Bikram was there at 5am sharp and again we were off to the airport. Shortly after arriving and going through their interpretation of a security check we realised that the sun was shining in Lukla and the trip was on - delighted! We were on the plane within about 20 minutes and on our way to Lukla with Goma Air and their 40 year old plane. The plane sat around 15 people and within no time we were in the air and sitting on the left hand side for our first glimpses of the Himalayas. We were both feeling a little nervous of landing at what was recently named, 'the worlds most dangerous airport but the views were spectacular. Suddenly, the plane turned sharply to the right and we could see the tiny runway in between the narrow valley. As the plane touched down we could notice the steep runway which is designed to slow the plane down quickly as it was so short, perched right on the hillside. We were the first plane to land and within about a minute apart, several more were coming in to land. We grabbed our gear and made our way through a small gate and out of the airport where we were met by dozens of eagerly awaiting porters who gather outside the airport to get work carting trekkers up to base camp for 2 weeks. We met our porter, Bom, a short very smiley looking guy who slung out packs over his shoulder and took them round to a lodge where we had some much needed porridge before starting off for Phakding. Bom tied up our packs to create a head strap for himself which is the method that all the porters use to cart gear up the hill. We see off through Lukla, passing 'the Scottish pub', several cafes, trekking shops and small stores selling water and snickers bars! The sun was shining and the trek started with an easy downhill as we climbed off the hill that Lukla is perched on. The morning was spent passing through small farms, over suspension bridges, through small villages, houses, lodges and local homes. Today was an easy trek which was mainly flat, on well maintained tracks. We followed the river most of the way, passing donkeys, cows and horses that were being used to carry food and kerosene. After 3 and a half hours we reached Phakding. We had been expecting to be walking for most of the day so we were a little surprised when we reached our destination for the day shortly after 10am! We had some lunch and went to explore downtown Phakding. It was a very small village with the usual small shops, lodges and local houses. It was the weekend and we met 3 or 4 local children who we spoke to for a little while. They persuaded us to join them for a game of football in the dirty field that was home to their cows and horses. We had a kick about for half an hour or so. It was here that I started to realise that we were at more than 2000m as running was becoming much more of a challenge! After showing off our skills (and feeling quite breathless) we headed back to our lodge. We had some dinner and got an early night in preparation for the long walk in the morning to Namche Bazzar.