Tulsa-Day Visit

This year after New Year’s Day we decided to visit Tulsa for a day before our schools and jobs would reopen. After a few minutes of browsing through the internet and getting a feel of the weather for the next week and our schedules.

Source-meme.org

I know it was a holiday, but we had a few errands to run and visit friends. So, anyways we decided to make our visit on January 8th . The weather.com website predicted it to be a bright and sunny day. Not sure about you people, but I love sunny days during winter, because it makes the day brighter and gives me positive vibes.

Source-Dictionary.com

As we were planning for only a day’s visit so we had to be sure to choose the tourist spots that were important to our interests. We decided to visit the Tulsa Zoo, Oklahoma Aquarium and Gilcrease Museum. For the Musuem we got student tickets and the rest of the reservation were done for adult tickets.

From where we live , it took us close to three hours to reach our first stop “The Tulsa Zoo”. Once were done scanning the tickets through the counter, it was all cute animals and birds to be seen. Following are some of the photographs we clicked there-

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Soure- My Google Pixel 4 XL.

I was very scared when the tigress came so close to the glass. A side effect of watching multiple films Animal related films I guess. Well, going back to the tigress story she was growling and prowling the whole time we were there. I personally wanted to get away from her space as soon as possible.

Watching the peacock was really funny . He was definitely elegant , but was also strutting his presence there. He waited for us to click a few pictures , which I was surprised to see. Once we started walking away he followed us for a bit. It took us about 2:30 hours to walk through the whole place and yeah , a few of the animals were inside their shelters as it was a wintry day. Too cold for them.

It was close to noon so we decided to have our lunch and drive to the museum, because it was about to close soon. We were inside the museum for close to 2 hours. I mean we might have spend more time, but I was tired and wanted to sit every moment I saw a bench or couch.

Source: SayingImages.com

A few images from the Gilcrease Exhibitions going at the time.

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Source- iPhone 8.

They had quite a few exhibitions from but not limited to Native American culture and history. Some of their modern art based on pictures that we make memes out of were beautiful and inspiring.

Our third stop was the Aqquaariummmm! Well I was very giddy for that, because before starting for the place I got to nap for a bit. There were lots of exotic fish and sea animals that I had not seen before. Some pictures from the Oklahoma Aquarium-

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Source- My Google Pixel 4XL

The tortoise was a friendly guy. Stopping over that particular spot and got his photographs clicked with lots of people. In the aquarium they have concrete shells filled with water, where you can touch some of the marine animals. I as usual chickened out of that.

Finally we had a filling and delicious meal in Ti Amo Ristorante Italiano , somewhere in Park Plaza ,Tulsa. I will highly recommend that place, for couples,families and friends.

Before saying adieu. Here’s a picture of the dessert that I had.

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Source- My Google Pixel 4XL. New York Style Cheesecake.

Have a good week and a great Sunday evening everyone!

Wonders of New Mexico-Day 4

This will be the last post from this series. On our fourth day there in New Mexico , we decided to travel to the Tent Rocks or Kasha Katuwe National Monument. It was almost an hour’s drive from where we were staying. So we started our journey towards this beautiful place at around 10 am , after being served breakfast by the lady of the Airbnb place. Telling you guys again she is a wonderful woman.

A brief history and geography of ‘Kasha Katuwe’. The word means ‘white cliffs’ in the Puebloan language ‘Keresan’. It is located on Pajarito Plateau, South-West of Santa Fe, New Mexico near Cochiti Pueblo. It is said that humans have occupied these rocks for more than 7000 years. Distinctly in the 15th century, the ancestors of Pueblo Indian people lived there and they were the ones to name it. Now a days the tribal people of Cochiti Pueblo contribute and help manage this monument. They also have access to this place through tribal lands.

Source: My Phone’s camera (Kasha Katuwe from a front view).

The tent rocks are cliff faces of Peralta Canyon which are pierced by smaller canyons containing the tent rocks and that is why they have been named so.

