My Summer Holidays

The most common thing that most of the children look forward is the summer holidays. It is not only the children but also most of the parents. Nowadays parents are more eagerly waiting than their children for summer holidays, because they are the ones who study along with their children. My last summer holidays were spent in a different way and it was my uncle who had made them different from the rest of the holidays I had till then.

My aunt, uncle and my self had to leave for Chennai on May 5th for the United States VISA. As my uncle already had a business VISA, my aunt and my self went into the US embassy and stood in the line. All the while, I wished I should get the visa so that my dream to fly over the continents and oceans and visit a highly developed country at least once in my lifetime would come true. But I did not like to keep any hopes because they may reject my visa at any time because I was going to travel with my uncle and not with my parents. There are some strong reasons for not allowing children to travel without theirs parents on their side. I was very happy when the officer told us that he granted us VISA for US. He then asked us to pay the money at the counter and they would send the VISA to our house by post. I jumped over my heels and gave a big hug to my uncle who was waiting for us outside.

The next few days, were the test for my patience. From the day I returned from Chennai, I waited early for the post man every day. After a week a big brown color packet arrived and it had our passports in it. I watched curiously as my uncle opened the cover and showed me the US VISA. It had my name and the date when the VISA is going to expire. Once we got our VISAs, my uncle spoke to my brother, who was in US and fixed the suitable dates for our visit. He then bought the tickets for three of us. I bought two new pairs of clothes for my self for the US trip. As the departure date was coming near, I was too excited to eat or drink. At last, the day came. I packed all my things to leave for America, my dreamland. We boarded the flight at 6:44 pm in the evening at Hyderabad to Delhi. At first, I was very excited to travel in a flight. I never flew before in my life and so the experience was good. I got little scared when the plane took off. The air hostess was good and she offered me extra chocolates. After some time she brought dinner for everybody. The meal was good and as I was hungry, I ate everything. After sometime, I got tired of sitting still in that small chair and I fell asleep. We landed in Delhi at 8:45 pm. We went to a hotel and took rest as our flight from Delhi to Hong Kong was at 2:30 am. By 1:30am we were in the Delhi airport and boarded the flight. I enjoyed the flight from Hyderabad to Delhi but this was getting really tired now, so I slept. After some 13 hrs of journey, our plane landed in Hong Kong International Airport. It was the biggest airport I had ever seen, there were lot of shops and it was very brightly lit with lights. To board our flight again, we had to walk a lot of distance to reach our terminal.

Till then, we had covered only half the distance and there was still half way to go. I started counting hours from then on and after some 10 hrs, our flight captain announced that we were landing in San Francisco international airport. I was very happy and very much relieved to hear that. Once the flight stopped, we eagerly took our hand baggage which was kept in the over head compartment and got down. We were greeted by my brother, who was waiting for us. He then took us to San Jose where his family resided. My brother had to teach me how to put on the belt because there is no belt system in India. After reaching his home, we took rest for the day, because of the jet lag.

In the next few days, we visited places in San Jose which were very beautiful. We went to an Egyptian Museum and to a rose garden. We visited a mall and I went crazy seeing so many shops at a single place. I saw a movie too. It was nice to see the theaters so small, because I did not see such a small theater in India. On the fourth day of our visit, my brother’s family and we left for Los Angles. We resided in a hotel in Los angles named Holiday inn. The most special thing about that hotel was, it was very near to the world famous Disney land. I was very eager to visit it. It was very joyful playing with Mickey, Minnie and other characters there. We ate ice creams and enjoyed the fireworks at night. There were many different rides and I wanted to try the all. But to tell you the truth, I was really scared to enjoy some rides like free fall and roller coaster. We also visited Universal Studios, which was also good. There were rides in it too and we enjoyed a ride named Back to the Future more than the others.

After some three days of vacation in Los Angles, we came back to San Jose. My brother has a two year old son. It was very nice playing with him. He made my trip more enjoyable. My sister-in-law cooked good food and we enjoyed it very much. At last the sorrowful day of going back arrived. We had to leave to India as my holidays were getting over. We bid good byes to my brother and his family and got into our plane at San Francisco airport.

One Year has passed since my trip to US but still I did not forget anything. And I still thank my uncle who made that trip so special and made me remember it for such a long time. Even now, I can’t believe myself that I had visited such a highly developed and sophisticated country. I always thought I could visit such a place only after I grew up but I never expected that it would happen in my childhood.

-Mohan Vamsi

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