This is me — full of juice, cookies and a banana — so happy I wasn’t climbing to that temple behind me. And besides!! No photos, once you are inside the temple.
Back to Tiger’s Nest Temple. This is Tom halfway down from the temple. I was so glad I decided not to go!!
Don’t let the railing fool you. There were no railings the last half down.
These are the photos I was not able to take myself because I wimped out on the hike. But friends are wonderful to have!!! These are the brave six who actually got into the temple and watched the monk bless the prayer flags that we all received.
The title on the center photo is “Even babies go the Tiger’s Nest”.
These were the horses that we were very specifically ordered NOT to use for the way up.
One of our travel mates had a friend, a couple years ago, on one of these horses, fell off, broke her back and had to be CARRIED down the mountain.
Now I’m complaining about down, down, down. Sometimes steps are harder down than up.
My hero, Ilene.
As the other ladies were heading downward (after NOT going to the Tiger’s Nest) Ilene came from the temple and was asking for some cash to buy a beer and have lunch before hiking down the last half.
Well, BEFORE WE GOT TO THE BOTTOM, she had her beer, her lunch, walked downhill and PASSED US!!
I decided the least I could do, is follow her down the rest of the way after meeting her, and I kept up pretty well.
This was on the way to the hotel up the dirt road and out of the city. They harvest their rice by hand, all the family included. And cows just wander at they wish.
Speaking of cows. The Bhutanese do not believe in killing animals. It’s against their religion. But they get the Tibetan and people from India to do it FOR them and they buy the meat from them. H-m-m. Not sure if that counts for ‘not killing’.
Back to the beautiful Bhutanese airport in Paro, artwork and all. Steve had taken Maria and I into the airport lounge for wine at 7:30 am on our way to Paro; so, fairly, he took Michael and Carlos for this trip. I was just happy feeling almost myself and hanging in the airport alone watching netflix.
I met my cute friends at the airport but did not sit with them.
Needless to say, our flight did not hit a mountain on the way up.
Anup was tour guiding another group, so we met with the Tour Manager, Lacksme. He gave us another prayer scarf and told us how excited he was to be leaving us tomorrow to take a long bus ride to his village where he would join the festival with his family. The festival involved having twinkling lights throughout the city, and food and merriment. It also involved the Nepalese to slaughter 108 animals in a square in Katmandu for all to see. They slaughter water buffalo, goats, chicken and something else. It’s an offering to the Gods. But the meat gets to the people and they have food for a long time.
I am definitely glad we were not in town to witness the offerings!!
Back in Katmandu hotel, the Yak & Yeti, for the third time. Spent all day just packing and repacking and enjoying relaxation and down time.
Tom was leaving at 11 PM. I got to spend the night and leave at 8 the next morning.
So I met Tom in the lobby for an early dinner and we walked to the main drag to a restaurant called (something)’s One Tree because, as you can see, it was built around a tree. Tom had Italian and I had a spring roll and pasta. SOOOOOO much better than Nepalese food!!
Tom was trying to sleep before going to the airport — to no avail. So I met him in the lobby and had a glass of wine and bid him a fond farewell.
He did not catch a cold or covid on this trip. He feels that because he ‘was a pin cushion’ with four vaccine boosters prior to this trip, he avoided it all.
For an additional $199, I was again in Business Class on Qatar Airline for 5 hours. I relaxed, had champagne and wine, a fine dinner, a 1/2 hour nap, watched a bunch of TV AND I DIDN’T CARE IF THE PLANE EVER LANDED!!
The plane had a forward and downward camera. So before take-off, I was monitoring the forward camera when I spied AN AIRPLANE COMING AT US!!! There is not much to do at this point, except pray.
Luckily, the oncoming plane took a right and all was well.
I was so happy in Business Class, I hadn’t realized we were landing about an hour late.
After stepping off Qatar nirvana, like cattle (a far cry from Business Class), we were herded into a group of those in Transit heading to JFK, led by a young Qatar Rep. We had an hour to get to our gate, which seemed easy. But we not only had to go through a security line to get to another terminal, we ALSO had to go thru a second security line to get into the gate. The Rep was walking so fast, it was almost running.
