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it's still today
Nov. 16th, 2013 05:18 amSomehow I managed to make it through 5 days in Nepal without obtaining any Nepalese money. This was not for lack of trying. I found two ATMs, neither of which accepted my German debit card, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember the pin number for my US debit card.
My driver to the airport told me that, despite the strike, he felt honor bound to continue doing his duty. His boss gave him a dispensation to take me, saying that since I was a foreigner he was unlikely to get in trouble. I sure hope so.
On my flight from Lumbini to Kathmandu, there were around 80 people. I was the only westerner.
Due to the abovementioned lack of cash (I was down to 30EUR, and I wanted to keep that in case I couldn’t pay for my hotel with a credit card), I walked from the airport to my hotel. I’d purposely picked one close to the hotel, and had carefully paid attention when we took a taxi from downtown back to the airport on Monday so as to see if I could spot it (I did) as well as some easily identifiable landmark to ensure I didn’t overshoot (another hotel, just a little bit further on), and had maps, so I wasn’t worried; still, walking down the unpaved shoulder of an unlit highway at night in Nepal was something I never imagined doing.
This morning I woke up around quarter to seven yesterday evening.
My connection time in Istanbul was tight to start with, and when we sat on the tarmac for about half an hour, I knew my chances of making the connection were getting less and less. When we didn’t get off the plane until 5 min. after the scheduled departure time to Chicago, I figured I was doomed. Instead, for the 15 of us or so that needed to make that connection, they held the plane.
While en route through the airport in Istanbul I got a text from Joel. His and Gwen’s flight from Frankfurt was delayed by four hours.
I’ve been on a plane for about 18 hours of the last 24. Still, I think of the two of us, I had the better trip. I didn’t have to entertain a 2-year-old in an airport for four hours over nap time.
It’s now about 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. I’m going to bed.
My driver to the airport told me that, despite the strike, he felt honor bound to continue doing his duty. His boss gave him a dispensation to take me, saying that since I was a foreigner he was unlikely to get in trouble. I sure hope so.
On my flight from Lumbini to Kathmandu, there were around 80 people. I was the only westerner.
Due to the abovementioned lack of cash (I was down to 30EUR, and I wanted to keep that in case I couldn’t pay for my hotel with a credit card), I walked from the airport to my hotel. I’d purposely picked one close to the hotel, and had carefully paid attention when we took a taxi from downtown back to the airport on Monday so as to see if I could spot it (I did) as well as some easily identifiable landmark to ensure I didn’t overshoot (another hotel, just a little bit further on), and had maps, so I wasn’t worried; still, walking down the unpaved shoulder of an unlit highway at night in Nepal was something I never imagined doing.
This morning I woke up around quarter to seven yesterday evening.
My connection time in Istanbul was tight to start with, and when we sat on the tarmac for about half an hour, I knew my chances of making the connection were getting less and less. When we didn’t get off the plane until 5 min. after the scheduled departure time to Chicago, I figured I was doomed. Instead, for the 15 of us or so that needed to make that connection, they held the plane.
While en route through the airport in Istanbul I got a text from Joel. His and Gwen’s flight from Frankfurt was delayed by four hours.
I’ve been on a plane for about 18 hours of the last 24. Still, I think of the two of us, I had the better trip. I didn’t have to entertain a 2-year-old in an airport for four hours over nap time.
It’s now about 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. I’m going to bed.
