I had mentioned in yesterday’s blog that this upcoming trip to Tibet and Nepal was a last minute spur of the moment kind of trip.

Now, normally when I plan out my trips I’ll have months of lead time to slowly figure out logistics or where to go, what to see and that kind of thing.

In fact, the upcoming trip later in the year to Central Asia (or The Five Stans) has been in the works for a couple of months already and it’s still 5 months away.

I had actually finally figured out the month long itinerary literally the week before this new trip came into existence.

This trip to Tibet and Nepal, however, would have one of the shortest planning windows I’ve ever had at just 6 weeks.

Time to do some planning…

So many itineraries

It was Sunday afternoon when I found out that my poker community meetup trip wasn’t going to happen and, by Tuesday I had a new trip fully planned and booked.

Yup, in just two days not only had I came up with a full itinerary for my 2½ week trip but I had everything – flights, hostels, and tours – all booked.

That’s not to say that it was easy cause, damn, it wasn’t.

That 17 day trip went through more than 10 different possible itineraries.  

The Tibet and Nepal parts were pretty much set but it was the front and back ends of the trip that needed to be constantly reworked.

I looked at a bunch of different cities to fly in and out of including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Manila.

I also had a few extra days at the end of the trip so I was trying to figure out what to do with them including stops in either Bangladesh, Myanmar, or Taiwan.

In the end, I decided to fly into Xi’an (via Shanghai) and to fly out of Osaka where I’ll also be spending those last few extra days hanging out and exploring with my brother who lives there.

Putting the puzzle together

Once I finally figured out the places I’d be visiting, the trip plan kind of came together pretty quickly.

I used my Aeroplan points to cover most of the cost of my flights in and out of Vancouver.

I’ll start the trip by flying non-stop into Shanghai where I’ll transfer to another flight straight to Xi’an.

After one full day exploring the Terracotta warriors in Xi’an, it’s another flight straight into the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

In Tibet I’ll be on a 7 day tour taking me through the region including an overnight stay at the Everest Base Camp before winding up on the Nepalese border.

The last week of my trip will be three days on my own in Kathmandu in Nepal, one night in Bangkok, and then a couple of days in Osaka before I head home.

And it all starts in just over two weeks from now!

Can’t wait!