The First Flight - Through Abu Dhabi to Nepal

You get off of your flight and follow the clearly more experienced travellers around the airport.  This is a fun and mildly terrifying jaunt with a heavy backpack holding all my tech and enough clothing to minimally live off of.  I had checked bags, but there's not much you do for those.  

Just when I thought the airport must be insanely large, the groups split off into departures and those going back onto flights.  I quickly learned that means you go through airport screening again.  Time is something that makes me super nervous and this was a 3.5 hour layover.  I kept looking at my phone to check the time.  There was plenty, but that doesn't make me less nervous.  Plus, I wanted to find some non-airplane food and a bathroom that doesn't fly.  

Eventually, I made it through.  Next step, toilet.  Toilets in Abu Dhabi are a bit different.  The door goes almost all the way down to the floor, yay privacy, but there are these hoses next to the toilet.  This is how it worked in my jet-lagged brain:

What the heck?  Why is there a sprayer hose in the toilet?  Do I need to use this?  Is it rude if I don't use this?  Is it to clean the toilet after I use it?  

I decided it was for toilet cleaning, so upon flushing I then sprayed down the toilet.  It's not.  It's like a bidet, so you should use this to spray your butt.  Now I love these things and I can't live without them, but I was so confused then.

A bit of food later and I was waiting in the airport finally able to just enjoy the view. 

In this big fancy airport, I was surprised to see people getting onto buses to get to their flights from the waiting area.  So, with my extra time to stretch and not sit for an eternity, I plotted that I would try to get a spot on the bus near the door.  I liked finding my seat on the plane quickly.  Now, I'm only picky about that if I have a window seat.  

They have the buses, because the planes are small.  You walk up a set of steps to your plane and find your seat.  Well that was different.  

Sometimes, it would hit me, that I sold my house and I've got nothing left in the US.  Sometimes I would think about the fact that I don't speak Nepali and I'm about to go spend a month in Nepal building schools.  Sometimes I'd get that little spark of terror.  But, mostly I was excited.  I resolved not to worry about what will happen, because this is what I'd dreamed of my entire life, adventures and travel.  

Nepal's airport is tiny.  I was planning to get a visa on arrival, which is pretty normal in Nepal.  Upon arriving we walked down the stairs out of the plane and were shuttled to the customes area.  I think, with the layover I'd been traveling almost 24 hours at that point, so thinking wasn't really my strong suit.  I did find the visa paperwork, which is short, yay!  I got a bit confused on it, and I did make it up to the counter.  

Nepali people are really friendly and they like that you're visiting their country.  So, the customs agent helped me with anything I skipped and I told him I did it because I wasn't sure what to put.  He asked a few questions and I was on my way to find my luggage.  I sent a text to Pratik (my friend's friend in Nepal), so he would know I arrived.  (Do not count on good internet in airports)

There's not much else to say about the airport, because it really is tiny.  The outbound part is much bigger, but not if you compare it to other international airports.  Pratik came with some of his friends and I found them shortly after lugging out my insane amount of luggage.  (I had 2 checked bags)  That night I would stay at Pratik's house.