Nepal trip: Day 1 (18 Mar 2023)

Hey everyone, I know it has been some time since you last heard from me, but I am once again on the move and eager to share what is happening with my latest adventure.

Those of you who have been following along since the beginning will remember Dorothee, with whom I visited Ladakh last year. This year when I was telling her about how my trip to Cambodia was looking like it was going to fall apart, she was quick to mention that she had separately been planning a trip to Nepal and wondered if I would be interested in tagging along. Long story short, as you can tell from the title of this entry, I ended up saying yes. For those of you who are not keen to know all the details about my actual travel to Nepal from Bengaluru, India; feel free to skip ahead, but there is some really good info about what happened once we arrived to the airport.

So once again, I ended up on a crazy early morning flight. I had booked a round trip ticket on IndiGo to Kathmandu from Bengaluru, with a cost of 20,000 INR ($240 USD).  With a departure at 5:30 AM, that meant I would have to leave from my place in New Yelahanka (about 22 km away) at 2:45 AM. While recently it has become more difficult to get easily get cars from my area, using Ola (similar to Uber) I was able to be in a car by 2:50 AM with plenty of time to spare.  Incidentally for those who may be coming to India to travel, despite the fact that both Uber and Ola supposedly accept all types of electronic payment, at least with my experience in Bengaluru, in the last couple of years, most of the drivers only want to take you if you can pay cash; this takes away part of the convenience of cash free travel, but at least it is still “reasonably easy” to get a car . . . Certainly it is easier than trying to flag down a cab or even a rickshaw.

While there was much more traffic on the road at that hour than I would have expected (at any time there were at least 20 other vehicles easily visible) travel was smooth and I had arrived to terminal 1 of the airport by 3:18 AM.

Also, unlike my other recent flying experiences in out of Bengaluru in the last year, there were comparatively few fliers, and by 3:22 AM I was already inside the airport trying to get the IndiGo automated check-in machine to work. Regular flyers with this airline will not be surprised to learn that the machines were not working, but again, amazingly the check-in line went amazingly fast, and by 3:38 AM I was already headed up to security.

While no disrespect is intended, going through security in an Indian airport is frequently a bit of a comedy. While I have no doubt that officials are honestly trying their best to keep us safe, the process often appears to be arbitrary and at times even nonsensical. Nevertheless, things again seemed to be going amazingly fast, with me walking through the metal detector at 3:46 AM. Of course the detector beeped (I have never had it NOT beep in india) and they proceeded to move the detector wand all over me. Interestingly, it seemed to be that almost all of my body was registering metal except for my chest where I have surgery staples. Fortunately the official chose to believe his hands from the pat down rather than the wand, and I was completely finished with the process by 3:48 AM.

Shortly thereafter, Maria and Dorothee who had arrived separately, also got through security.

By 4:10 AM we were at Jones the Grocer having a fascinating conversation about religion and its relationship to the workplace. Perhaps not everyone wants chats like this while on holiday, but I was extremely happy for the high quality “non-work” intellectual engagement. I think that we will be a very good travel trio.

My croissant, which was reasonably good, and large cappuccino was 512 INR ($6.20 USD). Dorothee and Maria also seemed satisfied with their selections.

Right before 5 we headed over to our Gate, and at 5:06 AM we were on the bus to the airplane. Readers from the many parts of the world, in particular the USA, will find it odd that we took a plane to the airplane, but in many countries this sort of boarding arrangement is the norm rather than going down a jetway. Again, so far everything was going great. So what about seating?

Many of us over the age of 35 remember a time when those who travelled together were almost always automatically seated together, and while a preference could be expressed for window or aisle, it was just sort of luck how things would actually turn out. However, this was the norm, and you certainly did not expect to have to pay an additional fee. In fact, this was one of the “rewards” both of arriving early to the airport and then later on for doing online check-in ahead of time. As a “budget airline” this is certainly not the case for IndiGo.

To be fair, their seats are not especially uncomfortable, but if you are allergic to the middle seat like I am, and furthermore have a special preference for either aisle or window, you pay ahead for your seat selection. In my case I chose the second cheapest option (middle is of course the cheapest) and did standard aisle seating for a cost of 400 INR ($4.85 USD) per flight. Interestingly enough, on IndiGo, the most expensive option is not the most comfortable if you are a taller person — I am 1.82 meters. Rather the second most expensive option (exit row) is where you get the most leg room; although, you sacrifice being able to recline. That having been said, with so little space, what sort of animal reclines their seat anyways if there is a standard sized human seated behind oneself? Pro tip: the absolute BEST IndiGo seat, if you can get it, is the exit row seat that has no seat immediately in front of it.

