Vietnam - first visit and first TR

[GDSman]

Nice report GDSman.

We've just booked flights for 10 days in March, so I will read over this one a few times to get some decent ideas.

I do like the idea of a cheapish suit or two.

I'm pretty sure you can spend less than I did but I reason that I paid a 'convenience surcharge'.....

 

[Ric]

Over dinner we discussed our 'top 3' of the trip - something we always do. The cruises came out on top but one of my favorite memories that I think I'll remember forever was when we saw a lovely painting of 4 women planting rice...clearly well painted and a quality work. "That would be great in our dining room - let's go in", I said. I was thinking $7-10k Aussie....(it was obviously a high end shop). "It's USD92k sir"........****, that's more than the room's worth, was all I could think....."Nice!", I said....shows what I know about art...
Back to the hotel and we headed for bed knowing that tomorrow will be long and arduous as we head home - HAN-SGN-MEL-HBA is a long way....

Any pic of the painting? Must be good at USD92K!!

 

[GDSman]

Any pic of the painting? Must be good at USD92K!!

Damn! Didn't even think....all I know is that the female painter is the first Vietnamese to have a solo show in Melbourne....

 

[Pushka]

Nice report GDSman.

We've just booked flights for 10 days in March, so I will read over this one a few times to get some decent ideas.

I do like the idea of a cheapish suit or two.

Just make sure you get someone with good reviews on Trip advisor. . HoiAn is the tailor city.

 

[VPS]

Interesting TR - thanks

 

[GDSman]

25 July VN259
HAN - SGN
A321 J Seats 4A/B/D
ETD 1700. Delayed to 1730
VN runs 16 seats in J in the A321, 10 of which were occupied. I'm still sore at the thought of being in Y down to MEL so I thought let's just make the most of the space and service and see what the wine is like.....and then turbulence arrived, so even those gods were against me....
The turbulence was over quickly and service resumed - a tasty chicken and ginger with rice dish. I tried the white and didn't like it so switched to the red. That hit the spot nicely and luckily the flight attendant agreed with me as she was happy to keep re-filling.
So in the space of 12 days we will fly all 3 classes VN offers on the 787 - no one can suggest I'm not providing a comprehensive VN review!
Couple of hours to kill in SGN airport. I get a bit toe-y during transits....will see if there's a cafe to waste the time (and wifi for the devices!).....

 

[GDSman]

25July VN781 SGN - MEL
787-9
ETD 2125.
Actual- forgot to check but slight delay made up with a fast flight time
Y - 18A/B/C
How the mighty have fallen. It was time for an overnight Y sector. The flight was pretty full. Straight after takeoff and supper was served....nice pork dish with tagliatelle style noodles.
After that we hunkered down and tried to sleep a bit. The boy slept pretty much the whole flight but it wasn't as easy as that for the 2 adults.
2hrs out of MEL the lights were turned on brightly and breakfast served. Not particularly good but it was food....tea was welcome - like how they served it with lemon wedges.
Arrival into MEL was ok. Picked up some duty free, used the eGate (I'm sure it used to be for 16+ but now as it's 10+ we can use as a family).
Luggage was a bit slow but then customs. I'm guessing that flights from Vietnam are subject to extra checks...they way they had it was ridiculous. They made you walk right around the back of the carousel to join a snaking line. We had some sweets with nuts so had ticked the box but it didn't delay things.
And then out into MEL airport to check the bags for HBA...only the lifts were abysmal. In the VA terminal one was out of order leaving a queue of people with bags on trolleys going 2 at a time - took about 20 mins to go up...
Checkin for HBA smooth and easy and we went to the Lounge for bathroom and a real coffee....

 

[GDSman]

26July VA1320 MEL - HBA
737
ETD 1040 delayed an hour by late inbound aircraft and then a wet aero bridge.
Y - 3A/B/C
Front row of Y meant a bit of leg room and as we're flagging we all passed out pre takeoff. I'm pretty sure at one point I let go one of those funny snores that woke me and my wife up..
Cup of tea (miss that lemon wedge!) and the delightful mini Carmen's biscuit thing. Explained to my wife that constitutes my breakfast every week when I fly to MEL - got some sympathy.
Looking forward to getting down (boy has ear equalization issues), pick up the pets and get home....

 

[cambriamarsh]

Thanks for this really enjoyed it

 

[GDSman]

Interesting TR - thanks

Thanks VPS

 

[GDSman]

Thanks for this really enjoyed it

Thanks cambriamarsh. Glad it was worthwhile...

 

[GDSman]

Just make sure you get someone with good reviews on Trip advisor. . HoiAn is the tailor city.

I think Pushka's probably correct - I'd been told by others that Hoi An is the best place, particularly from cost perspective.

 

[GDSman]

Nice report GDSman.

We've just booked flights for 10 days in March, so I will read over this one a few times to get some decent ideas.

I do like the idea of a cheapish suit or two.

Hope it's helpful GarrettM - let me know if there's anything needs clarifying....

 

[Ric]

Damn! Didn't even think....all I know is that the female painter is the first Vietnamese to have a solo show in Melbourne....

Not to worry. Good TR though!

 

[GDSman]

This is the end....
Picked up the animals and headed home with a mixed feeling of happiness to be at home and sadness that we were back to normal life again...about 10C in HBA today.
It was great to get home. The mother in law had put the heating back on yesterday so the house was comfortably warm.
Tomorrow will be a tough day of back to school, back to work.
I hope those who've followed the last 12 days have enjoyed it - I was trying to bring a 'live report' feel to the TR by writing snippets each day as they happened and keeping it current. I like to think I'm well travelled so it's a rarity for me to experience a new country - I'm guessing some of my observations and experiences bordered on the naive but I think they might provide someone with some tips and tricks for their trip...
Writing on the iPhone had its challenges - I've re-read some of my posts and there was the odd great autocorrect (my favourite being 'lucky Janice' for 'lucky chance'...)
The need to log out log in for every post has been very frustrating- hope that's fixed soon....would be good if the app can get some fixes to really improve UX.
If anyone's planning a trip to Vietnam and I can help pls let me know....
In summary, we went on a relatively expensive intro trip to Vietnam. We think we got a good taste for SGN and HAN as well as a couple of cruises. There are far cheaper ways of doing Vietnam but we work on the premise that our holidays are a reward for long, hard days at work so we earn a 5* experience (at hotels, tours and shops even if I can't always justify turning left on a plane...).

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for putting in the effort for this TR - I really enjoyed it.

 

[Virgin Bart]

This thread is strongly influencing my first trip to Vietnam next year. Thank you!

 

[docjames]

Thanks, enjoyed the TR, well done "doing it live" too.

 

[drron]

Yes very well done.I cant even do a very simple itinerary live.
Brings back memories though for us the highlight was Hue.

 

[GDSman]

Thanks for putting in the effort for this TR - I really enjoyed it.

Thanks OZDUCK - glad you did. Must admit I quite liked doing it, definitely need some practice in narrative writing though!