Day 2 - Flight to Nepal

I am flying via Abu Dhabi which is trying to establish itself as an international hub but it appears to have a long way to go. The transfer hall has probably 1,000 people in it and very few people on the security stations. Some junior staff are trying to manage things but are completely overwhelmed by the number of people who have imminent flights and the fact that neither ther they nor many of the passengers speak much English (or any other common language). Very fortunately, it turns out that I am flying out of the old terminal and there is no queue to get there! 

The rest of the day is pretty standard and I get to the hotel at about 9pm as the rest of the group get back from dinner. The rest of the evening is spent organising ourselves for our acclimatisation trek. 

The trip is structured with an acclimatisation trek up the Langtang Valley in Nepal before we head over the border into Tibet. The two main reasons behind this plan are that Base Camp is at about 5,200m so you need to be acclimatised before arriving and this can be done in either Tibet or Nepal. There is a lack of consistency over when the border from Nepal to Tibet opens so if you try to go straight to Tibet and the border opening is delayed you will start to fall behind your timetable whereas by doing the trek in Nepal first you have got your acclimatisation out of the way and are coming to the border well after it has opened.