When a Childhood Dream Finally Touched American Roads

Starting of American Dream in Morak, Rajasthan.

The United States had lived in my imagination long before I ever stepped on its soil. I was a schoolboy in Morak, Rajasthan, average in studies but obsessed with general knowledge, geography, debates, and quizzes. In those days information did not come from Google or ChatGPT; we chased it through library books, newspapers, and whatever knowledge my fathers’ magazines could offer. The 1980s world was dramatic- Cold War tensions, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the USSR, the conflicts of Yugoslavia. And those headlines quietly built my fascination with maps and countries. At the same time, our small black & white television with Doordarshan showed glimpses of another world.

I wanted to know where countries were, how they were connected, and what made them different.

Without realizing it, my curiosity about world events slowly started shaping my travel dreams as USA the first travel destination.

The Visa Interview That Started Everything

Years later, when I finally stood at the U.S. visa interview counter, my American story began with a moment that was both simple and memorable. The officer looked through my passport, glanced at my travel history, and asked a straightforward question.

“Why do you want to go to the United States?”

I didn’t overthink the answer. I simply told him the truth.

“It has been my dream since I was seven years old.”

He looked up, slightly curious, and asked another question after flipping through the pages.

“I see you have been to New Zealand. How was it?”

At that time, New Zealand was my favorite country in the world. Iceland had not yet entered my life as a traveler, so New Zealand held that special place.

I replied honestly.

“It’s beautiful. One of the best countries I have seen.”

He smiled for a moment and said something that stayed with me.

“Alright… then let’s see how you like the United States.”

He typed something into his computer, looked at the screen, and then calmly said:

“Your visa is approved.”

The interesting thing about the U.S. visa process is that you know the result instantly. There is no suspense, no waiting for weeks wondering what happened.

Out of curiosity I asked him one more question.

“For how many years?”

He replied casually.

“Ten.”

That single word felt powerful.

In that moment it honestly felt like someone had just handed me a passport to possibility.

Over the years, that visa proved to be exactly that. It allowed me not only to explore the United States repeatedly but also helped me travel to many other countries where a valid U.S. visa simplifies entry for Indian travelers  across Latin America, the Caribbean, and parts of the Balkans.

One day I will write a separate blog explaining how a U.S. visa can quietly open doors to many other countries. For Indian travelers who love exploring the world, I genuinely recommend applying for it.

Hollywood -The Window That First Showed Me America

Before visas, airports, and road trips, America first entered my life through a small television screen in Morak, Rajasthan. In the late 1980s and early 1990s we did not have streaming platforms or hundreds of channels. We had just one window to the world -Doordarshan (DD). Yet through that single channel an entirely different universe appeared. The heroes of that world were larger than life –Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood. Their movies showed giant cities, endless highways, deserts, and landscapes that felt dramatically different from the quiet surroundings of a small Rajasthani town. At the same time, shows like Knight Rider, The A-Team, MacGyver, Street Hawk and He-Man quietly expanded my imagination. For many of us growing up then, those programs were not just entertainment; they were our first glimpse of the Western world. It’s technology, highways, and culture. Sitting there as a schoolboy, I remember thinking silently to myself: What if one day I could see these places in real life?

As I grew older and entered college in the late 1990s and early 2000s, another influence reinforced that same dream –music. Artists like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Madonna and 3Bs- Bryan Adams, Backstreet Boys and Bon Jovi were everywhere, and their concerts and music videos made America feel like the center of global culture and creativity. By then the dream had quietly settled in my mind: if I ever travelled the world, the United States would be my first dream destination. Life moved on with studies, work, and responsibilities, but some dreams never disappear, they simply wait for the right moment. And years later, when that moment finally arrived, the boy who once watched Hollywood through Doordarshan’s single channel suddenly found himself driving across American highways, realizing that the places he had seen on television were no longer imagination but part of his own journey.

The First Trip of 2016

My first American journey finally happened in 2016, and what made it truly special was that I travelled with my family. We landed at JFK Airport in New York, but instead of getting lost only in Manhattan’s chaos, we stayed in New Jersey, which quietly became our base for exploring the East Coast. From there the real journey began on the road, the way I have always believed travel should happen. New York City felt exactly the way Hollywood had shown it for years: towering skyscrapers, yellow taxis, restless energy, and streets that never sleep. But for me cities are only the beginning. The road was calling. So we kept driving  through Pennsylvania, through Virginia, and eventually north toward Buffalo, where one of the most powerful natural wonders in the world waited for us. Standing there with Sunitha, Julius, and Jordan, watching millions of litres of water crashing down every second at Niagara Falls, I felt a strange sense of awe. Some places truly deserve their reputation. Niagara Falls is one of them. As we stood there on the American side, I quietly made myself a promise: one day I will return and see Niagara from the Canadian side as well.

