36000 feet above the Ground

It was 14th September, a Friday. I was getting ready to come home at 5 PM after a usual busy day at work.It was raining very heavily and I still had some shoppings to do before leaving for USA that night. I didn't have much time with me, my packing was not 100% complete. The heavy rain had already made matters worse. I was in a dilemma whether I should still go for shopping as I had very little time left for me. Sometimes even the busy Friday traffic at Bangalore deceives at its best. I played it safe and headed straight to my home. I was totally drenched and shivering when I reached home. Then I finished my packing hastily and got ready for my first journey abroad. It took me around 1 hour 15 minutes to reach the airport, which is merely 10 miles from my home. I was at the International terminal, Bangalore HAL Airport at 8:30 PM. The formalities and checking at Airport took nearly 90 minutes.

When the flight took off, I got to catch a comprehensive aerial view of Bangalore.The In flight Entertainment system was constantly updating us about the flight's location, speed and height. In another 30 minutes, the flight was above Indian Ocean. I realized that we had moved out of India. It will be another two months before I will come back to my home country again. I was pretty excited about the trip. But somewhere in that excitement, there were some fears and apprehensions too...I was travelling to a foreign country alone....now I have to manage everything by myself....There won't be any known faces around. I was totally immersed in my thoughts. The Air hostess asked me about my choice for dinner. I settled for Indian Veg. I was exploring the various options available for entertainment. It had movies, music, games, news, educational channels and many more. It took 4 hours to reach Singapore, around 4000 miles away from India. It was 6:30 AM local time at Singapore.

The Changi Airport is considered one of the biggest and best in the world. It has all the amenities like Waiting Lounge, Free Internet Access, Shops, Spa, Gymnasium, Movie Theater. The two terminals at Airport are connected by sky train. Even Singapore Government offers a free tour around Singapore for passengers in transit at Changi Airport. I got pretty disappointed when I compared it with Bangalore HAL airport. But I had to catch my next flight at 9:15 AM. To play it safe, I decided to spend the time inside the Airport only. I visited some shops around and waited for my onward journey.

The security screening was rigorous this time as the security standards for all USA bound flights are pretty high. The plane took off at 9:20 AM. As it was morning I had a much better aerial view of Singapore this time. The aircraft settled at 36000 feet. All I could see now was the clouds. Food and drinks were being served in regular intervals. Luckily I got company of 2 Indians this time. It feels really great when you come across your own people in a foreign land. We talked on many topics and I enjoyed their company.The flight headed to San Francisco via the Incheon Airport, Seoul. I had traveled half the globe in 1 day.

I reached San Francisco around 12 noon on 15th. The journey took us around 16 hours but it was merely 2 hours if the local time of Singapore and San Francisco is considered. Thanks to the International Date Line. I boarded my last flight to Sacramento at 4:15. The last leg of my journey was of merely 30 minutes. I booked a cab from Airport and reached my hotel at Folsom. I was pretty tired after the long journey and was needing some sleep very badly.

Image 1: Singapore Airport
Image 2: The Garden at Terminal 2 , Changi Airport
Image 3: Arrival Terminal at Incheon Airport.
All 3 images taken from Wikipedia.