I began my travels with such a good weekend in London meeting 9 friends and most staying at his uni for the two nights. Navigating the trains and tubes went surprisingly well and i managed to successfully board the plane to Abu Dhabi from Heathrow. Arriving in Abu dhabi airport i had a mind-numbing 13hours to kill and with no opportunity to actually leave, it being late at night, i would have to find somewhere to sleep or something to do. With next to nowhere to sit down let alone sleep i was pleased to find a small empty room with a few computers that i could use free of charge! The prospect of social networking through the night was tempting and looking quite likely at this point but after 3 hours of browsing i left and looked for somehwere i could read and potentially sleep. I was sure that there must be more amenities than the one Costa Coffee if i went through to my terminal but was sadly mistaken as i found only a line of desks and about 20 occupied seats, i now considered what a long 9 hours it could be.. I was kindly let back through security and found a free sofa chair at Costa Coffee (jackpot!) i had a few hours sleep, something to eat and with no sign of Jenson anywhere, headed to my gate again. Waiting for my gate to open a friendly Etihad floor assistant started chatting to me which passed the time and not only that..he ended up changing my seats so i got extra leg room and a window, personally walking me to my gate, making sure i passed all security and passport queues without waiting and then asked for me to be first to board the plane! A great result :) the flight was very pleasant thanks to that extra assistance.


I arrived in Kathmandu and was picked up from the airport as expected..my heart sunk for a few seconds as no one held up a card with my name, i doubted if the childrens' home actually existed!..but sure enough there was my lift, a very friendly man with good english who transported me right to my hotel room. The hotel was nice and in an area a bit away from the crazy Kathmandu sights i had passed in the taxi, meaning leaving to fetch food was not so daunting (it was nightime as well). I left my room in search of water, a sim card and some dinner. I returned successfuly with something i had bought from a street vendor for less than 60p, riskily deciding that i would avoid the burger shops and go for something more authentic. It tasted really good and with no 'delhi belly' it was the right choice :)

(Having trouble uploading photos with slow internet!!)