Welcome to Los Angeles, United States of America
We took off from KLIA at 3.15 pm local time. It took about 4 hours to reach Taipei, our one and only stop for this long journey to LA. Flight was smooth except for a few minor occasional turbulence as we were about to reach Taipei.
Transit was for one and a half hour before we took off again towards LA. This time the journey took 10 hours and 40 minutes. I was praying that Danish wouldn't be restless and up and about.
And being a good boy he was, didn't bother much about the long journey because he got to lie down flat since the whole stretch of seats was empty. He looked so comfortable sleeping and to my amazement he was sleeping soundly the whole 10 hours. He didn't wake up for a visit to the lavatories nor he stirred a little bit for a meal. I guess his biological clock was ticking as if he was still back home. I had quite a hard time waking him up that the helpful steward and stewardess were trying to do the same. Finally we managed to get him wide and awake just about 15 minutes before landing.
I have to say that overall, the flight was indeed smooth and there were just a few minor bumps here and there that I almost didn't feel it. I have to confess to all of you out there that whenever I'm flying, I'll be worried sick about bumps when the aircraft faces turbulences. There would be goosebumps all over me and I would start thinking of the worst.......I guess I'll have to be more calm if I have to go on board again which is soon..argghhhh...
Well, landing was smooth and it took a while for the aeroplane to park at the hanger since LAX was such a busy airport. After about 15 minutes, we embarked towards the immigration counters. To my amazement, the crowd was massive, nothing like I could ever imagine. I got to know from one of the security officers that there were 5 flights arriving at the same time. Too bad I didn't have my camera in hand with me, I would have shared the flood of people at the immigration area.
We quickly lined up at the visitors' area. While waiting, there were two dogs being escorted to check the people around and this was the part which I hated the most. I prayed that the dogs were not wet and I prayed really hard when I saw the dogs were sniffing and licking people's shoes. I really hoped that the dogs would not do the same thing to me and Danish. Lucky enough, we managed to move away from the dogs and it was such a relief!!!!
After waiting for almost half an hour, out of the blue, Danish screamed that he needed to pee as soon as possible. I knew that I couldn't ask him to hold on from the look on his face. I quickly asked the person behind us to spare our space and he agreed. Toilets were a little bit out of the way and when we're done, we ran to our previous spot. Where was everybody? Where was the man behind us just now? I realised that everyone had been ushered to another area since they opened more counters now. We had to go all the way to the last line and lined up again. By this time, it was already about 2 hrs since touched down. The queue was long and Danish had gotten restless that he broke into tears a few times. I guess he was just too tired waiting, but hey, who wouldn't?
Finally it was our turn and I was glad that the immigration process went on smoothly. Then, we went to the baggage carousel to claim our luggage. To my horror, I couldn't find any bags around, the whole carousel was empty. I asked the officer in-charge to help me out and he asked us to go to the missing baggage area. We had to walk about 10 minutes and when we reached the counter, the officer said that our luggage was not there either and that we had to go straight to MAS counter and he assured me that my luggage should be there at the counter. We had to take the elevator up to Level 3 and walked all the way to the other side of the airport to get to MAS office. At last, we found the office and we saw our luggage sitting quietly on the floor. I quickly claimed the luggage and the officer was such a nice fellow. He offered to push the trolley for me so that I could take care of Danish who, by this time, was about to cry once more. He asked me where I wanted to go. I told him to take me the arrival hall because my husband should be waiting over there.
He guided us towards the hall and I was just staring at the area. It was full of people and looking up for my husband was definitely impossible. The officer offered to page my husband and asked for his name. I quickly wrote down my husband's name and taught the officer the pronunciation. He practiced pronouncing repeatedly and when he finally got it right, he straight way announced my husband's name and asked my husband to proceed to the information counter. At first, he pronounced it wrongly and I screamed the correct one. He was just laughing at me. Within seconds, I could see my other half walking towards us and I was practically jumping and laughing my heart out. Danish ran to his Papa and his Papa carried him in his arms. It was such a good sight looking at those two. We thanked the officer for his help and managed to move away from the massive crowd.
Wow, what an adventurous arrival. We managed to get out of the huge and busy airport only after 4 hours!!!! It was such an experience especially that I had my bubbly son with me.
I really should thank my parents for exposing my brothers and me to the international airports situations and procedures. We used to travel abroad a lot when we were kids. I supposed such experiences helped me in a way that I didn't get panic and I knew exactly what to do during arrivals as well as departures and also transits.
