Traveling with the Stanfords 2025

We arrived back in Kathmandu Saturday afternoon November 7 th .  For our last few days we had splurged and booked a suite at the Hotel Tibet International. We had a big and comfortable room at the rear of the hotel, so nice and quiet. Since we arrived in the afternoon we decided to just hang out in the hotel, relax and have a massage. The next day we met Urgen and walked to his house, which was only 20 minutes away. We spent several hours at his house and had the pleasure of meeting his wife and daughter Tsering. After obtaining her bachelor's and master's degrees in America Tsering had returned to Nepal to help develop the country for future generations. She is an amazing young lady and very sweet and smart. She helps train leadership and business development skills to public officials and entrepreneurs. Check out their Web site: http://daayitwa.org/ .  Tshering cooked a fabulous Nepali lunch for us and after lunch Urgen took us to the local shops for some shoppi...

We returned to Kathmandu on November 3 rd , and we were pretty worn out from 13 days of hiking, so we spent the day taking it easy and enjoying a warm hotel room and a hot shower. Kathmandu and the rest of Nepal were in crisis due to a fuel shortage.    Due to a tough political situation fuel was (and still is) being blocked from entering via India, causing extreme shortages of fuel for cooking and driving.    Many restaurants in Kathmandu were closed because they didn’t have propane for cooking, and prices for taxis’ were at least double.   Luckily we were staying in a larger hotel which had the ability to keep a generator and the kitchens running. After a day and a half of relaxing we flew to Pokhara which was an easy hour and twenty minute flight in a Beech King Air. Again we decided to treat ourselves to a nice hotel and Hotel Pokhara Grande was exactly that. The room, restaurant, and the hotel grounds were all excellent and the service was very good. ...

F irst of all just to explain, the Khumbu is the Nepali word for the Everest region. As we explained in a previous post our main intention for going to the Khumbu was to hike up to the village of Pangboche to visit Lama Geshe who married us twenty years ago. On October 22 nd we flew from Kathmandu to the little mountain town of Lukla (9,400 ft) where all trekking and climbing expeditions in the Everest region start. We flew in a Twin Otter which was a thrill for Sara and I since we have made thousands of jumps out of that type of airplane.  After arriving in Lukla, Urgen our guide took us to Paradise Lodge for a quick lunch; this was the same lodge we started our trek from twenty years ago. Urgen was our agent twenty years ago who arranged our hike. This trip he was again our agent, and also joined us as our guide, which was a special treat. Our porter was Pemba, the poor chap who had to carry our heavy load up and back. Our plan was to go a short distance to the village o...

The plan for Friday October 16th was to take the overnight train to Varanasi, this turned out to be another adventure!  Thanks to help from Shridhar (a work friend of Sara's) we had several different train reservations, one in first class AC and one in third class AC, the idea being we would wait to see which bunks were confirmed the day of travel, and hopefully get the 1st class, but with 3rd class as a backup. That afternoon the plan was to take the train with the 3rd class bunks as those were confirmed, however the train was abut 4 hours delayed, and we were concerned it would be canceled, leaving us no way to get to Varanasi. We have learned the key to traveling in India is to be flexible and to have a backup plan!  The staff at our hotel were amazing, they let us stay in the room until 7pm, and spent a lot of time checking the train schedule and advising us on the best options. Finally we decided to get on the later train, where we only had one fist class bunk con...

O K, before we talk about our time in Agra I have to comment on the car ride we took from Dharamsala to New Delhi. We were supposed to fly on Wednesday October 14 th , but due to bad weather the flight was canceled so we ended up renting a car and a driver. Our taxi driver who took us to the airport said the drive was a 10-11 hour drive but our driver who took us to New Delhi said 9 hours. That should have been a clue to how the ride was going to go. Highway 1 is a small narrow mountain road until it gets close to New Delhi. Holy Molly driving in India is completely crazy. It is basically jungle rules. It is the art of the car horn and at night the horn and the dimmer switch. It is constant horn beeping. They beep the horn and it means I am behind you so look out I am coming around you. There is absolutely no lane discipline. It is British driving rules so the driver is on the right side of the car.  I was sitting directly behind the driver so I saw all the oncoming traffi...

Our journey to India started by flying back to London and then taking an all night flight to New Delhi. Once again we arrived in New Delhi completed smashed, it was Saturday October 10th.  Fortunately we booked a really nice hotel in New Delhi so we had a chance to clean up and rest up in a really nice and comfortable environment.  Once we had a slight recovery we launched out that afternoon and went to a place called India Gate. This is a big park which is a memorial for all the Indian soldiers who lost their life in wars. It was an interesting and enjoyable place to go in the evening. India is very crowded, noisy, and chaotic but we knew that before we got there so we were prepared to embrace the people and the culture. This way the chaos doesn’t really bother you that much. So far we have found the people to be very nice and friendly, as interested in taking pictures of us as we are of them. The next day (Sunday 11 th ) was the only full day we had in Delhi. Bot...

We left Dallas on Saturday October 3rd night and arrived in Rome Sunday afternoon. That included an all night flight from Dallas to London and then spending the next day and another flight to get to Rome. Needless to say, after all that we were pretty whipped by the time we got to Rome. Sara had a business conference in Rome, Italy so we decided we would go to her conference and then fly on to India afterwards from London. Since we’re traveling on air miles, we could get to India, and decided to spend some time in India since we had never visited that country.  We then have another flight to the neighboring country of Nepal.   But first Rome!  Our time in Rome gave me a chance to tour the city and do lots of photography while Sara was sadly working. Rome is a beautiful city with lots of ancient structures and of course the Vatican and all its beauty and facilities. I mainly used public transportation which worked well once I got the hang of all the routes...

  Today we leave on our 20th wedding anniversary celebration trip! We are returning to Nepal to hike to the village of Pangboche where we were married by Lama Geshe 20 years ago. In an amazing coincidence Lama Geshe's son Jigme Sherpa works for KPMG in the New York office (the same firm as Sara), and was actually at our wedding helping his father. Pretty amazing. Before we get to Nepal we will spend a week in Rome, where Sara has to work and John will be taking photos. On October 9th we fly to India for 10 days to visit Dharamsala (home of the Dalai Lama), the Taj Mahal and Varanasi - city on the Ganges. Should be an adventure. Finally on October 20th we fly to Nepal and after a few days rest will fly to the village of Lukla to start our 14 day hike in the Everest region.  We are so excited to return to the mountains and have planned a fairly relaxed trek to Pangoche at 13,000ft, with plenty of time to stop and explore on the way. After our trek in the mountains we wil...