The journey began...

As Tahir's training stint is nearing its end here in Alabama, we made a decision that we would take a flight and drive holiday to one destination within the USA before we return to Singapore for good, bearing in mind that we may not have a chance to come here again as easily in future. After some contemplation and asking around from online buddies in Rantauan, we shorlisted a few - 1) New York/ Niagara/ Toronto (Canada), 2) Seattle, Washington State and possibly to British Columbia (Canada), 3) San Francisco down to Los Angeles and further down to San Diego and finally to Tijuana (Mexico) and back up to Los Angeles again. 4) Los Angeles to Las Vegas to Grand Canyon and San Francisco.

Being the travel bug that I am, it was hard to be realistic, therefore the shortlisting looked like we want to attempt it all even with an immigration hop to either Canada or Mexico borders. Unfortunately, we did not have an unlimitless budget or even time. Unless of course I'm married to John Travolta, that will be a different story altogether.

So one night, after watching American Idol, Afzal said, "I want to go Hollywood," that's when we finally decided, Hollywood it will be then.

We chose an affordable and fastest flight we could get, and with a stopover at Memphis, Tennessee, we did not hesitate to soak in a little atmosphere of rock, soul, jazz and blues as Memphis is not only the birthtown of these music and its musicians, it was the hometown of music legend, Elvis Presley.


The aerial view as we flew from the mid-west to the western part of USA was a study in geography in itself. Eventhough we did not cross any international borders, however we entered into two time zones from Central time where we began to Mountain time and finally Pacific time. That is how huge the country is, and how bountiful it is.

The massiveness of this land of the Almighty Creator is just awe-inspiring and breathtaking. With a view of the different terrains, vegetation or the lack of it, meandering rivers and other geological architectures, it was a sight to behold. Just flying below, above and into the clouds, we were full of trepidation of the turbulence but at the same time praying and feeling the grace of Allah, what's more if we had caught a sight of the Grand Canyon.

After nearly six hours on the plane, we finally arrived to urbanisation. As the plane approaches the city of Los Angeles, the busy and industrialised map of what's below us was a sharp contrast to the earth where we had flew by. It just goes to show how much mankind has changed the face and shape of our planet Earth, and with that, we landed safely on the runway of LAX airport.

More to come.

Note: I could only upload 4 photos per blog entry, therefore this has to be in chapters, episodes, scenes etc, unless there is a way that I don't know about.