The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 3 Cruise to Alaska

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 3
Today we were going on our cruise to Alaska. After a quick breakfast we left for my aunt's house to drop off some suitcases. We had an hour so we stayed there and spent some time. She showed us this cool robot called Roomba which could clean up her house while she was at work. It would clean areas by vacuuming and brushing up the unwanted dust. She also had something called Alexa. It was developed by Amazon. You could ask her any question and she would answer. She would play music when asked and could do many things. But soon we had to go and leave for the next part of our trip.

We were going on a cruise to Alaska and some parts of Canada with the Norwegian Cruise Line aboard the Norwegian Jewel. Since Seattle is where many of their cruises start, they had a full building for themselves and the operation of getting the keys went very smoothly. We had to go through some complicated procedures before we were allowed to board the ship. But finally by 2:30 we were sitting in our staterooms. The staterooms were so cool. When you entered it would look like a two bedroom room but there was another bed that would open up like a train bed. As I was about to jump on the bed, the fire alarm went off. Okay. Amazing welcome. We weren't even at sea and there was a fire. <Slow sarcastic clapping>

We got out of our room and there was a man who was asking us to look at our key cards. On our key cards there was a letter and we had to assemble at our stations. And after sometime you could hear the guy saying we were going to be safe. The power rangers had come. Yeah! We were safe!
Okay. False alarm. Fire drill. Bummer.

After the whole hullabaloo we searched for a place to eat and were told the Garden Cafe. Straight after food we began exploring the ship and at 6 it set sail. This ship was so awesome. Here are something's that were on the ship-

Card room stocked with cards and family board games
Library with book take out and return.
Two swimming pools and a slide + six hot tubs
Different cuisines in different restaurants
A theatre with different plays and movies that houses about 800 people.
Three ping pong tables
Three shuffleboard decks
A sports deck
A jogging track
BINGO (played four times and once won $150)
Spa
Gym                                                                                                           

Casinos
Sadly no WIFI( however somebody had their personal hotspot as 'Tell my WIFI I love her')<snigger, snigger>
And many more things

The ship was huge. It had 15 decks and 20 lifeboats which could hold more than 50 people. It had rations to last long and many more things. The ship could house about 4500 people and had 1081 staff. I still wonder how the ship stayed upright. So every port we stopped on we tripled the population. There was also a carpet that ran through the entire ship. The fish were all facing towards the forward of the ship so if you couldn't find you room you could follow it towards it. The theatre, The Stardust Theatre, had new shows every night. Today they had the show, The Cirque Bijou, which was a type of circus. It had the most death defying acts and acrobats and you wouldn't feel like you're on a ship. It would boggle your mind and amaze you on how they managed to have all of this on a ship.

While exploring I found a plaque that said that Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, was the godmother of the ship. And I'm like OH MY GOD!!!! The ships gonna sink! We have to get out of here!!!!!!! (Say that in your best Terminator voice)

After exploring the ship it was time for dinner and no surprise we went to the Garden Cafe, the place that was going to be our home for the next 7 days. These guys were so big on health and sanitation before you enter any food place they would spray your hand with sanitiser. They even had this ridiculous song which they would sing every time you came in. It went something like this-

Washy washy good for you
Good me
Good for us
Washy washy everyday
Makes us happy
(To the tune of London Bridge is falling down')

And they are like ninjas. The next day I went there at 6 am and they jump out of nowhere and are like Washy Washy.

(Imagine you are confronted by a ninja in black who is holding hand sanitiser where his sword should be. I mean, how scary can that get? The thought of them makes me shiver)<silence>(okay maybe I exaggerated a bit. They were very nice people who took their job very seriously and were just helping us out.)(but the thought of the hand sanitiser still makes………. You know what? Forget it)

The day had been long and before you know it we were in bed snoring away.

