Sophie's travels 2011-2012: 10/3/2012 Kathmandu, Nepal to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to Melbourne, Australia

I got up at 5am ready for our scenic flight around Mount Everest and the Himalayas. We were dropped at the domestic airport then went through a number of different gates where we were patted down every time but never asked about all the stuff crammed into our pockets… then eventually boarded our 30 seater plane. We all had window seats (I was up the back) and it was an amazing clear blue sunny day so the view out over the Himalayas was spectacular! We flew by with one side of the plane getting the view out over the mountains and the other side of the plane took it in turns to go into the cockpit and meet the pilot and take some photos (I didn’t think you could do things like that anymore but anything goes in this part of the world! There was even a gold course right next to the run way – hate to think what a golf ball might be like to land on!). We flew alongside Everest (in the distance, which the co-pilot kindly pointed out to me while I was in the cockpit!) then turned around and flew back parallel with the mountains, it was so so spectacular! We were given a panorama card which labelled all the mountains so we could see what we were flying past – very cool!

We managed to avoid any golf balls on landing and got the bus back to the hotel in one piece. I did my last bit of shopping and final pack of my bag then farewelled the rest of the group before getting a taxi to the airport.

I got to the airport in good time and checked in (managed to get an emergency exit seat for my leg from Kathmandu to Abu Dhabi which was great, only a 5 hour trip though). I went through all the security checks which are segregated into separate belts for men and women which is interesting (and everyone gets patted down, despite whether they set the detector off or not!). Getting onto the plane, females are allowed onto the bus to take you to the plane first which is nice!

The flight to Abu Dhabi went right over the Himalayas again so I was treated to another amazing viewing (from my emergency exit window seat, with no one next to me!).

We arrived in Abu Dhabi on time and I managed to get some duty free before boarding the flight to Melbourne. We sat on the plane for an hour waiting for traffic to clear on the run way which was very nerve racking for me as I had a tight connection with my domestic flight from Melbourne to Hobart.

I had 4 seats in a row all to myself for the 13 hour flight which was amazing because I could stretch out and sleep comfortably (more comfortably than half the beds I had slept in over the past few months!!). Etihad are a great airline, very comfortable and friendly staff.