I wanted to go solo from the very beginning, I was convinced by a friend who did the trek on her own, I was planning on doing this in 2019. However an opportunity to go to India presented itself and I decided since Nepal is only 2 hours flight from India, I thought I'll swing by and do the trek. Since I was short of time, I decided to just use an agency instead of doing it on my own. Destinations Unlimited was recommended to me by a friend. I reached out to Ashok on facebook, he answered all my questions, and from there, I sent a deposit and told him I am willing to join a group to save some money. Unfortunately, there is no group starting on the date I wanted so I had to do a solo trek, why in hindsight was the best outcome. There was a 2 day delay because of bad weather, first in Lukla, the next in Kathmandu, I ended up going to Lukla via helicopter, this means I have to pay $200 for me, and $200 for my guide, who I met in Kathmandu. I got a refund for the canceled flight, which means I am down only $200 (I am writing this as a warning, so you can plan for it, this is unpredictable, you know, weather, so I suggest make arrangement in advance for a guide that is based in Lukla, maybe Ashok can work this out, just to be sure). Anyway, the guide, Bijay, was super amazing! He is an excellent, experienced guide, couldn't have done it without him.
The trail is probably the most beautiful trail in the world, the trek is super demanding, you have to traverse 5 chain bridges, which make it like you have climbed 5 mountains, so much uphill/downhill climbs. In the end it was super worth it.
Included in the program is a climb to Kala Patthar (5,644 masl). I found EBC to be about 5 to 7 times harder than Kilimanjaro. Ok, sorry, I digress, Destinations Unlimited is a great company. They selected the best tea houses for their guests, and there was dinner and a show after the trek in Kathmandu, sort of like a congratulations for a trek well done.
Highly recommended, book your EBC trek with Destinations Unlimited.