It’s been a while since I’ve exited an airport without having any idea at all what a country has in store. Covid has slowed me down, and I’ve also visited a few countries that I’ve been to before. However, today I touched down in Pakistan with zero expectations and I’ve done basically no research as I am here on a pre-planned, guided trekking expedition to K2 Basecamp.
After more than a month on Oahu, Hawaii, the ‘Vacation’ is over and I flew to LA for the night and stayed in an airport hotel. The next day I headed back to LAX and caught a sixteen-hour flight to Doha from Los Angeles. Utilizing my gold Qantas status, I hit the lounge for an hour in Doha before boarding a three-hour flight from Doha to Islamabad. After a long journey, I was picked up at the airport and in bed by 4:30 am. The transit went about as well as it can for three flights, two shuttles, a hotel stay, two covid tests, visas, and all the other factors that can go wrong these days.
I’m here on an expedition with Epic Expeditions, which is run by my mate Chris who I met in Madeira earlier this year. I’ll be shooting and writing a blog post about the K2 Basecamp. It’s an 18-day trek to 5,600m at it’s highest point and we will venture to K2 Basecamp where expedition teams will be setting off to climb to the actual peak of K2.