Now that we are done with a brief history of the place, let me tell you guys about our day there. We took the Cave loop trail, which is a 1.2 miles long and you can get a wonderful view of Hemet Mountains, Sandia Mountains, Rio Grande Valley. I am sharing a few pictures that we clicked there.

A view of the comes when it is close to sunset during Winter.

The little grooves we had to walk through.

The view from the top- Sandia and Jemez Mountains.

The vacation was successful for us and the very next day we returned back to the Natural State- Arkansas.

Wonders of New Mexico -Day 3

On our third day, we solely spent our time visiting the Bandelier National Monument.

These monuments preserve the homes and territories of the ancestral Puebloans of a later era in the South-West. Most of the pueblo structures date to two eras, dating between 1150 and 1600 AD.

So much for its history:

It was an hour and almost 45 minutes drive from where we were staying at the time. One our way we passed through the White Mountains which truly resembled its name at the time. Covered with snow the mountains looked amazing .

Source : My Google Pixar 4 plus

Clicked on Nikon L830

It was a wonderful experience for me as I had never seen such a picturesque view.

Once there, we first went to the Visitor’s Centre .

Clicked on Nikon L830

There we chose the “Main Loop Trail” which took us almost 1 hour 45 minutes to complete. Throughout trail there are ladders you must climb to get into the ancient Puebloan houses.

I have posted here some pictures that we clicked while walking through the trail.

When we began walking towards the Puebloan dwellings.

The houses from far. Try to identify the little ladders connecting the houses.

This well or large dug out area was supposedly used for some rituals as mentioned by the archaeologists.

View from a house. Notice the mountains opposite, covered in snow.

Mr. Long Legs sitting in one of the dwellings.

Us after we completed the trail.

I would rate this tourist spot a 5/5 . Please make sure to visit this monument when you are there in New Mexico.

Wonders of New Mexico -Day 1

I am extremely sorry, for not being able to post earlier. I have been facing a writer’s block for the past few weeks. Continuing with the journey-

Source- My camera

The hot air balloons of New Mexico were the first thing we saw every morning from the back porch of our host’s house. She was kind enough to prepare breakfast for us everyday we stayed there.

Day 1 Agenda

Places to visit-

1. Petroglyph National Monument
2. Museum of Natural Science and History
3. Old town of Albuquerque

When we reached the visitor’s centre of Petroglyph National Monument, we selected the Boca Negro Canyon trail to hike. The trail is at a distance of almost 10-15 mins from the visitor’s centre. Once you reach there , you can start hiking the trail.

These are some of the pictures we clicked there.

A beautiful cactus flower.

The kind of rock formations visible in the monument

My man posing before we began hiking

This is what it looks like from the top

Here is a link that might help you plan your visit to Petroglyph National Monument https://www.nps.gov/petr/planyourvisit/placestogo.htm

Our next visit was to the New Mexico Museum of Natural Science and History. We drove up straight to the museum centre because that was the place we were planning to spend a large chunk of our time. It has lot of exhibitions , some real fossils , a beautiful walk through the rock and volcanic lava formation in New Mexico. I would definitely recommend a visit to this museum.

Some of the photographs from this museum include-

This area covers a huge section of the floor showing different dinosaurs and there is a gadget which you can use to produce the sound of a dinosaur.

It must have taken us nearly 3-4 hours to do the complete round up of this place. Here is link that might be useful to find more information related to the museum http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/visit .

The last place to visit in our list was the Old town, where the christmas lights were still on and we visited some of the shops in the old town. It is a place worth visiting. Some photographs from the old town –

These were all taken in the town square. There is a beautiful old church which you must visit when you are there. Make sure that you reach there before sunset, the church closes pretty early.

I would like to apologize for keeping it extremely short. With no travel blogging abilities here, I have tried summarizing a beautiful journey.

If you want to know more about the day 1 sites we visited please mention in the comment box. I might be able to help you find some legit website links.

Wonders of New Mexico

This year on the 3rd of January me and my boyfriend went on a trip to New Mexico, during the Winter break from School.

