It turned out that I didn’t have to wait too long in Minneapolis - the flight was booked just to capacity and importantly, took off on time. I wish I had a bit longer lay-over in Detroit - got just enough time to request an exit row seat and munch couple slices of bread along with boxed-milk. Shortage of sleep and negligence about food soon started to show off its effects - in the form of severe headache. This isn’t new but I didn’t seem to have learnt from past experiences. Until I do, history keeps repeating. So that meant the following: apart from a few minutes of talking with a flight attendant (about my camera - she just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t shooting the interiors, but was impressed with FUJI FinePix S9000), I slept for most of the journey. With everything working out according to the plan (my luggage also coming to Baltimore though it took for ever to make it through the luggage carousel, on-time airport shuttle, bearly manageable traffic and NCAA basketball commentary to keep company), I was in Days Inn by about 5.45 pm. For a total of about 4.5 hours of air time, I had to spend 7.5 hours of ground-time! Important lessons learnt — pick a route that has least stop-overs and do not ignore food. Hopefully, I will remember them next time around.

Since my arrival in Minneapolis, my eyes (mind and heart as well) have been treated to some delightful sights - warmer looking people in pretty looking (yet decent) outfits… God Bless Spring Break (and APS)! This experience only grew stronger in Baltimore. First thing on my mind was to get some good food and second was to get some sleep. After a short conversation with Anil, I decided to try Akbar Restaurant in N Charles St. It was a cozy place to eat (pretty crowded nevertheless) and food was quite tasty. What I ate (North Indian Vegetarian Thali) bringing back memories of Shanti Sagar (Sadashivanagar, Bangalore), a place I used to visit occasionally while in India. While walking (about 5 miles) before and after the delicious dinner, I met some interesting people, talked with Anil (something about photography and other topics as well), saw an active nightlife and took pictures of some architecturally attracting & aesthetically pleasing buildings/monuments. It wasn’t long after the long walk that I called it a night and started the second thing on my list - sleep