A night at Houston, TX

::: June 2010 was the year of blessing for me; I could even say this was the turning point of my life. I had a chance to work in ‘the land of hope’ America, a dream of mine since I was a kid. The story begun when I with another 12 friends from Bali flew for 24 hours flight to Miami, FL through Sin – Doha – Houston by Qatar Airways.  This was my first time on the Airplane which is I kinda’ like it…

Actually the flight was fine until we landed in George Bush International Airport Houston, TX. This is the interesting part; y’all know that to enter USA especially for the first timers are a bit difficult. You have to go to the custom and interviewed by the officer which takes quiet sometime… And the worst part, we were interviewed separately and they didn’t allow us to wait our friend when we finished our part. For Christ sake I was scared to death, I was all alone by myself. Well, I tried to manage myself by asking another officer where the check in counter for my next connecting flight to Miami is. Lucky me, I met 2 of my friends on the baggage counter taking care of their stuff. Hell yeah, I’m not the only one…  Having looked at my watch we just realized that we have only one hour to catch our next flight.

Three of us ran as fast as we can like a serial killer was after us. We ran like for 10 minutes before we reached the gate I tell you what, the airport was huge and when we arrived there we saw the plane flew already with four of our friends were on it; you must be kidding… Que sera sera - whatever will be will be… I get going and tried to change the ticket to the earliest plane on the next day. Success!!! We got the ticket at 7:00am the next morning.



three of us at IAH after realized that we missed the plane



After settled down, we tried to get in touch with other friends who were left behind. We called them but it was busy tone, we texted them but not delivered… sigh! Finally we had discussion whether we stay overnight at the airport or get a hotel outside. Considering we had a very low budget, we decided to stay at the airport that night. After few hours waiting, we got a text message from our friends and the rest of them were together in a hotel at downtown Texas and they also got the same flight like us for the next morning. The day was getting darker, we tried to close our eyes and get some sleep but we couldn’t. Whether it was a jetlag or over excitement to land in Miami the next day imagining the beach with the white sand, the clubs, the party then we just walked around that huge airport waiting the next day to come. Its 4:00am and we were hungry like shit and realized that there was no store open yet! What a bummer… After an hour waiting, one store was open and of course we were the first costumer, thanks God, we ate like we haven’t eaten for a week.



overnight at the airport



Brakfast is done and it's 6:00 am, we met the other friends again at the check in counter and ready to continue our flight to Miami, FL. It was a short one, only 2 hours I believe. Finally we arrived safe and sound in MIA Miami International Airport and saw that our 4 friends were waiting for us at the arrival gate. Hell yeah, here we are in Miami FL and there the journey begins….