 

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 2 Seattle

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA
Day 2
The next day I woke up refreshed and rejuvenated. I got ready by having a bath and some breakfast. We were going to the Space Needle and were joined by my uncle. The word 'space' really psyched me up because I am crazy about space. It turns out it was visited by John F. Kennedy (my favourite). Since we were in two cars it was much easier. The Space Needle was completed in 1962 and when it opened the line to get in stretched for 3 miles. It was about 52 storeys high and had never had an accident until then and even when construction was undergo. It has a restaurant which took one full circle in about 47 minutes. It was turned by a tiny motor underneath it. In the visitor section there were a lot facts about the Space Needle.

Did you know
The first diagram for the space needle was drawn on a napkin at a restaurant.

There are 72 huge bolts that support the legs of the monument.

We had to ride a lift up the space needle which went at 10 mph. Somebody had painted a beautiful 3D painting of some spiders on top of a building especially for visitors. On top it was very cold and windy. You could a clear view of Seattle, with the tall buildings and the enormous port. There were many cruise ships docked along with some carriers. You could see Century Links stadium and next to it the Safeco stadium. There was a selfie camera where you have to scan your ticket and it takes a picture of you with the surrounding. Inside there were many screens which gave you different pictures of the place at different times of the day. A camera was mounted below the Needle and you could control with some levers above. It was cool and it was like controlling a missile launcher where you aim, zoom in and lock targets. I even took pictures of Seattle in clockwise direction. Soon it was time to leave and we went next doors to Chilhuly Gardens.

Chihuly  Gardens was right next to the Needle. It was an exhibit of the fine of arts made by a man named Dale Chihuly. They were glass exhibits. He used make glass sculptures. By heating it and using different techniques to get different styles and colours into the glass. He then established a factory and students came and learnt from him and they made different sculptures. However during this process he lost his left eye and dislocated his shoulder but still continued to create such beautiful pieces of art. We saw chandeliers and glass bowls and many different pieces that on their own tells the reader their story. However I didn't understand much of it a and couldn't crack what he was trying to communicate.

I have written a  separate blog for the Museum of Flight and Boeing because I loved the Museum of Flight so much I wanted to write more on it. here is a hyperlink to it: http://gravityfalls03.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-daily-blog-of-tourist-visiting-usa_43.html

After an amazing visit to the the Museum of flight we finished up with going to another amazing place: Chipotle.

After that we split up into two groups. The ladies went shopping while the men went home along with my sister.

When we got home we went straight down to the basement to play Wipeout. We didn't come up until we heard people talking upstairs. We had visitors. Everybody grabbed their Nerf guns and quietly crept up. It turned out to be my aunt. Since she also lived in Seattle she had come to visit us. We had a good pizza party. And when she left we all were put to bed.

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Boeing and the Museum of Flight

 Boeing and the Museum of flight

This is a separate blog and an excerpt from my blog: The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 2.
I have written this separately because I loved the Museum of Flight so much I wanted to write more on it. So if you haven't read the blog mentioned above, first read that.

This was the Sputnik 1, the first man made satellite sent into orbit. it was a probe and didn't carry astronauts. It was sent by the Soviet Union.
 

This is the Earth module of a space shuttle. When a space shuttle is entering the Earth's atmosphere it needs a lot of fuel to break through the atmosphere and becomes even hotter. Parts of it fall of after it's used and sometimes it literally breaks apart into smaller pieces. So they made this module to help the astronauts reach Earth safely and not in pieces.
So they would need to sit in this module which would be in the front when they are about to enter the atmosphere. At the right time they would eject and then this would have already crossed the atmosphere and it would fall towards the earth, hopefully to land in water. At the right time the parachute would be ejected and they would safely land.

This is a replica of one of the control panels present in the mission control room. It is an extremely important part of space travel because they help the astronauts in everything from distance and velocity and how to bring back your coffee back into your cup when it floats.

This is the lunar rover that was used in Apollo missions 15-17 for further examination of the moon

 

 

This is a space shuttle that brings back people from orbit.

This is the lunar landing module used by Apollo 11. This housed Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on their trip to the moon. It would be cheaper and faster to just bring the space shuttle down but it would need more boosters to get out of Earths gravity and so more weight and lesser chances for it to reach back to the Earth. So they sent this down to the moon and on its way back when the astronauts were safely in their seats aboard the space shuttle they would leave this in space.

