Day 28: Fly out of Lukla or Walk to Jiri
Flying out of Lukla: Please ensure you have your return flight booked (hopefully in the early morning) before departing for your trek. If you do not, especially in the busy season, you may be stuck in Lukla for days without a flight back to Kathmandu. Very Important: Reconfirm your flight out of Lukla the day before with your airline. You can do so at the Lukla airport or airline office in Lukla. A majority of trekkers chose to fly into Lukla to begin their EBC adventure. Various airlines (Tara Air, Buddha Air, Nepali Airlines, Sita Air) fly in/out of Lukla. It is difficult to book tickets online outside of Nepal so it's best to know your dates of departure and book through a reputable travel/trekking agency in Nepal before you arrive. Advice: Book the earliest morning departure as clouds and weather tend to roll in after noon effectively shutting down air travel. If departing from Lukla-Kathmandu arrive to the airport at least 1 1/2 hours early so they do not give your seat away. If you desire to change your date/time of departure from Lukla bring your guide or hotel owner/staff from your Lukla hotel to help you negotiate with the airline at the Lukla airport. Just make sure to tip the guide or hotel staff helping you out. When you get to the airport, check in with the appropriate airline, receive your airline ticket & when instructed put your bags through security, then you will enter a separate room for departing passengers. Once your plane lands, passengers & their luggage in unloaded. You are then quickly ushered onto the plane and your luggage is loaded. This takes about 15 minutes as they want to fly in good weather windows. Enjoy the take off as this may be one of the most exhilarating and scariest take off's in the world. Walk to Jiri: If choosing to take the strenuous but immensely rewarding trail back to Jiri you can catch the trail descending to Surke in Lukla near the airport. It's about a 40 minute descent to Surke from Lukla. Hiking back to Jiri from Lukla should take you from 5-9 days depending on your speed. Click on Day 1 - Day 8 sections for more information on this trail. For more information about taking the trail to Jiri from Cheplung click on the link: Day 27. |