I took it on the chin, as their true
colours and their lack of integrity and
‘mateship’ was made quite clear when
they yet again left him behind for the
next leg of the trip.
Nevertheless, instead of re-joining
the group, on the second leg which, is
just as exhilarating as the previous, I
once again stayed to help the injured
rider, as his family member had final-
ly arrived.
The next few days were spent brief-
ing her on the protocols of hospital
life and helping as much as I possibly
could and where I could. There obvi-
ously came a point where I could no
longer be of assistance, as now every-
thing was now in the hands of the Em-
bassy, Insurance Company, and Fami-
ly. I needed to book my flight back to
Kathmandu.
As I sat and waited for my flight, I
had time to recap over the crazy events
of the past week. It was a very ex-
hausting time, I was looking forward
to a break from the week’s events.
As I was walked to board the plane, I
stopped dead in my tracks at the bot-
tom of the steps as an overwhelming
weird feeling came over me. I looked
at my watch and it showed 1:11pm.
For some people that means some-
thing, and with everything that had
transpired, I questioned myself.
‘What did it mean?! Do I get on the
plane, or not?’
Now holding up people from get-
ting on the plane, I had to make the
decision of either get on or get out of
the way. I knew I had another group
arriving the next day so could not de-
lay my flight out of Pokhara any lon-
ger. As apprehensive as I was, I board-
ed the plane, but I certainly wasn't at
TRAVERSE 83
ease.
I’m not normally a nervous flyer,
and to be honest, I love take offs and
landings, but with the unease I felt
leaving Pokhara, I was certainly glad
to land safely in Kathmandu.
Finally, I thought this was all over,
and could concentrate on destressing.
A normal 20-minute taxi ride to get to
the hotel became a two-hour trip. I
eventually found out that it was due to
an accident, of course.
It was just one thing after anoth-
er, and once checked in at the hotel,
I found out there was a recent plane
crash at Kathmandu Airport. I found
this quite hard to believe as I was just
there a couple of hours ago.
I started googling and found that
the crash had happened, one or two
flights after I had landed. ‘OMG, what
the hell is it with this trip?', I thought.