Solo Travel from India to USA
A girl, when gets married comes with lots of dreams to a new house. Though she worries about her parents and family, she gets excited about her new life too.
What if life gives you a twist and sends you seas apart 🙂
Yess… this happened to me when I got married. I had to pack my bags and shift to the totally different side of the globe, where the day starts when my entire country, my family, my parents sleep. Yes I moved to The United States of America. It was a journey full of excitement and thrill.
Today I will tell you about whatever happened from the point I started planning the trip till I reached Boston, in the US of A.
It started off with my visa processing in late Feb.2020, soon after my marriage.I went to Kolkata for the visa interview. Mine was an H4-dependent visa and the Corona pandemic had started in some parts of the world, I was little scared. However, on the contrary, things went pretty smoothly.
Thankfully, after two rounds of interviews and a lot of street shopping in Kolkata, I made it. 
It was the 13th of March when I had to travel for the states. I had booked my tickets on Emirates and hence was travelling via Dubai.
But first, I had to collect my passport from the Delhi center of US Embassy/Consulate. So I left my home town on 12th morning for Delhi.
My flight for Delhi was at 8 am in the morning and it was pouring in my hometown … Anyhow I made to the airport in time and was able to catch my flight.
As soon as I landed at Delhi, I rushed towards the US Embassy/Consulate to get my passport.
My flight for Boston was at 4 am on 13th March, I left for the airport at around 11.30 pm the previous day, accompanied with my family.
The time had come, it was now time to travel alone, no co-passenger just me by myself.
I bid adieu to my family and left them with heavy heart and big smile… I was little sad about leaving my family behind…but was more excited as the love of my life was waiting for me on the other side.
I had not slept properly from past one week because of all the packing and wrapping-up. I was really tired. I, finally got my boarding pass (after paying an extra 5 k) for the surplus luggage.
Thereafter I went to the immigration queue. I was waiting for my turn and suddenly one of the aged officers called me. It was pretty scary, but I managed to get through this. He asked few questions about the purpose of my visit to the states and then started off with his own stories…lols..
I managed with the security system of checkins and boarded the flight. This was my first time flying international and I kept wondering how big the flight was ? And what would be the speed of the flight to be able to lift up such a heavy weight”.. lols
Anyways, I got a middle seat and kept my bagpack inside the cabin, I put on my earphones and slept… The flight till Dubai was four and a half hours long. I was slept like hell throughout my journey. The flight attendants woke me up for breakfast…I requested for a vegetarian meal. I enjoyed my idli, dosa, muffins and salads….. (They were wonderful !!) and slept again!!
This was how I managed to reach Dubai. I had to take another flight for Boston in around an hour and half. Dubai airport is such a huge one that I had to literally run to get my security checks done. I had to take a train to change my terminal too. The security system there was extremely tight because of the COVID-19 spread in some parts of the world at that point of time.
I had to go under 4 rounds of security checks near the security terminal. There was one check wherein the security lady forced me to put in all my jewelries in the scan tray. (Pretty Scary ain’t it ?)
Luckily, I made it across this too and boarded my flight for Boston.
I was a little relaxed now that Dubai was done. I got the last seat near the toilet in this flight. I did not get a chance to sleep properly, kept trying to manage my mask and earphones. Lols !!
This time I got proper non veg food… for all the meals.. It was an 18 hours long flight and I got a chance to sleep enough…lols. I used to wake up in between and roam around the kitchen area of the flight. Most annoying part of this flight were the kids to my left and a stupid guy to my right… They kept spraying sanitizer on me frequently as if I was a Corona virus…OMG..
Anyhow I managed this 18 hours of trip and the flight landed Boston Airport, I was very excited. The airport is situated by the bay side and it looks amazing from the top.
It was chilly and I badly wanted to see my love.
I got out of the flight and there was a huge queue for immigration. I took out all papers and waited for my turn in the queue. There was a lady in front of me in the queue whose visa got rejected at the spot and that left me really scared..The immigration officer started querying my documents. He was a little stupid..however, with God’s grace, he approved my entry into the states and my husband welcomed me home (albeit over whatsapp)!!
I ran towards the luggage section to get my suitcases. That took around another half an hour and my excitement was at its peak. Even here I got a guy who helped me in carrying my suitcases off the belt onto the trolley.
I ran towards the exit gate full of excitement… The moment I came out of the airport, it felt as if the city is welcoming me. My love was waiting for me at the front.
I ran to hug him it was the last of our struggles for togetherness.
