TRAVELS AROUND THE WORLD

Monday, October 29, 2012

2012_10_30 Abu Dhabi and on to Kathmandu

Etihad Tower - a LOT of construction along the corniche viewed as we went for morning walk

We walked over to the Emirates Palace Hotel first thing in the morning. Were told that "guests" could not enter the hotel until after 10:00. Too bad - this place is supposed to be sensational!

Here's an image from the internet that shows it scale. The image above is from the "front gate" at the bottom of that road leading up to the hotel. Massive.

View across from the Hilton's Beach area

Hilton Beach Club on the Arabian Sea. Downtown Abu Dhabi in the distance.

Rich and Paul in the Arabian Sea

Emirates Palace Hotel from "our" private beach

Emirates Palace Hotel from the Hilton elevator shaft

Four hours sleep and we're feeling a bit refreshed. Off to breakfast at the Hilton @ 6:30. Then off to see the amazing Emirates Palace hotel just next to where we are staying. A stop to spend an hour at the Sheik Zayeed Mosque and a 2:00 flight to Nepal.

This concludes the beach portion of the trip!

We are sitting in the airport in Abu Dhabi ready for our four hour flight to Kathmandu. Free Wi-Fi in airport. Use it when you can. So far, not sighting of Luis and Chio. They were stranded at the airport last night due to visa problems with that trouble making Ecuadoran Chio. Just kidding. They stayed at the airport hotel - probably sleeping. Hold it - they just appeared. All is bueno!

Water and pillars outside the Mosque

The 4 ladies at the Sheik Zayeed Mosque

Connie

Entrance to the mosque

Pretty woman

One of the many chandeliers inside the mosque. This place is HUGE!

Close-up of one of the chandeliers. Look at the detail of the carvings on the walls!

Another view where you can see a portion of the world's largest carpet

This is to show the scale of the place. That wall has the 99 names of Allah inscribed on it. Note the people looking like ants below.

As always, you can click on any image to see it in more detail.....

2012_10_28 Etihad to Abu Dhabi

Quite the interesting flight. Arrived at O'Hare and spent 30 minutes going through the line to obtain boarding passes. Proceeded to the gate where there was a really long queue of people waiting to board. It seems that Etihad does not bother with any boarding calls. First come, first on board. We had our seats assigned ahead of time so it was really no problem. Once aboard we settled in for a 12.5 hour flight. That was the first good news of the night. I believed the flight was 14.5 hours so we were already ahead of the game. Still, 12.5 is a pretty long flight. I was just looking over the people after a little stretching - not to many "gringos" on the plane. What would you expect.

The plane has a really good personal entertainment screen (one for each person in the seat back). Tons of movies, t.v. shows, music and games that are all completely on demand. On some other international flights there were limited movies and you had to wait until the start time cycled around to watch them. Not here - find something you want to watch and fire it up. I have watched 3 movies - Dark Shadows, Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. There is also power ports for each seat but I didn't try to use them. Not needed but may take advantage of them on the return trip. I brought a bunch of electronic devices and because of all the entertainment choices didn't touch any of them until I decided to do this on my MacBook

We ate a lot of food - 2 full dinners, a sandwich and even a bag of caramel corn to watch the movies with. Lots of drink choices including wine at no charge. Even hot chocolate this "morning" with our second meal. Interesting mix of foods, I tried some lamb and we had a couple of vegetarian Indian dishes that were quite tasty. Connie just told me I slept through ice cream bars. Doh! I would say that overall the Etihad experience was really good. The seats didn't have a lot of room in their Coral Class section - "steerage" but the entertainment helped to pass the time.

We're about an hour from Abu Dhabi - hoping the the New York bunch got off on time (or close to it) and the adventure in the United Arab Emirates will begin. Our bags are checked through to Kathmandu on tomorrow's flight so we just have to get our overnight bag and carry on's and head for the Hilton Abu Dhabi. There will be a 32 person bus waiting for us to deliver 10 of us to the hotel.

Just announced 220 miles from Abu Dhabi and we're going to begin the descent. Powering down……...

Update: Rediker's N Y plane was to land 15 minutes after us. We are waiting at the appointed spot - Starbucks.

Six of the eight eventually got their bags and met us by the Starbucks. Chio (Ecuador) was not able to solve the visa conundrum and was forced to stay at the Airport hotel with her husband Luis. Since we are staying there on the return trip we'll find out exactly where it is.

We got to the Hilton around 10:30 and checked in. Because Rich is a Hilton "fancy pants" we get free wi-fi! Went for a late walk on the Corniche (along the Arabian Sea) along with quite a few locals. Cooler now (81 according to smart phones.) Stopped and Rich bought a kinda gyro kind of plate that had pickled carrots, green beans along with sliced beef. Everyone shared a little bit of it and now it's time for bed. Quarter to 12 local time and we're supposed to meet for the breakfast buffet at 6:30. A few hours of sleep and we'll be off and running. Good night, John Boy.......

