Monday, March 20, 2023

From West Coast to East Coast

As my younger brother Russel is visiting me in USA for the first time, I took an opportunity to roam around USA with him. First we went to Los Angles-Las Vegas-Grand Canyon Trip and then finished New York-Virginia-Florida trip.





We first drove Friday afternoon (24th February) to Los Angeles where I have a Holiday Inn Timeshare resort booked for us. We ate dinner at Bangladeshi restaurant Aladin Sweets as its open till midnight. We visited Universal Studios Saturday and then had lunch at Kasturi, another Bangladeshi restaurant. Then we drove to Las Vegas reaching late at night.





We took a trip from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon West Rim. On the way back we stopped over to see Hoover Dam. We were in a hurry but we made back well ahead of time for The David Copperfield Show in MGM Grand Las Vegas in the evening. We drove back from Las Vegas to Fremont Tuesday (28th February). On the way, we took a detour to Los Angeles to have late lunch in Kasturi.




After a week gap, Russel and I flew to New York Friday night (10th March). Kakku picked us up Saturday morning from JFK. We had a great time the 3 days we stayed Kakku's home with Mili Aunt, Abir and Roton. Abir and Roton took us to Manhattan and Jackson Heights. Russell met with his school friends Mahfuz and Dhiman while I met with a group of Bangladeshi professionals led by Shahed Bhai. One of those days, Abir, Roton, Russel and I went to 9/11 Memorial Museum in Manhattan that I was waiting to get in for a long time. It was stunning! We missed Asif and Nushrat but they had a video call with us when we were in Battery Park.



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From there we went to Virginia (technically Washington DC) via Amtrak, as we wanted to get this train ride experience. Many people in America including myself, never has been to Amtrak. Nody and her partner Russell Syed were waiting for us to have breakfast together. They had another guest Lelin who graduated from Jaago Bangladesh in the past. I took one of their 2 cars to visit Washington DC with my brother Russel (dont worry you will hear of more Russels coming). We covered Library of Congress, Capitol Hill, White House, Great Falls.

We spent the nights with nonstop chatters, laughters and playing 29. Russel's friend Maruf came from Minnesota to join us for a day while his other friend Russel came his daughter one day and with his wife and 2 daughters the next day.





The next afternoon Nody dropped us to Washington Dulles Airport and we flew to Fort Lauderdale Airport, Florida (15th March). I took a Toyota Corolla on rent and then picked up Rumi Apa and Touhid Bhai (Dulabhai) from Miami Airport who flew in from Toronto, Canada. I booked an AirBnB a few weeks earlier where Ripa, Tuhin Bhai (Dulabhai), Siam and Tahira were already there. We reached late but the long unrestful adda started there. Tuhin Bhai also just bought a Toyota Camry XSE V6 for Siam just one day earlier. The next day as Siam and Tahira had last day of school before spring break, we spent more time at home and went in the afternoon to John D. MacArthur Beach. The following day we covered Miami Beach










We came back Saturday night (18th March) as we had an invitation to attend Sunny and Sanjida's new house at Los Gatos the next day. What a few roller coaster trips we have been through!



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