Jun 012012
 

This post is just plain full of travel and plane geekery – feel free to skip if you don’t want to see what to expect on some slightly less common airlines. Paro to Male is only 3,070 kilometers as the crow flies (about 1,910 miles) but that would be too easy…and expecting two relatively out of the way places to be connected by such a straight line would be way too much to ask for…so, roundabout routing it was, involving no less than three tickets and four flights. I wasn’t really thinking ahead that in this part of the world, there’s no such thing as an easy transit, and almost got myself in trouble.

Despite my early flight, the hotel insisted that breakfast would be served. Breakfast is included, and they were going to make sure I had it. They suggested 5am, and when I went to the restaurant the overnight front desk guy was working, and happy to make me anything I wanted. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, so boiled eggs, coffee, toast, and a bit of fruit it was! Then off for the short ride to the airport where I arrived just before 6am…way too early for a 7am flight out of this tiny airport! After killing time waiting (check-in, immigration, and security took maybe 10 minutes total) we were waiting…and then I realised why I wasn’t able to book business class on this segment: it was operated by an ATR! I’d read so much about Druk Air carefully selecting A319s because they were about the only plane that could navigate the tricky mountain approach into Bhutan…and now I was going to try and fly out on a prop plane? Time to start hoping that karma I earned paid off!

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May 252012
 

After landing just after 8pm, getting to the hotel at 9pm, and catching up on e-mail over wine finally crashed around 1030pm. My strategy had been to book an early flight the next morning, knowing I wouldn’t get a full night’s sleep due to jet lag anyways. I was correct, and this proved to be a perfect choice. Woke around 4am without an alarm, coffee was delivered to the room shortly after, and I was out the door and to the airport with no troubles at all!

Check-in was a bit confusing – with people manning the doors to the airport, and seemingly being random who they let through. They wanted an itinerary, printed only – e-mail on the phone not good enough, but my sense was if you were polite while putting up enough of a stink and acting important enough you were let through. One lesson I’ve learned in developing country travel: be polite, firm, give off an air of importance, and you almost always get what you want. One hint of rudeness, or being “nobody” and the petty bureaucrats eat you for breakfast.

Got to the Air India counter, where I learned the flight was completely full. Managed to get an exit row window for the short flight, so I was plenty happy. Immigration was quite quick, and soon I was in the Priority Pass lounge for a quick snack. Three Diet Cokes and a few hard boiled eggs later, I was happy, and it was off to the gate, where at 40 minutes prior to departure I was one of the last to board!

Air India Flight 213
Delhi, India (DEL) to Kathmandu, Nepal (KTM)
Departure 7:30, Arrival 9:00, Flight Time 1:45
Airbus A319, Registration VT-SCJ, Manufactured 2007
Seat 11A

Honestly not too much to say about this flight. Crew was good, seat mates were tolerable (except the guy in the middle who insisted on hogging the armrest and part of my space) and even got en edible meal on this short segment, with the typical in India “veg or non-veg” options.

Soon, we were landing in Kathmandu, with a short bus to immigration.

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