STILL en route

I don't even know which time zone to use... But we are currently 35,000 feet above sea level and are finally (almost) arriving in Kathmandu, Nepal.

It is 08.58 UK time which means it's 11.58 Oman time (where we landed for our transfer) which means it's approx 14.00 pm Nepal time. All I know is our body clocks are so confused. We are just hoping that when we arrive, we don't have too much on today so can chill,and get used to the time difference.

The food on the first plane was quite nice. Luckily they had vegetarian left so Hope and I had the pasta. However, the desert was pretty grim.
The flight was 6 hours 15, then we stopped in Muscat, Oman for approx 80 minutes before flying again. At 7 am, the weather was 32 degrees - unbelievable! We were sweating just on the bus, but we didn't want to take any layers off because of how covered up everyone was. Luckily it wasn't long before we were boarding again. We are flying with Oman airways again, but a much smaller plane and the journey is only 4 hours. We have just begun the descent so we will be landing in no time. Hope and I have been asleep the whole journey - we barely slept on the first plane (it didn't help at I had a kid next to kicking me), so we really were shattered (Hope is still asleep now!).

When we land, we need to get a visa for our stay in Nepal. Hopefully we can get just the 15 days one for $25. Then we need to look out for 'Akkal' who is coming to pick us up. Tonight, tomorrow and Sunday we are staying in a hotel and carrying out the induction, before moving in with our host family on Monday for 2 weeks. We're going to be finding out exactly what we will be doing for the next fortnight, learning basic Nepalese, paying the program fees of 380 Euros (approx £335), learning basic culture lessons, and doing some sightseeing. For our time in Nepal, we have to ensure that we are covered up at all times, so we have both packed clothes that cover our shoulders and legs.

The captain has just announced that it is 28 degrees in Nepal, which sounds perfect (especially considering the weather app shows heavy rain for the next two weeks as it is of course monsoon season now!)

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It is now actually 18.17 on Sunday 16th and Hope and I are about to get showered to go out. However I will catch up with Friday night, and Saturday first!

Okay so, the first few days have been a bit of a roller coaster ....amazing ... But also we have already had a couple of nightmares and its only day 3. So we landed in Kathmandu at approximately 15.00 (later than expected ), and sorted out our visa (£25 for 15 days), before heading through security. Whilst patiently waiting for our luggage on the conveyer belt.... We waited .... And waited .... And our luggage didn't arrive (everyone's worst nightmare!). Then we heard on the tanoy "Miss Wilkinson and Miss Fenton come to baggage reclaim" (never good news!) to then find out that our luggage was still in Muscat as it hadn't made the transfer!!! Feeling very (VERY) frustrated we gave them all our details, and they told us it would arrive on the next morning's flight along with 15 other pieces of baggage that had also missed it. (Of course we later realised this was a lie!)

We then left the airport and a man ran up to us to ask if we were Lisa and Emma, and led us over to Akkal who is the driver. We didn't even have any luggage so the man didn't even carry anything for us ... Yet demanded money of us .... Apparently calling our names requires money? We felt pressured though, and seeing as we had no Nepalese money, we had to give English money so Hope gave a tenner (she panicked!). We were in a car with three other VIN volunteers, two Italian girls and one French boy, and we waited an hour for another girl to arrive (who is also Italian). There were 7 of us in a 5 seater car!!!! It was mad!!! The roads are so crazy in Nepal - it felt like there was absolutely no organisation so everyone was just driving wherever (it reminded us of the roundabout near the Arc de Triomph in Paris - but twenty times worse!) but it was a cool drive (though very unsafe - sorry if our parents are reading this ... We are safe we promise!). We checked in at the hotel, Hotel Premium, and went to exchange some money, and went for a drink at a small cafe/bar which was cute. Hope and I shared a pizza, and we just had soft drinks as we were so dead out. We bought some trousers and tops (turning hippy on day one) as we only had the clothes we came in, then went back to the room for an early night as we were absolutely shattered.

Not an ideal beginning, but we are trying to be as positive as possible!!!Read more