I blame Rachelle. Who probably blames me. Waaaaay back in time, when I was in charge of my tiny world, Rachelle asked for vacation and I was completely (hmm, how to put it nicely) fornicated with no staff and too much work and general whinging on my part so I could not accommodate her time off. So she couldn't go to Costa Rica. She later went to Vietnam and I ended up going to Costa Rica once I had been diposed as leader (thank god).
Rachelle loved Vietnam (she says) and I loved Costa Rica. So we switched Lonely Planets. Since I had saved $25 on a guide book, Vietnam was my next destination. That is a better reason than most of my trips
Plus, always thrifty, I was getting close to enough travel points for a free trip to Asia. But not quite close enough. I knew I wanted to go in late January/early February which meant I had to buy tickets by, oh, I don't know, TODAY. I was sooo close. Then Chris, my fab friend and neighbour, got new flooring and let me pay for half with my points-gathering credit card and presto-blamo, I had enough points (just, but who's counting). I could spend up to $2000 on airfare! Which meant I could go "Premium Economy"! What does this mean? I have no idea. Is premium economy on a crappy airline better than plain economy on a swanky airline? I have no idea. Did I want to spend the full $2000 even though it meant I was flying with a crappy airline. You bet I did! It cost me $168 in taxes. Woot!
I had been tracking flights to Vietnam on Google Flights. I decided, based on zero research or knowledge or common sense, that I wanted to fly into Hanoi and out of Ho Chi Min City or vice versa. The cheapest "premium economy" flight - by far - was Delta/Korean Air.
While trying to coerce Val into this trip (she still isn't on board but I remain hopeful) she actually did a bit of research. Apparently Feb 15-20 is Vietnamese New Year (Tet) where everything goes crazy for a week. Embrace it or leave said the websites. I decided to embrace it. So, my dates are Jan 21st to Feb 20th.
Since I was embracing, I decided to go whole Tet and be in Hanoi at the end of my trip, which the one site I checked said is better than Ho Chi Min. Or at least the first line said that.
I will be there for the last whole week because that one site also said travel during Tet can be 'problematic'. I have even tentatively booked a room since my extensive 5 minutes of research also mentioned it is hard to find accommodations during the celebrations. See, I know what I am doing.
So, there you are. I am going to Vietnam. To do:
1. Create blog - done
2. Buy bird book (not done)
3. Read Lonely Planet or do any research at all (not done).
Rachelle loved Vietnam (she says) and I loved Costa Rica. So we switched Lonely Planets. Since I had saved $25 on a guide book, Vietnam was my next destination. That is a better reason than most of my trips
Plus, always thrifty, I was getting close to enough travel points for a free trip to Asia. But not quite close enough. I knew I wanted to go in late January/early February which meant I had to buy tickets by, oh, I don't know, TODAY. I was sooo close. Then Chris, my fab friend and neighbour, got new flooring and let me pay for half with my points-gathering credit card and presto-blamo, I had enough points (just, but who's counting). I could spend up to $2000 on airfare! Which meant I could go "Premium Economy"! What does this mean? I have no idea. Is premium economy on a crappy airline better than plain economy on a swanky airline? I have no idea. Did I want to spend the full $2000 even though it meant I was flying with a crappy airline. You bet I did! It cost me $168 in taxes. Woot!
I had been tracking flights to Vietnam on Google Flights. I decided, based on zero research or knowledge or common sense, that I wanted to fly into Hanoi and out of Ho Chi Min City or vice versa. The cheapest "premium economy" flight - by far - was Delta/Korean Air.
While trying to coerce Val into this trip (she still isn't on board but I remain hopeful) she actually did a bit of research. Apparently Feb 15-20 is Vietnamese New Year (Tet) where everything goes crazy for a week. Embrace it or leave said the websites. I decided to embrace it. So, my dates are Jan 21st to Feb 20th.
Since I was embracing, I decided to go whole Tet and be in Hanoi at the end of my trip, which the one site I checked said is better than Ho Chi Min. Or at least the first line said that.
I will be there for the last whole week because that one site also said travel during Tet can be 'problematic'. I have even tentatively booked a room since my extensive 5 minutes of research also mentioned it is hard to find accommodations during the celebrations. See, I know what I am doing.
So, there you are. I am going to Vietnam. To do:
1. Create blog - done
2. Buy bird book (not done)
3. Read Lonely Planet or do any research at all (not done).
