Lekh N Adhikari
5/11/08
Now it has been almost two years that I am out from my country. According to my thought, when I had made it before leaving country I planned to go to my home. I thought that as soon as I finish my spring semester I should go. There were couples of reasons for that. One reason was I could get a rest for a while from Chemistry and my research for a while and get relaxed my monotonous mind and other reason was I could meet my parents earlier. That’s why I bought a ticket to Nepal on the same day as my final finishes even though my semester ends officially after 6 days from today. Before going to Nepal I had to go to New York to visit my brother to whom I had not seen for almost two years. It was not only my parents and his desire to meet before going to home but also I was desperately waiting to see him. It was not so easy to get a vacation for a week to go there because I had already asked to my advisor to take off for almost six weeks for my Nepal trip. Finally, I decided to take vacation for my New York trip too before my semester ended and after my teaching finished.
I went to east coast 9 days before I had a flight to Nepal and came back on 6th of May which was only 3 days before my Nepal journey. Initially I did not think that I would have that much pressure and rush in my final hour but actually it didn’t go with my expectation. In rest 3 days, I had to do all my final setting for my trip and in the mean time I had to take my final exam of my course and I had to give a practice talk in my group about my research what I am doing in lab which I am going to present in a conference in Kathmandu this month. So, I ended up with a lot of works in final hours. In the mean time I had to do some shopping to for my trip even though I had done most of it before 2-3 weeks. I had to collect the gifts and goods from my friends that they wanted to send for their family or relatives. I also wanted to meet all of them before my departure since I will be staying for more than a month and I was going to miss them for that long period. Due to all those reasons I was unable to sleep even in the nights and have my lunch and dinner on time. But finally, whether I finish my all jobs or not I had to be ready for my take off which was on 9th of May. According to my regular schedule I had my final exam on the same day early in the morning. Once I am done with my exam I said goodbye to all my lab mates as well as my friends in the Department and finally to my advisor. I came to home and did my packing. My fight was at 8:35 PM. So, I left the home at around 6:00 PM. Because of a international flight I thought I have to be in airport at least 2 hours prior to the departure. I was with my two other friends who were also travelling with me in the same flight from Reno. Couple of our friend came with us to drop us off. After checking the luggage in, they said goodbye to us. I felt somehow sad at that moment even though I was so excited about my trip.
Our travel started on time from Reno at 8:35 PM. We had an international flight from San Francisco where we had to do some paper works in immigration. We finished all work within an hour. Our next flight was at 1:20 AM from there. On that leisure time I talked to some of my friends on phone which made me easy to pass time. Until there I had not felt any boringness. Once we boarded in, I had a plan to sleep in aircraft so that I could get rid of my sleepiness but it did not work. I could not sleep there. It was very long flight of almost 15 hours that gave me very hard time to kill my time. I was looking on watch in every 10 minutes (sometimes in every 2-3 minutes too). Those 15 hours became like 15 days for me. There was totally dark outside too which would be my friend to pass time if it was daytime. Standing up on the passage, going to bathroom and walking back and forth in the plane from one end to other were the only alternatives for that night. I watched two movies too in the mean time. Finally, the aircraft was about to landing in Hong Kong.
I was so happy but again worried about the 12 hours transit period which I had to spend there. Initially, I thought I would sleep in the lounge in the airport but I could not sleep there too even though my eyes were red and weren’t with proper sight. I thought to use internet which was available there to pass time. I read the news and talked to few friends online that made me the time easy. I also got tired from using computer and then walked around the duty free stores inside the airport. I can’t imagine what would be happened if I was alone and had that much long flight and transit. All three of us me, Nagendra and Beni were sitting next to each other and talking most of the time. That was the one and only one way to forget all the pains except the hope to see my dad, sister and other relatives tonight in Kathmandu.
Ultimately, our 12 hours long waiting period also got over and the announcement to board the flight was made. We boarded in on the aircraft. I saw more than 90 percent of the passengers were Nepali and I was happy when the safety announcement in the plane was made in Nepali to except in English and Chinese. I tried to sleep even it was only about four and half hour flight from Hong Kong to Kathmandu. I became unable to do so and after having a meal I opened my laptop to listen some songs. And then, I thought to write few words to about my journey and experiences. At his point, a flight attendant made an announcement to turn off all the portable electronic devices because flight was about to landing. I am so happy now because I am almost about in Nepal.
Thanks for sharing the experience.
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