Vietnam (at last) 2026
We had been planning to do this trip for about 3 years but with one thing and another we had to delay. As I write this we are 3 days away from the flight so fingers crossed.
Before the trip
So the trip is mainly with Explore and it probably comes as no surprise that this is a food tour. One of my friends asked which city and I said The Whole Country.
We fly out a day or so before the actual tour starts so we get a little rest and maybe see a bit more of Hanoi before the tour departs. Then we have 14 days on the tour and then a few days to ourselves at the end before we fly back.
This is our first group tour for quite a few years, and the itinerary looks fantastic.
After the trip
So what are the learnings at the end of the trip.
Plan it a bit more! I think we were lulled into a false sense of laissez faire, and we should have planned the end of the trip better. We have had a lovely relaxing time at our hotel, but would probably liked to have seen a bit more.
Dave: Don’t pack too many trousers, and probably more pants and t-shirts. Swapping my mac book pro for Sam’s ipad air worked great!
Sue's learnings
I had spent a lot of time planning my packing, so it was fairly spot on! The only thing I would do is to pack a few more pants as it’s always nice to have a few more days without having to go to the launderette!
It was great to have several lightweight pairs of trousers, particularly cuffed ones as they kept the mosquitoes out. Several of the activities, like clambering around boats and caves, required trousers rather than skirts.
I had absolutely not foreseen the difficulties we had with withdrawing cash. Part of the reason was that some of the cash points are totally emptied during the Tet celebrations, but it was definitely more than that. As a result, I would get more cash out prior to the trip to tide us over. (dollars or dong would do.) I would also be sure to take quite a few cards so there were options available. We had the most success using credit cards when withdrawing money.
We had a top tip from one of our group regarding the money, which was quite hard to convert. Ramie wrote down several key conversion points and had it as the screensaver on her phone for the duration of her trip. That was really handy.
Finally, as Dave said, I would have pre-planned the final few days of the trip. We had planned to do it whilst here but the pace of the trip was surprisingly hectic. It’s a small point as we really appreciated our guide and felt like we had derived maximum benefit from being here.
