[gt_bhp]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Dubai-Seattle sector was launched in March 2012 and I believe this could possibly could be the longest flight from one destination in the world to another.

The total flight duration was a nerve wracking 14 hours.

While waiting at the Dubai airport. Spotted this beauty. The twin engined Airbus-A380. Look at that wing-span, really wide. But, except the two floor seating capacity, overall length of the plane is equivalent to the 777-ER 300

Nice pics about the normal US going ons. Did you climb the space needle ?

I've read that Emirates operates some of the longest routes in aviation. I'd taken emirates on the bangalore-dubai-san francisco-NYC-dubai-bangalore route when I'd flown in late 2011. The Dubai-SanFrancisco route was 16hrs.
I took the A380 on my return from NYC.

[mohit]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Acura FX-35

Attachment 920879

That's an Infiniti FX-35. Infiniti is Nissan's luxury division just like Acura is Honda's.

[samarjitdhar]

Very nice pics. Don't think ever been to Seattle ever but I think I had a layover once at the airport. That red buch looking car is the Dodge charger isn't it. Somehow I always liked the Dodge lineup of cars for their aggressive looks.

[MohsinRoadster]

Nice to see a travelogue that a has a bit of the place I live in. Im currently in Bellevue.
The best part of Seattle is that there are a bunch of places around that are perfect weekend getaways. Nature is at its best here compared to many other states in US.

But the downside is it rains almost 6 months a year. I guess you were here around that time. But its getting better now, it will be summer soon and fun should begin anytime around the month of may-june. Here is a travelogue i scribbled a few months ago on one the places i visited near seattle.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ashington.html

[MileCruncher]

Some good pictures there. But some how the nature pictures are still very dry. Looks like the winter isn't over yet. Waiting for the hustle and bustle of NYC!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by gt_bhp

Nice pics about the normal US going ons. Did you climb the space needle ?

I've read that Emirates operates some of the longest routes in aviation. I'd taken emirates on the bangalore-dubai-san francisco-NYC-dubai-bangalore route when I'd flown in late 2011. The Dubai-SanFrancisco route was 16hrs.
I took the A380 on my return from NYC.

Unfortunately, No as we reached there pretty late ( I think around 9pm in night) so I decided to be content to just gawk at it from outside. It's a fabulous structure for sure.

16 hours is then the longest route from one destination to another. My flight from JFK to Dubai was at 11:20 in the morning hence, got the 777ER-300. Had it been a 11pm in night flight out of JFK then its a default A380

Originally Posted by mohit

That's an Infiniti FX-35. Infiniti is Nissan's luxury division just like Acura is Honda's.

Yes, I am aware. I just got it mixed up like i mentioned in my previous post. Thanks for the clarification though.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

That red buch looking car is the Dodge charger isn't it. Somehow I always liked the Dodge lineup of cars for their aggressive looks.

You mean the orange car in my previous post? Yes, its a Dodge Charger. I love their looks too. Sometimes, I find them better looking than the Mustang

Originally Posted by MohsinRoadster

Nice to see a travelogue that a has a bit of the place I live in. Im currently in Bellevue.
The best part of Seattle is that there are a bunch of places around that are perfect weekend getaways. Nature is at its best here compared to many other states in US.

Nice to know you live in Bellevue. Its a fabulous town and way bigger than Redmond. This post contains some pictures of Bellevue town, hope you like them.

When I was there it was the opposite, it was sunny for a few days at least for a few hours and it did rain most of the days and rest of the days were gloomy and grey

I keep hearing from people there that US has highest suicide rate in Seattle because of the weather. Is that true?

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Some good pictures there. But some how the nature pictures are still very dry. Looks like the winter isn't over yet. Waiting for the hustle and bustle of NYC!

Yeah, most of the US at this time of year is coming out of winter and getting into Spring mode. I guess in another few weeks those dry trees/twigs will take full bloom (atleast thats what my sister told me)

This post has some pictures taken of one of the most breathtaking views that I enjoyed in a long time. Its from a high-rise building of one of the biggest corporations in the world.

I am told Bill Gates stays somewhere close to that lake in these pictures and that area is considered one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

My office for the duration of my trip



View from my office



Spotted this lovely Vespa outside an Italian ( So apt) restaurant in Bellevue




After many days of american food. Totally enjoyed this Mutton Sizzler at a Pakistani Restuarant " Naan & Curry"

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Yes, its a Dodge Charger. I love their looks too. Sometimes, I find them better looking than the Mustang

As much as the Dodge lineup has really good looking ones they are known to be guzzlers compared to the other American cars. I used to get only Dodges during my car rentals quite a while ago till they thought it was better to switch to Hyundais .

Originally Posted by mobike008

I keep hearing from people there that US has highest suicide rate in Seattle because of the weather. Is that true?

I wouldn't be surprised. With such gloomy weather all year round, how can anybody feel perky. Remember the Tom Hanks - Meg Ryan starrer Sleepless In Seattle? Lots of collective tears shed both in the movie and by the audience throughout .

