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AAARGHHH!!!!!!!!!

The plane ride to the start of the Everest Base Camp trek is almost worth just flying for the experience! We flew Yeti airlines in a tiny Twin Otter plane that sat no more than 20 people. The plane ascends quickly through the thick cloud overlying Kathmandu, and all of a sudden there is the dramatic sight of the snow-covered Himalayan range towering above the clouds.

This is not the most dramatic part of the flight though - it’s the airstrip at Lukla, the tiny “airport” at the start of our trek. It’s a short airstrip that actually angles UP and straight towards a wall, after a distance of about 50 metres.  It’s a most disconcerting sight to be heading straight towards a wall very shortly after landing. Fortunately the planes are very manouverable and drive like a Toyota Echo. Taking off is just as adrenaline charged - imagine hurtling DOWN a sloping airstrip - it feels as though we are about to topple right into the deep valley beyond the end of the strip.