Being tedious planners more for me than him , we planned it for more than a month, with the budget, both of our school and work schedules, we finally decided on 3rd January 2020.

Today I would like to share some photos of the journey. I must mention that we traveled via car which is common here in the States. Learnt about it right after a few days I reached here. Going forth with the journey-

We booked an Airbnb space in Rio Rancho before hand. Never having lived in an Airbnb we were both worried. But it was a good deal and within budget.

It took us almost 12 hours via I-40 W, travelling through Missouri,Oklahoma , Texas and finally New Mexico. We started at around 5 in the morning and since it was winter, the sunrise did not take place for at least the next two hours. Vast open lands in Texas and few houses here and there through Missouri and Oklahoma was what we saw through the journey. Once we entered the borders of New Mexico the scenic view altered a bit with snow covered mountains.

Source:Giphy

Here are some of the photographs I clicked while he was driving.

Picture Credits: Yours faithfully (Me)
It was a miniature figurine in one of the gas stations in Oklahoma and I clicked it because it was really interesting.

Picture Credits: Me again
This was somewhere in Texas. Unfortunately, I have a poor memory, so do not actually remember where exactly in Texas.

Picture Credits: The world is really spherical :-), but its ME again.

This photograph was taken when we reached the periphery of New Mexico, you know where you start seeing the sign boards of New Mexico University :-).

Picture Credits: Sad to break your heart, but its me again.

The reason behind me clicking most or all the pictures dear friends is because I cannot drive :-(. Anyways these photographs were clicked when we were close to the city of Albuquerque.

copyright meloheart

Heathrow to Atlanta and Further to Arkansas

I do not really have any substantial excuse for why I did not write this post earlier. But today since I am in my part-time writer mode again, I decided to do it soon. One never knows when I turn back to my non-writing lazy persona , lolz😂😂😂.

So the next morning I woke up early at around 6 am , wanted to cherish and enjoy the English morning and watch Brit shows for a while. Did I tell you , that I started writing the prequel to this post while sitting on the bed thinking about the journey. Nope. As most of you know , yours truly was not able to finish her job and had to rush towards the airport.

source:giphy

I packed my hand rucksack , booked a cab ( well the people in Mariott did that for me 😁😁) and reached Heathrow again.

Here’s what you should know the London black cabs are more expensive than other cabs.

Back to airport , since both of my check-in baggages were already moved I just had to go through security, whiiiichhh ….. was not a piece of cake. Common it’s Heathrow I am talking about guys , one of the busiest airports of the world. They had strict restrictions against bottles more than 100ml , deodorants and other stuff ( threw my deodorants 😢😢). I had a different experience while boarding the flight this time because 90% of the passengers were American and British and only few Indians or Asians. The feeling of going far away from home had slowly started to seep in. My co-passenger was a very kind American , who offered to help me anytime I needed him , while being here in the US.

It was a long 8.5 hours flight and as soon as the flight landed , we all moved through the immigration area. This was my third time during the journey , so I knew which documents to pull out and not to feel very nervous. Point -to-be-noted “not very nervous” I was still N.E.R.V.O.U.S. , who would not be standing in front of the Border and Homeland Security. Well, I went through it eventually. The officer was very polite, he asked me the purpose of visit, checked my I-20, VISA and I was asked to move forward. The baggage collection centre was completely thronged with passengers. I was one of the last passengers to get my bags , so imagine this girl who is on her first international trip to US and her bags take almost 20 minutes to come down. I would panic if it would be a few more minutes late, already having taken a round of the baggage collection belt 😂😂😂😂.

source: gfycat.com

The best part though is about to begin , as soon as I start moving with my bags one of cops stopped me and asked me to follow him. I do that and once we are in his office, he informed me that he would check my bags . I was fine with that ….externally, had to maintain the calm facade . Unfortunately I had an uneaten apple from Heathrow and he picked on that, cops and their way of suspection. After he was done I started walking in search of terminal I ,my flight was scheduled there. My baggages were already taken care of land crew members , but I could not find a way to go to the terminal. There were these stairs people were walking through downwards and found that the terminals were all connected through subways . Once in the proper terminal, I moved around for a bit and then started dozing .

