The last time I went to Kathmandu, I was on a same-day ticket I was forced to buy in Kabul, Afghanistan after I missed my flight out. Kabul is not a city you want to get stuck in, so making it to Kathmandu was the best feeling I´ve ever had landing in an anonymous city. I traveled around Nepal last time, but this visit was a transit stop to finally get to Bhutan.

Tihar festival of lights

Kathmandu is a great stopover city, although my least favourite airport in the world. For being the country´s main international entry and exit point, the most basic things don´t work. The visa on arrival system takes 3 different line ups, and includes kiosks, a cashier, pen and paper, and an immigration officer with the final stamp. It took an hour and a half to get out of there,  and even longer to leave. Our flight to Bhutan was delayed 3 hours, in a terminal that had squat toilets, no duty free, and no souvenir shops.

My travel buddies to Bhutan

The traffic is okay during holidays and we were there during the Tihar lights festival, unless you get stuck behind a marching band and their parade… then the roads slow down to walking speed. I was meeting two Icelandic friends who had just finished their yoga teacher training in Pokhara, so we split a hotel in Thamel to do some cheap shopping and dining. I have a Nepalese friend who lives in Iceland, but managed to overlap with him in Kathmandu at the same time he was in town.

luxury in Thamel

We didn´t have much say in our Bhutan planning, since we had a guide and itinerary pre-booked and fully paid before hand. Planning a night on either side of Bhutan was our only project, and deciding which trekking shoes our outdoor clothes to buy. We treated ourselves to infinity pools, massages and pedicures because we could afford to do so, and just tried to drink the jetlag off. Nepal was the perfect launching point for Bhutan, with just enough similarity in weather, people, food and culture to feel familiarized with what was to come.