There's no doubt in my mind that you were joking (probably rather hilariously), but I still winced at "genie pants, dreads, and a flight to Nepal" ;)
A close friend of mine went off to India to learn how to sing a few months ago, and I recently came across a photo of him wearing a turban. Said friend has at least three pairs of genie pants. I was discussing a long time ago with another friend how odd it is that certain loosely-defined groups of people you'd normally associate with non-conformism basically have their own uniforms. Like metalheads with patched jackets and long hair, piercings and tattoos, or the aforementioned hippies. I've met a whole bunch of girls with a nose piercing, one long braid or dread somewhere in their hair, a leather bracelet or two, tattoos of ink, henna, or both, and those pants. Not ragging on the pants, mind. They're super comfy and I used to own three pairs of them. Then I gave them to turban guy.