Our last full day in Nepal, Johnny and I got up early to take a taxi to the airport for our Everest flight. This was a domestic flight, so we got to start our father and son adventure by experiencing the domestic terminal. It was like walking into the past. The building is ancient, and so is the bureaucracy running the place.
We found the ticket counter for our airline, Buddha Air (what a cool name for an airline) and proceeded to wait in line. When we finally made it to the counter, the ticket agent asked me where my tax receipt was. Silly me. We had prepaid tickets, and I assumed any government charges would be included with the cost of the ticket. No, I was informed I needed to go stand in another line, pay a government tax, then return with the receipt.
So we went to the other line, paid the tax, went back to the airline ticket counter, got checked in for our flight, went through security, and finally made it to the waiting room, at which point we discovered that all flights were suspended indefinitely because of fog. We learned this by overhearing a tour guide mention it to a tourist group that was sitting nearby. This information was probably included in one of the announcements that were periodically being made over a loudspeaker, but these announcements proved to be rather useless as the speaker was of such poor quality that all I could make out were some completely unintelligible squabbles that I assume were in Nepali and some other slightly less unintelligible squabbles that I can only assume were supposed to be English.
After some searching, I found a Buddha Airlines representative sitting quietly behind an unmarked desk, who though rather hard to find, was quite polite and helpful once discovered. I checked in periodically with this representative for the status of our flight.......for the next 3 and a half hours.
Finally, almost 4 hours later, we started boarding, along with two other flights, from the same gate, at the same time. Sound confusing? The passengers weren't the only people confused. When we went through the gate to the tarmac, we found airline employees arguing about which buses were assigned to which flights. Seeing the confusion, we fellow passengers of flight 103 compared tickets and banded together. This was definitely a time when there was safety and comfort in numbers.
The airline figured out which bus to put us on, and off we went. Then we stopped to add two German tourists who almost missed the bus. Finally on our way......we stopped again. There was a traffic jam inside the airport. People were hand pushing little carts full of baggage all around the tarmac, and several buses were trying to get through. How many countries in the world have traffic jams on the city streets and inside the airport? Fantastic!
Our bus made its way to our plane, a small propeller plane with window seats for every passenger. Johnny and I were in the front, right by the cockpit. The cockpit didn't have a door, so we could see the two pilots work the controls as we took off.
Only a few minutes after taking off, we were flying along the Himalayan mountain range with views like this that made the wait at the airport well worth it.
The highlight of the flight, of course, was Mt. Everest. You can see its distinctive pyramid-shaped peak in the photos below. It soared over the tops of the clouds with such majesty that it gave me chills.
The pilots let us into the cockpit and pointed out the names of different peaks. Johnny was thrilled. Here we are during the flight:
On our way back to Kathmandu, we could see some of the terraced farmland below us.
Each passenger received an "I flew to Everest" certificate after we landed back in Kathmandu. Here's Johnny getting off the plane with his cherished certificate in his hand.
When asked about his favorite part of our trip to Nepal, Johnny is quick to say that it was the Everest flight. It was an experience we'll never forget.
We found the ticket counter for our airline, Buddha Air (what a cool name for an airline) and proceeded to wait in line. When we finally made it to the counter, the ticket agent asked me where my tax receipt was. Silly me. We had prepaid tickets, and I assumed any government charges would be included with the cost of the ticket. No, I was informed I needed to go stand in another line, pay a government tax, then return with the receipt.
So we went to the other line, paid the tax, went back to the airline ticket counter, got checked in for our flight, went through security, and finally made it to the waiting room, at which point we discovered that all flights were suspended indefinitely because of fog. We learned this by overhearing a tour guide mention it to a tourist group that was sitting nearby. This information was probably included in one of the announcements that were periodically being made over a loudspeaker, but these announcements proved to be rather useless as the speaker was of such poor quality that all I could make out were some completely unintelligible squabbles that I assume were in Nepali and some other slightly less unintelligible squabbles that I can only assume were supposed to be English.
After some searching, I found a Buddha Airlines representative sitting quietly behind an unmarked desk, who though rather hard to find, was quite polite and helpful once discovered. I checked in periodically with this representative for the status of our flight.......for the next 3 and a half hours.
Finally, almost 4 hours later, we started boarding, along with two other flights, from the same gate, at the same time. Sound confusing? The passengers weren't the only people confused. When we went through the gate to the tarmac, we found airline employees arguing about which buses were assigned to which flights. Seeing the confusion, we fellow passengers of flight 103 compared tickets and banded together. This was definitely a time when there was safety and comfort in numbers.
The airline figured out which bus to put us on, and off we went. Then we stopped to add two German tourists who almost missed the bus. Finally on our way......we stopped again. There was a traffic jam inside the airport. People were hand pushing little carts full of baggage all around the tarmac, and several buses were trying to get through. How many countries in the world have traffic jams on the city streets and inside the airport? Fantastic!
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| View of the tarmac from our bus as we try to get to our plane |
Our bus made its way to our plane, a small propeller plane with window seats for every passenger. Johnny and I were in the front, right by the cockpit. The cockpit didn't have a door, so we could see the two pilots work the controls as we took off.
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| View from my window as we took off from Kathmandu |
Only a few minutes after taking off, we were flying along the Himalayan mountain range with views like this that made the wait at the airport well worth it.
The highlight of the flight, of course, was Mt. Everest. You can see its distinctive pyramid-shaped peak in the photos below. It soared over the tops of the clouds with such majesty that it gave me chills.
The pilots let us into the cockpit and pointed out the names of different peaks. Johnny was thrilled. Here we are during the flight:
On our way back to Kathmandu, we could see some of the terraced farmland below us.
Each passenger received an "I flew to Everest" certificate after we landed back in Kathmandu. Here's Johnny getting off the plane with his cherished certificate in his hand.
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Incredibly cool! (by the way, if you haven't figure out my real identity - racsgirl = chrissie souza. Get it? Ricardo Araujo Coelho de Souza's girl:)
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