Naveed gets to Bush country...
...and for the first time there's NO hyperbole in the title!
So it started out pleasant enough. Had work on Saturday with J-Fizzle and figured I'd pack once I got home. Of course I managed to get home at 10, and promptly fell asleep. Sunday was spent running around different fragrance shops, trying to find particular brands as gifts for our family. After a long sunday, I figured I'd start packing, which is when my mom said that we were going to her friend's home. The packing STILL had to wait!
It ended up being Monday night when I started packing for a flight some 12 hours later. Of course right when I start, we get another phone call from family friends saying that their business' computer is messed up and to please please come and check it out. And of course being the good boy I am, I checked it out and got home in the early hours of Tuesday. FINALLY I managed to finish packing, getting directions to Park n Fly, and confirmation code for the plane tickets by 4 AM Tuesday. I woke up 3.5 hours later!
Drove to the Park 'n Fly near Pearson, with my mother STILL apprehensive about leaving the car in an open lot for a week. Thank goodness we found a Sikh woman driving the bus. I don't know what it is, but something about talking in Punjabi really relaxes my mother, and it worked here too! We managed to reach the airport at noon hour, still about 3 hours before the flight!
I have to say this, the security checks by U.S. homeland security are ridiculously long. You have to fill out this silly form saying how much in valuables you are bringing/giving as gifts/hoping to bring back, along with a bevy of other useless questions. Once through there, you get your bags checked in, then go through security. Oddly enough out of the three of us, the 50-year old mom and 17-year old stylish bro got pulled aside while the 24-year old goatee/stubbly dude got through no problem! The reason? My bro had his iPod in his pocket and my mother had her gold bangles on. I was thanking my lucky stars no latex gloves were being snapped!
Next step was the Homeland security check. As I was advised by friends, I tried to be as nice as possible, with a big smile on my face and a cheery attitude. Of course thsi dude looked like he had just come from a funeral for TWELVE, and didn't even crack a smile when he heard my mother bumble her english. In fact I think the SECOND he saw on her passport that she was born in Pakistan, he gave us a semi evil eye :P Of course we passed through.
While waiting in the lounge (B11), we thought we'd go to the Tim Horton's on the other side of the glass partition. Little did we know that technically the other side was American territory, and we couldn't go through. So instead of enjoying an Iced Capp whilst reading the Toronto Star, I got stuck with a Red Bull and cheese bagel. For some reason they put all the trademark Canadian shops on the American side while we get U.S. places like T.G.I. Fridays!
Surprisingly enough the flight was good. No, I didn't piss myself or hold anyone's hand while taking off. In fact I had the whole row to myself! It was odd because even though the plane was half empty, my family and myself were seated apart. In any event, the flight was pleasant and actually was early (1 hour as opposed to the scheduled 1h45).
Once we got off the plane, my moms was surprised we didn't have to pass any customs. Upon reaching baggage check, we quickly found our stuff at the front of the conveyor belt, quickly picked it up and looked where to go. We had no idea that the baggage claim was where you would meet your family! I looked like an idiot asking people where the exit was, only to see them point two feet away! Alas once we figured out that our family SHOULD be here, it was a matter of WHY they hadn't been here for 45 minutes!
We called their home, their cell phones, and basically had my mom beg Americans for change. Eventually we got a hold of them at which point they said "Have you guys got a cab yet? We'll see you in a bit". WHAT!!! You can imagine the ticked-offness my mom and I had not only at having to wait an hour, but to take forever to get a hold of them to find out we were cabbing it. On top of all of it, because they lived in a non-local suburb, we ended up paying time-and-a-half on cab fare, which came out to 40 bucks, AMERICAN! Though I have to say, it was hard to really show an angered face at that point, seeing as my cousin, aunt, and the new baby were waiting on the porch.
(Side note - I don't know if we had an odd case, but we got maybe the WORST cabbie ever! Not only did he not know where to go when I gave him the suburb name and address, he actually gave my brother his cell phone to call to ask directions. He kept scaring us with the potential of our fare being over the estimated $39 on the board at O'Hare, yet it ended up at $37! You can imagine how much I missed our brown Canadian cabbies!).
So we arrived, my mother shedding her usual tear when she meets a sister, and we chilled. Had food to eat, and watched some good ol' American tv. I have to say after one night, it's got it's pros and cons.
PROS
-ESPN
-HBO
-HBO on Demand
-Showtime
-Baseball Tonight
CONS
-ESPN (they have great and horrible programming depending on the show)
-OLN (undeniably the WORST hockey coverage ever!)
-local news (it's SOOOO cheesy)
Anyhow, we ended up crashing around 12. The house is pretty cool. I don't have my digital camera yet (buying one today hopefully), but there are some nifty things around. My bro and I are sharing the "basement" area which is furnished with a computer room and 40" Plasma TV with the aforementioned Comcast Cable. Just got up at an ungodly hour form (8:30 am), and figured I'd kill some time by keeping my peeps up to date!
There's more, I just thought it would be better to have it in condensed bits, instead of massive posts like this! Keep reading dawgs and bitches!