 This is a solar powered rover that is used on Mars. It is an all terrain vehicle and can survive on Mars terrain. It has sensors and cameras which monitor things happening on Mars and feeds it back to Earth. Since it is solar powered it doesn't need to be charged with complicated means.


Pioneer 10 was the first space craft to travel through the Asteroid Belt I between Mars and Jupiter. Pioneer 10 is farther from Earth then any other human space craft. It was approved in 1969 and launched on March 3, 1972 aboard the Atlas-Centaur Rocket.

There have been some missions to comets. The NASA-ESA    International Cometary Explorer was the first space craft to fly by a comet. When ICE flew THROUGH THE TAIL OF THE COMET Giacobini-Zinner in 1985 theories confirmed comets to be dirty snowballs.


In 1969 American and Soviet space officials began discussing on the designs of a docking system that would allow spacecraft from both nations to link up in orbit, primarily to rescue crew members in emergencies. In May 1972, the two countries signed a five year agreement for cooperation in space that called for a joint flight to be called the Apollo Soyuz. The soviets launched their Soyuz spacecraft on July 15,1975. The Apollo spacecraft, fitted with the special docking module, was launched 7 hours later and successfully docked with the Soyuz. The crew shared prepared food while people watched them down on Earth. This joint flight, often referred to as 'The Handshake In Space' helped set the stage for future cooperation between then U.S. and the Soviet Union.

 This is a part of the ISS (international space station). The ISS has been in space since 1998 and is a very expensive space craft. It is the joint effort of many countries and serves many purposes. Since it is very old things have started to fall apart and become useless. So instead of making a new one they send parts to be replaced. So they send these kind of capsules on rockets and the crew up there controls it and fixes it onto the ISS and leave the other part in space.

 They have different capsules on the ship that serve different purposes. This one was probably a quarters for a astronaut. It has many containers that have the handrail clamps and ladders and other stuff that make it reachable and connectable from everywhere.

 This is a sleeping area for an astronaut. As there is no gravity in space you are constantly floating around. So in these quarters there is a cap to hold your hair and hooks to attach to you sleeping bags so you don't float around.

 This is a treadmill. Your probably wondering why it's on the ceiling. That's because there was no gravity and so actually there was no ceiling or floor!

There was also a Apollo 11 lunar landing module simulator but is crashed. Unfortunately my mom was getting ticked off and so we moved on to the next set of displays.

 There was a display of the first Boeing Aircraft. There were TV's and seats and the pilots cockpits were open. There were all the thingamajigs and switches you would find in a plane.

In the Museum of flight there was something call the great galleria where there were models of many Boeing aircrafts. This one is rescue coast guard helicopter which monitored the beaches.

 

This is a jet plane used by the US army.

 

As I was hurried out of the space wing there was a simulator that we tried. It taught us why humans couldn’t fly and what factors that were present in a bird so it could fly. After that we had to follow the first bird and bank right and left, dive and do many more things. It was very cool and if you are not doing something right your bird would turn red and you had to correct yourself. After we went even my DAD and GRANDFATHER tried.

While my cousins were doing something else, I went to a very cool simulator.  Over here you could design your own plane and then fly it. In the design area they taught you the importance of every part of the plane and how it contributed to the speed and manoeuvrability. So they gave you three choices of fuselage, wings and something I don’t remember. So you pick out one of each and build your craft. Then you go to a station where you can fly your plane and compete with others.

 

This is a model of NSAS’s and Boeings future space shuttle. The space shuttle would be designed by Boeing and would be made to face any kind of adversity you could encounter in space. They would design it in a way to make space travel safer and much cheaper.

This is a military helicopter used by the US army. Notice that black stick? That’s a gun. So you just sit there and fire like a madman who’s gotten hold of a gun.

Hello from the sky! This was one of the old jet fighter planes. You had to wear an oxygen mask because you went into high altitude and if your windshield opened you wouldn’t have anything to breathe. They also couldn’t have a machine that generates oxygen all throughout the plane so they had separate oxygen masks. This plane could house two military personnel: one who drove the plane and the other would controlled the missiles and its launching.

 

These cars are called aero cars. They are cars that could change into an airplane and fly. It’s an old concept but they are trying to develop something like this.