Anyways, by 5:38 AM the plane was in the air and I was doing my “daily” ANKI flashcards for Hindi. I have for the most part kept up with these perfectly since completing the three-week Hindi course I did in Dehradun in December and January. However, as I had skipped the previous day, I had 298 cards to do, which took me 47 minutes. Yes, I was tired, but I wanted to take advantage of this alone time to study, since later on I knew I would either be exploring with Maria and Dorothee or trying to churn out this daily entry to my travel blog.  By 6:35 AM I was ready to turn on sleep sounds and try to get a bit of rest for the remainder of the flight; the sleeping didn’t work out so well but we arrived safely and on time to Delhi by 8:15 AM.

If you have been skimming through until now, this is where you need to start actually paying attention, especially if there is any possibility you might have to do a transfer to an international flight departing from Delhi at some point in the future. Dorothee has an almost visceral dislike of the Delhi airport, but I tend to be more ambivalent. That having been said, her dislike is not without reason. I know it’s amazing how many people this airport handles on a daily basis, but they frequently do not make it easy nor intuitive to navigate.

Shortly after entering the terminal, we saw a very large area labeled “International Transfers” which amazingly, while properly staffed, seemed to be almost empty. It looked like once again we were going to get a quick and easy transition to the next part of the trip . . . If you have spent much time in Delhi airport, you know that is not what happened.

For some unknown reason, this relatively abandoned transfer area is only for Air India customers. There is no sign to indicate this, but rather someone in their infinite wisdom has decided it makes more sense to hire a full time person to individually tell the thousands of daily non Air India flyers making international transfers that they have to go somewhere else which makes no sense whatsoever. While you will not remember it, and the process will likely have changed anyways by the next time you do it, this is what you have to do.

First you have to exit the secure area as if you were departing the airport, doing so near baggage belt 4. From there you turn left and go to the end of the hallway (it is easily manageable for a normally healthy person, but it is still a bit of a walk) then up the escalators which you will see, into the main check-in area of the terminal. IF you have boarding passes for the next flight, you can then head directly to immigration, which is to the left. If for some reason you do not have the boarding pass, you will have to get in line as if you were checking in from scratch; most of the time this is not the case, but it does frequently happen, so do not freak out if before transferring through Delhi you are told you will have to get your next boarding pass at the terminal in Delhi.  If this all seems like a way too confusing process, just do what we did . . . Walk one minute, find someone to ask what to do next . . .walk another minute . . . Ask again until you get to immigration.

Despite all of this, amazingly things were still going much faster than most of my air travel experiences through major airports in India. So while it may seem odd, at least today, I couldn’t really complain that much, because the system seemed to be “working”.

By 8:27 AM we were in line for immigration, which yet once again, amazingly had relatively few people and a line which was moving along at a rather brisk pace. Do note that many of the lines do not have larger trays to put your electronics etc . . . So you may have to hunt around like I did to take larger trays from another line. Also, if you are new to traveling in this part of the world, note that there are lines for men and separate lines for women. It is easy to see, because the women’s lines have these curtained off areas for the security pat down; no, I don’t know why. Unlike in Bengaluru, for this security check you were required to keep your boarding pass in hand, and it seemed to be an issue for many people since there was no signage to indicate the same. Again though, the system still seemed to work quite well today, and by 8:45 AM we were through and looking for a place to eat something a bit more substantial.

This was not where I would usually have chosen, Dorothee suggested the Irish House. The server was very friendly as she kindly told us that more than half of the items we requested from the menu were not actually available, and I ended up with a fairly decent chicken Cesar salad for 609 INR ($7.38). By 9:40 AM we headed towards the gate, where I was happy to learn that Maria is a dog person. So we had some pleasant chat and shared pictures of our fur friends.

By 10:52 AM we were on the plane and then we were taking off at 11:15 AM. As I had already established that sleep was not going to work on these planes, I decided to listen to my audiobook Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin This was a short flight, with us touching down in Kathmandu but at 12:51 PM.

Those of you who follow along with me on a regular basis know that I am a big fan of e-sims, generally recommending Airalo, but this time around that did not seem to be the best fit, with international roaming on my Airtel connection actually being a better fit for my needs, costing me about $36 USD for 10 days of service, including 5 GB of 4G data and 100 minutes a day of outgoing standard local and/or calls to India. Furthermore, all incoming calls are included. Getting a local SIM in Nepal I think would have been a bit cheaper, but form what I had read, it would have been more of a hassle with all the paperwork. Whether it is cheaper or not, this time around I am actually happy with my international roaming option, so keep it in mind that it may be worth comparing before selecting options when traveling.

