Leaving Korea and Kathmandu arrival

After a stressful couple of months leading up to the big day, it was finally here.  The day we were off for our gap year of travel across the globe.  But first a little back story.  Two weeks previous, Hawie had landed a sinus infection from an inferno of hotel room in Seoul we had booked the night before we did the DMZ tour. It was so bad, we had the window open, the AC on and it was still squenching hot even though it was in the negatives outside. Poor Hawie suffered and got sick. He had gone to the doctor and the doctor prescribed him anti-biotics. Those had made him feel a bit under the weather. Then a week later, he had the bad luck of spraining his ankle after missing a step. Now not only does he feel sick from the antibiotics, he has a sprained ankle and it's 1 week before our departure date. To make a long story short, we both pushed through and got the house and everything we needed to get done before leaving Korea for good! A definite challenge but we survived. We were a bit worried about the flights as well. To get the best deal, we booked our tickets through a budget airline. Not only that, we had to book two seperate flights (still cheaper then booking all the way through) which meant we had to land in Kuala Lumpur, go through immigration, get our checked bags, turn around then go and check our bags again and go through immigration and all that nonsense one more time, all within a 2 hour period. Keep in mind, Hawie's ankle is still not 100 percent so this caused some worry. But we thought we'll try and just ask if they will check our bags all the way through the day we check at the airport.

We had gone up to the airport a day before and had booked a room in a hotel at the airport to make things easier for us in the morning. Very good call. We had one checked bag and our two backpacks. The suitcase we had, had wheels but was super awkward and heavy. With Hawie's ankle, I had to pick up the slack and juggle my pack and the awkward suitcase.  We got to the train station then up to Seoul Station. Knowing we had a short amount of time at the Kuala Lumpur airport to transfer and me struggling with the bag we were a bit worried. By the time we got to Seoul Station and caught our breath, the suitcase decided it was done as well. At least we were at Seoul Station and could purchase a new suitcase. That's what we did. It was a blessing in disguise the other suitcase decided to retire. After unloading and reloading the new suitcase int he middle of the station, we were off to the airport subway. Things were much easier now. We made it up to our hotel after getting on the wrong subway then on the correct one, getting ot the airport to ask the airline in advance if we could check our bags through to have missed them begin open by 10 minutes, to getting in a taxi who had no idea where our hotel was but was kind enough to get out of the taxi and run around to try and find where it was for us. We made it...to the airport hotel anyway. Adventure stress number one, TASK COMPLETE!

At the Airport

At the airport, we got there no problem and super early. Which was good because we ended up having to unload and get rid of a bunch more stuff seeing they also weighed our carry-ons as well. :( After we got through that mess and on top of that they wouldn't check our bags through, we quickly grabbed breakfast and were off through customs. We got to our gate in just enough time to run to the bathroom and board.  Whew! Round 1 for the day down. We scored an extra seat and Hawie could stretch his ankle out luckily. I was a nervous wreck the entire time worried about round two.  Luckily our plane landed early which gave us some extra breathing room. We landed and did the entire dance. Go through immigration, get your bag, take bag back up to the check in counter, check in, go through customs and immigration again, find your gate and breath. Done and done! It was a bit stressful but we made it again with just enough time to hit the bathroom and sigh with relief. The flight was packed this time so Hawie couldn't stretch out which made him uncomfortable for the 4 and half hour journey but he pushed through and made it! :)


Kathmandu arrival

We did it! We finally landed in Kathmandu! Tired and exhausted and knowing we still had a bit of work ahead of us we were still releived. We were one of the first ones off hte plane and through immigration. We were smart and filled out our paperwork for our visas ahead of time and just whipped it out and gave it to the visa guy. The very nice Nepalese man that took our visa money and stamped our visa was a delight! We were off to get our bag! With a little bit of waiting we got our bag, headed out and exchanged a few dollars to ruppees to get us by til morning and were off out into the madness of taxi driver touts and traffic. We had booked our hostel before hand and they came and picked us up. However we did the same in Cambodia and they had never come so we were a bit doubtful. Then all of a sudden I looked up and over across the street and saw in big letters HAWIE! WHOO HOO! We quickly walked over and got our stuff in the van and off we went. It was 8pm Nepal time by now and we were done. But off we went through very bumpy roads, some traffic and around cows and stray dogs. But within 20 minutes we had arrived at our hostel witha  warm welcome from the staff. The easiest part of our day had been as soon as we landed in Nepal! We were feeling excited, good, tired and hungry. We ate dinner at the hostel and were promplty off to bed for an exciting next day!