Trail Buddies

Meet Caitlyn. We have known each other for about 8 years going back to our days working together with STARTCAST. We were a content/service provider and delivery system for streaming audio and video. We were both made redundant when the large corporation we worked for decided that they could outsource our services thus reducing head count and costs. It is not an original story.
*There is a happy ending and proof that Karma does rule the world. The top 4 executives who were responsible for the decision to shut us down and save costs, were all let go from the company with in 6 months. The profitable business group that I lead fell into an outsourced disgraceful money pit for the corporation and was eventually eliminated.  FU** You Bell Canada!

Fast forward to today and we find ourselves wandering around Thamel Kathmandu preparing for our Everest Base Camp and Annapurnia Treks. After we were set free from our corporate masters Caitlyn, like myself, hit the road. She decided on a career in the Cruise line Industry after spending time living in Australia and doing a bit of traveling.  She again finds herself at a personal crossroads which means she is challenging herself again, smart girl.

We are going to use Gadventures for the EBC trek. I am not a huge fan of using "adventure" companies. Yes, they are costly but if they are organized and the leader is good the trip can be fantastic. Shit, this is Everest Base Camp so even if the guide is a douche we will make the trip fantastic. The second reason I am not a fan of organized treks is the pay structure. The corporation takes a huge piece of the pie, then the local company and guide and finally the crumbs are fed to the porters who do all the heavy lifting. At the end of the trip there is the option to tip. The money goes into a general fund from all the guests. It is the divided up in the same manner. Head guide gets the lions share followed by the assistants, the drivers and finally the porters. We are going to forgo the envelope and quietly tip our porters directly.

It's Nepal and it's Everest Base Camp so it will be an epic journey. I will be using this time to build my new YouTube Channel. There is only test content there now but this trip is going to provide me with material to build out the channel. My goal is to provide another way in which to share this journey with you. Honestly, keeping a blog up to date and having it somewhat interesting is tough enough. Now I have to learn to shoot, edit and compile videos while creating interesting and hopefully somewhat funny stories. Yes sir, I am going to be that guy that drives everyone crazy with my camera.

Over lunch today I said "I think we could be the oddest trekking couple in Nepal". Caitlyn gave an adamant "yes, but I would not have it any other way".