. Good thinking....well it turns out that the Qatar flight is taking off from one of the B gates. Ha! Luckily, we didn't have to change terminals since A and B are on the same terminal. Now comparing the terminals, I think A and B terminal is very nice, big, spacious, and clean whereas C and D terminal seems very small and always crowded. Even with my dad's wheelchair, it must have taken us anywhere between 25-30 minutes to get to the Qatar airways gate.
Thankfully, there was an agent present and the monitors were showing the right flight info :). Within few minutes, agent opened up the booths and we got in the line to get our onward journey boarding passes from IAD-Doha and Doha-Ahmedabad. Then, again, all the time was there for us to just relax before the boarding.
To make sure I don't make the posts lengthy, I will write the experiences in separate parts. So stay tuned for the second leg of the journey experience with Qatar airways and the rest of the experience at the Ahmedabad's new international airport.
Tata :)
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