Another Important Question Answered

After our six hour bus ride to Ho Chi Minh City (did I mention the leaking AC units?) we hopped straight into a taxi and sped towards the airport, hoping to get a flight to Ha Noi that night. We had tried to book ahead in Luang Prabang and Siem Reap, but at both Vietnam Airline desks, they told us it would make more sense, and be cheaper, to just go to the airport in HCMC and book there.

Now, for such a simple concept, it baffled Jen and I. Not only can you not book your own tickets online with Vietnam Airlines, which I'm used to doing in the states, but it's cheaper to book at the airport, right before you want to fly? I think Jen and I had to have them explain it at least three times as we struggled with the simplicity of the idea.

But we decided to go for it and see what happened. We arrived at HCMC airport at 7:00pm and went straight to the ticket counter. The woman informed us that she could get us on the 8:10pm flight to Ha Noi and booked our return flight for Wednesday evening as well. Knowing full well that we now had less than an hour to check our baggage, make it through security and board our plane before take off, we rushed to the check in line.

It was moving slowly, owing partly to the number of boxes filled with apples and wrapped in plastic that one guy was checking (but not before he squished the longest centipede ever, inside the plastic, with his foot) and a general inability to queue properly. (Seriously, the same thing happened in Paris. Do people just not know how to stand in a line?!)

Finally our baggage was checked and we set off for security. We breezed through, and got to our gate just as people were lining up to board. We were flying a 777-200 and it was nearly empty. After our dinner (dumplings), I got up to use the restroom. I never understood before how people were able to join the mile-high club, but now I do. That bathroom was huge!!! It was literally the first thing that popped into my head when I opened the door. (The second involved the geographical equation of the distance between me and my husband, but I won't elaborate, as there is a chance my parents and a large portion of my family are reading this...)

We found a taxi as soon as we landed in Ha Noi and hoped for the best. All seemed to be going well until he took us to the wrong hotel. The proprietor opened Jen's door and tried to get us out of the taxi, saying he had rooms available. I once again lied, and said we had reservations at another hotel, and had already paid. He ended up giving our driver directions to the other hotel, but after the driver stopped to ask a teenage boy on the street where to go, I started to worry again. Shortly thereafter he stopped in front of a stone bridge, pointed down the street to our left, and said "there it is, I can't drive down there, no cars."

Jen and I heaved our bags out of the trunk and walked the short distance to our hotel. We had reservations for Sunday night, but not Saturday, since we weren't sure when we would arrive. As luck would have it, they didn't have any rooms available that night, but the owner did have another hotel, so a few minutes later we were walking down the street to the other location. Feeling exhausted from our long day of traveling, we collapsed onto the beds and fell asleep immediately.