Washington DC

Our trip began in Washington. We chose to arrive two days early in part because we did not trust United with getting our luggage on time even on a non-stop flight. We also wanted some time to play tourist and to have dinner with some long time friends.

We arrived in the evening so we just had time to walk into Lafayette Square, take a couple of pictures, then have dinner. On Oct 30 we walked to the Smithsonian American History Museum. In the evening we had dinner with friends.

Oct 31 was our nominal arrival day. It was raining. Carrie went to one of the art galleries. I went to the Spy Museum something I highly recommend. Evening was the start of trip activities. We first travelled to the Nat Geo headquarters which is near the hotel for a welcome lecture, to meet our Nat Geo guides and for cocktails. Following that we had dinner back at the Hay Adams. The next morning we headed to an FBO at Dulles Airport to board our plane for the first time.

The evening of Oct 31 was our first event of the tour. Originally we were supposed to walk to Nat Geo headquarters, but due to rain they bussed us. We first had a presentation where we met the Nat Geo guides

• Carroll Dunham - an anthropologist who lives in Kathmandu and provided insights on the people we visited
• Bill Saturno - Talked about the civilizations and the history. From him we learned the admonition that when we visited ruins we should imagine them at the time of their use as vibrant active places
• Jason Edwards - Our photography expert. He presented many lectures not only on his impressive work, but also to improve our images. He led some of the early morning photo shoots at Tongoriki and at Angkor Wat.

We were also joined until Katmandu by Alex Moen and after Katmandu by Glynis Lough. Both of them work for the Society as opposed to Nat Geo Expeditions.

Time to board our plane for the 7hr, 35min flight to Peru We had a connection in Lima so we did not get to the hotel in Trujillo before 11 PM.