Nepal: Going Home

I'm taking a trip down memory lane with a look back at our trip to Nepal last December. For all of the entries about our trek, click here.

The day after Christmas marked our departure from Nepal. We spent the morning enjoying a leisurely continental breakfast before departing the hotel grounds for a quick trip to the Boudhanath stupa, which was located just a short walk away. I was hoping to find a few last-minute souvenirs, but nothing caught my eye. We got a little turned around trying to find our way back to our hotel, but after a few trips around the circular stupa, we found the right alleyway that led us back to the Hyatt.

We then grabbed a quick lunch before heading onto the hotel shuttle bus to the airport. At the airport, we managed to check our bags through to Denver. One less thing to worry about upon our arrival in Delhi! Our flight was originally scheduled to depart around 3:30p, but we ended up taking off around 5:30p due to foggy conditions in Delhi. In the meantime, we enjoyed sitting in the departures hall, watching WWE matches being played on a big screen TV in the front of the room.

Our flight from Kathmandu landed in Delhi around 7:30p. Though I had managed to print our British Airways boarding passes for our flight from Delhi to London at the Hyatt, apparently they weren't good enough to get us through to the international terminal. Instead, we got to sit around in the transfer limbo zone outside the terminal. Our names were finally called around 10p, and we gladly took our official boarding passes and headed through security to the international terminal. By this time, most of the restaurants were closed or in the process of closing, so I stopped at the WH Smith bookshop to grab a snack and magazine to read.

I think our flight was originally scheduled to depart around 3:30a on December 27th, but our flight ended up being delayed until 5:30a. At this point, a pretty thick fog enshrouded the airport, so most flights were delayed (we kept listening to flights continually being pushed back and were a bit worried that our flight wouldn't take off at all -- which was a little concerning, as we needed to get home due to our imminent cross-country move). Interestingly, there are a lot of lounge chairs situated around the gates, but by the time we were looking for a pair, all had been taken. Eventually, we found a spot to call our own, and D camped out on the floor, and I smooshed myself into a chair and used my backpack as a pillow to take a nap for about an hour. Around 3:45a we made our way to our gate; our flight began boarding around 5:30a. Once in my seat, I promptly fell asleep. When I woke up about an hour and a half later, we were still taxiing. Eventually we took off and were on our way to London, only 3.5 hours off schedule.

We arrived in London around 9:45a and once off the plane, promptly headed to our respective bathrooms to do a little refreshening. Luckily, our flight to Denver was scheduled for 12:35p, so our delays leaving Delhi didn't cause any problems with our travel plans. We were very glad that we had a direct flight to Denver as the East Coast of the US had been clobbered by a snowstorm and most flights to anywhere along the East Coast had been cancelled.

I have to admit I did stop off at a Starbucks kiosk in the airport for my first nonfat chai latte in nearly a month. It was just as good as I remembered. : ) Our flight from London to Denver was uneventful, and I spent much of the flight watching movies and reading the magazines I had picked up along the way. Upon our arrival in Denver, we made it through passport control and customs without a hitch, and we greeted my parents at the arrivals area soon after. From there it was a quick trip up I-25 to Fort Collins, where we would spend the night at the Edwards House before completing the journey back to Laramie. Our trip was officially over.