Lukla? - July 17

We finalized our flight to Lukla, which was for 6:30AM on the morning of the 17th. We left the hotel while it was still dark out and slightly drizzly at 5:20. We got to the airport and checked in, security being refreshingly insecure after a bunch of US and International flights. We didn't have to show any ID at all and, while there was one X-Ray machine and metal detector of questionable age and quality, we didn't set anything off. The only other rigorous check was the man before the waiting room who asked if I had a knife and gave me a very quick pat-down. I supposed to his credit he did ask twice just to make sure. As you may have already guessed the domestic airport is very small and it is a little confusing what flights are boarding when. There was only one gate in use and the easiest way we could tell to figure out if we were supposed to be boarding was to look at the boarding passes of all the others who had gotten up. If it didn't look like ours, we didn't have to go. Also helpful was watching the Nepalese man who checked in right behind us and waiting until he made his move toward the gate since we were pretty sure he was on our flight. He was, and when he got up it was time to bard! Only an hour late! There were about ten of us for the flight and we got on to a bus and were shuttled out to the plane. At the plane, however, they told us not to get off the bus quite yet. Apparently they were deciding whether the weather along the flight path would allow them to fly. Apparently at that point it wouldn't so back we went to the waiting area: delayed until 8:30 they said. There were already two flights that day which had left for Lukla, and I believe they were waiting to see how those panes fared until they made any further decisions. Around 8 or 8:15 when passengers from the second of the two flights came back through the gate into the waiting room things weren't looking good. After another hour and a half of waiting in the ridiculously uncomfortable chairs with no real information and not much to do, they finally announced the cancellation of our flight. The process then was to go get the ticket re-validated, get the airport tax refunded, go home, and try again the next day. That is what we'll do! On the bright side, it gives us a chance to pick up some handy non-essentials we had forgotten to buy; Salt for the leeches in some areas, a phrasebook, and some other odds and ends.