Everest Base Camp Trek - Day 1

I arrived in Kathmandu last night, exhausted from flying and trying to sleep in the Bangkok airport. Denise met me at the airport which was an awesome surprise. We got my bags and headed to the guesthouse her and Dale were staying at. We had to leave right away though because we had to meet our trekking company people. We met our guide, got some rental sleeping bags and then got some dinner. I was too tired to take in anything around me, although the area of Thamel in Kathmandu seems pretty cool.

Back at the guest house, I unpacked, repacked, redistributed. Denise and I decided to share one pack for the trek. It was off to bed because we had to leave the guest house for our 6am flight the next morning.

In the morning, our guide, C.B., met us at our hotel and we went to catch a shuttle to the airport. On the shuttle was another group of trekkers that were going through the same company as we did. There were 5 of them and they were around the same ages as us.

We got to the airport and waited around for our flight to leave. We were flying to Lukla, which is about 9000 ft. above sea level. This airport is pretty famous because the runway goes uphill and is just long enough to land the kinds of planes we were in. The flight was beautiful. I could see the Himalayan peaks in the distance and terraced fields below. Then as we approached Lukla airport, I looked out the front of the plane and saw the mountain with a small runway in the middle. It was pretty scary, but so exciting. Dale, Denise and I were all looking at each other in nervous laughter as the plane touched the tarmac and then slammed on the brakes.

Lukla was moist and cold. The air definitely felt thinner. We collected our bags and met our porter, Shree, and then went for breakfast. Our porter carried Denise's and my bag, Dale's pack and then his own. He strapped them all together with a bungee cord and then had a peice of fabric that he put accross his fore head for more balance. Not the best system, but it worked for him.

After breakfast, we had a short walk to our first night's stay in Phakding. It only took 2.5 hours and the elevation was lower than that of Lukla. The idea behind acclimatizing is to train high and then sleep low.

We had lunch, went for a small walk down to the river and then came back to the lodge when it started to rain. After dinner, Denise and I were ready for bed and it was only 7pm. In the mountains, once the sun goes down, its pretty much just time for bed.