After the East Coast journey we crossed the entire country and landed on the West Coast in Los Angeles, and suddenly America felt like a completely different world. Palm trees, endless sunshine, wide highways, and that unmistakable California rhythm. From there began one of the most iconic road trips in the United States: Los Angeles to Las Vegas to Grand Canyon to Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco. Driving toward Las Vegas felt like entering another planet  desert landscapes stretching endlessly until suddenly the neon skyline of Vegas appears like a mirage in the sand. Vegas is chaos, spectacle, music, lights, and pure entertainment. But the moment that truly silences you happens at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Standing there and looking into that vast geological masterpiece carved over millions of years, you feel incredibly small. Even the kids went quiet for a moment something that rarely happens on family trips. We took a helicopter ride over the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon, and even today that experience is still one of the most talked-about memories in our home by Julius and Jordan.

After the desert landscapes we returned to California for one of the most beautiful coastal drives in the world, the legendary Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco. That road is not just a drive; it is travel poetry written between the ocean and the cliffs. Along the way we passed through Santa Barbara, Monterey, Big Sur and Half Moon Bay, stopping again and again not because we had to, but because the kids wanted to explore everything. At that time Jordan was just four and Julius was seven, and every beach became their own discovery zone. They ran across the sand collecting tiny shells from the shore, studying them like rare treasures they had found themselves. Those simple stops along the Pacific coast became some of the most beautiful memories of that trip. Because sometimes travel is not about famous landmarks or Instagram views, it is about watching your children discover the world with the same curiosity you once had as a child.

Why This American Story Will Be a Long One

Just like my Oman journeys, this story about the United States cannot fit into a single blog. It will slowly grow into a series of stories. The reason is simple, there are just too many memories. Long road trips across states. Unexpected conversations with strangers. Cities that surprised me. Landscapes that looked unreal. The United States became one of those rare places where childhood imagination quietly turned into real journeys.

One of the funniest moments happened in Las Vegas, while we were walking along the famous Las Vegas Strip. The evening lights, music, street performers, and characters dressed as superheroes and movie icons made the street feel like a carnival. Suddenly Julius and Jordan started running toward someone ahead of us. Sunitha looked at me and joked, “See… your kids are just like you.” I looked ahead and noticed a performer standing nearby wearing very little clothing. The kind of attraction Vegas is known for and for a moment I felt completely embarrassed running after the kids thinking,

“How am I going to explain this if they stop there?”

But as I got closer I realized something. The kids were not interested in her at all. Right behind her was a man dressed as Spiderman. That was their destination. Within seconds they were posing for photos with him, completely innocent to everything else happening around them. Even today we laugh when we remember that moment. For a few seconds I thought my children had suddenly become far too grown-up, when in reality they were simply kids chasing their superhero.

Another memory that stayed with me happened during a solo trip to Miami in 2020. One morning I woke up at 5 AM to capture a sunrise timelapse at South Beach. My DSLR camera was on front seat of my rental car, and Miami’s zigzag street grid can easily confuse anyone unfamiliar with it. In that quiet early morning, I accidentally crossed a red signal, not realizing that a police car was approaching the intersection with a green light. Within seconds the flashing lights appeared behind me and I must admit I was terrified.

For many of us who grew up watching movies, American police are portrayed as extremely strict. The officer approached the car and asked sharply,

“How can you jump a red signal?”

When he saw my Dubai driving license, the conversation softened. I explained honestly that I was trying to capture the sunrise and got confused by the signals. Just then another officer arrived to start his duty shift and jokingly said,

“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him.”

For a moment my heart almost stopped. But the first officer smiled and replied, “No issues. He apologized. Let him go. He’s a traveler trying to catch the sunrise.” And just like that they let me go with a warning.

Standing later that morning on South Beach watching the sunrise, I realized something important. Sometimes the reality of travel is very different from the stereotypes we grow up hearing. The officers had been firm, professional, but also understanding.

For a traveler in a foreign country, that moment left a lasting impression.

From Morak to American Highways

Looking back today, the story still feels slightly unreal. The United States was once just a childhood dream of a boy studying in Morak, Rajasthan. A boy who spent evenings watching Hollywood movies on Doordarshan and afternoons reading about distant countries in library books. America, at that time, was not a place I expected to visit. It was simply a country that existed somewhere between films, maps and imagination.

Years later that same dream slowly turned into real journeys.

Since 2016, I have travelled to the United States more than ten times, exploring 34 states, often through long road trips that crossed some of the most iconic landscapes in the world. Highways that once appeared only in movies slowly became roads I was driving myself. From the cliffs of the Pacific Coast Highway to the deserts surrounding the Grand Canyon, and the surreal red-rock landscapes of Utah’s Mighty Five national parks.

What began as curiosity eventually became something much bigger. That ten-year U.S. visa quietly opened doors not just to America but also to more than twenty countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. In many ways, the United States became both a destination and a gateway.

Sometimes life moves in unexpected directions. A childhood curiosity, a library full of books, a Hollywood imagination, and one visa stamp can slowly open roads far beyond what that boy from a small town could ever have imagined.

Your Turn

• What was your first international trip, and did it change how you see the world?
• What excites you the most when you think and see about USA?
• What will be your first place if you are visiting first time to USA?