A trip to The City of Angels

My journey began at Pune as soon as we sat in a taxi for going to Mumbai. I was highly excited to get on this journey (psst psst... even though it meant missing my school and final exam revision). As soon as I sat in the cab, I looked around trying to get the last view of our building which I was not going to see for next 15 days. 

We reached the Bombay airport 12 a.m. (It was also Aai-Papa's anniversary that day). My excitement about visit to an international airport kept me awake that day. When we entered the airport I was stunned. It was a fabulous site. We moved past security check and immigration and then we went to see around the airport and the art galleries. 

When we waiting for our flight, I could see our plane. It as Emirates Airbus - A 380. It looked very grand. Once we boarded, I saw a small TV screen which I found to be the best part about the flight. I thought that Raghav and Aaradhya would have loved this feature of the flight. 

After a 2 hour 50 minute flight, we reached Dubai airport. Sun had just risen, it was extremely bright and we got a view of Burj Khalifa. It was fascinating to see the largest structure of the world. Even though, Dubai airport is busy and everyone thinks it is 'posh', I still found Bombay airport better. Finally, it was time to board our flight for a 16 hour journey which would take us to our final destination.

While we were right over the North Pole Desert in the middle east

Snow somewhere in north Europe

Once we boarded the flight, we saw many new things such as deserts, and as we passed through Greenland, we could see the snow. It was a completely new sight for me. Once we reached Canada, only 5 hours of our journey were left and after such a long journey 5 hours felt like 5 minutes. I remember stretching arms and saying, " Sirf 5 ghante bache hain." And when actually 5 minutes were left, I was so thrilled that I felt like taking a parachute and jumping out. When we finally landed (0 hours 0 minutes), I actually felt like pushing everyone and running outside. 

Even though I had visited US before, this time it was different because I was going to meet R and A. We stood in a looooooooong queue for immigration and after all other formalities finally we met Fufaji in the arrival lounge. As we went outside the airport, I didn't look around the car or talked to anyone because I was awed at the site of a new city and all the different kind of cars and their number plates. When we entered Chino, I was extremely impatient. I wanted to ask Fufaji how much longer, but it would have felt rude. 

We entered Eucalyptus Avenue and when we saw the board of Eagle Canyon, we slowly tip-toed onto the front patio and we rang the bell. When Booa opened the door, the blow of our sudden sight left her numb and she broke down (check out the video). I saw R and A and I went and hugged them. It was a completely different feeling because I was meeting them after a long time.

Chino Hills is a very green place. I found it different from the rest of the places in US I visited. It had a very warm climate which was one thing I also liked about LA. We saw snow-capped mountains at the distance. 

Some of my favourites from our site-seeing were:

1. Universal Studio – I saw some of my favourite characters at US such as minions. We also visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. There was a Hogwarts castle, Diagon Alley, There was a model of Hogwarts Express, Zonko’s joke Shop, Honeydukes.

We saw welcome dances of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. They were selling magical drinks such as Butterbeer and Firewhiskey. I wanted to buy a wand but I did not get one because it was expensive. The Mummy ride (Revenge of the Mummy) - it was so spooky that I had to keep my eyes closed. It had special effects such as water splash and spider crawling. We saw Animal show and Special Effect show. We learnt how animals get trained for movies and some of the secrets for eg how movie makers create effects such cutting a body part or flying. 

2. Six Flags – This is an amusement park with some of the most thrilling rides I experienced. I had gone with Papa and Fufaji with an assumption that rides will be ordinary but I was wrong. I could see the rides from a mile away and I was shocked. But in the end, rides turned out to be a lot of fun. The ride named ‘Tatsu’ is worth mentioning. This is a Japanese word meaning Dragon. I could here people’s shrieks – I was not sure if that was out excitement or out of fear. 

3. Disneyland – This is a place I had been wanting to visit since I was a child. It turned out to be worth the time and effort. We saw the Disney castle and castle of Princess Sleeping Beauty. It was slightly scary because it was dark with videos of the movie playing inside. We saw the world-famous parade which left me awe-struck. While it displayed all my favourite Disney characters, the Frozen characters were missing which I found disappointing. We also saw a man who was using a broom and water to draw Disney characters on the floor.

4. Santa Monica Pier – It was a very large pier with an amusement park. There we had ice cream. There were a few eating joints, caricature artists and a huge cruise ship. It was a very beautiful and peaceful place. There was a photo booth in which I, Aai, Booa, R and A had to squeeze and click a picture. Every frame had someone’s face covered. It was very funny. 

5. Long Beach Aquarium – It had a variety of fishes – Jelly fish, star fish, Sharks. And we could also touch some of the fishes and birds. There were these colourful birds to whom we could feed nectar. We also saw a show in which they also showed how they train seals. Apart from capturing animals, they rescue them and treat them if they are unwell. 

The food in US was nothing special. I could only have pizza or French fries or lemonade. There was not a large variety. But one place I liked was ‘Soup Plantation’ because of its salad bar and its cold-drink machine where we made special (wink-wink) drink for Aai which tasted like tooth-paste.

I found children in US to be very cribby. I think they are spoilt children. Because all of them have phones and I saw them shouting and yelling at their parents if their parents decline their demands. In general, people were courteous to us even though we are non-Americans. They always wished us Good morning, Good Afternoon etc. 

Booa’s home is just like an Indian home. 

We also celebrated Raghav’s birthday in a place called ‘Pump it up’. As soon as they opened the place, I got to see the giant air castles. I had such amazing time there. That was the best birthday party I have attended in my entire life.  

Aaradhya had grown up a lot and she would run everywhere. Sometimes it became difficult for me to manage them and entertain them in the car backseat. But this is not a complaint because I really had a wonderful and memorable trip because of my dear Booa, Fufaji, Raghav and Aaradhya.