Back to the Flip Side Again

[Dachiri]

I'm heading off on Thursday for Vietnam again. I'm super excited as I LOOOOOOVED Vietnam on my first trip there (a beautiful country...if anyone has the chance to go it's a first-class destination), AND we're going to Nha Trang (a beautiful beachfront resort town...in January...click here (http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-490631-nha_trang_vacations-i)), AND I am spending 4 vacation days in Hong Kong at the end of our trip. We have all kinds of idiosyncrasies on this trip because the coworker I'm traveling with is Jewish and can't fly, ride in a car, conduct business, etc., from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, and the time changes wreak havoc on that restriction. So I'll be doing most of my traveling alone, which bothers me far less than having him on his own for his very first work trip. :eek: Because I'm the senior person, I'll feel responsible if anything goes wrong (not worried about crashes, etc....more about delayed flights, lost hotel reservations, etc.).

So here are my flights. I'm adding a new country and 2 new airports (though I won't see much of Tokyo, only what one can see from the plane/airport):

United Airlines
Flight #803
Departs: IAD 12:20 PM January 12
Arrives: NRT 4:30 PM January 13 (local time)

United Airlines (operated by ANA)
Flight #9715
Departs: NRT 5:25 PM January 12 (local time)
Arrives: SGN 10:05 PM January 12 (local time)

Vietnam Airlines
Flight #1358
Departs: SGN 7:50 PM January 14 (local time)
Arrives: NHA 8:45 PM January 14 (local time)

Vietnam Airlines
Flight #1359
Departs: NHA 9:35 PM January 20 (local time)
Arrives: SGN 10:30 PM January 20 (local time)
(Note: I am trying to get on flight #1357 at 2:40 PM)

United Airlines
Flight #78
Departs: SGN 6:00 AM January 21 (local time)
Arrives: HKG 9:30 AM January 21 (local time)

United Airlines
Flight #78
Departs: HKG 10:30 AM January 25 (local time)
Arrives: NRT 3:40 PM January 25 (local time)

United Airlines
Flight #804
Departs: NRT 4:40 PM January 25 (local time)
Arrives: IAD 3:01 PM January 25 (local time)

A couple of other notable notions about this trip: I had to get a personal passport because I am doing personal travel in Hong Kong, so I am officially able to travel the world on a whim now, and my first stamp will be for Hong Kong...appropriate. :D And, as I'm sure some of you will have noticed, I'll be spending lunar new year in Hong Kong! This promises to be a wonderful trip, despite the messed-up logistics and LOOOOOOONG travel.

[navel_gazer]

Wow! Looking forward to flight/trip reports when you are back.

[Dachiri]

Fun times outbound. We held for 20 minutes or so at IAD to collect some connecting pax...which was just enough for me to miss MY connectin in Tokyo. So I got rebooked on Vietnam Airlines, which, while not the *most* uncomfortable airline in the world (so far in my travels that distinction goes to China Southern), is most decidely *not* ANA. A refueling stop in Taipei (scheduled, not an emergency or anything) and slight ground delays pushed my arrival in HCMC back to almost 2 AM local time. While I slept 90% of the way from Tokyo to HCMC, including the entire refueling stop, I'm still pretty bushed today. I have about 5 more hours before I head off the Nha Trang...let's see if I can stay awake.

[Barb-SAN]

Wow...what a trip. It sounds like in spite of all the missed connections and changes, that you are managing well, since your were able to sleep "90% of the time". I hope your luggage is keeping up with you, or do you only take carry-on? It's such a challenge to travel light... Looking forward to the next installment....we shall travel with you vicariously.:)

[Dachiri]

Haha...sleeping 90% of that flight was more a matter of exhaustion than anything. Given that my IAD-NRT flight took off around Noon, I just wasn't tired and barely slept on that loooong flight. The change was more annoyance than anything. I selected the flight I did because I wanted to get into HCMC at a reasonable time...I could have selected a slightly longer layover and gotten in just after Midnight. In hindsight, that would have been a good idea. United had rebooked me on VA before I even got off the plane in Tokyo, so I didn't have to argue with people who barely spoke English, and, yes, my bags kept with me for the whole flight (I am out for 2 weeks and have a laptop, paperwork, and other odds and ends, so a carry-on just wouldn't work)...in fact, when I did present at the VA counter to get my official boarding pass, they made sure to re-route my bags. Not super-stressful, just a longer trip than I expected.

Our next flight to Nha Trang was uneventful, except for the chaos that is flying domestic Vietnam. Protip for anyone who comes here and flies domestic (typical rules apply for international flights...leave plenty of time to check in and clear customs): do not show up to the airport early, or even "on time" by Western standards. They have "emergency check-in" for domestic flights up until about 20 minutes before the flight is scheduled to take off (yes, you can even check bags that close to departure, and they'll usually make it to the destination!), so if you get there early you just end up standing in line while everyone who's "late" by Western standards gets bumped to the front of the line. Even showing up just over an hour early was too early and I spent most of that hour standing in line watching late-comers check in before me for earlier flights, and then rushing through security less than 30 minutes before our scheduled departure.

Nha Trang is beautiful, humid, and warm (around 80 F). A nice change of pace. Sure, I'm working all day, but after work I get to kick back with an umbrella drink next to the pool and worry about being a bit too warm in a skirt and tank top. :D My hair (curly) is a hot mess because of the humidity, but it's worth it.

I managed to get a seat on the 2:40 back to HCMC for Friday, so I'll have a little bit of time there before heading off to Hong Kong Saturday morning. Unfortunately, right now the weather forecast is calling for cool and rainy weather in Hong Kong next week, after a sunny, warm week this week. :sigh: Guess I can't expect *too* much paradise on my trip.

[Dachiri]

The remainder of my trip was fairly uneventful. I had some inexplicable nerves on my NHA-SGN flight, but made it fine, nothing to note on the flight. My flight from SGN-HKG was uneventful, but technically CO. No E+ made me a sad Sally, but, like last time I did this flight, I had the whole row to myself, so I just laid down, strapped myself in, and slept for almost all of the flight (except when the flight attendant woke me up to ask me if I wanted breakfast...I did manage not to be *too* rude to him for that).

Hong Kong was not nearly as exciting as I was expecting. It was COLD and rainy, so I wasn't 100% in a mood to explore, and there were people EVERYWHERE for the NY celebration. Not horrible, but not as pleasant as my previous trips.

I got bumped to business for my flight home (I requested it and spent the miles). While that's nice, the change of seat was a hot mess. First, I only found out I got my upgrade because I checked my email at the airport, AFTER check-in, and with no gate announcements for those upgraded right before boarding. Had I not checked my e-mail, I would have been like the woman seated in front of me, who went to her economy seat and was moved to business mid-boarding by the crew. Coming up the aisle while people are trying to get in is always fun. So, I had 20 minutes before boarding started to get my new boarding passes. My flight from HKG-NRT was CO, and my NRT-IAD flight was UA, so there were some, um, hiccups as a result of the merger. They finally found someone at the gate who knew how to work the UA system (all the others there were legacy CO staff), and I was on my way with new boarding passes. On my NRT-IAD leg, I got to experience the "new" business on United. It's pretty nice! Lay-flat seat, on-demand programming with a nice-size screen, overall, pretty swank. But the food was NOT GOOD. Hopefully they'll fix that up, as I have always enjoyed the business-class food on other UA flights to/from Asia I've taken. Ah, the things you can worry about when you're no longer terrified. :D