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Old 30 Aug 19, 12:58 PM  
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DisneyDaffodil
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Join Date: Apr 15
Location: South Wales
Pre-Travel Day ~ Vietnam July 2019

Index

Before we begin with the trip report, we want to introduce ourselves and explain a little more about the reasons for the trip and our plans.
Firstly, we write this report as a joint report. I, Susan (DisneyDaffodil) write in black like this to give my opinions and thoughts on the trip and I, DisneyDaffodil and Robs daughter, write in pink to give my very important opinions and wonderful comments on everything that happens.
Brief Introductions (for more in depth intros you can read our other trip reports):
Susan, mid-50s, chief holiday planner and part time volunteer CAB advisor.

Rob, late-50s, my husband, works full time to fund all my holiday plans.

Georgia, 18, Rob and Sues daughter, chief holiday photographer and going to Bristol University in September to study biology.

Our main reason for visiting Vietnam was to visit our eldest son, Ian, who lives in Vietnam. He is a teacher in Ho Chi Minh City and has lived there for the last 4 years. He visited us 2 years ago at Christmas but we havent seen each other since (although we talk regularly using Facebook)
Also, during the trip we spent a lot of time with Ians girlfriend, Claudia who is an American teaching there. Shes taught in Vietnam for 2 years.
Now, a little more about our plans for the trip and the planning. Most of the planning happened around 8 months before the trip. I booked the flights and all of our hotels via Expedia at this time. We booked Thai Airways flights from Heathrow to Ho Chi Minh via Bangkok. Wed never booked indirect flights, so we were nervous about how these would work out and if wed have enough time between flights. For our first three nights in Ho Chi Minh, we booked to stay at the Huong Sen Hotel in District One. I've included photos from the different hotels that I took later in the trip as we don't have many photos for pre-travel day. This is the view from the Huong Sen's roof

We later booked internal flights with VietJet from Ho Chi Minh to Da Nang (to stay in Hoi An) for a three-night stay at Hoi An Beach Resort. This is a photo of the river besides our hotel room during a rain shower

Finally, we flew back to Ho Chi Minh for four nights at the Grand Silverland Hotel in District One. This is the entrance to the Grand Silverland

We flew home with Thai Airways via Bangkok to Heathrow.
We were all initially very nervous about the trip. We had never travelled this far before, never visited Asia, were worried about whether we would enjoy the food or find the heat too much for us and we had heard that Ho Chi Minh was very busy and werent sure if this would be something we would enjoy. Rob and I really wanted to go to visit our son though, as we miss him and also wanted to see where he lives and why he loves it so much and has chosen to live there for so long. I, on the other hand, didnt really have much incentive to go, as I barely remember Ian being home. He went to university when I was around 5 and hasnt lived at home since so weve never really had a chance to get to know each other as adults, hes only ever known me as a child. There was a lot of discussion before we booked about whether I would go with Mum and Dad or stay at home. I realised it was an opportunity to travel further than Id been before and to a continent that really interests me, as well as get to know my brother so I decided to go too.
Even after booking, we had quite a few moments of wondering what on earth we were doing so far out of our comfort zone. There were quite a few panicked moments and some arguments and tears as we planned, as we all had our own anxieties about the trip. I bought so many anti-mosquito sprays that I could have filled a whole suitcase with just those plus other medication to avoid any stomach upsets. Eventually, after packing and repacking the suitcase a hundred times as we didnt know what clothes we would need, we were ready to go

Pre-Travel Day
Pre-travel day morning went as most pre-travel mornings do, with frantic last-minute packing and organising. Ian rang me from Vietnam to see how we were, as he realised we were nervous and I think he was too. It was reassuring to hear from him and I was excited to see him soon.
Lunch was not a success. Mum decided we should use up what we had in the fridge for lunch and that wed have an omelette. This should have been fine but they added left over brie that we had to it and it became probably the worst lunch Ive ever eaten. My cooking advice is to never add brie to an omelette. Not even ketchup could save it. I do agree that this tasted terrible. At least we joked that no food in Vietnam could taste that bad
We set off from our house at around 3pm and had a good journey to Heathrow until it came to finding our hotel. We had booked to stay overnight at the Holiday Inn just off Junction 4. But when using google maps to find this postcode, it only took us to the main street behind the hotel, not to the entrance. We were all very confused about how to get there and started to get nervous as we were driving around the terminals of Heathrow airport with no idea where we were heading or where the next place we could turn would be. Google Maps had failed me and neither me nor Mum are very good at directing with road signs. We managed to turn around in the passenger drop off area at the airport and at one of the roundabouts I recognised the sign for Sipson road and the Park Inn by Radisson that I knew we had to drive past from the directions Id found online. Once we drove onto this road I was able to plan the rest of the route (although only a few minutes away) using Google Maps. It was straight forward from there and we easily found the hotel.
We arrived at the Holiday Inn around 6pm and checked in easily. Our room was on the fourth floor, quite close to the lifts. At reception, the receptionist had told us that our room would have one double bed and a single sofa bed but when we reached the room there were two double beds which was great for us. The room was also huge and very clean. It was possible one of the nicest overnight airport hotels we have ever stayed at. Our hotel stay was booked as a package through Holiday Extras that included one nights stay, breakfast the next morning, car parking throughout our entire trip and Hoppa return transfers to the airport. This cost around 180.


