Travel to Kathmandu

We left the UK in a bit of a whirl. Mel’s employer has kindly agreed to a 3 month break and my current contractor status meant that I could take some time out, but we both felt like we needed to leave things ‘wrapped up’ at our respective workplaces before we left. In addition to this we were moving out of our flat to go away, which meant putting our possessions into storage, finding tenants, arranging all the additional bits of safety checks and paperwork that comes with being a landlord, and also trying to arrange a new mortgage which permitted renting out the flat.

Getting onto the plane felt pretty good. It’s the point of no-return where no matter what state things are in back home, you’re suddenly removed from it all. Mel and I breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Skipping the long and uneventful flight (some sleep, some movies, some reading), we arrived in Bangkok, our transit stop, and had a few hours to kill in the airport. We went through the security check for transfer passengers, and found a café which took card payments (we had no Thai Bhat to spend at this point) and acquired a cup of tea (how typically British). It was at this point that I realised I had left the passport photos I had carefully arranged to have in order to get through the visa on arrival process in Kathmandu back in the UK. Gah. Cue some panic’d googling and rushing around Bangkok airport to try and find somewhere to get some more taken. In the end I didn’t need them, the process has changed and Kathmandu airport now has an electronic process with a machine which takes your photo for you.

Visa acquired, bags collected, and our hotel-arranged transfer vehicle located, we enjoyed chatting in our broken French with some fellow tourists en-route to the hotel through some incredibly hectic Kathmandu traffic (more on that later), we had arrived safely! Meeting up with our friends and fellow kayakers Becky and Rich at the hotel we sat down in their courtyard for an incredibly refreshing cup of sweet Marsala tea.