Connie standing in the line of people waiting for arrivals. Green shirt off to the right.

Rich waving along with Paul Jacobs (middle white shirt) and some locals.

Gayle Rediker looks happy to see us! Richie and Bobi Steingart coming around the wall in left back.

Rich next to a mural in a underpass heading to the Corniche.

I liked the sepia look.

7 of the eight out along the Corniche. Pretty blurry but you get the idea.

Rich waiting at the food stand along with a few locals. Snack was delicious!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

2012_10_27 Almost time!

Well, we hope to meet up with 8 of our East Coast travel buddies in Abu Dhabi around 8:00 in the evening on the 29th (U.A.E. time). I hope that they are able to get out before Frankenstorm arrives! I will ASSume that all will go smoothly, but who knows what Mother Nature has in mind. It's always something!

We're finishing up our packing now (sort of) and will complete that chore sometime tomorrow. Couldn't sleep much last night thinking about all that we will be doing.

It should be a blast.

I will attempt to post here every time I have a glimmer of internet access. Can't promise how much that will be after the first few days because we'll be pretty much off the grid walking in the foothills of the Himalayas.

I'll try to post some images from Abu Dhabi - they have lots of internet access there I bet......

Talk to you all soon.

Status update. I got a call this morning from Rich who had been trying to find out what was happening on the inbound flight from Abu Dhabi to New York. The Etihad sight said that that flight had been cancelled. That would have been real bad! He called Etihad and got someone at their call center in Mumbai that was looking at exactly what he was. The agent told him the flight was cancelled. However, we determined by watching Flight tracker that his flight was in fact air bound and he didn't have to pursue other ways to get out of New York before Sandy got there. He was actually looking into flying to Chicago to get on our flight later tonight.

As of 5:30 this evening both of our flights have landed in Chicago and New York from Abu Dhabi. So, we are scheduled to leave from O'Hare at 9:20 and the other 8 from New York at 11:05 (10:05 our time). We should land in Abu Dhabi within minutes of each other. I would say it's a pretty good chance we will all get off as scheduled. Fingers crossed........

Now we just have to worry about getting Chio (our friend from Ecuador) into the United Arab Emirates when we arrive. U.S. citizens do not need a visa (or so it seems) but Ecuador citizens do! Since there is no U.A.E. embassy in Ecuador Chio will have to try to cut through the red tape when she arrives in Abu Dhabi. Again, fingers crossed.........

Friday, October 12, 2012

2010_10_12 Abu Dhabi Preview

We will start out our next trip flying out late at night 8:55 p.m. for a 13.5 hour flight to Abu Dhabi, Unite Arab Emirates via Etihad Airways. Eight other members of our group will be flying from New York (also on Etihad) 2 hours later the same night. We are all scheduled to arrive in Abu Dhabi at the exact same time (7:45 p.m. the next day). We couldn't have planned this any better. The current plan is to clear customs, exchange some dollars for UAE Dirhams for incidentals, etc. If we all arrive together, Rich has arranged for a bus to transport us to the Hilton Abu Dhabi. If there are connection problems for either group the current plan is to take a cab to the hotel.

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/uae/hilton-abu-dhabi-hotel-AUHHITW/index.html

After we get to the hotel we'll check in and drop off the bags and then go for a walk along the Corniche. It should be pretty close to 11:00 or so local time so the temps should be near 90 (down from the 100's during the day). This Corniche is about 8 kilometers long and runs along the Arabian Sea. Apparently, locals are out in full force at night to take advantage of the "cool" temps. Maybe a late night snack from a vendor and off to sleep.

http://visitabudhabi.ae/en/what.to.see/attractions/abu.dhabi.corniche.aspx

The next morning some of us (Rich) want to take a swim in the Arabian Sea. We have a breakfast at the Hilton and then check out to take a bus back towards the airport. Along the way we plan to stop and take about an hour to see the Shiek Zayed Mosque. Sounds pretty amazing to me and I really want to see this place.

http://visitabudhabi.ae/en/what.to.see/attractions/sheikh.zayed.grand.mosque.aspx

After our stop at the mosque, a short trip back to the international airport and a 2:00 p.m. 4 hour flight to Kathmandu, Nepal.

Sadly, this may be all you get once we hit Nepal. From what I hear the internet access will be "spotty" which probably means non-existant once we start trekking into the countryside. I will take notes each night on an app called Evernote. IF I get internet access I will copy the notes from Evenote to the blog and try to send it. Otherwise, I may have to wait until I get back to civilization to post everything. I will try.......

