Jun-B-8
THE INTEGRATION OF THE OUTBOUND AND RETURN
ITINERARIES OF THE NEXT TWO (COMBINED)
HIMALAYAN HEALTH EXCHANGE MEDICAL MISSIONS
Subject: The itinerry for Ladakh
return trip, in view of disruption from extension to
cover Lingshed
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 11:47:43 -0500
From: Judy and Mike Geelhoed <geelhoed@swbell.net>
To: ravi@himalayanspirit.com, msdgwg@gwumc.edu,
vcroskery@home.com, emoore@dhha.org
I had a call from Nimi from Krisbi
who had given me a price for one of the tickets
for ladakh, although I am not sure she understands all the changes
that may be necessary due to the inclusion of the Lingshed extension
which will require a separation of Virginia's return itinerary from
mine.
I do not know when I am now scheduled to leave
from Lei to Delhi in view of the week added on to my stay in India.
But, ironically, I was waiting to hear from Eurasian
Expeditions about the itinerary they were planning
for me in later August, since i had told them about my return given the
standard itinerary of the Ladakh excursion. It seems now, that
I would be returning across the world and another couple of oceans, within
hours of departing to make the reverse of the same trip! If that is
the case, and if Virginia is going to have to travel back independently
form me in any event because of the superimposition of the Lingshed
itinerary we have inherited from the Flying Doctors' drop-out, I
should rather have an itinerary for return from Delhi through moscow, to
catch up with the Eurasian itinerary that same time.
I have not yet had them make up my travel plans
since I had not yet heard anything from Krisbi. But what I will do is
get the exact flights needed to mesh these two trips,
and see if it is possible and permissible for
me to make a trip to New York to deliver the gear that I need
for the second trip to give to the other passenger, Scott Miller, who
will be going from New York to Moscow and on to Kamchatka, Siberia.
The only alternative would be to carry the
gear with me for the Siberian hunting trip
to Delhi, and leave it there--and that will include a cased and locked
rifle; I am uncertain about what the regulations for such baggage
in India are, but I know they are far less "hunter friendly" than
they would be in Russia. On the subject of baggage, I would like to
leave behind one backpack of my stuff from the Ladakh/Lingshed
trip in Delhi on completion of this trip (which
I understand from you would be August 6), because i will need
the same equipment with me when I travel into Spiti (and the other added
extension of this trip also) and Nepal. That would make it possible
for me to carry more medical supplies when i come in to the Spiti
trip, which would mean I can use the extra baggage allowance form Lufthansa
to carry this on my July 17 departure for Delhi. i am concerned
about this since i have just received a very large amount of medical
supplies inthe surgical kits and gowns and disposables category, and
I am not sure how much I can carry, but it will all make a one-way trip
just like the MAP packs and medicines. With whom can the following kinds
of baggage be left in Delhi (or Simla) who is trustworthy to have it
make the critical connections forward for the other trips?
A) Backpack of trekking climbing clothes and supplies
for the Ladakh/Lingshed and Spiti/Nepal trips;
B) the hunting gear, which I will need if I go forward
from Delhi to Moscow in the August 6 return from
Lei/Lingshed. I will also be carrying the very
valuable Nonin pulse oximeter as a superb critical
clinical device I will later leave as a donation to the most
needy clinic that can use it to the best effect, after i have surveyed
all the clinics from Dharamsala, Ladakh, Lingshed, Spiti, and Lukla--from
this years' treks alone. I had previously written
you about the connection time for the departure to
Spiti, since the abstracts are being printed for the Boston Haltsed Society
Program which will be held Sept. 12--15. i have not yet agreed to
participate in a presentation at that program, since i will need to know
how this would mesh with the takeoff for Spiti, and whether i would be
doing that from Boston directly or after return to Washington. Because,
again, of the addition of the Nepal component after the Spiti excursion,
I will have to scramble out of Namche Bazar and get, somehow, to
New Orleans to the American College of Surgeons whom I am addressing on
just such medical missions as I will be prematurely returning from on October
9. I end to know about the arrangements on each end of this extended
trip in Sept/Oct in order to make it work without missing commitments
and the arrangements so far for the Jul/Aug Ladakh/Lingshed (?Russia)
connections are not a promising model for the later smooth integration
of the multiple point itineraries meshing. I
have given a lengthy interview to the AAMC Reporter and Jennifer Proctor,
along with a lot of supporting printed material, on promoting medical
missions--among medical students with the AAMC, as I am doing with
physicians in the ACS in October, and may even be doing for the general
public through the National Geographic Society. if the proposal suggested
by Roger Hair, NGS photojournalist, that I had forwarded to you
goes through. I hope that the encouragement that is getting a swelling
stream of volunteers to participate will not be fouled by administrative
snags, and that I may be able to mesh the dense combined travel
itineraries in view of the added components tacked on to the Himalayan
Health Exchange individual itineraries.
I will try to mesh the itineraries and fax
forward the return for Virginia if she is returning
independently from Ladakh while I am off in Lingshed. I will then find
out if I can have someone else carry my gear to Russia,
and rendezvous with them in Moscow, before going on to Kamchatka,
and will send to Krisbi through you the return flight needed from
Moscow (cheaper) than from Delhi with a long enough advance to get the
discounted rate. I am trying to shuffle all
these plans while in the air, visiting my son Michael
and his wife Judy on their 8th anniversary, pre-Father's Day as they
are awaiting the birth of the twin boys which will be happening when
I am off in Ladakh, and then i am going on to remote Dayton Wyoming to
run the Big Horn Wilderness Ultra on June 16 and returning to Boulder on
Father's Day and home on Monday June 18 to be giving the Grand Round at
Holy Cross Hospital in Maryland on June 19.
I hope we can still pull it all together!
GWG