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Old 7 Sep 19, 03:26 PM  
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DisneyDaffodil
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Travel and Arrival Day ~ Vietnam July 2019

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Disclaimer: There are very few photos in this day of the report as I was severely jetlagged and didn’t have the energy to take photos. There will be LOTS of photos throughout the rest of the trip, I promise. I also apologise for the length of this day’s report but it does cover around 48 hours of travel and arriving in Ho Chi Minh. It’ll get more exciting in the following days.
We all woke up when the alarm went at half past seven and quickly got ready. We packed our overnight bag and then headed down for breakfast. The breakfast area was busy but we were shown quickly to a table. The breakfast in the hotel was similar to every breakfast in an airport hotel. I don’t really eat breakfast so just picked at a bowl of cereal. Dad and I on the other hand had a few plates of food. I had pastries and a small cooked breakfast (just bacon, a hash brown and beans) and Dad had a full cooked breakfast with toast. We all enjoyed a cup of coffee though.


After breakfast Georgia and I headed to check out, while Rob took the overnight bag back to the car. We joined him to get the suitcases and then went to find where the Hoppa bus stopped. We thought we had just missed a bus, but it arrived as we walked towards the front of the hotel, which is where the bus stop was. We got on this without realising how long it would take to get to terminal 2 as there was so much traffic at this time and in this area. Thankfully, we had plenty of time so didn’t mind.
When we reached the terminal it took us a while to realise where we were headed. We joined a queue for a lift but then realised there was a lift closer to the building that nobody was using that would take us directly to departures. This saved us a lot of time waiting here. Then the real queuing began.
Heathrow airport was insane. We’ve never been to Heathrow before so didn’t know how it was organised or where exactly to go. We found there was very little organisation really and quickly joined the mad ‘line’ (which was more a huddle of people) going to Thai Airways check in. These were self-service check-ins and we worked together to try and figure out how to print the luggage tags. Meanwhile, the man on the check-in next to us kept asking how to work it and why his wasn’t working. We tried to help but I had no idea what he was doing wrong. I think we would have been there all day if we’d tried to help anymore as he didn’t even know how to scan his passport. At the same time, a man from the back of the line had insisted on barging through everyone else and was basically stood on top of me trying to get to the machines, even though we were still printing our luggage tags. Why couldn’t he wait like everyone else?
Then it became even worse. We had to try and find the line for bag drop. After joining three different lines and being told we were in the wrong place, we were eventually showed to the end of an even longer line that wrapped around the whole check-in area. We won’t bore you with any more of the details of our checking-in/bag-drop but we were there over 2 hours. We were so glad we had set out early.
We managed to get through security quickly. After security we immediately headed towards our gate, as we didn’t have much time until the gate opened. When we reached the gate, we sat down and watched the runway while we waited to board. Our plane was huge! Mum’s telling me it was an Airbus A380, which I expect means something. Neither of us know though Dad was more impressed with the plane than either of us.

We boarded on time. We thought the economy seats on the Thai Airways planes were spacious, particularly on this one, and quite comfortable. We were also pleased that (for once) there were no children sitting around us to scream, cry or kick our seats. Not every child does this obviously, but we ALWAYS sit by the ones who do
We took off at 12:30pm. I was very relieved as this was on time and we only had an hour and a half lay-over in Bangkok.

Not long after take-off, we were served drinks. We all had a bag of mini pretzels, I had a gin and tonic, Rob had a beer and I had an apple juice. All the food and drink and IFE was included with Thai Airways and we were very regularly given food and drinks throughout the flight.


A couple of hours later the main meals were brought out. I had the spicy chicken with rice and Dad and I had the beef with mustard sauce with mashed potato. Both meals were also served with a salad to start, a bread roll, the most delicious chocolate cake ever, cheese and crackers, a bottle of water and a cup of coffee or tea. At the same time we were served another alcoholic drink. I had wine and Rob had another beer. These meals were pretty good for plane food, definitely some of the best we’ve ever had. In general, all of the food we had on Thai Airways flights were of a good standard. We had taken Pringles and other snacks with us in case we didn’t like any of the food served but we definitely didn’t need them.



A few hours later, a pack of three small sandwiches each was served. We picked at these as we were still full from the last meal and ended up swapping sandwiches a lot as some of us liked things that others didn’t.
The final meal on this flight was served around an hour before landing. This breakfast was scrambled eggs and a potato rosti. It also came with an orange juice, a croissant and jam, a fruit salad and a yoghurt. None of us ate very much of this as by this point we were all really full and very tired. I particularly felt bad by now so only ate the slices of apple from the fruit salad.

