Parents US visit

It's been sometime, I have written anything. It is due to a mix of factors which includes my girl and my travels obviously. This July, I had my parents visit US for a short duration, 14 days to be specific. In that short span of time, I managed to have them a tour of US east coast. The planning of US tour was being in progress from an year. After such a long time, finally my parents made up their mind to visit. I had booked their flight and tour 2-3 months in advance and if I book flights, there is a rare scenario that I am going to cancel it. This way, I knew that its going to be a success this year. I had prepared an excel which allowed me to book everything in advance and plan each and everything smoothly. 

I had to book separate flights for domestic and International, so that they don't have to wait for long in Delhi. They had few hours between flights, which made situation tensed. They were bit late which put them in pressure as they were trying to cross security at Delhi airport. I was also in tension, as I had no contact from them after Indore. With God's grace, they were able to board the International flight successfully and I was able to make contact with them. Now, I was relaxed. They easily passed immigration at Chicago port and then I met them. I posted a picture over the family group to let everyone know that they have arrived. 

I kept the first day of arrival free without any travels. They came home and relaxed. Father had a tea and mom-coffee. Aunty prepared some snacks. We spoke for some time and then I told them to relax. In night, we visited nearby local shops. So that they get to see US a bit. The next day we planned for shopping, I didn't wanted to buy anything while we are traveling to avoid carrying and bringing it back to Chicago. Soon, we finished shopping and came back home, then we had some time to relax before going to Chicago downtown.

Evening, we visited Chicago downtown starting from Chicago Board of Trade, Cloud gate, Buckingham Fountain and ended the day with marvelous fireworks at Navy Pier.

Canada....and Back

View from Split Rock Light house

Friends, few weeks back, I had an adventurous trip to Canada and back to US. Note: DO NOT TRY IT.

I and one crazier guy were thinking where to go on weekend midnight. After lot of checking and thinking, we agreed to visit Duluth. Point to note is, I am living in Minnesota (U.S.A.) which is a border state to Ontario (Canada). The border city is Duluth. Our plan was to reach there early morning and take rest for some time before exploring Duluth. So we reached early morning and were looking for a silent place to sleep. We passed from a place where lots of Cops were there due to some issue going on. As soon as we passed, one cop caught us, courtesy of my crazy friend, he was about to hit a curb and cop saw that. He was a good guy, he left us just like that.

Light House

We roamed around the area for some time and parked our car to have some sleep. Morning, we got fresh and walked along side Superior lake. It's the largest lake of North America, it’s so big, that they should rename it as ocean. Well the walk, bridges and all were good but we were not able to enjoy the fall color as its still weeks for that.

Next we moved to the Light house. It’s good to visit the light house if you want to enjoy history as well as beautiful area near the lake. Split rock Lighthouse is one of the picturesque lighthouse of US. It was built after a famous storm in which 29 ships were lost. Until 1969 before retiring, it played a very good role of guiding ships at lake. Now we were feeling damn hungry, so we started looking for some lunch. Unfortunately the only veggie-Subway was closed due to Labor Day, so we managed with DQ.

Boat for display @ Duluth

Now, we would have seen Gooseberry falls but we were more interested in adding a Country to our list. Hence we continued our journey towards border.  The most hilarious thing about Canada-US border was that there is no proper border. Until you have already stepped foot inside Canada. We just wanted to see border from a distance, but we never knew when we have crossed US. There is just a one way bridge and as soon as you cross it, you will be in Canada. Now you have to pass immigration to enter in any country. There was a car line ahead of us who were going for immigration check. We didn’t had any plans/passport/visa to enter Canada, so we planned to pull into a side parking and take a U turn. Shit happens and it happened-that lot was inside Canada. You have to cross a truck line to reach there, we didn’t knew that it was a truck line.

Morning @ Duluth

Siren started buzzing and Canada Border patrol came rushing towards us. They were the one who confirmed us, that we are actually in Canada and now we had to go through Immigration. We explained them our situation. The guy who caught was a good guy, he asked us to sit and wait for immigration officer call. We were slight tensed, actually waiting for the unknown was killing us. We didn’t know what’s going to happen as it was the first unknown border crossing. Soon the same guy called us and guided us to sign a paper. It said that we are withdrawing our visa application which we never applied. Instead we entered.