The long journey did take a toll on me. For the next few hours I kept myself awake through coffee, but once I was aboard the flight to Arkansas, sleep took over.

source:K.I.D.

I do not remember anything about the journey, besides it was late at night by the time we reached XNA.

This is where my journey ended , but literally it just began.

NOTE: For those of you , who has not read my previous post on this topic, the link is https://meloheartsite.wordpress.com/2019/08/24/delhi-to-heathrow-london-a-first-timers-experience/ .

Life so far is doing good for me and I hope all of you are well.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

copyright meloheart

Delhi to Heathrow, London – A first timer’s experience

I haven’t been writing for a while now, my fault completely. Actually I have been preparing for my travel to Arkansas.

Yes, guys you read it right. So here I am just going to write about my experience of the whole journey, it is going to be in three parts.

My flight to Heathrow was at around 12:20 pm which for some reason got delayed by ten more minutes.

Let me start from the beginning. I am not going to tell you regarding my bathroom habits,No. We had called a cab earlier just to be in time , so by 9:20 am I was there standing with my papa in Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal 3, laden with 3 heavy bags we were moving towards the gate. Mind you I got an approval of two 23kg check ins and a 10kg hand luggage. And like any other first timer I filled all of them to the brim. Once in the queue towards the Gate , I was pretty nervous . Lots of incidents related to passengers being not allowed to board were hovering over my head. Fortunately nothing happened and I got to check in. Though once in the immigration queue I got a look over by the officer who checked my I-20 and gave me a pass.

Source- ndtv.com

Now, I just had to wait in the duty free area and my stomach was growling loud enough for a nearby passenger to turn his head. I wasn’t carrying a huge cash with me, so all I could do was look out for subway. I love their wraps besides they come in cheap. After food business got settled I moved towards the boarding where we had to wait for like 15 minutes before boarding.

As a child my ears had the tendency to ache in an insomniac way during flight hours. So me travelling via air wasn’t taken lightly by my father. He was too worried , really tensed, to the extant of waiting in the airport until the flight took off. Besides it was the first time his only daughter was travelling international with previous experience.

Source- self

Once seated I noticed that my co-passenger is a Spanish girl. I really enjoyed my flight journey with her. We exchanged lots of anecdotes and stories. It was wonderful, I didn’t want the flight to end. The main reason was something else though. My flight landed there at around 5:35 pm , but the next flight would be next day at 12:50 pm. So I would have to stay in the airport, as I was travelling without a transit VISA.

The immigration queue in Heathrow was a huge one as all international passengers were lined up together. God, I already missed India. When my turn finally came to face the officer, he stared at my face and asked about my next flight . I told him it would be next day. He then granted me a One day transit VISA and told me to immediately book a hotel room. I was naturally overjoyed. Ah! what plans I would have designed had I known it could be possible, probably travel towards London. But it was not to be. I was tired , had to get a new sim from the airport only with 20 pounds.

By the time I was able to get into the hotel it was 9:20pm approximately and I couldn’t fall asleep until mid night. My biological sleeping clock had been disturbed and it was just the beginning dear friends. If calculated in Indian time , I was awake from 6:30 am to 3am the next day without any wink of sleep. Yet I was there in Hounslow and the hotel room had a beautiful view. I could stand there for hours watching the double Decker buses pass by and the wonderful English houses had it not been for my tired eyes.

Source: A bit of drizzle there in Heathrow

P.S.- The most difficult thing during this part of the journey was to carry an almost 9.5kg ruck sack on my back. I am only 5 feet weighing less 49kgs. It made me loony bins at times ,lol.

I apologize to all of my readers, for not posting it earlier and I know that the content could be made brighter using pictures. But the ones I have can hardly be recognized ,with a phone as bad as that it was not easy.