The entertainment on this flight was good. We all watched films on the flight. I watched Glass (which I thought was excellent as I have enjoyed the previous two films in this series), Wonder Park (which wasn’t great but fine to entertain me on a plane) and started to watch Dumbo (live action, which we’ve seen before) but stopped not that long into it as I was exhausted and didn’t want to see it when tired. Rob watched Aquaman (which he didn’t really enjoy and only watched half of), Captain Marvel and Wonder Park. I watched Isle of Dogs (which was amazing. I had heard a bit about this before but didn’t know much about the story but really enjoyed it) and Captain Marvel (which was even better watching it the second time). I also spent a lot of time playing the games on the IFE and even got the best score of the flight on one of them (which I was very proud of). I went to tell Mum excitedly that I was the best of the flight before realising she was asleep. Thankfully I didn’t wake her up


I read a little on the flight and played some of the games. I slept for about an hour and Rob dozed a little too but I didn’t even manage to doze. I started to feel quite unwell towards the end of the flight, as I often seem to on long haul flights. We were all very pleased to arrive in Bangkok eleven and a half hours later, at 6:30am Thai time. I was a little worried about Georgia as she seemed to be feeling nauseous and we knew we had to rush through Bangkok airport to catch our connecting flight but thankfully as soon as we stepped off the airplane she started to feel better. I think it’s a mixture of the inflight food, sitting for too long, altitude and air conditioning with no fresh air that affects me.
We had about an hour and 15 minutes after exiting the plane until our next flight. The signposts for transfer passengers in Bangkok airport are really clear and at regular intervals so we knew where we were going. Despite this it was a long walk as it is a very big airport. Bangkok airport is also very pretty with paintings and artwork on all of the walls and plants everywhere. Although we were walking fast, I did enjoy looking at these in my very tired state and pointing out to Mum and Dad that we were in a brand new continent.
We didn’t need to collect our luggage (as we had booked on a through ticket) but we did need to go through security, which took a while although it was efficient. We walked very quickly the last bit of the way to the boarding gate as we were worried that the gate would close but when we arrived there was still plenty of time as we sat down for around ten minutes catching our breath before the queue opened to board.
As soon as we were on the plane I started to feel sick again. I really didn’t enjoy this journey as I spent most of the hour and a half flight staring out of the window trying to distract myself. I did enjoy watching the runway as we took off though as there were small streams next to it with wading birds in them and flying next to the planes. It was also interesting watching the land and rivers that we flew over as they looked so different to anywhere else that we’ve flown over before.
This flight was on a smaller plane but still comfortable. After boarding we were served yet another meal, despite the flight only being an hour and a half, which none of us ate as we were so full and even the smell of it made us all feel a little unwell at this point as we were too tired. We were very pleased when we finally landed in Ho Chi Minh as both the flights had seemed to take a very long time (14 and a half hours from Heathrow to Ho Chi Minh).
After exiting the plane we joined the long, long queue for immigration. We all had to go through separately and the immigration officer asked me how long we were staying, as if we were staying over 15 days we would have to have a VISA. We were only staying 10 nights though, so didn’t need one. Dad and I went through with no questions and then we headed to baggage reclaim. This was incredibly efficient as our suitcases were already off the carousel ready for us to collect.
We left baggage reclaim and walked outside, all looking around in search of Ian as he had told us he would be waiting for us outside. It took less than a minute to find him and we were all very happy to see each other again. We chatted, hugged and walked towards the roadway so that he could order a Grab (which is their version of Uber/Lyft). While we waited for this to arrive we took in the area around the airport. Although it was busy here, we didn’t feel it was much busier than the average large airport with people and taxis everywhere but not overcrowded. It was only 9am at this point so the heat wasn’t too bad but we could tell it was going to get hotter as the day went on.
The Grab car arrived very quickly and Ian insisted that Rob sat in the front so he could watch all of the traffic through the city. This was a very different journey and as our first experience of the roads, it was quite overwhelming. There were bikes and cars everywhere (particularly bikes) and there seemed to be no order. However, throughout the trip we realised there was a system and the roads were quite organised if you understood how they worked. I was so tired at this point and watching all of the bikes and cars was daunting as it seemed that the city would be too busy and crazy for us. Through the journey we all chatted and we played a game to see what the strangest things we could see on bikes were. We saw at least five people on one bike and people carrying everything from livestock, to panes of glass and household furniture. It really was insane the size and weight of things they could attach to a motorbike.
We had to drive all the way through the city to District Seven, as we were heading to Ian’s apartment for a while until we could check into our hotel in District One at 2pm. We were all very tired and just wanted to nap but this seemed the best option until we could go to our hotel. District Seven is quieter than the main part of the city as it is less ‘touristy’. We stayed with Ian and chatted, although we were all so tired that it was difficult. It was wonderful to see him after so long and catch up. Obviously we hadn’t seen his apartment before so he gave us a tour of that. We also headed down to his local supermarket as he wanted to buy some food for his lunch (we didn’t want anything to eat as we were too tired and confused by time differences, not to mention all the food we’d eaten on the plane). We all really enjoyed looking around the supermarket though, especially at the wide variety of fruit and vegetables they had for sale there. Ian bought some dragon fruit and star fruit, which we all tried. None of us particularly enjoyed the star fruit but did enjoy the dragon fruit.
At around 1:15pm, Ian ordered us a Grab to take us to our hotel and we arranged to meet him later that evening. It took around 20 minutes from Ian’s apartment to our hotel. We were all exhausted now and can barely remember this journey.
Our hotel, the Huong Sen Hotel was in District One near the Bitexco Tower and Walking Street. As soon as the Grab driver parked besides it, the doorman ran over to the car to help us with our luggage. We very quickly checked into the hotel and they helped us to take our luggage to our room.
The Huong Sen was a three star hotel and the cheapest of the hotels that we had booked for this trip. It was quite old fashioned, but very clean and the rooms were huge. Our room had one double bed and two single beds. This was great as the beds were really comfortable too, not just a camp bed. Our only complaint about this room was that there was no view from our window, only a brick wall a few metres away which blocked out a lot of light. This meant our room was usually very dim and we had to have the lights on all the time.

