One of the greatest things about living in Singapore is its proximity to destinations in southeast Asia. There are budget airlines (scoot, jetstar, tiger airways to name a few) that charge relatively little for flights to Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc....
That being said, it is shameful that in our 16 months living in Singapore we have been to exactly ONE destination (Bali, to be covered in depth in another post someday). Why, you may ask, have we not traveled more? Well, in the beginning we were getting settled. Then six months after arriving I started working full time so I guess I was getting settled with that. Also I went from having all the time in the world to having precious (few) counted free days. Summer came and my husband took the kids to see his family in Spain for 3 weeks and then I took them to the U.S. to see mine for 2.... so I guess the answer is no good reason and, like I said, shame on us. Oh, and we are also bad planners and in general reluctant to spend large sums of money.
We have made it our mission to start seeing the region, and so, in our typical last minute style, last week we booked flights to go to Ho Chi Minh city (the one that used to be called Saigon) to leave this Friday. I thought I would write about the process of planning for the weekend and then follow up with how it was.
FLIGHTS: One of the motivations for choosing Ho Chi Minh was its proximity to Singapore (a 2 hour direct flight - perfect for a long weekend). Next was the price. Using jetstar airlines, the total for five of us roundtrip is around US$750. Not bad. The flight back was $9 each plus tax (special rate!). I can't resist a deal. Then again our return flight lands in Singapore after midnight. Not ideal with 3 kids but they don't have school all week, so I figure they'll recover. I think after experiencing the jetlag of flying around the world, landing at midnight with no jetlag seems like it will be no problem. And it gives us the whole day Monday to explore. We leave Friday afternoon at 7:50 pm. so we have just bout 3 full days.
Once we booked the flights I breathed a sigh of relief. We did it! We're going somewhere!! Wow. So easy! Just like flying from Miami to New York!
And we are. We did. But there are still things to do before wheels up.
VISA: Oh yeah, we are going to another country. Every flight from Singapore is going to another country. We need visas! Visas take time and money. The traditional way is to go the embassy, fill out the paperwork, drop your passport, payment, and photos and pick them up several days later or, for a higher fee, even the next day. For Vietnam they have a VOA (visa on arrival) system that is not exactly as the name implies. What you need to do is find a Vietnamese travel agent online and pay them per person for a letter that allows you to get the visa upon arrival. At first it sounds almost fake but after talking to friends who have done it and reading scores of comments on trip advisor, we realized it's legit. The travel companies have names that sound official like vietnamvisaonline.com (aha! not .gov or .vt or something. I know I know). So today we did it - paid about US$90 for the letters for the five of us, submitting flight info and passport numbers, and hopefully in 2 days - Wednesday - 2 days before departure - we should receive the letters via email. We print them, bring passport pix and US$45 each in US or Vietnamese currency and no there are no ATMs in the immigration section. So if we do not receive the letter on Wednesday panic will set in.
HOTELS: I know you always need a hotel for a trip. Yet another step that ends up using up hours of time on the ipad. Today I compared the process to finding a great shell at the beach. What if there's a better one? How do I know? There are so many!!! We hope to book a hotel tonight for around $100/night. Let's see.
WHAT TO DO: As stated earlier, we are not the best planners. We plan on doing a bunch of walking around, eating, visiting markets, temples, maybe one of the 'water puppet shows' that are common in Vietnam. What else is the area known for? Trips to the Mekong Delta. I have been emailing with a guide who does day trips. For US$210 one of his people will pick us up in an air conditioned van from our hotel at around 7 am, drive the 2 hours to the delta region, and we will spend the days doing fun activities (think those long boats, floating markets, people wearing those cool hats...) and have lunch before being deposited at our hotel at around 5 pm. Sounds great right? So why haven't we booked it? Because we are slackers and bad planners. I think we'll do it though in spite of my hesitations. (one of my kids tends to get carsick... what if it rains? ) Yes, we'll do it. Right after booking the hotel.
PACKING: Packing should be an interesting process. We opted to not check in bags since it was an extra cost and we figured that with all the permitted carry on allowances for 5 people it should be no problem to pack for 3 days. Famous last words?
Now that I have shared the process of planning our last minute getaway to Vietnam, I look forward to experiencing it and sharing the actual trip.
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