02/14--Day 0-- Arrival at Kathmandu--20/9/2022

 Up bright and early in the morning. Truth be told, I don't think any of us got much sleep in the night. We began messaging each other by 2.30 AM. Jayashree's husband Anand, who wasn't coming on the trip, dropped us to the Airport.

All of us assembled, still not believing that this trek was actually going to start. A punctual departure and 2 1/2 uneventful hours later, we landed in Delhi. Since our flight to KTM was only at 1230 or so, Rathika and I along with our friend Sunita Sharma who had come to meet us at the airport, left for the Sharadamba Temple at C Block Vasant Vihar. This is a temple that we set great store by and we decided to go there and pray for the safe trek and return of all of us.

We returned to the airport and boarded our next Air India flight to Kathmandu. Another great though short flight and we landed in Tribhuvan International Airport. Rathika and I had been here once, back in 2000, though I had visited KTM multiple times on work between 2000 and 2006. For the others, it was their first time in Nepal. A glance around the airport told me that nothing seemed to have changed in the last 22 years :-)

Exiting from the airport, we were met by Hitesh from We Ramblers and Tenzing, who was to be our Chief Sherpa for the trek. We were driven to Potala Guest House in Thamel.  Here is where we met Raj, part of our group, who had flown in directly from Kuwait. 

In the evening, Hitesh briefed us over coffee in the courtyard of this charming hotel in detail on what the next 12 days held in store for us. He exchanged our cash for Nepali currency and handed over to each of us a duffle bag and a pair of trekking poles. Hitesh had once briefed us over Teams, and now in person, patiently and smilingly answered the many questions we all had.

Briefing over, we went wandering around the shopping hotspot that is Thamel. Babu got himself a pair of trekking shoes (his had given way suddenly) and we got ourselves a sleeping bag each-- ones we were destined never to use on the trek.

We gathered in the restaurant of the Guest House for dinner, and gorged on Emo Datshi, Tingmo, Thenthuk, Loaded Potato skins, Chow Mein and Pizza. Excitement was not just in the air, but in the very ground we walked on. We retired to our rooms with that same euphoria, ready to depart at 7 next morning for the actual trek.