When we arrived in our room, all I wanted to do was sleep. I was exhausted and overwhelmed from all the travelling and the completely new city. To be honest, at this point, I just wanted to go home. Jet lag was really difficult for me. We all decided that we had to get a couple of hours sleep so we left our suitcases and luggage unsorted and had a nap first.
This wasn’t the most successful nap. A little while later, we were all disturbed by the sound of water. We assumed it was raining as it sounded like a heavy downpour of rain. The next thing I knew, Dad was jumping out of bed because the water sound wasn’t coming from outside but from our air conditioning unit. There was a stream of water coming from the air conditioning and it was hitting the top of our suitcase, which was making all of the noise. We quickly moved the suitcases and I rang down to reception to explain the problem.
Only a few minutes later, housekeeping and maintenance staff arrived at our room. They were very apologetic and fixed the problem quickly. One of the maintenance men even climbed out of our window, with no safety harness, to fix the problem from outside.
After they left, we started to unpack our suitcases and all showered. Ian messaged me around this time asking about what we wanted to eat that evening. None of us were that hungry because of jet lag and the time difference, so didn’t want anything too adventurous. It took a while of all of us googling and looking but we soon found an Italian just around the corner from our hotel, so we wouldn’t need to go far and could eat food we were accustomed to.
We met Ian and he introduced us to Claudia, his girlfriend, who was joining us for food. Even though we were all very tired, we instantly got along well with Claudia. Even I really liked talking to her straight away, and it usually takes me a while to warm up to people that I don’t know. We wandered towards Ciao Bella (the Italian restaurant) and I was confused about how dark it was there, even though it was only 5pm. We found that the sun set very early in Vietnam throughout our whole trip. At least this made the evenings cooler, which we appreciated after the heat of the day.
Walking to the restaurant was a surreal experience, as it was like nothing we’d ever experienced before. The pavements were uneven, so we had to be careful everywhere we walked as we’re very prone to tripping over even on perfectly flat ground. There were motorbikes parked on the pavements and often motorbikes would just drive on the pavements if the roads were too busy. At the same time, there were groups of people sat on the pavement, cooking food and selling all sorts of things. It was definitely one of the weirdest experiences of just walking down a street that we’d ever had.
We were shown to a table upstairs in Ciao Bella, which was quite busy that evening. We were all given a complementary glass of prosecco while we looked at the menu. This restaurant was very ‘fancy’ and certainly of a higher standard than the three of us had been expecting of restaurants in Vietnam. Ian explained that as this restaurant served Western food it would be one of the most expensive that we ate at all trip.
I had the Fettuccine Alla Tony (chicken in a cream sauce), Rob had the spaghetti and meatballs and I had spaghetti in tomato sauce. I didn’t take any photos of this meal as I was still too tired. Sorry.
This meal was delicious, and although the three of us couldn’t manage to eat a lot of ours due to jet lag, we really enjoyed sitting and eating the meal with Ian and Claudia. I really enjoyed sitting and looking out of the window at the street below and watching all the cars, motorbikes, pedestrians and other shops and restaurants. The city seemed so alive.
Overall (we also paid for Ian and Claudia’s meal), including alcoholic drinks for everyone but Georgia, the meal came to £64. We thought this was a great price for how big the meals were and how many of us there were. The service here was excellent and before we left our server brought us complementary limoncello. We paid our bill by credit card, which is how we paid for our meals throughout the whole trip, but left our tip in cash.
After our meal, we decided to go for a walk around our block to see the area and Ian and Claudia knew of a nice bar nearby that served craft beers. Although we were all really tired again by now, we had been enjoying their company and wanted to spend more time with them. Claudia even helped me to cross a street on our walk (which was unsuccessful as at the moment that we needed to cross there was absolutely no traffic on the street I think this was the only time we saw a road with no motorbikes on it)
The bar was very close to our hotel and we finished up our evening sharing 2 flights of beers between the four of us (as Georgia doesn’t drink). It was nice to spend time with them that evening, although I don’t know how much of it we remember because we were so jetlagged. I’m not sure I contributed any interesting conversation that night Georgia did chat too but I agree that we were all so tired that I barely remember it either.
At around 8:30pm we were all really struggling to stay awake so we said goodbye to Ian and Claudia for the night and headed back to our room. We decided to go for a walk onto the roof of our hotel (where breakfast was served and where the pool was) to try and keep ourselves awake a little longer. It was really beautiful up here as we could see out across the city and all the bright lights (enjoy the first photos you’ve seen for a while haha)



