Index
This day’s report is going to be a short one, and not very exciting either
(with very few pictures haha) as it was mainly just waiting in airports and flying to Hoi An.
We woke up when our alarm went off and went up to breakfast. We leisurely had our usual breakfasts and coffee, as our flight wasn’t until 3pm.
We had originally booked a 9am flight and Ian and Claudia had booked the one before us, so they would wait for us in Da Nang airport and we’d travel to Hoi An together. However, our Vietjet flight time had been changed to 3pm. Therefore, Ian and Claudia were going to go to Hoi An ahead of us and we would catch a Grab car to Hoi An ourselves.
After breakfast we spent around an hour at the pool, relaxing and reading. We then went back to our room to pack the last few things.
We headed down to check out at 12, which was good timing for our flight. We spent some time sitting in the foyer waiting before we ordered our Grab, which was a bit boring.
To make things worse, I received a message saying that our flight had been delayed by 50 minutes. This meant we needed to wait even longer before we ordered our Grab and headed for the airport. Georgia and I went for a walk around the block and we bought crisps in the local Circle K shop, to eat as a snack until we reached Hoi An. None of us were that hungry this day, as we had eaten a lot the last few days and had a good breakfast so didn’t have a proper lunch.
At around 1:30pm (we think, we forgot to write down times) we ordered the Grab.
Now I specifically made sure it was written to take us to the domestic departures, as we weren’t leaving the country and it was going to be easier if we went to the right terminal. However, when we came to the part of the road where it split between domestic and international, the Grab driver insisted on going towards International, despite us trying to point and explain we wanted domestic. This caused us to panic a little and struggle to find our way from international to domestic, as there were no clear sign posts and although we asked a few people, they didn’t give clear directions of where to go. They kept telling us that we needed to take the lift over to the right, but there was no lift! We eventually found some stairs and had to carry our one suitcase (thankfully we didn’t have all our cases with us) down these and then walk to domestic departures. This is probably the most lost we got throughout the whole trip and we were all a little stressed when we finally reached the right terminal.
The terminal was very busy, but we managed to find the right queue and check in easily. We then joined another long line for security which we passed through easily. Despite being very busy, the airport was easy to navigate. Once through security, we sat down to wait a short while for our flight. Or so we thought. After a little while, an announcement was made telling us our flight had been delayed. This delay kept being put back later and later until eventually our departure time was 5:30pm, 2 and a half hours after our original estimated departure. Ian had warned us beforehand that these internal flights were often delayed so we were prepared.
I was hungry and thirsty now, so we bought bottles of water, ate our crisps and I ate a cereal bar too (that had travelled all the way from the UK and was very very melted and squished. Delicious) Throughout the day, Ian had been sending us lovely photos of his hotel, the swimming pool and the food they were eating, which definitely wasn’t fun while we were sitting in an overcrowded airport.
When we finally boarded and took off, our flight to Da Nang only took 50 minutes and we arrived at 6:20pm.
I took some lovely photos of the sun setting as we flew. The view out of the window for this flight was spectacular, very green and mountainous.
In Da Nang airport, we easily collected our suitcase (as we didn’t have to go through immigration) and ordered a Grab.
We waited near the exit of the terminal for the Grab, which told us it had arrived, however there was no car nearby. Usually at these airports, taxi drivers will come over and ask if you want a taxi, which we had become accustomed to turning down. However, our Grab driver this time had parked in the car park and came over looking for us. This was more sensible, as the area was busy but it was difficult for us to know at first that he was our driver, without his car registration.
We arrived in Hoi An at 8pm, so it was quite a long drive to Hoi An. However, we all really enjoyed the drive as we drove through Da Nang, where the bridges and buildings were all lit up. Our driver pointed out all of the sights to us and tried to chat to us about our trip and Da Nang, despite his English being limited.
We arrived at our hotel, the Hoi An Beach resort and went to reception to check in. The hotel was stunning and we wanted to explore more but at that point we were too hungry to take it all in, having only eaten crisps since breakfast.
They took us to our room in a golf cart, despite our room only being less than a minute’s walk away. We went into our room, looked around briefly and changed our clothes before messaging Ian. He said that they would come to our hotel to join us for food, as we were too tired to go out that night. His hotel was around 5/10 minutes drive away so we wandered down to our restaurant/ reception area to wait for them. When we reached there we realised there was a wedding party being held in our hotel’s restaurant, which we worried would mean they weren’t open but as soon as the staff working there saw us, they asked if we would want a table. We explained we were waiting for two others and they prepared a table for us outside, alongside the pool. This was a beautiful location as, during the day, you could look over to the river.
While we waited for Ian and Claudia, Dad and I watched the lizards on all the walls and bats flying around (Mum tried not to look at the bats as she’s scared of them 
)
Ian and Claudia arrived around 8.30pm and we went to the table that had been prepared for us. Despite the fact there was a wedding party there, the waiters were very attentive and the service was great. The menu was more Westernised than many places we had eaten this trip but it was nice to have familiar meals after such a long day. They were also relatively ‘expensive’ in comparison to other foods in Vietnam. It cost us £75 for five meals and four rounds of drinks for four people (including cocktails), so by UK standards it wasn’t that expensive at all.
Georgia and I had the chicken breast with mashed potatoes and vegetables.
Rob had a pasta dish (we can’t remember what exactly)
Ian had tuna.
And Claudia had a Greek salad.
All of the food was delicious and well presented.
I even ate the mushrooms with my meal, so that shows how good it was. We spent a late night here, chatting while we had drinks. We enjoyed listening to the music from the wedding party, even though it was a little loud
(you’re showing your age there Mum. And after you’ve been to concerts with me 
)
It was a lovely end to the evening and I enjoyed spending the time with the family. We went back to our room around 11:15pm
(which Mum is calling a late night) and headed to bed.
This was the start of one of the worst night’s sleep of my life. I’m sure we have photos of our room layout later in the report, but for now I’ll explain. Mum and Dad had a king sized bed that took up most of the room and I had a camp bed, set up by the balcony door. Right next to their bed. So every time Dad moved or breathed or snored or just existed really, I heard it or felt it or just knew about it. Not to mention the mattress on my bed was less than half the thickness of the mattress on Mum and Dad’s bed, so I could actually feel the springs. This continued for the rest of our stay in this hotel, where Mum and Dad fell asleep easily while I grew more and more annoyed at my bed. This was a lovely, luxurious hotel, however I would only recommend it to a couple or book two rooms as the bed situation isn’t up to the standard of a 4 or 5 star hotel.
I think it would be better with younger children as well, as they would more easily sleep there than me, as I’m an adult and complain about these things more.
The next day we went to An Bang Beach in the day and into Hoi An that evening with a Vietnamese barbeque dinner.