Day 2 - Boston Science Museum and Charles river Cruise

Today was very much like back home in India. Familar people, native food, visiting friend's from hometown. We stayed at Kestral Lane, Westford, Massacheusettes, US. A lovely locale at about 40 mins drive drive from prime town, set in a residential are amidst reserved state forests.
The comfort of sleeping flat was a bliss after 2 days; but much excitement with kids and new place, we could refresh just after 4hrs of sleep. Visited neighbourhood friends and after lunch set off to Boston town.

Two major things got straightened: An AT&T telephone connection and a GPS-Garmin navigations system. Just a couple of mall visits made it possible. Now looks like we are ready to drive - but not yet. We were courtesy dropped at the Boston Science Museum.

After viewing some nice exhibits in the natural history section and watching the electricity show there was still another 3 or 4 hrs before dinner time at home.

Journey to US - 11th June

After the hectic preparations, hours of Google Map travels, nearly sleep-less nights of online reading, the D-Day of the US holidays trip was calm and straight forward: baggage - check, passport & tickets - check, driving license & International driving permit – check, cash & back cards – check check.

All began well and we made it in perfect timing for the check-in at Muscat International Airport. After my birthday luck charm must be working. It was indeed overwhelming to see a number of friends on Twitter and facebook wish you well but could only thank them in bulk. Some close friends deserved the final calls.

The flight was smooth and no over-reacting, stressed our co-passengers. But as we began resetting our watch to the destination time zone a bit of uneasiness crept in. As our Gulf Air flight touched down perfectly, the panic began; we hardly had 5mins for our London flight departure.

All routine terminal transfer operations seemed super-slow as we were wishing to rush to catch our next flight. Trio doing their morning jog in the transit terminal are raised only a few eyebrows; perhaps we had company.

Somehow reached the departure terminal only to find one of our boarding passes missing: OMG! While one of us informed security gate staff to hold for us because we had our boarding passes, the two of us ran back downstairs back to transit counter to ask for a duplicate boarding pass. We got a hand-scribbled duplicate version. After all we had to have exclusive documents to go with our exclusive journey *smiles*.

Our next sprint to the boarding gate in fact makes us the first family to alight the London flight. Beaming that we made to the next leg of our flight, a cat nap was in order. Another 6.30hrs journey to Boston and again setting the clock back seems like trying to evade the sun and flight ahead west. Watching my favourite movie Avatar on in-flight entertainment and a bit of reading the ‘Googled’ must engage me to evade the compelling nap.

If that wasn’t eventful, missing a personal accessories kit in the Gulf Air flight gave an insight into how airlines normally handled lost and found items. Boarding on to the American Airlines flight to Boston was so close that despite knowing that the kit was located, it will have to wait until I collect it on my return journey via Heathrow Airport, London.

Watching Invictus in flight befitted the mood of the 1st day of the World Cup 2010 beginning in South Africa today. Invictus is a very inspirational story based in Nelson Mandela and the South African national rugby team.

Boston airport is quite smaller than expected. Having someone to receive you at the airport of a new city is a pleasure to cherish; we did exactly that. So off to home and get some peaceful slumber tonight. We stayed at our relative's place for a couple of days.