There's always a glitch....

Namaste from Nepal!

If you're reading this, you are likely a family member, friend or colleague of Sue Thompson, Jason Rita, Melissa Leming, Amanda Kijac, Pete Kijac or Ellen Finney. We are the team of doctors/support staff from Christiana Care Health System Emergency Medicine Residency in Delaware traveling to Nepal for the month of April, 2010. We have a packed agenda this month, including seeing patients in the Emergency Departments of 2 hospitals in Kathmandu, traveling to the remote village of Wana in the northeast for a 5-day healthcamp, performing research projects, and hosting a 2-day Emergency Medicine Symposium here in KTM in collaboration with Helping Hands Community Hospital and Nepal Disaster and Emergency Medicine Center. We are very excited about all of our plans.

Team A has just arrived in Kathmandu, and have checked in to the Tibet Guest House. We are now in the cafe, sipping banana smoothies. (Or coca cola, as in Pete's case....lactose intolerance. ick.) Team A? You wonder... Yes, Team A. Sit back for a cute little story, the story of the first (and hopefully only) glitch of the trip.

The best laid plans... We had to fly out of Newark, NJ instead of Philly, because it was cheaper. That's a good reason, yes? Newark is 2.5-3 hours drive from our places in DE, and we arranged a shuttle to pick all of us up at our homes one by one, and head up to the airport. We were running late, because the shuttle service (who is will not name here, kindly) realized after picking up the first stop, that the door of the bus was broken, and would not close properly. The driver felt this was unsafe, and may fly open on the freeway, and therefore we had to return to the shuttle depot to pick up a new one. The driver also had a bit of a lousy sense of direction, and even in this day and age, had no GPS. He was driving with one hand, and holding a map up to his face with the other. This put us about an hour behind schedule. We had, of course, prepared for this type of issue, so we weren't concerned, until, after the second pick up, we realized, we were one passport short! The passports were all at the team leader's house ever since we sent away for the VISA's, and we had planned to pass them out to their owners at the airport. We suddenly realized that Ellen's passport was not with the others.

Panic ensued and we pulled over and took the bus apart looking for it. Searched all bags, pockets, orifices, nooks and crannies, but no passport. We quickly realized it must be still at my house. We had not yet picked up Ellen, and were a bit hesitant to tell her of the developments. She took it rather well, actually. Jason, our logistical coordinator, took Melissa's car, and drove back to my house to look for it, while the rest of us kept going in the van toward the airport. We felt that Jason had enough time to make it back to Elkton to get the passport and then race up to the airport in time to catch the flight.

As luck would have it, the passport was nowhere to be found at the house! Jason searched high and low, but was unable to locate it. He then called the bus depot and traveled there to search the original van, but again, no luck. He went to the Kijac's house, looked through every blade of grass in the front yard, and found nothing but Parker's favorite bone. In defeat, he called us in the van to say he had no passport. But! he had a plan.

He and Ellen would stay behind in DE, and he had made her an appointment the next morning at 9am in Philly to get a replacement passport. Ellen would need her original birth certificate for the application. Ellen, however, revealed that her birth certificate resided in her parent's safety deposit box in North Carolina. Problem? Of course not! Ellen simply called her parents, her wonderfully not-panicked and understanding parents, who agreed to immediately go to the bankbox, retrieve the document, and head up to DE on a spontaneous road trip.

Jason was to begin driving south, and meet the Finney's in DC, to expedite the transfer of the birth certificate.

Before Jason left the house, however, he happened to see the corner of a blue item peeking out from between our living room couch cushions.... The passport was found!

It was too late, however, to get Jason and the passport to the airport in time. :( Ellen had to ride back to DE with the confused shuttle driver, and go back to her house. She and Jason had an extra night in their respective houses, pondering the events of the day, while the rest of us lifted off into the night to travel half the globe in 12 hours. Jason managed to change Ellen's and his tickets for the same flight the next day, and they are winging their way from Newark to Delhi even as I write these words. Melissa, Amanda, Pete and myself have completed our journey, and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Team B, so that we can once again be a complete team.

No problem, I'm sure we'll have worse things happen before this is all over. :)

Everyone is safe, healthy, happy and hydrated, and they all say hello to you!

We will plan to blog daily or as often as possible while we are in areas that connect. Each of us will share some thoughts about this experience as the month progresses.

Thank you for your support and well-wishes!!