The Quinn Family Excellent Adventure: December 2018

In Thailand, I thought checking out Everest would be cool. I suspected it would be busy so I researched and booked way ahead. https://himalayasguide.com/everest-base-camp-helicopter-flight-landing-tour/ Rajan responded immediately and we sorted out a date. I was hoping for December 25th but hey the 26th is just as good. We were picked up at 6:00 AM and after a few pickups we arrived at the airport meeting 2 others. As we were flying we had to do domestic security checks and all that. We were handed our boarding passes and soon weighed in. Another short drive within the airport revealed a helicopter lot and our Summit Helicopter machine http://www.fishtailair.com/

Our route was as follows:
Kathmandu Airport
Lukla
Kalapathar
Mount Everest Base Camp
Mount Everest view hotel
Kathmandu Airport

It took only a few minutes to prep the machine and soon we were aloft. The Kathmandu dust was soon dissipating as we headed up and exited the city towards Lukla for refueling. This was a 45 minute ride so a great time to enjoy the views. Lukla is a famous airport for its short sloped runway

Lukla Airport (Tenzing–Hillary)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing%E2%80%93Hillary_Airport
It is apparently rated as the most dangerous airport in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqgZvb37NX0
Fortunately for us we flew in with a heli. Super easy

After Lukla we headed to Kalapathar to split our 6 person group up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kala_Patthar

At these elevations, weight in an issue. We left 3 people and heavy bags for the short hop to Base Camp. We were lucky to go first. We were also lucky the visibility was outstanding again. Sometimes, the pilot cannot land due to winds. He said he felt them but had no issues. We had about 10 minutes to walk about shooting pics of everything. The pilot also shot some pics as the clarity was really good. It was pretty cold but the excitement made it easily ignored. We all felt kind of drunk with not having acclimated to the elevation. I thought I was having low blood sugar issues or super tired but it was just lack of oxygen. It was necessary to breathe deep and not exert. We were soon taken back to Kalapathar and the next team went up. Soon after the heli was gone, the silence was as breathtaking as the view. It was a nice time to look around and chill in the sun. A beautiful fresh water stream was there and the water was so pure. After about 20 minutes our heli was back with 3 smiling people.

We all hopped in a were whisked to the spectacular Mount Everest view hotel for breakfast. http://hoteleverestview.com/ What a view ! We had an hour to enjoy the amazing sites and enjoy a nice breakfast. The service was excellent. We also paid our National Park Entrance fee there. $3000 Rupees per person. Fair for what they maintain I think. Time seemed to stop for this entire hour. We had plenty of time to walk around and shoot amazing shots. Everything was beautiful. Totally breathtaking. Two members of our team were hiking down. We said goodbye and got a few romantic shots as they hit the trails. The rest of our team were soon airborne and headed back to Kathmandu. The pilot let us have a group shot and we said our goodbyes. Rajan escorted us back home via our taxi and wished us all well. He indicated we should hydrate and rest as our bodies are a little weirded out with the elevation changes. The girls did this. I'm blogging ha ha. Great day.

Oh you may have noticed a little Giraffe in the pics. The is Mr Giraffe. He was introduced to us in Thailand. Sarah from Hong Kong was touring with him. He had previously toured with her sister. Sarah forgot him at the Chai Lai Orchid front desk. We saved him and asked her if he can tour with us. She is cool with it for now. You can call him Mr. G if you want. He liked Everest too.

Heading to the airport