Everyone knows America is one of the top destinations to visit. And if we are being honest everyone wants to go to America, the land of the free! When I got an all-expense paid trip to America I almost couldn’t believe it. I was anxious and excited at the same time! How did I get this amazing opportunity? I won a global competition organized by the WTO, ICC, and Google. If you want to read about this competition and how I won you can read the story here.
Now back to my USA trip. The trip which was mainly for a 1-day training at Google HQ was in a couple of months and my husband and I decided to go together. He lived in America for some time when he was a child so he definitely knew more than me, besides we decided to turn this trip into our annual family vacation but there was one worry, I was pregnant! We discussed with my gynecologist if it was safe and he gave us the go-ahead. Dr. Mcarthy at Sinel hospital just knows how to put his patients at ease because after that visit to the hospital my medical concerns were put to rest.
We applied for our visas at the American embassy just in time. It was really interesting how we had to queue for about 5 hours for a 5-minute interview. After we got the visas we proceeded to book our tickets. Google paid for my ticket and sent me all the necessary details so we could book one for Tim as well and select seats next to each other.
Finally, the day came and we left for the airport. We were flying with Emirates, my favourite airline! We met an adorable friend, Nana Yaa, and realized we were all on the same flight! The first flight was for 7 hours to Dubai. I usually don’t throw up on a plane but this time I was pregnant so I did it about twice. Emirates has these bags you can throw up in and they are available everywhere so I did the needful in them. I came with a bunch of poly mailer bags for this purpose but I realized that the Emirate bags were far better.
We connected to our San Francisco flight in Dubai after resting for about an hour or less. Nana Yaa left us for her connecting flight as well and in about 15 minutes we started boarding. This second flight was the longest I have ever been on. It was like 14 hours! I threw up so much that at a point there was even nothing more to throw up. Goodness!
When we arrived I was so relieved. We connected to the airport wifi and requested an uber to our hotel. Google was paying for all this too. We arrived at Hampton Inn hotel in Mountain View, California in the afternoon and checked in. The bed was perfect for me. I wanted to eat something but the urge to sleep was so strong. Tim stepped out to get us some snacks and I fell asleep!
When I woke up, about 3 hours later, I grabbed the snacks and realized Tim did a little photo walk. I saw how beautiful Mountain View was from the pictures. “Wow, this place is nice,” I said and he nodded. The next day was training day! We got dressed and grabbed an Uber to Googleplex. It was just minutes away.
We met David, our all-time coordinator, more Google facilitators, and the other winners from the competition. The training was insightful and fun! We also had a Google tour and had lunch too. In the end, we got free gifts from their gift store and signed out. The tour was mind-blowing. Google is just amazing, is all I can say. The place was just so inviting, it didn’t look like a workplace.
Tim asked if I was strong enough to do some sightseeing and I nodded. We had one more free night to stay at the Hampton Inn in Mountain View so we decided to do some exploring. From then on our vacation was now starting with plans to visit the almighty New York, Maryland, Washington DC, and others! We visited family and friends and did a bunch of touristy things too. Would I like to go to America again? Absolutely and this time without a baby in the bun. I will continue the story with details of where we stayed, what we did, and the costs involved as well. Please subscribe to get updates when I do on the lifestyle page.