Day 3, Saigon to Hoi An:

We are up early in Saigon for a noon flight to DaNang. This is very close to the cultural capital Hue - about halfway up the coast of Vietnam.
We are flying with Vietnam Airlines. Arrived at the domestic airport with a check-in online, web-ticket. Straight to the front of the queue.
Well, what a fuss!!!! Won't be doing that again.... All the stewards starting shouting and pointing at each other as we were moved from person to person. All seemed like an unusual thing for us to do and that it needed an expert to interpret the usual ticketing system we were using. No wonder the web ticket check- in desk was empty. So, won't be doing that again.
Arrived 30mins later than scheduled to warm sunshine and a friendly cab driver. Excellent service and very informative. He was very knowledgable.

We spent the rest of the afternoon by the longest hotel pool we have ever seen, dozing and eating on our sun-loungers. The evening was very relaxing with gorgeous seafood at the hotel restaurant.


We are having a foot massage tomorrow and will take the hotel shuttle bus into the local historical town of Hoi An.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone 4, Ross.

Location:Cửa Đại,,Vietnam

Day 2, Saigon:

First impressions of Saigon / Vietnam are good. Very clean streets; and that's great having explored India last summer! People are friendly and smile. Food is amazing. It will be hard to eat in moderation. Hotel is great. Bed is huge and comfortable. Just lying here jet-lagged at 5am! Off to explore the city later...so will update this at the end of the day.

6pm. Lying by the pool. Made a video of our 1st day. Great fun! Feelings are city is very relaxing compared to other Asian cities; got ripped off, but always expect that on our 1st day until we get used to the customs and currency.

We later realized a bird pooed on Jenni's shoulder and into our guide book! It totally
makes sense why a local was making bizarre gestures to the sky - at us - and throwing money down onto the pavement!

Fly to Hoi An tomorrow, 1hr north east to the coast. Then relax, book and turn off the phone.

Location:Ton Duc Thang,,Vietnam

Day 1, Bangkok to Ho Chin Minh City:

Bugger! (p.s. Sorry mother.) Lost this, so writing this up again in Bangkok airport. A 3hr stopover followed by a 1.5hrs flight with Thai Airways. 440 miles on an Airbus 330 to be precise. We have 7 flights in total this trip - pretty much typical for us! I think I must have notched up close to 100 flights and at least 250,000 miles in my life. A seasoned traveller indeed! Oh don't worry, I'm am considering ticking off the check-box 'Offset your carbon footprint?' each time I purchase a flight online...

We have 3 internal flights with Vietnam Airlines, not used them before so looking forward to seeing their service. The national carriers are generally excellent flagships, so we'll have to wait and see.
By the end of this trip we would have notched up 22,000 air miles alone!

Suvarnabhmuni airport...it's amazing! Makes Heathrow look like a kids playground. No wonder the government want another runway and another terminal upgrade.

Thailand. Between us, we have been to Thailand 15 times, so no reason to stop in Bangkok.

Vietnam fact...it's number 121 from 179 on the world's most corrupted country list; so post-it to remember: Do not trust anyone! They just want your money.


Just landed in Saigon. Hotel, food, then bed... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone 4, Ross.

Location:Vietnam

Day 1, London to Bangkok:

Terminal 3 Heathrow was very busy. Much more than usual; I can only imagine that its the summer holidays and lots of teachers are disappearing...
The terminal is in dire need of renovation. Not really noticed it before; It's so small and cramped compared to the new terminal 5...

Had a quick nibble at YoSushi and it was awful; 1st time ever! Poor service and terrible cooking. The kitchen was very small compared to other venues - the Heathrow rental must be astronomical - therefore small kitchen = poor food? We sent 2 dishes back and the waitress was really surprised when she asked (robotically) 'how was your meal?'
However, the Asahi and the incorrect till price was redemption!

Very busy at boarding and managed to get emergency exit seating for our long legs. 10hrs to Bangkok, a 2hr wait then 1hr transfer flight to Ho Chin Minh City - more commonly known as Saigon. The reader will be treated to some Vietnam facts along our journey, the first being that the population is much larger than the UK, an estimated 85M.

Attached is a photo of our in-flight evening meal. Can you guess what is on the menu?




The flight was - as flights can be - very good. The only negative being a 23 minute delay on the tarmac. Now waiting for transfer flight.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone 4, Ross.

Location:Nong Prue,Thailand

Departures!

Well done Ross!

Booked luxury cab (not) to Heathrow...
Good start to the honeymoon. Flight leaves for Bangkok at 2130hrs.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Watford Way,Barnet,United Kingdom

Latest Info:

Last Days

Check out the blog for updates before our trip to Vietnam. Any recommendations?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Grenville Pl,Barnet,United Kingdom

Latest Travel Map info

1. New York City, NY, USA
2. Hong Kong, China
3. Ban Ko Samet, Thailand
4. Ibiza, Spain
5. Venice, Italy
6. Marrakech, Morocco
7. Singapore, Singapore
8. Ljubljana, Slovenia
9. Grand Canyon National Park, AZ, USA
10. Bangkok, Thailand
11. Sardinia, Italy

• View my profile
• Create your own travel map or travel blog
• Holiday rentals at TripAdvisor

Last Day @ Home

We have just arrived back from a relaxing break in the north with family.
Case is still by the door and washing in progress.

2 days to update iTunes collection; check tickets; book taxk; have a 2nd thought about "what-if's!" ad final pack. 3 weeks.
Weather forecast is 35C and generally overcast. In Asia, that means very very humid and stick with torrential downpours for 30mins or so; brief flooding followed by sunshine and cool air; then repeat. So should be fun.
Most looking forward to swimming in the pool and eating spicy soup/noodles.
This will be my 41st country and I'm looking forward to vising Asia again....really got to get to Africa more and South America for sure.
Next update will be from the airport 3.8.10 (pm).

Up north relaxing...

Reading through Lonely Planet Vietnam, highlighting, page-folding, note-taking, circling and adding asterisks!
Last check on visas and reservations this week and last minute purchases: mosquito repellant, kagool, suncream and beach reading...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Hargate Ave,Rochdale,United Kingdom

Vietnam Travel Plan

View Vietnam in a larger map

Our travel map to Vietnam.

Vietnam on Flickr

Check out Vietnam images on Flickr - won't be long before I add some of our own.

Vietnam

9 days to go.
Flights booked.
Hotels booked.
Visa arrived.

After lots of pondering and more pondering, we have finally decided to go to Vietnam. After Brazil, Europe, Cuba and South Africa dreaming....the free airmiles was the deciding factor. Ross had so many free airmiles to cash in, it was a no-brainer! 70,000 = x1 free flight. We saved £700!

Not Home, Around The World: Vietnam

Not Home, Around The World: Vietnam