When I went to the Everest region in autumn 1999 I kept a trek diary. In this section of the web site I share these experiences with you. If you are thinking of going to Nepal yourself, hopefully these pages will help with your preparations.
I had previously visited Nepal in 1992 when I went to the Annapurna region with Exodus - a British holiday company. Like most visitors to Nepal I vowed that I would return. In 1999 I decided that this was the year to go to the Khumbu region and see the really big mountains. As I could only have a maximum of 20 days holiday from work I really had to go on an organised trek. I checked out the British trekking companies and noticed that Exodus had a new trek that took in Everest Base Camp and the Gokyo Lakes. This was a 22 day trip using Gulf Air to Kathmandu with a cost of 1545 U.K. pounds. As I was very happy with Exodus on my previous trip I decided to go for it. I also decided to have a three day extension which would allow me time to unwind at the end of the trek and take in the sights, sounds and smells (!) of the Kathmandu valley.
The schedule for the trek was as follows :-
| Day | Schedule |
| 1 | Night flight from London to Kathmandu |
| 2 | Arrived in Kathmandu in the evening |
| 3 | Tourist day in Kathmandu for sightseeing |
| 4 | Early morning flight to Lukla, camp at Phakding |
| 5 | Long day walking to Namche Bazaar |
| 6 | Acclimatisation day, visited Khumjung and Kunde and the infamous Everest View Hotel |
| 7 | Walked up to Phortse Tenga |
| 8 | Started up the Gokyo valley, camped at Dole |
| 9 | Continued up Gokyo valley, camped artMachermo |
| 10 | Arrived at Gokyo |
| 11 | Acclimatision day at Gokyo |
| 12 | Back down Gokyo valley, vamped at Phortse |
| 13 | To Pheriche via Pangboche |
| 14 | To Lobuche via Duglha |
| 15 | Up the Khumbu glacier to Gorak Shep |
| 16 | Acclimatisation day around Gorak Shep, Kala Pattar |
| 17 | Everest Base Camp then back to camp at Lobuche |
| 18 | Down to Tengboche(Thyangboche) then on to camp at Dingboche |
| 19 | Return to Namche Bazaar |
| 20 | Return to Lukla |
| 21 | Morning flight to Kathmandu |
| 22 | More sightseeing and souvenir hunting in Kathmandu |
| 23 | Culture day at Bhaktapur and Changu Narajar |
| 24 | Morning in Patan, afternoon in Kathmandu |
| 25 | Return flight to London |