USA - My second home Abhay Vakil on his vacation

One of my best vacations by far has been to the United States of America recently. I had gone there with my mother. I have been going there often since I have my family there, but this time I stayed on for almost 45 days and had all the fun I could. 

I visited places like New York, Indianapolis, Texas, San Francisco and California. In fact we even have our own house there and I have done my schooling in California when I was much younger. So once in a while we keep going there, and it's more like home coming for me.

The good part about this time's visit was that I got a friend of mine to do an amazing portfolio of mine there. We did the photo shoot at the Times Square and it turned out to be fantastic. It was quite memorable I must say.

They have a lot of franchisee outlets of various restaurants which have still not opened in India. I remember binging on all the burgers and American pizzas and then there was Dunkin' Donuts and Mexican restaurants like Taco Bell which had amazing food. I didn't really miss Indian food because it was quite easily available at home, thanks to my family. But I preferred eating out everyday. 

Many presume that the people are very cold out there. But I feel they are extremely friendly. It's just that they have an attitude of live and let live. They are not bothered with what you are doing or what you are wearing. They are all in their own world which is quite contrary to the people over here. You do one little thing here and everyone's peeping into your window to know what's going on. There it's each to his own. That's what I really like about America.

I also didn't miss Mumbai so much because I knew that I would be coming back anyways. Yes, if I had to live there for a longer time then I would definitely start missing India, especially Mumbai.

I remember while we were in the aircraft there were a bunch of Indians who recognized me and came for autographs and to click pictures. The local Americans were wondering and looking at me and thinking who the hell is that guy? They had a question mark on their faces seeing me get so much of importance. I felt great and it was a matter of pride for me.

Reporter and Author: Yashica Tolani