{"id":24856,"date":"2018-04-26T08:53:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T12:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=24856"},"modified":"2018-04-26T08:53:47","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T12:53:47","slug":"and-i-thought-it-was-a-bit-pricey-before-but-i-figured-when-in-nepal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=24856","title":{"rendered":"And I thought it was a bit pricey BEFORE… but I figured when in Nepal…"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Everest Express.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an hour round trip flight to see the Himalayas and specifically Mount Everest.<\/p>\n

Or such is the idea.<\/p>\n

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A number of airlines seem to do it and our guide booked us on Yeti Air. \u00a0The wings and turbo propellers were mounted under the fuselage; I think I would have preferred the Nepal Air planes that had the wings mounted above the fuselage to allow for better views.<\/p>\n

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This was especially true as I was seated just over the wing. \u00a0But it was what it was.<\/p>\n

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I could go into the weird bureaucracy wherein a later flight (YT302, scheduled departure 6:45 am) boarded and took off before the earlier one (YT301, scheduled departure 6:30). \u00a0The majority of my traveling group was on YT302. \u00a0Three of us were on the 7 am flight (YT303).<\/p>\n

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We boarded the plane and waited for a weather report from the earlier flights to see if it was worth our taking off. \u00a0The sky was hazy, the percentages from pollution, dust, or an approaching storm debatable. \u00a0The reality was, I was a bit worried we wouldn\u2019t go. \u00a0But the door closed and the props spun and off we went.<\/p>\n

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Turns out I kinda wish we hadn\u2019t. \u00a0By the time we got to Everest, the peak was clouded over so it just kinda looked… well.. \u00a0it was already hard to pick out other visible peaks amongst the various mountain tops even with our complimentary visual guide.<\/p>\n

But when the flight attendants wandered past, repeating for each passenger the peaks that were visible, they very clearly said to each of us, \u201cthat\u2019s Everest there, behind the clouds.\u201d \u00a0So we couldn\u2019t even really delude ourselves into thinking one of those peaks was Edmund Hillary\u2019s triumph.
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I was a bit bummed but tried to put on a brave face. \u00a0They served champagne to toast the Mountain and I suppose I tried to view it as simply one of the more expensive glasses of bubbly I\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n

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Upon our return to the Kathmandu Domestic terminal, we met up with the others. \u00a0They apparently had a very clear view of the peak. \u00a0That\u2019s the thing with nature – you can\u2019t control it, try as we might; you can only experience it. \u00a0And my experience with Everest was, as is true for many who seek to conquer it, a story of failure.<\/p>\n

And I didn\u2019t see a Yeti.<\/p>\n

So basically that barely quarter filled champagne flute cost me $210.<\/p>\n

And now a moment of zen: a view of the Himalayas above the clouds.<\/p>\n