Oh yeah…Can’t forget my adventures on Druk Air!
After trekking and climbing in Nepal, I wanted to go to Bhutan for a while to wind down and go see the Tigers Nest monastery. It was one of those bucket list things *shrug* You can read all about Bhutan in my extended trip report (Part 1 – Part 2)!
So anyway, I didn’t actually book these flights. They were booked into economy class by the trekking company that I contracted to do my trip in Nepal. I informed them that I was vegan etc., and they said that was fine and would let the appropriate people at Druk Air know…So I expected an epic failure to eventuate. Imagine my surprise? Yeah, me either.
The flight from Kathmandu to Paro is listed as 70 minutes. In reality, it’s about 45-50 minutes. The meal on board is a simple snack, not an actual meal. So while I requested VGML, I got served the same snack as everyone else: a pastry (butter, wheat), a cheese, lettuce and mayo sandwich (cheese, egg, wheat), a bag of salted peanuts, and a drink of choice. I ate the salted peanuts and got a Coke Zero. For such a short flight, it didn’t bother me that I couldn’t eat the rest of it. I just wish I’d been told that my VGML request was a waste of time during the booking process rather than finding out about it on board.
I suppose at least I now knew about the onboard catering situation for the return flight to Kathmandu? I’m sure on some of Druk Air’s longer sectors the meals would be more substantial, but I only flew the short haul KTM-PBH-KTM route.
The flight back to Kathmandu a week later was uneventful and the exact same snack box was offered as on the Kathmandu-Paro sector: pastry, sandwich and peanuts. I also got another Coke Zero.
For the record, since I don’t feel like typing up a separate blog entry for it, the food options at the airport in Paro in Bhutan are almost non-existent. There are soft drinks (though no Diet Coke or Coke Zero), cookies, chocolate bars and bags of crisps. That’s about it. Eat up before you get there, otherwise I strongly suggest bringing something to eat with you from one of the shops in town, or stashing something away in your bag from the hotel breakfast if you have any dietary restrictions to consider. There’s more detail on the airport in my extended trip report (Part 1 – Part 2).
The Druk Air inflight snack on the KTM-PBH and PBH-KTM flights
The Vegan Frequent Flyer 