Yesterday, we, the winning Members from UAE (Ammad, Abdul & me), along with our super awesome manager, Denisha, began our once-in-a-lifetime trip to New York for the Galaxy Unpacked event happening tomorrow!
On the way to the airport
We all met at Dubai airport, late in the night and found each other after a few moments/minutes of frantic searching (maybe the sleepiness was to be blamed for that... ).
Once we all had met and made the necessary introductions, we completed the numerous security checks that traveling to the United States entails and finally, boarded the 2:50 AM flighr from Dubai to J. F. Kennedy International Airport, reaxhing JFK at 8:40ish AM, New York. Honestly, traveling for 14 hours and reaching like 6 hours after we left (according to the respective local hours), probably confused our body clocks... but WE WERE IN NEW YOOORK!
JFK International Airport, New York
After clearing immigration and picking up our bags (which took quite a while to arrive, actually), we walked out to the fresh & brisk New York morning to find our wonderful Samsung representative waiting for us with the "Welcome Samsung Members) sign. After 14 hours, that felt like seeing an oasis in a desert of unknown faces.
And then, we had quite an interesting drive from JFK to New York City with Kevin (in a Cadillac, no less!), the most engaging chauffeur I have ever had. He was from Trinidad and Tobago, and boy, was he insightful about New York? He llved the city and he made sure we all knew what all we could do nearby our hotel. Super interesting guy to talk to!
Us, on our ride to Intercontinental. It may not seem like it from the photo, but we were have a jolly good conversation!
Deftly making his way through the morning traffic, Kevin dropped us off at the Intercontinental Times Square, where we were welcomed by yet another Samsung representative who guided us to the checkin counters for the hotel and the registration counters for Samsung.
I spy, I spy, with my little eye, the Samsung Members' exclusive Hospitality Lounge!
After signing a few waivers, we were given our welcome kit, with a couple of t-shirts (more on that coming up tomorrow), a FAN (because it's kind of warm in New York right now and we have loads of activities out in the open... more on that later too!), a Verizon SIM card, some meal vouchers and our schedule for the upcoming days.
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That seems good enough for part 1.