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

2012_10_09 More about Nepal's time

I just wrote about this yesterday and today I find an article by Ken Jennings (Jepardy savant) that talks about Nepal's time zone as well. Timely? I think so!

http://www.cntraveler.com/daily-traveler/2012/10/nepal-asia-nepali-standard-time-maphead-ken-jennings?mbid=nl_daily_traveler

Monday, October 8, 2012

2012_10_08 Nepal preview

We will be flying from Chicago to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on a direct flight on Etihad Airways (the national airline of U.A.E.) We should arrive around 8:00 at night. We will transfer to a hotel for the night. Next morning a little beach time (should be in the 90's) and a little sight seeing before our 2:00 flight to Kathmandu, Nepal.

Here's an oddity: For who knows what reason Nepal's time is just wrong (in my mind). It's roughly 9:00 in the morning here in Willow Springs. Abu Dhabi is 6:00 p.m. tomorrow (ok, that makes sense). BUT it's 7:45 p.m. tomorrow in Kathmandu. Nepal is 45 minutes off...... Why not an even time? Who knows?

Here's the answer:

Nepal Standard time (NPT) is the time zone for Nepal. With a time offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) of +05:45, Nepal Standard Time is one of only two official time zones with a 45-minute increment form UTC. The Chatham Islands, which uses Chatham Island Standard Time also has a 45-minute increment from UTC, it;s time zone being UTC+12:45.

So now you know why, but WHY?

We leave Abu Dhabi on Etihad at 2:00p.m. and arrive in Kathmandu, Nepal at 7:45 p.m. after a flight of (who knows)? The itinerary says 4 hours........ We will deplane and head to the Hyatt Hotel Kathmandu for some rest (or a late dinner) hopefully both!

Here's a link to the hotel:

http://www.kathmandu.regency.hyatt.com

After 2 days in Kathmandu we have a 1 hour flight on Buddha Air from Kathmandu to Pokhara (2nd largest city in Nepal) the "stepping off" place for most of the treks in Nepal. We will be transported by mini bus to the end of the road where we commence to walk, walk and walk some more....

First stop:

http://www.audleytravel.com/Destinations/Indian-Subcontinent/Nepal/Accommodation/Basanta-Lodge.aspx

A 3 hour hike - arrive in time for lunch.

Day 2:

http://www.audleytravel.com/Destinations/Indian-Subcontinent/Nepal/Accommodation/Gurung-Lodge.aspx

Hike "slowly" for 7 hours.

Day 3:

http://www.audleytravel.com/Destinations/Indian-Subcontinent/Nepal/Accommodation/Sanctuary-Lodge.aspx

Hike 3 hours downhill. Yes!

Day 4:

http://www.audleytravel.com/Destinations/Indian-Subcontinent/Nepal/Accommodation/Himalaya-Lodge.aspx

Hike 4.5 hours - the map makes it look longer.

This place is the only one that Rich Rediker (Travel family leader) has not been able to stay at. It is in high demand and because of it's small size is regularly booked. Rich secured the entire hotel for our group almost 18 months in advance. This place is the farthest North and has the best views of the Himalayas (although they all look pretty sweet to me)!

Day 5:

Back to the Sanctuary Lodge for another night. Should be another 4.5 hours.

Day 6:

Walk 2 hours back to the "New Bridge" and a road where we will be transported back 1.5 hours to Pokhara for a overnight stay:

http://www.hotelshangrila.com/pokhara/

Day 7:

After breakfast bus transfer of 1.5 hours to Damauli and the Seti River. A little white water rafting (about 3 hours) with a picnic lunch on the banks of the river. We then camp out for the night:

http://www.audleytravel.com/Destinations/Indian-Subcontinent/Nepal/Accommodation/Seti-River-Camp.aspx

Day 8:

More rafting (2 to 3 hours) and then a 4 hour bus transfer back to Kathmandu at the Hyatt. Packed lunches will be provided. Time for a little shopping?

Day 9:

Part of the group will continue for another week in Bhutan. Connie and I have the day in Kathmandu before a 9:00 p.m. flight back to Abu Dhabi. We arrive just after midnight and have a reservation at the International Hotel right in the airport. Time for some rest and a shower before we return to Chicago at 10:25 that morning. 14 hours (or so) and we'll be back to O'Hare and eventually Willow Springs!

21 days and we're off!

2012_10_08 Testing out some stuff for Nepal trip

Testing to see if I can copy this text and use it in my blog? It works. I copied this text from Evernote. A free app as I will not have a computer with me in Nepal that has a word processing program. I can take notes on Evernote and transfer to my blog when I get internet access. Whenever THAT might be. I am bringing my iPad with as it will be easier to "handle" on the trek. Now I will have to practice posting images to the blog. A pretty steep learning curve as I remember. I have the ability to load images into Photostream within the pictures application on the iPad. Once an image is loaded into photo stream and you have internet access the images will be sent to my other computers back home. I have loaded Photostream onto 2 Apple computers back home. I have tested this part - it works. You just have to remember not to delete the images from Photostream on the iPad until you get home or "poof" they are gone.