It's been a little while since we blogged, but it's been pretty hectic! After Stuttgart, we spent a few days with James's old school friend Karsten in Germany, we went to the zoo for a day which was brilliant - they had loads of big pussycats! Then we travelled on to James's sister's place in France. We had 4 nights there which was the longest we'd stayed anywhere so far on the trip and it was lovely…spent some time playing football with the nephews and relaxing. We didn't go very far at all, in fact, mainly spent time in and around the house, so when we got to the train station to come home, it was a bit of a shock seeing other people! We made it home in one piece though and all of our train connections worked.

The next week was spent picking up some last minute bits and catching up with friends and family. Was so nice to see everyone but also quite difficult to say goodbye. We were shattered as well, Europe had been nonstop and so was that week at home. Still, we got to see pretty much everyone we wanted to. We even manged to sort out some last minute malaria tablets for Burma - expensive, but worth it. They should last us for a month then we can pick up some more locally if we need them anywhere else.

On Tuesday (15th) evening we flew to Delhi so spent the day saying our final farewells and sorting out some last minute bits. It felt very strange knowing that we were actually going on this trip we've been planning for the past few years. It was pretty emotional saying goodbye to the families, especially not really knowing when we would see them again! Before we knew it, we were at the airport and super early for check-in, but it meant that we didn't have to rush and when we got rid of the bags, we sat and had a few gins before going through security. We had some real mixed emotions - excited, nervous and sad from the goodbyes with family, but there was no turning back now!!

The flight was pretty uneventful (thankfully!). We watched a couple of movies and managed to get a few hours sleep. We landed in Delhi pretty much on time and found our way through to the international transfers - glad we rushed off the plane and through though as the queue behind us was huge! We were both feeling a bit worn out after the long journey so found our gate and had a quick power nap before the next flight to Kathmandu - only a 2 hour flight this time!

Landing in Kathmandu and sorting out the visas and picking up our bags was super easy (again, thankfully!) and we managed to grab a taxi with another couple - although we were all 4 squeezed into the back! We managed to get him down on the price as well - small victories!

Wow, Kathmandu - the sounds smells, sights! It's smoggier here than we thought it would be, and although it's busy and hectic, it doesn't feel too oppressive. It all smells exactly as I remember India smelling and there's something quite comforting about it - must be the Indian in me!

Found our hostel with no trouble (other than a slightly longer walk than anticipated), it's just outside of the Thamel area so it's a little (not much though) bit quieter. I was quite excited about looking at all the shops and ear-marking things I wanted to buy (I think I might have to get rid of some of the stuff I brought with me!!! - James is going to have to keep me on a tight leash). We had originally booked a twin room, but he offered us the double - my response was - "Yes, that would be lovely, but as long as it's the same price as the twin"…it was. J We are on the 4th floor (lots of stairs) but we have a great view of the mountains. Neither of us were very hungry after eating all the plane food and not really doing much, so we opted for a (hot!) shower and a cup of tea before getting an early night. A guy we'd met at the airport that unfortunately could not get in our taxi managed to get a room here for a few nights too (Hugo - a nurse from Paris travelling for 1 month) so we said we'd catch up with him tomorrow.

For now, it's bed time. Serenaded to sleep by the sounds of Kathmandu (bikes, horns, people)…I'm sure it won't take long to get used to it all!

Oh, also today, James and I celebrated our 2 weeks of not washing our hair…we'll see how it is after a month around here with the pollution…..!!