US trip - First day

Captains’ log - August 14 - Earth, London-Chicago flight:

I have already asked myself this question 3 times “What the hell I’m doing here?!”. I don’t mind trying new things, but one mess-up today and the following might happen”

a) Miss a flight

b) Sleep in the street

c) Miss the conference

d) Denied the entry to the US (and maybe a life-time ban!!)

e) All of the above!

a lot of things are at stake here, so I couldn’t stop worrying since the day started. It’s not enough that I only slept for 3 hours the night before, drove 4 hours to Riyadh non-stop, begged the US embassy to give my passport for an hour then drove back home (again, 4 hours, non-stop, no food except for my breakfast and the damn car didn’t allow me to go above 110 Kmph), but I ran into a “heated argument” with my father.

You see, I did the mistake of telling him that my living would only cost about 47$ a night (we will get back to Why later)….

His objection was that I was representing Saudi Arabia and the Talents Center and that I should be staying in a descent hotel (I just realized this, as my head was spinning at the time and I had no interest WHAT SO EVER to get into a fight) …..

(hold that thought, lunch time!)

….back.

Now, did I shut up and said “Ok dad, I’ll change the hotel”? No, I kept rambling stuff and excuses that I now think “what the heck I was saying?!” (Plus the fact that once my father starts yelling we can’t reason with him until he cools down).

…We are near landing, I’ll continue while waiting for my next flight

Ok, now that I am waiting for the Pittsburg flight (which is delayed!) lets continue the story.

So then Batman reached to his tool belt and …… wait, wrong story!

I guess I have to defend my position at this time. Here are my reasons for choosing cheap hotels:

1) They are ALL within less than 5 miles to the place I want to visit.

2) They were all picked from Expedia with good customers reviews (especially in cleanness)

3) I will be going to a hotel, sleep, wake up very early, go to my visit, and if I have extra time I’ll cruise through town or malls, I’ll go back to the hotel, sleep, then wake up early for my next flight ….. Why should I pay for a pool I won’t even see let alone use, same apply to the restaurant as I will be “eating out” all the time.

4) One of my father’s objections is that it’s in a cheap area…. Will that cheap area is where the college/center is, they are the ones in the cheap area!!

5) Talents is a starting business and this is my first flight with them. I don’t want to set the image that I’m a money waster. (Heck that will even keep some money to come next year)

6) I don’t care for room service, laundry service …etc. All I want is a place where I can sleep, take a shower and keep my bag while I raise hell through town.

7) Another objection is that my stuff might get stolen. Well, all my documents and valuable belongings will be attached to my back, while all that is left in the room is my cloth and the books I will buy.

8) 47$ is the cheapest room in my trip and it will be in Dallas, no one to meet and it’s on my own dime and not the centers.

*Sigh* I’ll stop talking about this issue and try to enjoy my trip.

Speaking of enjoyment, I couldn’t find my bag in the Chicago airport (YAY!). I’m hoping that because I spent an hour in the immigration office they picked it up and shipped it to Pittsburg (let’s hope!). Another enjoyment lies in the fact that there is no free Wi-Fi in any airport so far!

So what is left to talk about? … I started at Bahrain Airport, took British Airways to London, took American Airlines to Chicago, spent an hour(maybe more) at the immigration office with no reason other than them being slow, I think I lost my bag with all my cloth and my flight is delayed for an hour (so far!). The good thing so far is that I called the hotel and they told me there are rooms available and I can just come at any time. Good to hear.

In the end, it’s now 5 times that I asked myself “What the hell I’m doing here?!”. Thankfully I gained a lot confident once I reached the gate of my flight to PA with easy and no problems. So, see you tomorrow.

P.S. Dad, if you are reading this, I’m sorry that I talked about it in the blog, but it really saddens me that I left and you are angry at me. I love you.