Every year my family and I take a vacation over the Christmas/New Year holiday. This year we went to India, Nepal and Mt. Everest.
The highlight of the trip in India was traveling to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
Our trip to Nepal began in Kathmandu. Kathmandu is the hub of Nepal's traditional culture and arts. It is also the beginning of your trek in the Himalayas. One day after landing in Kathmandu, we flew to Lukla to begin our trek.
Sirens inform folks for miles when an airplane is landing here, and as you would suspect, only helicopters and Twin Otter type planes can handle the 2,000 foot, uphill runway that is fenced off at the end, to protect you from the edge of a mountain cliff.
For the next 5 days we trekked between 6-8 hours everyday. The further you get up the trek, the poorer the accommodation... but to be honest you just need a place to sleep by that point and don't really care. I had the most amazing shower of my life with a view of a fantastic looking mountain on route. The shower was freezing, the water was too cold to stand under and it was snowing, but it was beautiful and very relaxing! On day 2 we arrived at Namache Bazaar, the last big town before Base Camp. It's a lovely place with plenty of walking potential short or long and is right in the heart of snow covered peaks. Laden Yaks and Trekkers from all over the world make this a really great town.
We never made it to Base Camp because of our time constraints but did end up at 17.000 ft. We hired a helicopter that took us up to Base Camp and then flew us up to Everest.
From Everest, the helicopter flew us back to Kathmandu which is where we spent New Years Eve. This was a trip of a lifetime and it is definitely one to put on your to do list of things before you die.
