If you've just arrived at this post, it is a second installment, I recommend starting from the beginning HERE.​

We drove from Portland, OR to Buffalo, NY; trained to New York City and caught a one-way flight to Luxembourg. From there we took a train to Amsterdam, purchased a two-cylinder Citroen and drove south through Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal. We parked the car in Gibraltar for three weeks, boarded a ferry to Morocco and hopped on the Marrakesh Express to – well, Marrakesh. We returned to Spain, retrieved the car and spent the next four months driving along the Mediterranean coastline of Spain, France, Monaco and Italy. From Italy, we caught a ferry to Greece and drove on to Istanbul. For the entire journey from Luxembourg to Istanbul we stayed at designate campgrounds, except for the side-trip through Morocco. We sold the Citroen in Istanbul and took the train to Iran. From Iran we took buses to and across Afghanistan until we reached Kabul by way of Mashed and Kandahar. We stayed in Kabul for a couple of weeks before catching the mail-bus through the Khyber Pass to Pakistan. We took trains from Pakistan to New Delhi, India, but moved north to the Kulu Manali Valley in the foothills of the Himalayas where we waited out the remainder of monsoon season.  

India did not provide my parents with the spiritually peaceful experience they had read about. They were not surprised or taken aback by the abject poverty; it was anticipate, but they were shocked by how the least fortunate of Indians were mistreated and marginalized politically, financially and socially. Finding India no longer to their liking, my parents consulted a travel agency to obtain a flight onward – ostensibly, to Thailand. While purchasing the tickets, they learned that for an additional $20/person we could be routed through Kathmandu, Nepal, remaining there up to a year if we wished. Knowing little to nothing about Nepal, the prospect of visiting this exotic location was irresistible.   

To hear my parents tell the story, as soon as they stepped off the plane they knew Nepal was what they had been looking for. They contend to this day that peace and tranquility permeated the rarefied air. They felt this was the place their journey was intended to lead them. For me, it was just a place of exotic smells and sounds, bright colors, and wonderfully kind and caring people. It still is. And it felt like home.

Next week, learn how we ended up living there.