Day 3: Fly to Lukla

Hiking time: 3-4 hours
Difficulty Level: Easy

After final administration requirements, we’ll fly to Lukla. Weather permitting, this flight offers outstanding views of the eastern Himalayas. In Lukla, we meet and join our Sherpa staff, load the yaks and begin the ascent to Base Camp. Our first day is an easy walk to lush environs of Phakding, located on the Dudh Kosi river.

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We started our day early and headed to the airport! We boarded a tiny 16 passenger plane and took off for Lukla. We arrived at the airport with the shortest runway in the world without issues! Once in Lukla, we were able to experience our first tea house. We all had lemon tea with a variety of breakfast foods such as pancakes and omelets.

After breakfast, we began our hike! We saw beautiful views of mountains, rivers, valleys, and towns! Along the way, we made friends with a number of wild dogs. Yaks and mules traveled along the trails bringing supplies to different tea houses along the trek.

The weather changed suddenly and frequently throughout the day. It went from being hot and sunny to cloudy and raining and then back to sunny and clear in a 10 minute window. We stopped for lunch along the way and met some other trekkers from Singapore! We crossed 3 suspension bridges today and finally made it to our camp for the night at Aktivferien tea house!

We all relaxed, drank tea/coke, napped, and chatted until dinner. Dinner was delicious and by the time we finished, everyone was exhausted! We all went to bed to prepare for the next day of hiking!

-Adele Fulcher