Can I just also say at this point it is me that is in the Army not Charlie, which seems to be a misconception out here for some reason. Charlie is the wife.
DAY 1 (Thursday 21 July 2011 / DAY 2 (Friday 22 July 2011)
The reason I have labelled this as Day 1 / Day 2 is that our journey started on Thursday 21 July 2011 and we didn’t stop travelling until the evening of Friday 22 July 2011 as we technically didn’t go to bed for a new day to start.
Well today is the day that we moved from Redcar to Nepal for 2 whole years. The day started off with my alarm going off at 0730hrs as I had to be up, showered and all breakfasted ready for the Hire Car Company (Enterprise) to come and get me to take me to get the car that was going to get me to Heathrow ready for my flight to Nepal.
I had a knock on the door at 0900hrs to find it was the Enterprise man come to collect me. After I got back from Enterprise with my Vauxhall Astra (59 Plate), we loaded up the car, made sure everything was secure and then headed round to our neighbours Steve and Shirley to say our goodbyes and that we will be in touch as soon as time allowed.
We got in the car and drove to Heathrow, (traffic was surprisingly good) on the way down (not too bad on the M25 either), when we arrived at the car rental drop off, no sooner had I pulled up they were out and sorting out the car, it was such a smooth transition I would definitely recommend them, they even had our bags out of the boot and into the mini bus ready to take us to our Terminal ready for us to sit and wait for our flight, which was due to depart at 2130hrs.
When we got the airport we were booked in to find that we were coming over here on Business Class, we were given a pass to go into the Sky Lounge Business Suite where the drink and food were free. Well it was really nice in the lounge and with the internet being in there I was not bored at all.
Anyway, eventually our flight was called and we were down at Gate 24 to board our flight. When we went on the plane we were shown to our seats in business class and it was such a nice surprise not to have seats like they are in what I like to call Cattle Class (Economy), they literally did straighten out to being in a bed, it made the flight that bit more comfortable, trust me when I say there is no way that I would go back to Cattle Class if I could afford it to go Business, the treatment that we got was exceptional, the food was amazing and served on proper plates and not in the tin foil that it normally comes in and we had proper cutlery.
After a couple of hours kip on the plane, I woke to find that breakfast was being served, it was a continental breakfast with some fruit and yoghurt too, and again, not in plastic containers but served on plates, with proper cutlery.
We landed at Doha airport at about 0700hrs (which would be 0500hrs UK), again we were shuttled to the terminal to wait for our next flight and again we were spoilt with free food and drink until our connecting flight was ready to depart, which should have been at 0930hrs local (0730hrs UK time), we boarded our flight to find that we were the only 2 people that were in the Business Class part of the plane, the seats weren’t as good but they were wider and just as comfy to get a couple of hours sleep. The plane was half an hour late in leaving meaning that we would be late arriving at Kathmandu where Neil and his Wife Becky were going to be waiting to meet us. Whilst we were on the flight we must have made up time in the air as we were only late by about 10 minutes. When we got of the flight and taken to the Terminal to start our process in going through the rigmarole of trying to get through Customs and everything else we were to find that we had a very kind gentleman from Headquarters British Ghurkha Nepal had come to greet us and he just whisked us through everything and we were through to the baggage claim before we knew it.
It took a time or two for our baggage to come through on the conveyor belt but when it did we were taken through the baggage inspection (bags had to go through a scanner) where we met Neil and Becky Hetherington outside by the vehicle that was going to take us back to camp.
After being greeted in the Nepalese fashion a scarf known as a KATA, (which is a silk scarf, some of which have the 8 lucky Buddhist symbols to wish you luck on your travels), we then made a very unnerving journey back to camp (as we made it, I believe that the KATA worked), where we were able to drop off our bags in our room in the Officers Mess (temporary room until we take our apartment over on Monday). The journey was unnerving, purely because they don’t seem to care how they drive around here as long as they can get to there destination, you had people on push bikes and motorbikes just coming up either side of you and also cars were coming along side you to over take as you were already overtaking another vehicle. There were also cows and dogs in the road too which hindered your travel as they were not fast in getting out of the way, how they don’t get hit is beyond me.
Once we had put our bags in the room, Neil and Becky took us into the Mess Bar for a drink before taking us to the Red Dingo (a restaurant) for something to eat. I only had a Roast Beef Salad (at least I hope it was Beef), which was very nice and the mustard dressing that was on the salad was quite refreshing. Both me and Charlie have come out here with the mind set of, ‘if I don’t know what the meat is that has been cooked and it tastes fine, then I won’t ask any questions’.
After dinner they walked us back to the Mess where after we had decided on our plan of action for tomorrow they went for another drink and me and Charlie went back to our room to go to bed as the tiredness had caught up with us.
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