So it started out pleasant enough. Had work on Saturday with J-Fizzle and figured I'd pack once I got home. Of course I managed to get home at 10, and promptly fell asleep. Sunday was spent running around different fragrance shops, trying to find particular brands as gifts for our family. After a long sunday, I figured I'd start packing, which is when my mom said that we were going to her friend's home. The packing STILL had to wait!
It ended up being Monday night when I started packing for a flight some 12 hours later. Of course right when I start, we get another phone call from family friends saying that their business' computer is messed up and to please please come and check it out. And of course being the good boy I am, I checked it out and got home in the early hours of Tuesday. FINALLY I managed to finish packing, getting directions to Park n Fly, and confirmation code for the plane tickets by 4 AM Tuesday. I woke up 3.5 hours later!
Drove to the Park 'n Fly near Pearson, with my mother STILL apprehensive about leaving the car in an open lot for a week. Thank goodness we found a Sikh woman driving the bus. I don't know what it is, but something about talking in Punjabi really relaxes my mother, and it worked here too! We managed to reach the airport at noon hour, still about 3 hours before the flight!
I have to say this, the security checks by U.S. homeland security are ridiculously long. You have to fill out this silly form saying how much in valuables you are bringing/giving as gifts/hoping to bring back, along with a bevy of other useless questions. Once through there, you get your bags checked in, then go through security. Oddly enough out of the three of us, the 50-year old mom and 17-year old stylish bro got pulled aside while the 24-year old goatee/stubbly dude got through no problem! The reason? My bro had his iPod in his pocket and my mother had her gold bangles on. I was thanking my lucky stars no latex gloves were being snapped!
Next step was the Homeland security check. As I was advised by friends, I tried to be as nice as possible, with a big smile on my face and a cheery attitude. Of course thsi dude looked like he had just come from a funeral for TWELVE, and didn't even crack a smile when he heard my mother bumble her english. In fact I think the SECOND he saw on her passport that she was born in Pakistan, he gave us a semi evil eye :P Of course we passed through.
While waiting in the lounge (B11), we thought we'd go to the Tim Horton's on the other side of the glass partition. Little did we know that technically the other side was American territory, and we couldn't go through. So instead of enjoying an Iced Capp whilst reading the Toronto Star, I got stuck with a Red Bull and cheese bagel. For some reason they put all the trademark Canadian shops on the American side while we get U.S. places like T.G.I. Fridays!
Surprisingly enough the flight was good. No, I didn't piss myself or hold anyone's hand while taking off. In fact I had the whole row to myself! It was odd because even though the plane was half empty, my family and myself were seated apart. In any event, the flight was pleasant and actually was early (1 hour as opposed to the scheduled 1h45).
Once we got off the plane, my moms was surprised we didn't have to pass any customs. Upon reaching baggage check, we quickly found our stuff at the front of the conveyor belt, quickly picked it up and looked where to go. We had no idea that the baggage claim was where you would meet your family! I looked like an idiot asking people where the exit was, only to see them point two feet away! Alas once we figured out that our family SHOULD be here, it was a matter of WHY they hadn't been here for 45 minutes!
We called their home, their cell phones, and basically had my mom beg Americans for change. Eventually we got a hold of them at which point they said "Have you guys got a cab yet? We'll see you in a bit". WHAT!!! You can imagine the ticked-offness my mom and I had not only at having to wait an hour, but to take forever to get a hold of them to find out we were cabbing it. On top of all of it, because they lived in a non-local suburb, we ended up paying time-and-a-half on cab fare, which came out to 40 bucks, AMERICAN! Though I have to say, it was hard to really show an angered face at that point, seeing as my cousin, aunt, and the new baby were waiting on the porch.
(Side note - I don't know if we had an odd case, but we got maybe the WORST cabbie ever! Not only did he not know where to go when I gave him the suburb name and address, he actually gave my brother his cell phone to call to ask directions. He kept scaring us with the potential of our fare being over the estimated $39 on the board at O'Hare, yet it ended up at $37! You can imagine how much I missed our brown Canadian cabbies!).
So we arrived, my mother shedding her usual tear when she meets a sister, and we chilled. Had food to eat, and watched some good ol' American tv. I have to say after one night, it's got it's pros and cons.
PROS
-ESPN
-HBO
-HBO on Demand
-Showtime
-Baseball Tonight
CONS
-ESPN (they have great and horrible programming depending on the show)
-OLN (undeniably the WORST hockey coverage ever!)
-local news (it's SOOOO cheesy)
Anyhow, we ended up crashing around 12. The house is pretty cool. I don't have my digital camera yet (buying one today hopefully), but there are some nifty things around. My bro and I are sharing the "basement" area which is furnished with a computer room and 40" Plasma TV with the aforementioned Comcast Cable. Just got up at an ungodly hour form (8:30 am), and figured I'd kill some time by keeping my peeps up to date!
There's more, I just thought it would be better to have it in condensed bits, instead of massive posts like this! Keep reading dawgs and bitches!
posted by Naveed at
9:33 AM
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