We’re off! We managed to pack lighter than we ever have before, knowing that for parts of our trip we’d have to carry a lot on our backs. We were ready for 20 hours of flight time – 12 hours to Doha, Qatar and then another 8 hours to Ho Chi Minh City. And of course, we needed to stock up on Vietnamese Dong – but being the mature parents that we are, we made no jokes about that whatsoever.
Qatar Airways was very impressive. Sadly, these were not our seats…
But these were! So we got comfy with our compression socks and settled in.
Our flight took us over the Middle East.
Slight issue landing in Doha – apparently there was a leak in one of the wheels when we landed – and a smoking airplane wheel tends to bring the fire brigade! We got checked out and towed to the gate, escorted by the fire officials – amazingly quickly and efficiently. Very fitting, because stepping out onto the tarmac in the desert felt a little like walking into a fire! Then we boarded a Dreamliner – biggest engine ever! – to finish out our trip to Vietnam.
We had been warned several times to use a very specific taxi company when leaving the airport – we were almost lured astray, but yoinked our bags from the trunk at the last minute and got on the right track. The traffic and sheer volume of motorbikes made us very glad that we didn’t try to rent a car!
We got to spend some time strolling the city, where we realized that you couldn’t necessarily count on the sidewalk to keep you safe from motorbikes! Or from getting (nicely) scammed – I was a few steps ahead and turned around to find Dan carrying a load of coconuts – which meant that of course you had to buy one – or two! During our Street Food tour later in the evening, our tour guide warned us of the top two scams in the city – taxis from the airport, and…the coconut men! 🙂
After a somber walk through the War Remnants Museum, jet lag got the best of us. Time for a quick nap at the Cinnamon Hotel – unmatched hospitality – to rest up for our next adventure!
Comments (1)
Cool!