Getting Ready: Janella’s and Dorota’s Nepal Trip

Visas - A quick check shows that both Janella and I will need tourist visas for Nepal, which are available for purchase at the airport. Great: this saves us having to get them before we leave. We note we’ll need passport photos and $25 for the visa.

Passports - We verify that our passports have at least 6 months before expiration, and a full empty page for the visa stamp. Both are required to enter Nepal.

Vaccinations - I break out into my happy dance: none required!

The itinerary - now that we have secured our tickets, Janella and I start planning.

We leave Denver at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m., flying Air China first to San Francisco and then to Beijing; In China we’ll board Thai Airways flying to Bangkok -- where we’ll spend the night -- and fly the next day to Kathmandu.

In San Francisco, we have a seven hour layover. Hello City by the Bay! Even though it will be early in the morning -- we land at 7:30 am !! -- neither Janella nor I are about to waste this opportunity to pop into one of the world’s most beautiful cities. We plan to take BART, the subway/train, right into San Francisco for a breakfast/brunch near downtown and possibly a quick walk along Fisherman’s Wharf for a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge.

We’re giddy: Just flying to Nepal will be fun!

The flight back, however, promises even more adventures. We have two major layovers: 7 hours in Bangkok, a whopping 14 hours in Beijing. Woo-hoo!

Janella and I plan on taking a taxi into Bangkok for a quick look at some temples, a stroll along the happening Khaosan Road neighborhood or a drink in some fabled hotel along the river Chao Phraya.

Neither Janella nor I will need tourist visas to leave the Bangkok airport; however Janella -- who travels on a Peruvian passport -- will need a visa if we’re to go into Beijing.

We certainly have enough time for a trip into the Chinese capital -- we could see the Forbidden City! -- but decide to play that part of the trip by ear. We figure Janella can always arrange her Chinese visa in Kathmandu if that’s what we decide to do. But if we’re too tired for Beijing, we can also check into an airport hotel, or spend the layover in a transit lounge with food, showers and comfortable seating.

In Kathmandu, Janella and I have a long list of projects to see and people to meet. We’ll explore this fabled city - a chaotic mix of the old and the new, the exotic and the familiar - and as we go, share our insights in Field Notes.

This promises to be an extraordinary trip.