Then, when we went back to the room, Dad turned the tv on and we found Rise of the Guardians on a channel there. Mum and I watched this to stay awake a little longer (as it was near the end of the film) while Dad fell asleep immediately.

We were all fast asleep by 10pm

The next day we explored the main tourist sights such as the Post Office, Reunification Palace and War Museum and ate food at Propaganda.
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Old 8 Sep 19, 07:11 PM  
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Melbatb
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Flying east is such a different proposition than flying west!

It must have been so lovely to see Ian again! When I think of Vietnam I think of busy roads with motorbikes

Your dinner sounded delicious and you did very well to stay up as long as you did!
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Old 8 Sep 19, 07:23 PM  
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DisneyDaffodil
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Originally Posted by Melbatb View Post
Flying east is such a different proposition than flying west!

It must have been so lovely to see Ian again! When I think of Vietnam I think of busy roads with motorbikes

Your dinner sounded delicious and you did very well to stay up as long as you did!
It seemed like the longest day ever 😂 but seeing Ian when we got off the plane made it all worth it 💕

Vietnam, especially Ho Chi Minh, is definitely lots of very busy roads and bikes everywhere but we were surprised as there is a sort of chaotic sense to how the traffic works and once we got used to it, crossing the road wasn’t too bad. It was very scary the first few days though 😀

Big fail on the trip report for photos of our meal that evening but we were exhausted by then so have a good excuse 😂 We would recommend the restaurant especially for a good familiar meal. Although we are more adventurous with most of other meals throughout the trip (and we remember to take photos 😂 )

Edited at 07:30 PM.
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Old 13 Sep 19, 08:33 PM  
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Seems like such a long flight, lots of space on the seats though from the sound of it. I bet you were very tired by the end of it.

A lovely meet up with Ian and a lovely dinner too.
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Old 14 Sep 19, 08:47 AM  
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Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
Seems like such a long flight, lots of space on the seats though from the sound of it. I bet you were very tired by the end of it.

A lovely meet up with Ian and a lovely dinner too.
I don’t think we’ve ever been so tired, it was such a long day. Thai Airways were excellent to fly with though. It was all worth it when we saw Ian though. The meal was really good, comfort food which we were used to, I just wish I could have eaten more of it but we were just far too tired that evening.
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Old 14 Sep 19, 11:26 AM  
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What a very very long day but at least you’re there now!

I’m not sure how I’d cope with that flying east - we’ve gone from London to Hawaii in one day (11 hours to LAX, two and a half hour layover and five and a half hours to Hawaii) and that was OK but it was flying west which is much easier.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip!
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Old 14 Sep 19, 12:14 PM  
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Wow, what a travel day! I admire your stamina. Great start - looking forward to more of your adventure xx
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Old 14 Sep 19, 02:13 PM  
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Originally Posted by KarenG View Post
What a very very long day but at least you’re there now!

I’m not sure how I’d cope with that flying east - we’ve gone from London to Hawaii in one day (11 hours to LAX, two and a half hour layover and five and a half hours to Hawaii) and that was OK but it was flying west which is much easier.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip!
We were surprised at how different it was flying east. We really took a few days to adjust to the time difference and shake off the jet lag. Hawaii sounds a great trip although even further than our flights 😀

We are hoping to get our next day of the trip finished this week, thanks for reading
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Old 14 Sep 19, 02:17 PM  
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Originally Posted by Gev View Post
Wow, what a travel day! I admire your stamina. Great start - looking forward to more of your adventure xx
Thanks for reading 😀 I must admit looking back at it I don’t know how we kept going. We all fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the big comfy pillows that evening
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Old 19 Nov 19, 05:36 PM  
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Loving the trippie... we are booked into the Huong Sen Annex Hotel.

Lucky you being on the A380, I am a bit of an airplane geek We are doing our flight in two 6hr 30 ish flights via Doha.

Not sure how we wil be with jetlag. Last year we went Hong Kong then OZ and had zero jet lag. My brother also travels East and he doesn't get it either
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