Day Fourteen (Final Day) in Bhutan
After a good night’s sleep my mind is already drifting to what I need to do when I get home. This is my last day of this amazing holiday in Bhutan. Got up and am gettin ready for the day ahead. After breakfast we drove up to a local nunnery that was up the hill from the hotel to do a short hike back to the hotel. This was perfect as it was good to stretch my legs a bit after the hike yesterday.
When we got to the nunnery we went into the temple there which Tsering explained was one of five sister temples in the Paro area. He also explained that a true devotee should visit all five of them in one day. We weren’t going to do that today. After visiting the temple we set off down the trail back to the hotel. It was a nice trail with a gentle downhill to it. After walking for just under an hour we got back to the hotel.
I changed my clothes and packed my bag to check out of the hotel. We were still a bit early but there wasn’t anything else that I wanted to do so we decided to head to the airport for an early lunch and then check-in for my flight. We went to the airport restaurant and had a very nice lunch with a nice view of the runway and apron. There were several planes in but not a lot of activity. With only seven planes in the country and one international airport the activity level is not high.
After lunch I gave Tsering and Chimmi a tip for the trip in an envelope along with the feedback form Tsering has asked me to complete. We then bid farewell as I went into the departures hall. The lady at the check-in counter was having troubles with tagging my luggage through to San Francisco and wasn’t very friendly about it. I hope it gets there. I did check the tag and it looked correct. The departures lounge area was very busy with several flights a leaving at about the same time. I walked around and admired the excellent artwork on the walls. I also stopped into the bookstore and was able to find the other book about Bhutan that’s I was looking for. I wasn’t sure which gate we were leaving from so I wandered around. After the appointed boarding time there still wasn’t any announcement but I did talk with one of the official looking people and they told me which gate we would leave from so I hung around there till boarding began. After boarding we were delayed slightly as there was a VIP flight arriving. I could see a red carpet and a lot of officials waiting for a plane to arrive at one end of the apron. Shortly thereafter a plane arrived and people got off it but I couldn’t see as they were on the other side of the plane. We departed shortly thereafter fro our short flight to Guwahati. I managed to get my InReach nicely edged in the window shade so was able to get a good GPS track of the flight. At Guwahati we stayed on the plane which was only about half full. Then a bunch more people boarded and the flight was quite full for the onwards 4 hour flight to Singapore. The flight was uneventful. We had dinner served which was typical fried rice with chilis and cheese. I dozed and read for a bit and finished the book I was reading.
We arrived in Singapore and it was 10:30pm local time. We were parked at a remote gate and took a bus to the terminal. I figured out that my onward flight was going to be in Terminal 2 which was a long walk or a short train ride. I opted for the long walk. When I got to the transfer desk they said it would not be open till 3 hours prior to my flight the next morning. They did tell me which lounge United Airlines uses so I made my way there. I was very happy to discover that the lounge was open 24 hours a day. There were only a couple people in the lounge so I was able to push a couple chairs together to make a good spot to sleep. I managed to get a bit of sleep through the night and am able to charge up my devices for the next leg of the trip home. Right now I am sitting in the lounge and wondering when I should head down to sort out my luggage. Last leg of this trip is coming up - 14 hours flight from Singapore to San Francisco - Ugh!
Updated: Went and sorted my luggage at the United transfer desk. They were able to find it and confirm it was enroute to SFO. I got an invite to a different lounge so went back to the correct lounge and hung out for a while before heading to the gate for the flight. The flight was very full and I clearly did not get upgraded. It was 14 hours and I managed to watch a couple movies, read and nap off and on throughout the flight. We arrived in SFO a bit early and then had to wait on the plane while they sorted a problem with the jet bridge. They got us all sat down and were ready to tow the plane to another gate and then suddenly they got the jet bridge working. So, it was about a 15 minute wait for that. I got through immigration without any incident and then was waiting for my luggage. It didn’t show up so I then went over to wait in the line for the lost luggage. While waiting I went online to the United app and it was showing that my luggage had arrived in SFO. The lady at the counter walked around with me and I ended up finding it next to a different luggage carousel. I was quite relieved although a bit annoyed at having hung around as much as I did. From here I headed out and to order an Uber to get me home. I was home by about 1030h.