Annapurna Hardcore — Part 1: Flight Chaos Before the Trek (How Getting to Nepal Became the First Challenge)

Every great adventure begins with excitement, anticipation… and apparently, a complete collapse of the global flight system. There is a war going on after all.

Our Annapurna trek hasn’t even started yet, and already it feels like we’ve completed an endurance event — just without the mountains, fresh air, or satisfying summit photos.

A month ago, this was a simple plan: fly to Nepal, meet in Kathmandu, start trekking. Normal people stuff.

Then the flight changes began.

The Original Plan (RIP)

We were meant to fly neatly via Doha. Civilised. Efficient. The sort of itinerary that suggests responsible adults made sensible decisions.

Then geopolitics happened. The US and Israel illegally attacked Iran. For the first two weeks of the war we were not worried. Our flights via Doha, Qatar, remained confirmed. Until they weren’t.

Flights were cancelled. Rebooked. Moved earlier. Moved again. Notifications arrived at strange hours like emotional jump scares.

Checking email became a high‑risk activity.

The Great Rerouting Era

One change turned into four.

Suddenly our group was travelling through a rotating cast of international hubs:

Doha vanished.
Kigali appeared.
Addis Ababa entered confidently.
Delhi joined the plot.
Half the group was rerouted via Bangkok like an unexpected spin‑off series.

Our WhatsApp group evolved into a live aviation crisis centre powered by caffeine and disbelief.

At any given moment someone was asking:

“Wait… where are we flying now?”

No one ever fully knew.

Survival of the Most Determined

Since January, eight people have dropped out — not defeated by altitude or steep climbs, but by personal circumstances, health issues, and then later uncertainty, rescheduling, and the emotional cardio of airline logistics.

What remains is a perfectly forged group of ten.

We now proudly call ourselves Annapurna Hardcore — less a trekking team and more a resilience experiment.

Unexpected Pre‑Trek Training

People assume trekking preparation involves hiking hills and building stamina.

In reality, we’ve been training in:

adaptability
patience
acceptance
and advanced airline‑app refreshing techniques.

If resilience counted as altitude acclimatisation, we’d already be summit ready.

The Real MVP: Monica, Our Travel Agent

A massive shout‑out goes to our travel agent, Monica De Wet of Go Adventure , who quietly performed logistical wizardry while the rest of us tried not to panic.

While flights disappeared, she rebuilt routes. While plans unravelled, she stitched them back together.

While we slept, Monica moved continents around like chess pieces.

Every expedition needs a hero. Ours just happens to work behind a laptop.

Why This Already Matters

Every obstacle made us more determined. Every delay filtered out hesitation. Every remaining traveller chose this journey again — repeatedly.

By the time we finally leave home, we won’t just be tourists heading to Nepal.

We’ll be a team that already earned the adventure.

If getting to the mountains required this much grit, the mountains had better prepare themselves.

We arrive as Annapurna Hardcore — ten slightly tired, highly committed humans who now believe one thing with absolute certainty:

If we survived the last two weeks… we can survive the trek.

Next stop: Kathmandu.

(Assuming the flights don’t change again.)

Coming next: Arrival in Kathmandu — culture shock, regrouping, and the moment the adventure finally becomes real.