There was one unpleasant surprise when we got off the plane and started heading to get our luggage. There was a line where they were demanding that we show either a negative COVID-19 PCR test or a vaccine record. According to the online information we had found beforehand, this was no longer being requested. Yes, I had thought it might still be good to have, but I could not find my previously downloaded electronic copy, and the Indian Cowin site seemed to not be working the previous two days, so I didn’t have it. Keen-eyed Dorothee however noticed that they did not actually seem to be looking at the papers, so she just palmed me her certificate after she had it “reviewed” and I used her certificate as well to get through the line.  Yes, it is just as comical as it sounds . . .but hey, it worked, so no complaints from me.

Next we were on to immigration. As we were all three doing visa on arrival, we had printouts of sheets to present along with our passports so that we could pay our fees. It seems that it would have made more sense to pay online when applying, but the system is that you have to pay in cash. Furthermore, you evidently have to pay in foreign currency, but not all currencies are accepted. It all seemed rather random: Dorothee was told to pay in Euros, Maria in British Pounds, and me in US Dollars. No, we could not use a card and we could not use Nepali Rupees. Having been warned ahead of time of this oddity, I had US dollars with me to pay my $30 USD. However, Dorothee did not. Dorothee being Dorothee, somehow convinced them to take Indian Rupees for her payment even though it was not one of the listed “accepted currencies”. Anyways, I was glad we were able to get it done.

We then tried to get Nepali rupees out of the cash machine in that area, but it appears to only work with international Visa cards, not Mastercard. Incidentally, I have noticed that most of the ATM machines here only take international Visa cards, but there I did notice a couple today that had the Mastercard symbol, but I did not have a card along to try. This DID seem to be a problem for many other travelers who only had a MasterCard card with them, so keep that in mind if you plan on using at ATM here with an international card. I am not saying MasterCard is impossible, but Visa is definitely more accepted.

By 1:42 PM we were through immigration and straight on to get our bags at 1:44 PM which were already waiting. Again, all oddities still existing, so far most things were going very quickly today. I hope it continues like that. We then made our way over to the prepaid taxi counter, which was closed, but then when we asked at a separate booth next door, they told us to just go downstairs. Upon arriving there, again, this one appeared to have nobody working, but once again upon asking, someone came to help us, so we paid just 900 NPR ($6.91 USD) for our 5 KM ride to Sunrise Cottage Guest House.

Despite having an extremely aggressive driver and very little traffic, it took us 32 minutes to get to our lodging, since the driver had a hard time figuring out the directions, even when speaking by phone with the front desk at the cottage.

Still, we finally arrived at 2:27 PM and were greeted with cups of tea by Rishi. After getting settled in and looking around a bit, we decided to head out walking at 3:35 PM.

As luck would have it, it seemed that it was going to rain, so despite already having bought a Poncho in Ladakh which I never used, I ended up buying another one here for 1500 NPR ($11.50 USD). Last time I went with a serious dark blue, but this time we all agreed that something brighter was more in order. If nothing else, it would keep Dorothee and Maria from losing me in a crowd.  Furthermore, as long as I was wearing it, it seemed to have the magical ability to stop the rain from actually coming down. One way or another, it seems to be serving its purpose.

At 4:30 PM we decided to check for some local restaurant recommendations online, and we decided upon Legendary Food Kitchen, which we all three agreed was nothing fancy, but certainly reasonably priced and completely satisfying food. One important point in its favor was it was clear that everything was actually made fresh once it was ordered.

So, if you are looking for wholesome local nourishment at a fair price, this is definitely worth checking out. We then continued on walking.

By 6:20 we were ready for a dessert, but most of the recommended places seemed to be closing at 6:30 PM, so we went ahead and just walked into The baking factory. To be honest, the drinks and pastries were mostly unremarkable, but I thought my “brownie” (actually a chocolate cake) was acceptable, and Maria actually quite enjoyed her chocolate danish.

Finally, by 8 PM we were back to the guest house to take some rest before day two.  Looking back, I see that this entry was perhaps too wordy, but as few people read all the way through anyways, I decided to err on the side of including all the information which might be useful. If nothing else, maybe you liked the pictures. If you were one of the intrepid readers who made it all the way through, the wow!

As always, thanks for following along, and I look forward to sharing my further adventures in the coming days. If you have any questions or comments, just stick them there below. For now, it is already 11:30 PM and I need to get to bed, so see you tomorrow!