Day #18 - Everest BaseCamp
Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Itinerary - Kathmandu to Dehli, India
I’m coming to you live aboard Qatar Airways Flight QR578 bound for Dehli, India. This is a 3-hr flight. We’re about 1-hr in right now. I just ate a chicken/rice bowl and had a Diet Coke - thought I’d write for a bit.
As I planned my Everest Trip a couple years ago, the intention was to maximize the long travel by taking advantage of visiting a few other countries after my trek. My goal was to visit Qatar, UAE, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, and India. Well - due to Covid-19 concerns - it became apparent that country-hopping was just going to be too difficult with all the various quarantine/testing protocols of each country. After India opened to travel on Feb 14th, I made the decision to concentrate this trip on Nepal (Everest Trek) and India.
So - this flight represents the switch to a new country - with its new adventures, challenges, culture, and incredible sites. The goal is to visit the Golden Triangle in India. The Golden Triangle is made up of the cities of Dehli, Agra, and Jaipur. I will be arriving into Dehli at 2:30am local time (early morning) on Wed, March 9th. I have a hotel reserved at the airport. I’ll try to get some sleep before an 11am pickup which with start a 4-day, 3-night tour. I decided to tour India with a private tour company. After talking with friends who have visited India in the past, all of them suggested a tour to take the stress out of transportation, coordination, etc. So - if I can make it through the airport and to my hotel - my next few days will be planned out for me.
Alright - before fully moving ahead - let’s recap today’s events. First off - I slept in until about 8am. Most everyday in Nepal started around 6am for me, so this was a nice luxury to get a bit more sleep. We met up with the rest of the crew for breakfast at 9am. The breakfast at the Moonlight Hotel has been great - a continental style breakfast. Dorjee was there with the results of our Covid-19 PCR tests taken last night. We all held our breath as he was passing out the results. Everybody was negative!!! Outstanding!!!
After breakfast - I packed up all my gear. Greg is graciously taking back a few of my BaseCamp items (sleeping bag, boots, etc) so I don’t have to lug them all over India. I’ll have him ship these to me when I return to the states. We hit the ATM so we could finalize our hotel charges and have enough to give a donation to Dorjee to offset the expenses he will incur from the medical attention provided to the sick porter. (We did learn that the porter has improved greatly and appears to be on his way to a full recovery). I’m not sure I mentioned this earlier, but many porters die on trail every year. The tour guides generally don’t have a budget to provide the medical evacuation/care needed. They are almost deemed expendable. It’s pretty sad - but Dorjee is amazing - and he saved this young man’s life (without the evacuation - he would have most certainly died)
After packing, we met out in the garden area of the hotel for final goodbyes. There was hugs all around. We shared contact information. Dorjee presented us with a ‘good luck’ scarf - which I have on right now. Our journeys we all have in life are so interesting. Every time I come away from an experience like this - it just opens up my view of the world. I made new friends - friends that I’m sure I’ll share future journeys with. When you go through a rugged experience like we’ve had the past 2-3 weeks - it creates a bond that you will always be there. Ex: it’s been 1-1/2 years since I conpleted my AT Hike. Since then, I’ve had near monthly zoom calls with my Tramily. We’ve got together for a trip last summer - and I’m sure we’ll be friends forever.
After our goodbyes, we headed to the airport. I got a big scare, as the ticket agent said I could not connect to Delhi through Doha - that I would need to fly direct from Nepal. I was confused and was not aware of any rules to this effect. I had my negative Covid test results, my Indian Visa, my health form, my vaccination card, etc. It was tense for about 20-minutes. Eventually - they came back to me to indicate I could proceed as planned. Whew!!! Close one!! I think they must have been going by the rules for entering India prior to the changes on Feb 14. Any which way - they let me fly.
So I flew from Kathmandu to Doha (5-hr flight). Things went smoothly. I read my John Grisham book: “Sooley” the entire time. After departing the flight - I only had 1-1/2 hrs to make my Delhi connection. All good. The security line was minimal and I was at my gate with over 1-hr to spare. That brings me up to date. I only have about 30-minutes before arriving into Delhi on my current flight.
Talk to you tomorrow- from a new country - my 63rd overall country to have visited!
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