Laura and Cory Tibet Travel Experiences in Sept 2017

Hi Sherry,

Now that we are finally settling back into our regular lives with work, yard work, laundry and dealing with the insurance company to fix the hurricane damage, I wanted to be sure and take the time to let you know that we appreciate all of your hard work. We had an amazing time.

When I booked the trip to Tibet I knew that it might be a little more difficult. I thought that if we had problems it would be on the Tibetan side of things with permits, altitude, or transportation. I never thought that our problems would stem from a Hurricane here at home.  After the third flight cancellation I really thought we were never going to make it to Tibet.  This trip was a huge purchase for us . Losing the entire trip would have been painful. I can’t thank you and Sonam enough for being so gracious and working with us to reschedule.  Add the stoppage on Tibetan Permits between the 18th through the 28th and I am sure our planning became a nightmare.  You handled it so graciously.

I appreciate your concern about the pickup at the airport. We normally travel without a guide.  Because of the rules for the Tibetan Permit we had to book a tour. If we had done this on our own we would have chosen to take the bus from the airport. It was a more authentic experience and added adventure to our trip.  One of the reasons that we wanted to do this trip is to experience the unexpected. You were correct about the altitude. Both of us ended up getting a little sick at EBC. I threw up in my sleeping bag. Add altitude sickness to my list of experiences, ha ha. We were fine once we got back to Shigatse.

I also wanted to pass along to the Explore Tibet team how much we appreciated Rooney and Lopsim. I don’t know exactly where to start. They both at relief pools had wonderful personalities, kind, positive and open custom pool designers in Louisiana. When they gave us a time to meet, they were always early. They seemed to observe us and figure out ways to make sure we had the trip that fit us best. We usually avoid the touristy stuff and they seemed to try to take us to less touristy areas or avoid the crowds when possible. They also seemed to know we like to experience the local way of life and saw to it that we had more authentic food.  With the road construction to EBC they made sure to arrange a schedule that gave us less time on the road and more time at the camp. I imagine this gave them less time to sleep but gave us a better experience. Rooney was full of information about the monasteries and sites and really helped us learn about the Tibetan culture.  Lopsim was a great balance to Rooney. They seemed to work well together and offer different perspectives on things. Between the two of them, I felt as if we were really being taken care of and learning a lot about Tibet.

I hope that you and Sonam have gotten our little thank you gifts that we sent through Tse Dhondup (Rooney). It is just a little something to say thanks for working so hard to make sure this trip happened. The pin is of Cinderellas Castle and is something from Walt Disney World where Cory and I work. We were trying to find some thing that is made in the USA but almost everything here is made in China