This is the two kids inside a hurricane simulator. They made the wind reach up to 70 miles an hour. Unfortunately when I went in the simulator it didn’t work.

 This was one of the first aero planes in the world. But imagine if you were suspended in the air in a plastic bag? It was called the Gossamer Albatross II.

This next one was amazing. I already was amazed by the creation of the first plane of the world made by the Wright Brothers and even made models of it. And now finally I could see a live size one.

This is a model of the one of the first float planes ever used. They can land in water and fly and some can even prop out wheels and land on runways. The perfect vehicle.

One of the first airplanes converted in to the United Airlines that would serve America. As we walked out towards the car we saw the main headquarters and factories of Boeing. This was a learning experience and was one of my best ones. I learnt a lot and enhanced my knowledge on space. I also got most of the answers to my questions over learn. 

 

 

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 1 Seattle

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA
Day 1
Was it the day. Oh wait sorry let me start again.
Was it the night I was waiting for? Don't answer that. You wouldn't know. It was.

I could hardly wait. I lay down in bed, desperately trying to sleep. I was so excited filled with the urge of just jumping on the next plane. But I couldn't. I didn't have a car or my passport. It was locked away under the heaviest locked and guarded safe in the world.
Nah it was lying on the table in front of me. But eventually I fell asleep.

The covers were yanked off me but I didn't care. I was up and ready before you could say
'jdndmdkdodoedmdndiemdmdjmdjdjdjdjdjejkdpxxoxkR' I was ready and had put all the suitcases in the car. And we were finally on the plane to the USA.

We were on the Lufthansa plane to Frankfurt and it was a extremely early flight. I wanted to sleep but ended up watching Kung Fu Panda and The Martian and read The Jungle Book before I finally went to sleep. I woke up as soon as we touched down in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt airport was quite big. They had a whole terminal only for departures to the USA. We had to go through a huge security which took us 40 minutes. At the terminal we met up with my grandparents and spent some time at the airport before we boarded. On the plane I read a couple of books and mostly slept as this leg was 11 hours long. So 11 hours+economy+last row near the toilets=a crabby me.

Seattle greeted us with a rainy forecast. We met my cousins at the airport and was overjoyed because I hadn't seen them in flesh for a year. It took us some time to reach our car and pile in the countless suitcases. We even had to rent a TAXI. It wasn't such a long ride but we saw a lot of Seattle.

Seattle was just another American town until Boeing looked     at and said, "This place looks good. Let's make it into a progressive town and we can invite our friends like Microsoft, Starbucks and Amazon." Yes that is actually what happened. In 1916 Boeing started in Seattle and manufactured planes and occasionally poked its nose( get it- the nose of a plane? Huh? Get it? Never mind) into NASA's business. Then Seattle grew and between 1959-1962 the space needle was made. The Microsoft, Starbucks and Amazon started and headquartered here. This became the Silicon Valley of Washington state.

The house was brilliant. It looked like those beach cottages from the outside. It was surrounded by so many different plants you could hardly see it from outside. You would miss it if you were not looking for it. It had two coffee tables but no yard. Had two floors and one basement. It looked like how a house should look and felt homey and reassuring. My cousins raced to the basement and showed me around. The basement was big and so was the laundry room. There was a bedroom there a back door and more space. The cupboards were filled with games but what caught my eye was the XBOX 360 and the numerous games underneath. But what stood out among the dull unvaried sea of games was one game: Wipeout. Period.

After taking out all the suitcases we all piled into our car and went out for a spin into Mognolia Village, the place where we were staying. The place was very beautiful and had many trees and the flora was amazing. We even went to Discovery Park but it was unfortunately closed. We then headed towards Pikes Place Market. It was big and and open market where you could just set up your stall and sell your stuff. We went to the first Starbucks ever made . Since Starbucks stared here there was a Starbucks every block and there was one block where two Starbucks were directly opposite each other. During all of this I was so jet lagged that I couldn't walk properly and was very irritated, but I survived. And a tiring task that was. As soon as we got home I couldn't climb up the stairs and reach my room.