The Wanderlust In Me
I am wanderlust. It
just so happens that my work allows me to travel to different places. But it's
not the pleasure kind of travel. If you don't know me yet, I am a humanitarian
aid worker under an international non-government organization (INGO). How I got
my work is another story.
Last year, I was
sent to Can-avid, Eastern Samar, Philippines to help out on the internal
operations of our organization after Typhoon Ruby. Just three weeks ago, our
manager asked me if I had a valid passport and if I wanted to go to Nepal. Uh,
duh? How could I miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime?
It's Not Just About the Destination, But Also
About the Journey
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| NAIA Terminal 1 |
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| My luggage and carry-on |
Oh man! Our trip was a really long one. We travelled
almost halfway around the world then took another plane back. We booked our
flights via a travel agency based in the USA because that's what our
organization requires. They gave us three quotes, one from Thai which was
extremely expensive, the other one's Malaysian Airlines which was the cheapest
but we weren't very comfortable knowing the previous incidents; the last one
was from Etihad Airways, the national airlines of United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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| (L-R) Archie, Dina, Johanna |
Our flight to Abu
Dhabi was at 12:45 AM on the 30th of April. International flights require
passengers to get to the airport at least four hours before the flight. I got
there by 6:30 PM! Haha. I estimated three hours for taxi travel but I got there
a little too early as the counter was not even open yet. Up until the moment
when we already at the boarding gate, the fact that I was indeed going to Nepal
has not sunk in yet! It was both unbelievably scary and exciting at the same
time.
Abu Dhabi
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| Our plane to Abu Dhabi |
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| And of course, the obligatory selfie, lol |
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| Abu Dhabi skye |
Our flight to Abu Dhabi took about nine hours! We left Manila at 12:45 AM and arrived in Abu Dhabi at 5:45 AM (Abu Dhabi time, 4 hours behind Philippine time). There was no jet lag whatsover and to my surprise, I was able to sleep really well for almost five straight hours. When we were just about two hours away from Abu Dhabi, I watched Taken 3 on the plane but I was not able to finish it.
One thing that I thought was the most memorable experience during the flight was the food. I am very picky with food and to be honest, I was just not fond of the ones that the airlines served. I think it's only because I'm not very used to their food so that's why I found it hard to eat.
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| Airplane food |
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| Mini art gallery at the airport |
When we got to Abu Dhabi, we did not get out of the airport as we were only four hours away from our next flight to Kathmandu. We basically just toured around, ate, shopped (my companions only, lol), and waited. The airport was really nice, better than the airport in the Philippines, but not better than the one in Singapore, in my opinion.
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| Looking at cigarettes for John, one of our colleagues in Nepal |
Kathmandu
Our flight from Abu
Dhabi to Kathmandu took four hours. We left Abu Dhabi by 10:05 AM and we
arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu at around two or three
in the afternoon. Nepal's time is two hours and fifteen minutes behind
Philippines'. The food on the plane to Kathmandu was similar to the other
flight. Although the aircraft we rode was smaller, much like the ones in the
Philippines.
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| Small plane to Kathmandu |
Upon arrival at the
airport, we already knew that we had to process our visa, grab simcards, and
have our money changed to Nepal Rupees (NPR). We did exactly as we were told
but it took us almost two hours! Although the process went really smoothly.
There are actually people assisting passengers inside the arrival area for visa
processing. There are machines that scanned our passports, took some of our
information and photo. We were then directed to pay USD100.00 for a 90-day
visa, had our passports stamped, etc. Next we had our money changed. The money
changer bought USD1.00 for NPR100.50! It's almost two times or more than
Philippine currency. Then just a few steps from the arrival area are two cell
shops. We bought our simcards from Nepal Telecom. The person in-charge inserted
the simcard for us and had our loads charged. As for the price of texts and
calls, I don't really know.
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| Namaste! |
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| Visa machine |
As of today, I am in
Gorkha, a different district and four hours away from Kathmandu. I will share
more about my current location soon. For now, here are a few of my good shots
in the capital city of Nepal.
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| Our hotel in Kathmandu |
Chao!
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