Day 1 Ho Chi Minh City

We deplaned making our way to Passport control. Julie went first. I had some concerns about whether what we had was correct. We discussed crying in demand if we needed to. The guy looking at her passport was asking for something else, but he couldn’t figure out the English. He called someone else to help and we gave him the second visa. It seemed to be what he wanted. The two hour expedited visa arrived on day 6. I had already applied for a different one for her. I only had one visa so it was easy. No checked bags so we were in!!

First taxi driver wanted three times what we wanted to pay so we got an iced coffee. Next guy had a meter. He started driving strangely at first but now I think he was trying to figure out how to ask us for toll money. We didn’t have anything that small so he paid it. We knew it was going to take 30+ minutes to get to the hotel. Driving was crazy, even on a Sunday early morning. We finally got to the hotel. We knew that it could be a “by the hour” place but had decided to at least have a place to drop our bags. The Hanz Friday hotel had a sign but no door that we could see. We walked down the street a bit and found a better place. It seemed expensive for the location, but we paid it. The room was ok, but we both decided that we wanted to stay elsewhere. After we booked flights for the next day we booked another hotel.

Why can’t toilet seats fit?
The hotel lobby
Front of the hotel

In Flight

The flight from Dallas to Tokyo was to be 13.5 hours. I have flown many long flights but this one seemed to take so long. I have no idea why. It was daylight almost the whole way, we were chasing the sunset. During the flight we started planning the trip. Both of us have been so busy that we haven’t had the time to do much planning. We asked friends about their highlights in Vietnam, we checked out blogs too.

The views of Texas, Colorado, Idaho were beautiful and the clouds were ever changing. We had some wine, watched movies, read and talked. We laughed together at the dinner combo, weird chicken, smoked salmon with potato salad, julienned root vegetables and inedible fish jello in soba noodles, that was so bad that I had to scrape it out of my mouth with my chop sticks. The ice cream led to a discussion of Gilles, frozen custard, yes David, it’s the best ever!!! David is Julie’s bionic husband.

The bathrooms on the plane has interesting settings…. A bidet with shower and bath options and drying, while seated on the throne. I remember the same type of toilet in Seoul, Korea. I was afraid to try it, especially since it had mood lights in the toilet too. So I was brave and tried the toilet features. Interesting to say the least.

The flight arrived on time at about 6 pm in Hanada airport near Tokyo. The plan was that we would take the train from the airport to the city center, Shibuya, or Times Square of NYC. We filled out the forms and deplaned. When we arrived near customs, they asked for the downloaded items for MySOS and cocoa, we showed them our vaccination card and they pointed us to the right. Most likely, due to Covid we couldn’t leave the airport. So we had until 1:25 AM to occupy our time. And it was about 2AM our time. We were in the International terminal on a Saturday night. There were very few people around. We found a sort of food court and had some drinks. There we did some more planning and we felt very overwhelmed with all that we wanted to do. A plan was shaping but by 8 pm, neither of us could stay awake. We found some seats, suitable for sleeping on and slept for a couple hours. More planning and sleeping until 1AM and then we boarded the next 5.5 hour flight. We will land at 5:30AM to start our first day in Vietnam! And btw, the toilets had all the bidet feature plus music while you used the toilets.

In Flight

The flight from Dallas to Tokyo was to be 13.5 hours. I have flown many long flights but this one seemed to take so long. I have no idea why. It was daylight almost the whole way, we were chasing the sunset. During the flight we started planning the trip. Both of us have been so busy that we haven’t had the time to do much planning. We asked friends about their highlights in Vietnam, we checked out blogs too.

The views of Texas, Colorado, Idaho were beautiful and the clouds were ever changing. We had some wine, watched movies, read and talked. We laughed together at the dinner combo, weird chicken, smoked salmon with potato salad, julienned root vegetables and inedible fish jello in soba noodles, that was so bad that I had to scrape it out of my mouth with my chop sticks. The ice cream led to a discussion of Gilles, frozen custard, yes David, it’s the best ever!!! David is Julie’s bionic husband.

The bathrooms on the plane has interesting settings…. A bidet with shower and bath options and drying, while seated on the throne. I remember the same type of toilet in Seoul, Korea. I was afraid to try it, especially since it had mood lights in the toilet too. So I was brave and tried the toilet features. Interesting to say the least.

The flight arrived on time at about 6 pm in Hanada airport near Tokyo. The plan was that we would take the train from the airport to the city center, Shibuya, or Times Square of NYC. We filled out the forms and deplaned. When we arrived near customs, they asked for the downloaded items for MySOS and cocoa, we showed them our vaccination card and they pointed us to the right. Most likely, due to Covid we couldn’t leave the airport. So we had until 1:25 AM to occupy our time. And it was about 2AM our time. We were in the International terminal on a Saturday night. There were very few people around. We found a sort of food court and had some drinks. There we did some more planning and we felt very overwhelmed with all that we wanted to do. A plan was shaping but by 8 pm, neither of us could stay awake. We found some seats, suitable for sleeping on and slept for a couple hours. Maybe planning and sleeping until 1AM and then we boarded the next 5.5 hour flight. We will land at 5:30AM to start our first day in Vietnam! And btw, the toilets had all the bidet feature plus music while you used the toilets.

It’s Showtime!

Another exciting adventure about to begin! I had a great dinner with my son, George and his girlfriend, Grace. A little French food at Blue Boheme, one of my favorite restaurants, owned by my friend Ken Irvine. Amazing food!! Stayed up too late but woke up early. And guess who was going to Dallas a few minutes after me?

Yup, my daughter. She is headed to Milwaukee for a friends wedding.

I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t check in on line but when I got to the airport I had to download MySOS in order to land in Japan. Couldn’t get internet at the airport for a few min and then had to change my Apple ID. Just another hurdle. Then actually had time to talk a little business with Natalie. We are in the process of, hopefully buying another practice, so of course the broker needs stuff asap at 6 am. He had all week. He’s a slacker! Luckily my daughter is capable of doing what is needed while I am gone for two weeks!!!

Julie will be on her way to Chicago now. We will meet in Dallas. Hopefully both of our flights will be on time. At one point we planned to meet in Seattle, but the connection time in such a huge airport was too risky. We have a long layover in Tokyo so we will take the train into the city! I think we arrive at 6pm and then depart around 1am. I did the same a few years back with Natalie when we were traveling to Thailand.

We will be on our way soon!!

We both finally have Visas! I have one and Julie has two, so far. I was punching numbers to make this happen! Our last trip together was years ago to South Africa! What a trip. 14 days, 13 different places to stay, from hotels to cabins and peoples spare beds. But also feeding baby elephants to petting 6 month old lions, feeding tigers and handing out one burner stoves to the poorest of the poor in Port Elizabeth. Eye opening Adventure!! Vietnam here we come with nothing to give but ourselves!! And maybe future projects!