Why Nepal?

People ask me, why (of all the places in the world), why are you going to Nepal? I think they see the reasons people may have for going there, but they want to hear my reasons.

Well. I’ve known about Nepal since I’ve  known anything at all, because Nepal is a place very special to my father. He lived there for three years total: two with the Peace Corps and one a few years later when he returned. He has not been back since then, which was over 40 years ago, although he’s always wanted to return. I’ve always wanted to go to Nepal as well, having heard so much about it over the years. We had tentatively planned to do a Nepal trip fall quarter of my 4th year (aka next year) but when my study abroad plans fell through this fall, I (desperate to get out of the country somehow) urged him to do the trip a year early. Apparently it was my (rudely?) reminding him that he’s uh…not getting any younger…you might as well do the trip when you’re in great shape and able to enjoy it…that convinced him.

So now we’re going. We leave in four days and it’s my first time out of the country since I became self-aware. I’ve always wanted to be a traveler, and I’m excited to get started, and most of all, excited to start with Nepal.

Nepal isn’t a place many people go, so I feel so lucky that in just a few days I will be there. Most people just think of Everest when they hear Nepal, or that one scene in that one movie where the star goes there and becomes badass, maaaaybe they could think of the capital (Kathmandu) if they really thought about it. I’m going to be there for 8 weeks, I’ll (hopefully) come back with a feel for the place and many real things to say about it.

Another cool thing is, the first time Pops went to Nepal, he was twenty-two and just out of college, where I’ll be in a few years. We’ll visit villages he lived in over 40 years ago. Spending weeks trekking in the Himalayas with him, I’m going to get a lot of questions answered about his life (which has always been rather mysterious to me).