Welcome to Ontario

He explained us that it’s the best and fastest way to get out of Canada. He was such a good guy, that he even called America and informed them about our commencing. So, American immigration will not question much. We thanked him and came back to America. As expected, they also asked us to pull our car side and enter for immigration check. We explained them the situation and they checked our identities. Soon they were able to grasp it and informed us not to do it again. Sometimes border patrol may not be able to identify us especially without passports. Hence it’s good to avoid such situations.

Finally, we were back in our home country-America. Sounds funny, still true in certain ways.

Then we headed towards our home in Minneapolis with a pizza break on the way.

PS: Let me know, if you wanna see a video of me entering Canada, it would be risky to post here.

A new Beginning: Moving on

This is the 2^nd part of a new beginning, please read the first part first before coming here to understand better.

When you are relocating to a new location for a long time (at least a year), you have to think about lot of things like you have to move many things, now what to move, which to leave that becomes a big Q. This blog will help you in understanding it. Remember the more stuff you have accumulated where you are staying, more time will be spend to deal with it. When you are moving to a new location, you have to actually move on, leave a lot behind.

Some helpful steps:

1.       Throw out useless materials, junk, things which are going to be useless in few days.

2.       No Electronics

3.       Less utensils

4.       Pack and pack it tightly.

In detail:

1. Throw out junk

While relocating, you have to keep in mind volume as well as weight, so try to keep things as less as possible, there is a thumb rule for it. If you have not used something in last year, then you do not really use it ever, better throw it. Throw all the things which have started wearing and tearing, you will not use them in US.

2. No Electronics

You have to make sure that you are bringing only the electronics which works in US 110V and with that converters to connect them. For example India uses circular plugs while US has rectangular ones that too without switch. A good point with US is the consumer electronics is cheaper, you can buy whatever you need from here.

3. Less Utensils

You can get all the utensils that you need at a comparative prices here, so pack only the essential ones and leave the rest.

4. Pack and pack it tightly

In case you are bringing any liquids with you, make sure you are packing everything airtight. Liquids may come out of the boxes because of the air pressure in planes, so make sure all is tight.

Stay tuned for Culture Shock

A New Beginning

Office Pic

Place: Hopkins, Minnesota (USA)

Local Time: Central Time 4:56 P.M., Dec 1 2014

Bible: Genesis 12:1, 4-5

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you."

Dear friends,

It has been a long time, I have written something. I was just waiting for the right opportunity, right time, and perfect situation to write my exploration of a new continent-North America. Yes friends, that is true, although for some of you it might be a surprise but I have relocated to a new place known as United States of America (U.S.A.). A well-known fact about US-It is one of the most powerful nations in the world. It consists of a total of 50 states among which I am staying in a state known as “Land of 10,000 Lakes” otherwise Minnesota.

Think, think and think more.

Before relocating, I had series of discussions, thought exchange and lot more with myself and circle around me. Travelling to a new country is not a kids play, you have to think a lot, make your mind clear what your aspirations are, what do you want in life, is it really worth it? Whatever your reason of relocating, keep in mind that you have already started beginning of the end of your old life, now you are going to start a new beginning, a new life. You are going to start your life from 0 with a new clean slate. It’s going to be a fresh start, obviously you have to face lots of challenges, learn new customs, rules, guidelines and what not. It’s gonna be a whole new goddamn identity that you are going to set up, so if you are relocating, think, think and think more.

How?

The first question that may come to your mind is how I relocated to USA. I was working for a IT giant in Chennai for last 2 years in a US based project. I nominated myself for any onsite opportunity that may arrive; all the managers checked my scores and work then confirmed me as a suitable candidate for the job. Then there were hell lot of levels through which my VISA petition passed starting from local company branch to US Immigration. My visa petition was filed in 2014 Jan and it took a complete year for it to get processed. Finally with the Gods grace, parent’s blessings and my well-wisher friends I was selected in lottery. I was supposed to travel in Oct but due to lot of applications, it was slowly processed and I came here in mid Nov.

Keep reading… Next I’ll let you know, what is the meaning of relocation? Tips and tricks while moving to US etc.