Last 2 weeks passed in a frenzy. A colleague pulled out of a conference at the 11th
hour and I was asked to fill in. There was a slight problem. The conference was
in Las Vegas and I did not have a US visa.
“Business Visas come quick. Give it a try.” I was asked.
Mysteriously my visa got processed in 5 days.
Things cut so close that I received my passport with visa on Friday evening.
This also meant that I did not have the luxury to book my flight tickets in
advance. I returned from the US consulate in Amsterdam and placed a request
with my office travel agent for the tickets. The only flight I got was for
Sunday morning at 8 am. It was Delta Airlines via Detroit. Not a very convenient
timing. I remained awake on Saturday night and took a taxi from my home to
Schiphol Airport at 4 am.
It all went smooth from there and I boarded the flight at
7:30 am. I could not realize when I slipped into slumber while the plane was
still taxiing. I was half asleep and had some awareness that the flight was
taking off.
Half sleep and half awake; I felt that the plane was flying
in a strange manner. It was taking sharp turns; it would nose dive in a moment
and shoot up the other. Suddenly I realized that the flight almost brushed past
a cliff. The plane was flying in a reddish mountainous terrain at dangerously
low heights. I could see a curvaceous river meandering below. “A passenger plane doesn’t fly this way.
Something is seriously wrong!” In a state of panic I looked around for clue. I
was surprised to see some colleagues from my office though I was sure that I
boarded the flight alone. Then I realized that there were more belts strapped
on my body than the normal flight seat belt. To my horror, I realized that
there was no base below my feet. My shoes were dangling above the clouds in the
sky.
Strangely, I was not hurt. The flight was able to manoeuvre without hitting the
mountains.
“This is definitely dream.” I told myself. I struggle to
open my eyes but not able to move. It was as if I was paralyzed. With struggle,
I shake off my slumber and open my eyes. It was dream indeed. Tiredness from the
day took its toll. I was dreaming in a tired exhausted state. The flight was
fully air borne by this time flying at a height of 30000 feet.
I found Delta
Airlines hospitality to be good. They served very generous portion of food.
Even the water bottles they served was of half litre size. Lots of drinks,
snacks and ice creams every now and then.
I arrived in Las Vegas and checked in MGM Grand Hotel and Resorts.
That was the venue for the conference. It was all surreal. Next 4 days passed quickly.
The schedule for the conference used to be pretty tight. We would have our
breakfast from 6:30 am and then get consumed in the proceedings for the day.
After attending the keynote speeches from the host company; we would man our
booth in the exhibition area, collecting leads from prospective clients who
would visit our booth and enquire about our offerings.
On the last day of the conference things wrapped up by 12:00
noon and we got free early. People had been departing since morning. I and a
few of my colleagues had flight for next day morning so we wanted to see around
the city. Till now we had just got glimpses of the glittery city in the night.
We had some short walks on the famous strip at night passing by those iconic
hotels and casinos and brushing against some crazy people on the street.
“Shall we visit the Grand Canyon?” A colleague from India
was very enthusiastic in particular. My knowledge of American geography is not
very good. I still do not remember which cities are on the east coast and which
ones are on the west coast. I had no clue that the Grand Canyon is nearby.
We went to the hotel information desk to enquire about day
trips to the Grand Canyon.
“All the road trips to Grand Canyon start at 6 am in the morning. It is a
14 hours return trip. You can only get helicopter trip now.” The lady at the
desk explained.
“How much does it cost?”
“There are multiple tour companies that cover the Canyon.
The cheapest one would be 400 Dollars.”
“No way am I going to spend that money.” I made a resolve
internally.
My other two colleagues seemed to be excited about the trip
even after hearing the price.
“Let’s go out to the strip and enquire at some tourist
offices on the street. Everything in this hotel is pricey.” One of the
colleagues suggested.
We went out and found an agency booking the helicopter trips.
“You are late! Let me still call up all my contacts to find
out if there is any possibility.” An energetic middle aged lady talked with
gusto.
“I will not go; you two please carry on.” I suggested my
friends.
The lady at the desk was making calls frenetically. I observed her. She had got a lots of Botox on her face and lips and had applied heavy
makeup.
“There is only one helicopter left. It has 3 seats available
and they will give out those seats to a group of 3 passengers.” The lady
announced.
To give my friends a company I conceded.
I was not very excited though. We had to wait for a couple of hours at our
hotel and a cab would come and collect us from the reception and would take us
to the helicopter base.controls
The cab came and we reached the helicopter base. The
helicopter could take 6 passengers apart from the pilot.
The pilot and the crew gave us some safety instructions
before the flight. We were asked to follow the command of the pilot diligently and
abide by all the rules.
“You cannot touch any of the controls on the dashboard at the front. Only the
pilot has authority to touch them.” The instructor spoke in a stern voice.
We were clubbed with a group of 3 people from Saudi Arabia. The Pilot had to decide
who would sit where.
“People from Saudi Arabia; please take the back seats.” The
pilot announced. I got the front corner seat by the window.
The helicopter took off and moved steadily towards the Grand
Canyon. In the beginning it flew over plane terrain. Slowly the helicopter
entered the mountainous zone. The pilot would take sharp turns along curves to
give us the best view of the canyon. At one juncture he almost took a nose dive
to show us the Hoover dam below.
I gazed below and saw my legs dangling in air. The bottom of the helicopter was
made of glass and I could see the sky underneath. It was déjà vu! I looked up
to realize that I have more straps on my body than the normal airplane seat
belts.
I hurriedly switched the video mode on my camera and took amateur video of the
flight. The scenes from dream seemed to be replaying. This time I was wide awake.
