Tibet Planning

• Tweet
• Pin It

Even more information along with travel suggestions started arriving from Wilderness Travel.

Air? Flew United from Chicago to Hong Kong, then Dragon Air to Chengdu, and from there with the group to Lhasa. All air travel into Tibet is usually ticketed by your tour operator. You can also fly from Beijing to Chengdu. Nine out of 10 times, you are going to misconnect so plan on staying the night somewhere. In Hong Kong, it was the Regal Airport Hotel, but some of our group came a few days earlier and stayed at the YMCA in Hong Kong. That’s right…the YMCA. It is next door to the famous Peninsula Hotel on the Kowloon side and a LOT less expensive.

Visa? You must have a Chinese visa which had to be processed through Wilderness’ Visa Service – permission was then given by the Chinese Consulate for the group as a whole. There is a huge amount of bureaucracy involved in getting permission to enter Tibet. Remember how difficult is was for Brad Pitt to enter, in “Seven Years in Tibet”?

Hotels? Six nights in hotels and the rest camping. There were no lodging facilities in these remote areas which left no other choice but camping, supported by a Nepali camp staff and cooks. 4WD’s were used throughout, with day hikes at each destination.

Travel Insurance? Medical, emergency evacuation, baggage loss and trip cancellation is recommended and necessary. (Read more about the need for Travel Insurance later in this series!) It is foolhardy not to take out Travel Insurance – it can turn out to be the best investment you’ll ever make!

Other Health Concerns? The usual: Hepatitus, Tetanus, etc. Take your own medical kit with “drugs of choice.” We have never gotten sick on any trek (other places, yes). The standards of hygiene is very high and the crews excellent – once in a while we have had to nicely remind fellow travelers “Please don’t stick your fork in the group food.” Any responsible Tour outfitter will take wonderful care of you.

Last, but not least – All camping equipment was included: sleeping bags (hooray, didn’t have to schlep ours), tents, etc. However, we did bring our Therm-a-Rest inflatable mattress pads. If I have to camp, I’m going to be as comfortable as possible, and this pad makes a big difference. On our first trek to Nepal, we rolled out our sleeping bags directly on the cold, hard ground. (No one had ever told us to use ground pads but we are fast learners!)

We were ready…..