From the moment my boyfriend Jamie and I stepped off the plane into the Kathmandu airport, our patience was put straight to the test. As visas are provided upon entry, we had brought all the documents and passport photos that we needed. It costs $40 to enter for a month, and if I can offer any advice to fellow travelers, it would be to have US dollars, British ponds, or euros with you in that amount. I had wrongfully assumed that the payemt would be required in the local currency, and that pulling cash from the ATM would be possible at the airport, especially since the Nepalese rupee is a closed currency. But I had made my first rookie error, and it just would not be that easy for us. The only functioning ATM was outside the airport, meaning we had to climb the rope pass passport control and customs, without having our passports so much as glanced at, and return back the same way. To make matters more complicated, in our travel-exhausted state, we had miscalculated the currency exchange and had to go through this whole sketchy process twice. After what felt like an eternity, we legally entered the country, collected our bags, and were greeted by a mass of hungry cab drivers. Despite the frustration from the whole process, we enthusiastically played our part in the haggling game, and felt grateful to have begun our long awaited trip to Nepal.
