A New Level of Travel

By Jim Dickens October 29, 2025

So I asked Brenda,” How do you get to Paro?” and she said, “Most fly in from Kathmandu.”  And, I thought to myself, “How in the hell do you get to Kathmandu?”.   It’s not a United Airlines destination.  Brenda was my coordinator for a cultural/ fly fishing adventure.

When you google flights from Chicago to Paro no results pop up.   So I asked ChatGPT help and it returned nonsense.  I was told there was a travel agent who would create my itinerary for a fee but I refused thinking I could customize it better myself and the fee felt frivolous.  That was probably a mistake.

For anyone wondering, “Where is Paro?”.  It is in Bhutan.  If you are still wondering where Bhutan is, it is next to Nepal, India, and Tibet (now part of China). Still wondering, please see a world map.  Bhutan is the size of Switzerland and has much taller mountains.

My initial itinerary had me on Air India to Delhi, India connecting to Kathmandu, Nepal overnighting and taking Druk Air to Paro.  Druk Air is unconnected to any other airline and it is  the only airline that flys into Bhutan.  It is owned by the King of Bhutan.  My itinerary did not hold up.

Air India had a fatal crash in Delhi shortly after I made my reservation. Then Air India unceremoniously, cancelled my Chicago to Delhi leg but left the Delhi to Kathmandu in place.  The cancellation wasn’t because of the crash but because of a change in schedule.  It took me over an hour on hold to find out the change in schedules would not allow me to get to Kathmandu on the right date and time.  So I cancelled all flights and back to square one.

After extensive research of going west or heading east, I finally found Turkish Airlines, Chicago to Istanbul and Istanbul to Kathmandu.  I slept on the decided itinerary and found the flight to Kathmandu had filled while I slept.  However, I could fly a day later, land in Kathmandu and make a tight connection.  I decided to carry on and chance it.

So I packed for over two weeks abroad in carry on luggage with my fishing rods attached to my back pack.  I was the guy you roll your eyes at when they board with too much luggage.

The extra leg room promised was a myth on a 13 hour Istanbul overnight flight.  After dinner I fell asleep for a few hours.  I awoke to find my reading glasses had been taken away with my dinner tray.   There was a compass on the wall showing the direction to Mecca.  Things were getting foreign but the flight was on time.

The Istanbul airport international terminal is an eyeful.  There are flights to evil axis cities like Moscow and Tehran.  There are people in all kinds of dress, Thobes and Burka, halter tops and sneakers and everything in between.   There are acres and acres of luxury stores and restaurants, more than I’ve seen in any other airport. However, there was not a pair of reading glasses to be found and Coke Zero was 6 euros for a small can. 

After a 5 hour layover, I flew 9 hours overnight again to Kathmandu.  Extra leg room was real, they do a good job with smoked eggplant. Slept a little more and landed on time.  Got to see the Himalayas at dawn rising over the clouds, amazing.

Kathmandu Airport was confusing, dirty and shabby.  Feeling time compressed, I wandered around but managed to find my way to Druk check in with 30 minutes to spare. Thankfully I got to meet the other five fellow fly fishing adventurers there including my buddy, Pete.  Some of my anxiety subsided.

Druk Airlines was new, clean and uncrowded. We had views of the Himalayas all the way in including the landing.  Apparently there are only 9 qualified pilots who can swoop into Paro valley and stick the landing.  The Paro airport terminal was like being invited into someone’s well kept friendly home. It was a welcome change after anxiously traveling for 30 hours straight. Traveling alone through strange countries with tight connections on disconnected airlines was a whole new level of travel.