Lukla to Kathmandu

During the night Jon developed a very bad case of food poisoning. He'd had tuna cheese pizza because he thought he was safe eating canned meat. Only afterwards did it occur to us that the can must have been opened a long time before it was used for his pizza! So here the poor man was with terrible stomach issues and facing a 30 minute plane ride in a small plane with no bathroom. Also during the night, Elizabeth's condition worsened so only Reig and I made in down to breakfast.

We packed up and dragged our bags to the airport just after 7:00 am. The usual third-world airport chaos ensued and eventually we made it to the waiting room. By this time Elizabeth and Jon could barely stand. They sat on the most comfortable place we could find and we commenced waiting.

If you Google Lukla airport, you'll find it's one of the most dangerous airports in the world. The reason is that the the runway is ultra short and ends in a brick wall. When taking off, the other end of the runway drops sharply off a mountain. While we waited for our flight I watched other planes coming and going. The lack of safety standards had me cringing every few minutes. At one point a young man walked so closely to the prop that I was sure he would lose his head. I actually flinched and looked away.

Planes came and went and still we sat there waiting. Elizabeth and Jon were getting steadily worse. It was freezing in the waiting area and they were both shivering. We filled water bottles with hot water for them to hold to help them get warm. We had dressed fairly lightly because we thought we would be in Kathmandu where it was warm. After five, yes five, hours of waiting we decided to go back to the hotel to wait. We got a room for Elizabeth and Jon and they wrapped up in blankets and slept. Reig and I had something to eat and we carried on waiting.

The delays were due to heavy rain in Kathmandu, then rain in Lukla and then wind problems in Lukla. Because of the crazy runway, conditions have to be perfect in Lukla or they close the airport. We went back to the airport at about 3:00 pm. Elizabeth could barely walk and Jon wasn't a lot better. We were told to line up outside where we waited another 30 minutes or so and then they cancelled the flight altogether. Apparently this happens quite frequently and we've heard stories of people being stuck here for three days waiting for flights out!

We grabbed our bags, dragged our asses back to the hotel, and settled the two sick ones into their beds to sleep. We needed to be at the airport by 6:00 am the next morning so it was an early night.Read more