A random memory that popped up when scrolling my blog was my first ever visit to the US. Over 15 yrs ago. For a week. Only my second ever air flight (first was Pune-Bglr). First ever foreign trip. Direct sunny California! Thank you, IBM Server Division Conference. How n00b I was!
I wanna go back to the Westport Hotel in San Diego where I was put up and give everyone on the staff there a huge tip. To make up for how much I must have annoyed them. Remember, grew up in India. Not poor but not wealthy either. Had never planned on moving out of India.
I wasn't rude or anything. I've always been polite with service workers. But my n00b questions, looking back, must have driven them crazy. And not the usual n00b questions about food or travel. Much more basic stuff. For example, water related basics!
I reached my room and per habit from India, called reception to send me water. They said there's Evian in the fridge. I checked it out. $6 a bottle! Yowza! Given how much water I drink, that would use up most of my per diem! So I politely asked, can't you send free water?
They said, no, but you can drink out of the bathroom sink.
Again, first time out of India. The very thought of drinking water from the bathroom tap made me shudder. And I stupidly assumed the receptionist was being kinda racist, like, drink out of the tap, you filthy indian.
Oh well, I said and hung up. Then walked to a nearby 7/11 & picked up the much cheaper aquafina. It was only on day 3 when I complained to a veteran colleague about this weird water policy, that I learned that you really can drink water straight out of the tap. Even bathroom tap.
Another bathroom related n00bness. First time showering in a tub. No TV shows or movies or books from America ever talked about how shower curtains work. 😭😂
I stepped out to a puddle, convinced that the tub was leaky. And uh, why is there no drain outside the tub? 😳
Called reception. Dude came, mopped up the floor. Said you need to close the shower curtain. I said I did close it! Show me how, he said. I did. Ah, sir, the curtain goes on the inside. D'oh! How elementary, I slapped my head.
One aspect in which I fit in right away like a glove was food 😋. Had more burgers than Jughead. Ah, it was love at first bite with actual healthy beef. Until then, I'd only eaten Indian beef, which was mostly buffalo, or from emaciated old bulls.
And sushi! Wow! I'd heard and seen a lot about it over the years. But it wasn't available in India back then. The Taj Wasabi was a couple of years away. I loved any and all seafood in India. So I had built up sushi, sashimi like crazy in my head. Sky high expectations.
And reader, those expectations were still exceeded! I knew I had found yet another lifelong food love. And with every meal, I kept finding more. Like wait, THIS is actual Mexican food? Whoa, these clams are way bigger than bombay clams. And these crabs! Etc etc.
After the first "free" meal of the conference at the San Diego Convention Center, which was the conference staple of bland wraps and sandwiches, I was like, I'm done. Screw per diem. Who knows if I'll ever come to the US again. I'm gonna eat out every single meal. Even if alone.
And it was often alone, because even though a bunch of other fellow rookies were with me, they were all either
A) vegetarian
B) "only chicken yaar" types, and I wasn't impressed with American chicken. Still ain't.
And/or
C) Careful with per diem. Which worked out great.
Cos my US blog friends had told me repeatedly. Tip at least 15% in restaurants. Not just cos it's the norm, but because tips are often 80% of their livelihood, so it's the decent thing to do. So I would. But colleagues were all Steve Buscemi from Reservoir Dogs.
So I was cool eating alone while they went to Walmart best buy etc to stock up on chocolates and electronics. Online reviews weren't a big thing then. So it was often just walking around downtown SD and deciding based on what smelled good where to eat.
Lol, I had never heard of Wendy's before. McD, BK, In-n-Out, yeah. Never Wendy's for some reason. So I legit thought it was a great local burger joint and was roundly ridiculed on blogs. 😂😂
One funny thing from that trip. All colleagues, being the kind of typical desi dudes who head to Bangkok alone, made plans to go to Tijuana one night. My then girlfriend would have battered my brains in if I'd gone. So I stayed back. Overnight, the terror level got raised.
I think it was some Al Qaeda plan for L.A. or something. So border security went sky high. Many colleagues, young and old, back from donkey shows, stuck in lines and extra screening. 😂😂😂

I was super fresh at the conference next day while the rest of my contingent slept in.
You can follow @gauravsabnis.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: