**April 10: From Pouch Cove to Toronto**
After several weeks of preparation, we were set to embark on our long Asian adventure. As I announced on Facebook, “Po and I are flying away today in search of some good noodles and dumplings. Our quest will lead us all the way to Everest Base Camp in Tibet and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia."
Yes, it was “we” this time – Po was joining me. Although I usually felt comfortable traveling alone, I often experienced homesickness, particularly in the evenings, during meals, or while sitting in my hotel rooms alone. Reflecting on a post from my time in Bhutan: “I was feeling a bit sad and called Po. Sometimes it gets lonely doing solo travel. I decided that she had to come along on my next trip.”
Every travel plan would start with me asking Po if she could accompany me, and her typical response was, “Who is going to look after (insert name of our latest senior dog)? Since 2013, we’ve had a series of senior rescues, all beloved fur babies with emotional and health challenges, making it difficult to find dog sitters. Our most recent was Zoe, who lived to be 14 years old before we had to say goodbye last May, shortly after my return from Nepal and Bhutan. After each trip, my family and friends always inquire, “Where are you going next?” And I consistently respond, “Honestly, I do not know.”
It takes weeks of consideration. Travel articles catch my interest, and Meta understands my desires, yielding tours that constantly appear in my feed. This time, it was a train tour from Singapore to Beijing that intrigued me, especially when I added a leg to Mongolia. Other places crossed my mind, but by early October, I had made my decision and began organizing the lengthy train journey from Southeast Asia. A good friend warned me that Vietnam would be too hot in April and suggested we visit in January instead. However, that wouldn't fit the end of our journey due to the winter weather in Mongolia. Thus, Vietnam would have to wait.
The trip morphed from Hong Kong to Mongolia. I crafted another plan. Then, one morning, the thought struck me: “We should go to Tibet!”
Where did this notion come from? Evidence of it can be found in my blog from my Nepal and Bhutan trip, where two encounters sparked the idea. On my flight from Kathmandu to Paro, I sat next to two young Slovakian women whose travel plans made me envious. After Bhutan, they were flying to China and taking a train to Tibet. A few days later at Phuntsho Yangkhil Lodge in the Phobjikha Valley, I was asked to share a table with Ursula, a woman from Chile, which made me green with envy since she planned to continue on to Tibet.
I messaged Ursula on WhatsApp, and she enthusiastically recommended a trip to Tibet, sending me some spectacular photos.
Yet, I was apprehensive. Lhasa is situated over 3,600 meters (12,000 feet) above sea level, while Everest Base Camp is more than 5,200 meters (17,000 feet). Was this journey a bit too ambitious for us? My doubts turned into motivation; I embraced the challenge. Yes, it might be a touch crazy, but I refused to enter old age quietly. Tibet was a must.
This was now my third detailed itinerary. However, it still felt too prolonged, particularly the section in China (which needed to adhere to our 30-day visa-free limit). Thus, my fourth and final plan took shape. The route became a direct line from Shanghai to Xining, followed by a train to Lhasa for our Tibet tour. From there, we would take a single flight down to Xi'an and travel by train to Beijing, finishing with an overnight train to Ulaanbaatar for our Mongolian tour. Our return journey would include stops in Seoul and Calgary.
How did I organize all this? I visited multiple websites to review tours and learned about the destinations we would explore. I exchanged numerous emails and made several phone calls, often searching for reviews on tour agencies. Ultimately, I decided to book with three different companies – one for Mongolia, one for the majority of China, and a local agency for Tibet. China Discovery managed most of my travels within China, facilitating our internal flight, trains, hotels, guides, and drivers. Explore Tibet organized our 10-day tour, and Amicus Travel Mongolia arranged our 7-day adventure there. This marked a return to employing local travel agencies after a different experience in 2025 with a UK company. That had been easier, but their markup significantly inflated the trip's cost, leading me to question its worth. Choosing these companies and finalizing our itinerary consumed considerable time, but now that I am retired, I had ample free planning
April 10, from Pouch Cove to Toronto.
