THE U THE S OF A

my trip to america has been so full of surprises right from the planning stage to the execution... kind of as if i was meant to come here..
after finally finishing my engg. i came back from manipal and was getting bored at home. i was expecting a trip around june end with mom and dad to macau-hongkong-bangkok but as usual at the last moment both of them backed out.
as i was getting bored at home i was talking to my sister here in denver quite often (more than usual) and one fine day she invited me. well i dint even have a visa. so i casually mentioned it to dad and next day i was off to the HDFC bank for my visa application. within a few days it was certain that i would be going to denver if i get the visa.. but it was not as easy as it sounds. had to get all sorts of papers arranged right from invitation letters from my sister to my father and brother-in-law's bank statements to my TCS joining letter including all my previous activities academically. all these were required just to prove that people would be able to support me financially during this trip and that i would be returning to India to join TCS...
guess what.. the lady at the american embassy dint go through 90% of the papers that i had brought and my interview went as smoothly as it could. people had forewarned me as if i am applying for a job or my life's most important test.. although i will agree that the americans were pretty strict and many people were not getting visas.

and finally the good news i got a 10 year multiple trip visa..

2 days later and off to new york.. reach der early morning and truth be told was not much impressed. have seen much better airports (changi in singapore and kuala lumpur). a few hours stay at newark airport and another flight to denver which people tell me is one of the biggest airports in the world in terms of area and i kind of agree. also it was much more beautiful..
the day i reached we celebrated the american independence day (don't remember the last time i celebrated india's :D).. unlike india where we take out a parade and show our culture and military might, here people just go to parks with friends and family creating a picnic sort of atmosphere and burst fire crackers...

next on my list of things to do was shopping. bought perfumes, shades, backpack, electric shaver, clothes etc etc etc... and it all came cheap bcoz of the july 4th sale.
then came my trip to las vegas which i was eagerly looking forward to. well to begin with it turned out to be every bit as exciting as i thought it would. saw all the good places, played in almost all casinos splurging money (my taxi driver there rightly said that vegas is a city built by losers), ate at all good places (including some really nice mexican restaurants) and discovered why this city is called the SIN CITY.. :P it was an awesome trip and i think one of my best holiday spots. plus everything seemed very arranged as my sister and brother in law had been there before and knew the way around the city. all in all an experience that i wont be forgetting in a hurry.

now am back in denver and will be exploring a few places in colorado and then finally will leave for new york. hopefully will be enjoying the rest of the trip also.
ciao