[mobike008]

One of the days there, met an ex-colleague who lives in Seattle ( relocated a year ago). He came early morning to my hotel picked me up in his Slate Grey Honda Odyssey and thereafter we caught up on lot of backlog stuff over Starbucks coffee. It was lovely to meet him as we had worked closely in the last few years in India

He drove me around the town and showed off the Microsoft buildings in Redmond. There are over 200 buildings of Microsoft in Redmond and incidentally their color scheme and overall exterior look is replicated across the world wherever their offices are situated.

He also showed me the Mahindra Satyam office which was a shock as it was situated amidst car beautification lane (Denters, Painters, Wash etc). That entire stretch of 2 miles or little more had some fancy car showroom including that of Aston Martin, Jaguar, Porsche, Audi etc.

[gajadonga]

Nice start and good pictures.Gloomy Seattle (silicon city) never knew.
Vespa scooter looks good except for the headlamp in one direction and the wheel on the other direction.
mobike008 you look a lot fit too that's great

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Nice start and good pictures.Gloomy Seattle (silicon city) never knew.
Vespa scooter looks good except for the headlamp in one direction and the wheel on the other direction.
mobike008 you look a lot fit too that's great

You have a keen eye. I meant your comment on the vespa scooter, i didnt see that scooter in same perspective

Thanks for the compliment. Challenging weight has been a perennial fight all my life. If slack even a little bit, it gains back very fast and you know my fondness for good food. If only i can manage my diet properly, I would have lost more weight easily.

After visiting the MSFT offices in Bellevue, me and 'my colleague we spent considerable time in a mall in downtown and then proceeding to do some electronic store hop to check out the latest and greatest in electronics. We visited Bestbuy, Fry's etc and picked up a few small stuff like HDMI cable, Headset and my colleague bought some PS3 games for his kids.

Post all that hopping around, we finally went to a pakistani restuarant called " Naan & Curry" for a proper dinner where we pigged out on

Sheek Kebabs
Boti Kebab Sizzler
Mutton Biryani

Each and everytime was excellent and biryani especially was very close to Hyderabadi biryani that we are so used to

[hyd_traveller]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Sheek Kebabs
Boti Kebab Sizzler
Mutton Biryani

Where are the pictures of the sheek and biryani?

Why is the travelogue getting updated so slow? Lets have the pictures flowing in faster!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by hyd_traveller

Where are the pictures of the sheek and biryani?

Why is the travelogue getting updated so slow? Lets have the pictures flowing in faster!

Sorry Bajaj Sa'ab, there are no pictures of the Sheek Kebab and Biryani. It may be normal for us to take pictures but, out there with a restuarant full of people, taking even that one picture of Boti Kebab sizzler was a bit embarrassing as my colleague looked at me amusingly while i took that one solo picture

Anyways, the same colleague and myself met up again on the last day in Seattle as he had invited me to his home for a lovely home made dinner. Before that he took me to a lovely place called Snoquolmie waterfalls which was simply wonderful. It was like a mini Niagara with a lot of gushing water and that sound in dead silence was a nice thing to hear.

My Colleague ( Sridhar Katta) friend lives in a place called Issaquah and this falls is a bit further to his residence so we drove past his house and visited this falls and spent a good hour and two there sipping on a hot cuppa by the waterfalls before going to his home wherein we were greeted by his wife and twin sons.

We were joined by another colleague and his wife and 2 kids and it was like a house on fire and we partied till almost 11pm and I had a flight to NYC next morning at 6:40AM

Finally, Madhup the other colleague dropped me to my hotel around midnight and I had just about 3 hours to sleep before I head out to the airport.

Here are some pictures of our visit to the falls and some of Sridhar Katta's residence ( Will follow up those in my next post)

[mobike008]

Here are some pictures of my colleagues home, where I spent a lovely evening catching up on official/non-official stuff over some simple home-made telugu food.

My direct flight to JFK in NYC was uneventful and took a whole of 7 hours and I landed around 2:00pm EST. I had to go to Boston to my sister's house and was mentally prepared to look for a cab to Megabus station.

However, a quick enquiry at information center saved me some money. Instead of a $50 ride, I spent $15.50 for a NYC Airporter shuttle who drop you off to main areas of downtown like Times Square, Penn Station etc.

Bus weaved its way out of a crowded freeway towards downtown NYC and after about an hour dropped me off to my destination.

At the Megabus station, i came to know there was a bus at 5:10pm and that my ticket to Boston would cost me $40 instead of $15 which was special fare for online customers

Picked up the famous hot-dog from a cart run by an Egyptian and I sat down to enjoy the scenery till Boston which we reached at exactly 9:00pm

[gajadonga]

Seattle to NYC and then to Boston good almost a mini tour of U.S.A in a short time.
Thanks for some information about the public transportation from these airports.
Did you take any pictures of the Mega bus.Did you get to drive on the highways?

[rjstyles69]

Hey avi in a long time man, a travelogue from you. Nice to see one and that too on foreign shores .

Bellevue, have a lot of memories from this place. Only thing that I have solely missed here is the sunlight. Man forever drizzling ..

I am told Bill Gates stays somewhere close to that lake in these pictures and that area is considered one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

Considering their presence in Seattle , I wouldn't be surprised if the prices are sky high.

NYC is what I am looking forward too. I was at Williston Park, Mineola for a few days after my official trip last year. Spent a few days only loafing about NYC.