IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 1 - April 23, 2014, Wednesday - Part 2

....Continuing from Part 1

After almost 3 and half hours of flight, I landed in Tampa Bay, FL at around 10 pm.  I got to the terminal and the first thing I see is this IIFA welcome!!

IIFA Welcome banner at Tampa Bay, FL airport

I was sleepy, tired, but as soon as I saw the sign, I was wide awake :).  I called my friend and she asked me to come to the 9th floor.  Well, let me give you little background about this 9th floor.  The 9th floor of the airport is actually a short term parking floor but that had been converted to a green carpet welcome floor for all the stars arriving for IIFA!  The media and local audience sections were separate on the green carpet where the actors can first go to the fans' side and then give little speech on the stage (more like mini-stage) and then come towards the media side.  I headed to the 9th floor and I must say even at 10:30 pm, the welcome area was crowded with fans.  Luckily, my friend was already on the media side since she had already gotten in with her credentials (with an email as proof of media accreditation).  She got me in from the media side and as soon as I entered, just minutes later entered Randhir Kapoor and Rajeev Kapoor.  This was the first time I had ever seen any actors up so close.  Here is the pic of Randhir Kapoor on the mini-stage.

Randhir Kapoor @ IIFA airport welcome

After they were escorted to their cars, the next one to arrive was none other the rock star Priyanka Chopra!! She had long flight (just like all the other actors), she looked tired, but she still looked great! Luckily I got an autograph from her, couldn't get a pic with her though :(.  But when she was over on the fans' side, she was very friendly, taking her time to give selfies, giving autographs, and even talking to some of the fans.  Here is her snap while she was giving a small welcome speech.

Priyanka Chopra @ IIFA airport welcome

She was the last one to come for that day and after she was taken to her car, everyone headed for their homes.  I met up with my friend, K, who was on the green carpet with Priyanka, helping the IIFA crew.  My friend, Ka, and I headed to get the rental car.  The process was pretty quick and we got a nice 2014 Nissan car (don't remember the model).  It was late and we were both tired and maybe that might have been the reason that we got on the wrong Hwy which made a 5 mile journey into a 15 miles drive :-(.  Finally, got to the hotel, checked in, and I crashed on the bed for few minutes.  Both of us weren't sleepy, so we just chatted and caught up on things!!

In short time, my friend, K, came to the hotel room to hang out for a while after he wrapped up airport arrivals and meetings.  We all hung out until 4 am in the morning and soon after he took off.  Ka and I slept around 4:15 am, setting an alarm for 7:45 am!!  Well, that was the first day of IIFA for me, hectic, crazy, exciting, and tiring, but I am not complaining!! This is just the beginning of an exciting and amazing IIFA weekend!!  Next day is packed with lots of great activities...stay tuned!