Day 1: Flight 2

On the flight from New Delhi to Kathmadu. First flight was shorter than we thought, only 8 hours but pretty painful. We were in the last row of the airplane. All anyone wanted to do was sleep, and we did in anyway (or position) possible. Everyone got in a few house sleep before landing in New Delhi at around 4 am (UK time). Not a pretty sight for anyone. New Delhi airport is really nice but shockingly humid. After trying (and failing) to grab some food we instead headed to our gate to make the most of those loungers. We had 3 hours in the airport but with no rupees getting some sleep seemed the best ting to do...Just ate lunch on the plane. We took a group photos before boarding the flight but not sure how "before" it reallyw as. Already feel a bit like "after. Still has yet to hit me we are landing in Nepal in 30 minutes. More excitement to come.

Group "before" shot

Day 0: Nighttime Jitters

Starting to get genuinely nervous, something I wasn't before. Bags are all packed up (well mostly) and all the lists are checked off. Let's hope I have everything! Meeting at 5:15 tomorrow with the group to check in. I'll be wearing so many clothes in case of lost baggage, I am going to look like a snowman. Let's hope everyone else will too and this will be the start of a great trip! 6 am wakeup tomorrow so I'm off to try and get some sleep....

Back to the Homeland!!!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post my diary from Nepal however all did not go according to plan!

As most of you know our first blow during the trip was our trek to Everest base camp was cancelled. We waiting the maximum number of days (1 more in fact!) trying to catch a plane to Lukla but with no luck. A plane had crashed there a couple days before we arrived, killing all aboard, and they were being extra careful with the weather, which remained overcast the entire time I was in Nepal. We instead were sent on a trek to Annapurna base camp, also in Nepal. Since I am posting my diary I won't go into any more detail.

That would have been the low point of the trip however when we began our trek to Annapurna base camp I began to feel poorly. I chalked it up to still adjusting to the food and the altitude however as we began to trek I got steadily worse. By the third day of the trek we reached a medical outpost where the nurse told me that I was just suffering from an acidic stomach, I was given some chalk medicine to take and told to eat bland foods. Happy with this I continued on hoping that I would begin to feel better. Unfortunately that was not the case. I do not remember much of day 4 of the trek. I do remember feeling very sick and ended up being very lucky I took out helicopter rescue insurance! Since we were in such a remote section of the Himalayas and I could not walk it was decided to call for helicopter rescue as I continued to get worse. I was helicoptered back to Kathmandu for medical treatment was in the hospital there for 3 days. I'd apparently contracted quite a nasty bacterial infection probably from the water or the food or anything really! It took me a couple weeks to get back to full form but feeling much better now!!

I would just like to say that being ill (while scaring my parents terribly) ended up being amazing as I got to speak to the leader of Childreach in Nepal and learn a lot about where their resources are going and more about their philosophy. The charity does amazing work all over the world, not only in Nepal, however after visiting the country I cannot stress enough the importance of the work Childreach does. I hope that by reading my diary about my time in Nepal and the conditions there that you will begin to understand just how important your donations were.