Another Time-Turner Post …

Although our last post to this blog has us in Vietnam, and about to travel to Thailand, in real time we are back in the good ‘ol USofA!!

Long story short … We were at the high point of a trek in Nepal when we got word that multiple countries were planning to shut down their borders to international travelers. These countries included our next planned destination, Australia, and the country we were currently in, Nepal. We hastily decided that we needed to get back to Kathmandu airport ASAP if we didn’t want to be stranded in Nepal. Thus ensued a 6 hour, 10,000 foot descent, on foot, to the nearest town … a 6 hour taxi ride to another town … where we caught a 7 hour ride in a tourist bus … bringing us to Kathmandu. Unfortunately, it was all too late – Australia had closed its borders, and Nepal had shut down its airport before our commercial flight was able to leave.

Plan B! Coordinate with the US Embassy in Nepal, who were attempting to arrange repatriation flights back to the USA. Success was achieved a week and a half after arriving at our hotel in Kathmandu, in the form of a chartered Qatar airplane which brought us to Washington DC, via Doha, Qatar. All told, 20 hours of uninterrupted misery at 38,000 feet. But, we are back in the states after 10 months of travel, and 17 countries visited!! It’s been quite an adventure : )

Here’s a couple pics of the long line of Americans waiting to escape from Nepal …

Next up, we’ll take you back in time once again to the beautiful country of Thailand!!