Welcome to Los Angeles, California. We are breathing the LA air at last!!!
Transit was for one and a half hour before we took off again towards LA. This time the journey took 10 hours and 40 minutes. I was praying that Danish wouldn't be restless and up and about.
And being a good boy he was, didn't bother much about the long journey because he got to lie down flat since the whole stretch of seats was empty. He looked so comfortable sleeping and to my amazement he was sleeping soundly the whole 10 hours. He didn't wake up for a visit to the lavatories nor he stirred a little bit for a meal. I guess his biological clock was ticking as if he was still back home. I had quite a hard time waking him up that the helpful steward and stewardess were trying to do the same. Finally we managed to get him wide and awake just about 15 minutes before landing.
I have to say that overall, the flight was indeed smooth and there were just a few minor bumps here and there that I almost didn't feel it. I have to confess to all of you out there that whenever I'm flying, I'll be worried sick about bumps when the aircraft faces turbulences. There would be goosebumps all over me and I would start thinking of the worst.......I guess I'll have to be more calm if I have to go on board again which is soon..argghhhh...
Well, landing was smooth and it took a while for the aeroplane to park at the hanger since LAX was such a busy airport. After about 15 minutes, we embarked towards the immigration counters. To my amazement, the crowd was massive, nothing like I could ever imagine. I got to know from one of the security officers that there were 5 flights arriving at the same time. Too bad I didn't have my camera in hand with me, I would have shared the flood of people at the immigration area.
We quickly lined up at the visitors' area. While waiting, there were two dogs being escorted to check the people around and this was the part which I hated the most. I prayed that the dogs were not wet and I prayed really hard when I saw the dogs were sniffing and licking people's shoes. I really hoped that the dogs would not do the same thing to me and Danish. Lucky enough, we managed to move away from the dogs and it was such a relief!!!!
After waiting for almost half an hour, out of the blue, Danish screamed that he needed to pee as soon as possible. I knew that I couldn't ask him to hold on from the look on his face. I quickly asked the person behind us to spare our space and he agreed. Toilets were a little bit out of the way and when we're done, we ran to our previous spot. Where was everybody? Where was the man behind us just now? I realised that everyone had been ushered to another area since they opened more counters now. We had to go all the way to the last line and lined up again. By this time, it was already about 2 hrs since touched down. The queue was long and Danish had gotten restless that he broke into tears a few times. I guess he was just too tired waiting, but hey, who wouldn't?
Finally it was our turn and I was glad that the immigration process went on smoothly. Then, we went to the baggage carousel to claim our luggage. To my horror, I couldn't find any bags around, the whole carousel was empty. I asked the officer in-charge to help me out and he asked us to go to the missing baggage area. We had to walk about 10 minutes and when we reached the counter, the officer said that our luggage was not there either and that we had to go straight to MAS counter and he assured me that my luggage should be there at the counter. We had to take the elevator up to Level 3 and walked all the way to the other side of the airport to get to MAS office. At last, we found the office and we saw our luggage sitting quietly on the floor. I quickly claimed the luggage and the officer was such a nice fellow. He offered to push the trolley for me so that I could take care of Danish who, by this time, was about to cry once more. He asked me where I wanted to go. I told him to take me the arrival hall because my husband should be waiting over there.
He guided us towards the hall and I was just staring at the area. It was full of people and looking up for my husband was definitely impossible. The officer offered to page my husband and asked for his name. I quickly wrote down my husband's name and taught the officer the pronunciation. He practiced pronouncing repeatedly and when he finally got it right, he straight way announced my husband's name and asked my husband to proceed to the information counter. At first, he pronounced it wrongly and I screamed the correct one. He was just laughing at me. Within seconds, I could see my other half walking towards us and I was practically jumping and laughing my heart out. Danish ran to his Papa and his Papa carried him in his arms. It was such a good sight looking at those two. We thanked the officer for his help and managed to move away from the massive crowd.
Wow, what an adventurous arrival. We managed to get out of the huge and busy airport only after 4 hours!!!! It was such an experience especially that I had my bubbly son with me.
I really should thank my parents for exposing my brothers and me to the international airports situations and procedures. We used to travel abroad a lot when we were kids. I supposed such experiences helped me in a way that I didn't get panic and I knew exactly what to do during arrivals as well as departures and also transits.
Welcome to Los Angeles, California. We are breathing the LA air at last!!!
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