I have realized that the most stringent security I’ve gone through is always the flight that is landing in the U.S. It is the United States that requires these excessive security checks before allowing people to land on US soil. I guess that’s a good thing.
But we all made it on the flight. I knew Michael and Carlos were on my flight, but when I asked, it turned out all three of us were in the same trio of seats. I was happy to have the aisle. We were on there for 14 hours!!
Four glasses of wine, three meals, 3 movies and about 8 hours of sleep later, we found ourselves in JFK.
Since I have Global entry, it’s always a cinch to enter the country. Getting my suitcase is always a different matter. Carlos and Michael both eventually got their suitcases. I insisted they leave me at this point, since it was 11 PM and they had a hotel reservation with a flight home to Atlanta the next day. I had nowhere to go for another 8 hours. They wouldn’t be able to help me anyway, even if my luggage never came. I finally convinced them to leave and that’s the last I’ve seen or heard from them. Maybe they’ll read this blog and send me a comment…
My suitcase arrived within 5 minutes after they left.
Here is my suitcase. I had to pick it up because of immigration and I was still on a high from the Qatar Business Class and was so very proud of my orange tag. THAT WAS SHORT-LIVED when I realized that picking up my suitcase for immigration and dumping it on to a belt down the hall was not going to be that easy.
My last leg from JFK to Orlando was on JetBlue. JETBLUE????!!! Were they even still in business???
Jetblue must be JFK’s red-headed stepchild and flies out of Terminal Five. To get to Terminal 5 (WITH THE SUITCASE, THE CARRY-ON AND MY PURSE) requires going outside, across streets and waiting for a bus! It was so cold in NYC the workers had on those waterproof rubber boots and heavy jackets. I was too tired to notice.
A nice worker helped me get my suitcases on to the bus and we drove around on a bus for a 1/2 hour in order to get to Terminal Five.
By this time I was pretty sure of what I was going to find in Terminal Five. NO ONE!!!!! It was a ghost town with a few humans sitting on the ground surrounded by their travel stuff.
I think I know what being homeless feels like. Pick a site, not too close to others, but not too secluded for safety, and then just make the floor your home.
Since this is an airport and the number one rule is never, never leave your stuff unattended, I hauled all my stuff downstairs to where I had seen an open Duncan Donuts
A donut, a muffin and coffee on the floor — OH! how far I had fallen from Business Class just 20 hours prior!!
I filled my time with my phone and magazines until I was able to dump my suitcase about 2 AM and then get through security into the main airport and my gate. (No thanks to people who kept telling me nothing would be open until 4 am).
I binged more Netflix SUITS until we took off at 6:30 am.
Note to self — don’t fly Jetblue out of JFK again.
OH, but this wasn’t the end. I flew 2-1/2 hours to Orlando, picked up my suitcase and went to transportation where I was getting a shuttle to Daytona Beach. I was in C. My shuttle email did not mention C; only A and B.
So I hauled my suitcases up and down 2 flights (Twice) and headed off to B. It turned out to be about a mile away, walking and tram. Got to B just in time and saw my shuttle.
Once on and settled, my question to the driver “By the way, do you pick up at C?” Sure we do, I just left there. GGRRR!
Finally get to Daytona Beach Transport and very happy to see my car parked there safe and sound. Drive home and arrived about noon. Sheesh — about a 37 hour ordeal.
I’ve been saying this a lot: “I might be too old for this shit!”
My haul. I find that if I’m with big-time shoppers, I end up buying stuff I don’t want or need. Who needs a 6 pound brass elephant door knob???
I had a sore throat coming home. Took this Covid test about 4 days in and I was negative. But I am still not 100% and I am on day 14!!
I am off to South Dakota in 4 days where the weather is not scheduled to ever hit a high of 50 degrees!!
I’ll gladly take your thoughts and prayers!!
Safe Tavels
Linda Jeanne