We had pre-booked a meal at the nearby Plough Inn, as it had been recommended to me here on the Dibb. We hadnt realised when we booked how close it actually was, as it was literally just outside the gate of the hotel. We relaxed and freshened up in the hotel before heading out at around 6:50pm for our meal. We were quickly shown to our table and given menus. It was quite full in here so I was glad I had booked, although there were empty tables outside. I had the chicken and mushroom pie, Rob had the chicken kebabs and I had the Chicken New Yorker.





The service here was good and the food was tasty pub meals, which is exactly what we wanted that evening. The prices were also very reasonable, considering it was so close to the airport. I had two lagers and a glass of wine and Rob had three lagers and overall the meal came to around 60, which was good for all we had ordered.
We went outside to drink our last drink, as it was a lovely summery evening. We enjoyed sitting here and chatting. It was a relaxing evening which helped put our minds at rest before the long travel day ahead.


We went back to our room and watched tv together while eating the salted caramel Matchmakers that we had brought with us. We all went to bed at around 11pm. I slept restlessly, as I was nervous about the travelling the next day, despite the beds being very comfortable. I was comfortable in bed but woke up several times as Mum and I were really hot in the room so had to adjust the air conditioning. Rob, however, managed to sleep through all of this and had a good nights sleep 😊
The next day was our long travel day to Ho Chi Minh, meeting up with Ian and trying to stay awake until bed time.

Edited at 06:31 PM.
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Old 30 Aug 19, 01:22 PM  
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Doowop
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Reading along, a place I fancy going but I dont know how to do holidays without theme parks!
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Old 30 Aug 19, 01:33 PM  
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DisneyDaffodil
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Originally Posted by Doowop View Post
Reading along, a place I fancy going but I dont know how to do holidays without theme parks!
It is such a totally different experience to Disney holidays 😂 We love our theme park holidays but like to try a variety of other holidays too, but we did think Vietnam was going to be a step too different for us.

Without giving too much away, I will say we were wrong and Vietnam was a wonderful place to visit and not difficult to get used to at all. I hope you enjoy reading and it encourages you to give it a try 😀
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Old 30 Aug 19, 02:17 PM  
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Vinniecat
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I'm looking forward to reading this one. Especially as theme park holidays are not for me. I like a theme park for a day or two but not a whole holiday and I love to visit new places.
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Old 30 Aug 19, 03:17 PM  
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DisneyDaffodil
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Originally Posted by Vinniecat View Post
I'm looking forward to reading this one. Especially as theme park holidays are not for me. I like a theme park for a day or two but not a whole holiday and I love to visit new places.
I hope you enjoy our report. I think the fact that we love visiting new places is what finally pushed us into booking (plus seeing our son of course). Worst case scenario, if we didnt like it then at least we could say we had seen it for ourselves and made our own minds up about it. Thankfully, it turned out to be an amazing experience 😀
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Old 30 Aug 19, 04:15 PM  
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tracy99
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Definitely reading along to this,as we like to visit the Far East every year & we really enjoyed our time in Vietnam,so will be interesting to see if I recognise anything.
Its nice to experience different places & cultures & I must say,I envy your son living there!
I bet the long journey was worth it,to see your son at the other end.
Im looking forward to the next instalment
Tracy x
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Old 30 Aug 19, 05:43 PM  
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DisneyDaffodil
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Originally Posted by tracy99 View Post
Definitely reading along to this,as we like to visit the Far East every year & we really enjoyed our time in Vietnam,so will be interesting to see if I recognise anything.
Its nice to experience different places & cultures & I must say,I envy your son living there!
I bet the long journey was worth it,to see your son at the other end.
Im looking forward to the next instalment
Tracy x
We seem to follow each other around Tracy 😂 Not long to your Split trip now I see, have a lovely time.

I hope this report reminds you of your trip there. Our son loves living in Vietnam and has a great life there. I can certainly see why he loves it now we have visited.

It was worth the long trip just to see him, and a real bonus that we enjoyed exploring some of this beautiful country too

Edited at 05:44 PM.
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Old 30 Aug 19, 07:13 PM  
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Awww Im just glad you had a good time visiting your son
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Old 30 Aug 19, 07:38 PM  
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DisneyDaffodil
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Originally Posted by vampiress88 View Post
Awww Im just glad you had a good time visiting your son
That was the most special part of the trip. Although Im finding Im missing him even more since we have been home again 😢 Im sure we will return to see him sometime in the future though
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Old 30 Aug 19, 07:55 PM  
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sherrar
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Really looking forward to this report. I too volunteer for local CAB. We are going to Vietnam next March. Also a few days in Cambodia. Would be interested in your experiences getting your visas. Can't wait to hear what you thought of the food - I am quite adventurous with food but not sure how I will be over there.
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