Well, what more is there to write? We we got up this morning our holiday was effectively over, and we just had the tedium of a looooooong journey back home again.
We had a light breakfast in the hotel restaurant, then collected our cases from our room and went down to the foyer to check out. The minibus had, by now, arrived to take us to the Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, so once we’d paid our hotel bill and our luggage was loaded into the vehicle, we set off into the early Friday morning traffic.
It was about 40 minutes to the airport, and once we arrived the guy showed us where we needed to go to check in. There were no queues so we checked our bags right through to London Heathrow. Looking at the time, we decided it wouldn’t we worth while going to the executive lounge, so we just went through security and along to the departure gate to wait. Once there, we spotted Charles and Julie again and stopped for a brief chat.
Our flight was soon called for the first leg of the journey – Kathmandu to Delhi. We were offered a snack and a bottle of water; I declined the snack but drank the water with some more paracetamols. When we came into land, it was really painful for my ears as the aircraft descended; normally passengers will feel slight popping in their ears as the pressure is equalised, but because I was bunged up with my cold I couldn’t relieve the pressure, and it was like being in deep water. I was relieved once we were back on terra firma. 🙁
Inside Indira Gandhi International Airport we didn’t have a lot of time before our flight was called, so off went along to the departure gate for the longest part of the journey. Once we boarded the Boeing 777, we noticed there were a lot of spare seats, so Trevor and I had three seats between two of us, which was great. This meant I could sit with my feet up and help to avoid the awful swollen feet and ankles that are so common on long-haul flights.
The flight wasn’t too bad, as it happens. The staff came around fairly regularly with drinks and snacks, as well as our main meal. I declined my dinner, but kept myself hydrated with the small bottles of water and some cans of Tiger Beer. 🙂
Then I just passed the time reading, messing around on my iPad, looking out of the window, leafing through the in-flight magazines and seeing where we were on the SkyMap. The eight and a half hour flight seemed to go by quite quickly, and eventually the “fasten seatbelts” sign came on for our final approach into Heathrow Terminal 4.
Again, the changes in air pressure as the aircraft descended were very uncomfortable, and by the time we finally landed I felt as if both of my ears were filled with fluid. At least the long-haul flight was over though, and we were back in Blighty.
It didn’t take too long to retrieve our cases from the luggage carousel, after which we made our way to the underground station, and the Picadilly Line, to get the tube along to London King’s Cross, where we arrived about 8.15pm.
Our train back up to Durham was not due until 10 o’clock, but we’d arranged to meet our daughter Kathryn and her husband Gareth (they live in London) in the “Parcel Yard” pub, and we found they were already there when we arrived.
So that’s it, really. We passed a pleasant hour or so in the Parcel Yard until it was time to go along to Platform 6 around 9.45pm, where our train was already in. We stashed our cases in the luggage rack and tiredly made our way to our seats for the last leg of the journey. The train left on time and headed north, rattling along at a fair old pace, bringing us ever closer to home.
We were back in the house just before 2.00am, after another incredible (and different!) experience and adventure in Nepal. What a great time we had had.