VACATIONS FROM HOME: January 2024

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

PREPPING FOR VIETNAM

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE

Ha Long Bay
In all our travels together, we have never scheduled as ambitious a trip to Vietnam. This far flung southeast Asian country brimming with beauty and history will be our “office” for nearly a month starting in late April as we traverse the country from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. We will visit 7 different locations over the trip and an overnight sail through the picturesque Ha Long Bay. We will then have a “post-trip” and will travel to Cambodia for five days before finally returning stateside.

We will travel by rickshaw, by bus, by boat and 3 internal flights, exposing us to all the beauty and history Vietnam and Cambodia have to offer. We will also learn of the darker history of the area as we’ll have the opportunity to visit the dubious “Hanoi Hilton” POW prison and visit one of the extensive tunnel systems used by the Viet Cong during the war. We will stroll the cosmopolitan cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh and visit small villages in the country and a floating village in Ha Long Bay. We will visit the sprawling temple of Angkor Wat and the notorious Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge during our trip to Cambodia.

Hue rickshaws

Logistically, a trip like this is a lot harder than planning for a summer rental at Sea Isle City. We knew early on that such an excursion would be daunting if we did it on our own, and so we decided on a tour company that specializes in small group travel. With no more than 16 individuals allowed on their tours, Overseas Adventure Travel allows us the opportunity to visit smaller destinations where a large tour would simply not be able to go.

Meticulous in their planning, they have sent us a day-to-day itinerary of our Vietnam and Cambodia trips; where we will go, how we’ll get there and what we should expect to see as well as factoring plenty of down time for us to explore our destinations.

Hanoi

WHO KNEW?

This is a very complicated trip. O.A.T. sent us a separate travel planning guide that delves into many of the particulars necessary about this trip. Passports need to have four empty pages for visas, and they will send us a “visa packet” soon with instructions on how we need to obtain our visas before we travel.

It also discusses money matters like how to pay for things and with local currency or USD, when and who to tip.

It also discusses medical concerns. Although a COVID shot is all that’s required, our doctor has recommended us getting Hepatitis A and whooping cough vaccines and to update our tetanus coverage. O.A.T. also recommends getting a prescription for a antibiotic medication like Z-Pak for everything else!

Ho Chi Minh City

We will not be lazing about on this trip. The guide says we’ll be required to walk 2-3 miles unassisted and participate in 4-6 hours of physical activities each day, over 18 days and 7 locations. O.A.T. says they reserve the right to “restrict participation” or even send travelers home if their limitations impact the group’s experience. Yet another good reason to hit the gym.

The guide tells us what clothes to pack, how to pack, weight restrictions, etc. It talks about what electrical adaptors to bring. Both countries are 220 volts. In the United States we’re 110.

As part of our travels will be able to have a “home-hosted visit” for a meal, and they recommend we bring an appropriate gift to share with the family we visit.

CHAU DOC MARKET

All travel is paid for including international and internal air travel, any coaches, an overnight trip on a traditional junk in Ha Long Bay and a sampan boat for a cruise along the Mekong Delta. Our international air travel will take us first to Minneapolis where we board a plane to Seoul, South Korea and then change planes for the last leg to Hanoi.

There is no way we could have done this on our own! This is money well spent.

OVERSEAS ADVENTURE TRAVEL

All pictures courtesy of: VIETNAM TRAVEL

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

Friday, January 19, 2024

VIETNAM

WE’RE HALFWAY THERE
terraced rice paddies Vietnam

We are going on a month-long trip to Vietnam. We leave late April for a 20 day tour of Vietnam and then a 5 day mini trip to Cambodia.

Now, there are some people of a certain age who would never consider visiting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Despite decades removed, the memories of the Vietnam War are still raw for them. I have friends who served in the war, and I would listen fearfully to their stories. I knew at that time I never wanted to go.

I did have a draft card, but fortunately the war ended for the U.S. in 1973 before I would come of age.

LIVING ON A PRAYER

While I spent my youth praying that I would never have to go to Vietnam, times have changed. Although Vietnam remains a communist country, according to the BBC it is one of the fastest growing economies in South-East Asia. They like Americans too and their tourism. Janet has been wanting to travel to Vietnam for a while now and with the new year she started researching this great ambitious adventure. (When Janet does her deep dive researching, it is difficult to be ambivalent about going to a place.) And, as I started my own research over this particular article I learned that Vietnam isn't just historical, but very beautiful.

CAN’T GO ANY FURTHER

It’s a commitment to travel as far as Vietnam. Look at a map and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is west of Perth, Australia. It is exactly 12 hours ahead of us. If you travel any further, you will be getting closer to home. It’s a completely different culture too and rather than try to wing it on our own, we (Janet) decided to go with Overseas Adventure Travel, which specializes in small group tours.

OVERSEAS ADVENTURE TRAVEL

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL

Limited to just 16 people, our itinerary has us flying into Hanoi and traveling the length of the country via rickshaw, bus, internal flights and traditional junk boats and ending our trip in Ho Chi Minh City. Along the way we’ll tour the big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, visit rural villages and orphanages, and watch a water puppet show, an art form that dates to the 11^th Century. We’ll take an overnight junk boat cruise through Ha Long Bay, considered to be one of the most beautiful places in world with its turquoise waters dotted by 1,600 stunning limestone outcroppings topped with vegetation. We’ll get a chance to visit My Khe Beach in Da Nang, where the show “China Beach” was located. We’ll have the chance to see sobering reminders of the Vietnam War at places like the War Remnants Museum and the notorious Hanoi Hilton where POWs like the late senator John McCain were held during the war.

Ha Long Bay

The best part about this 20-day excursion through Vietnam is that we aren't always on the go, having to get up early to go on to the next destination. Our travels won't be a slog. Instead, throughout our stay in Vietnam we'll have sufficient down time to explore on our own and perhaps linger over a cup of Cà phê chồn, cat shit coffee.

DOGS, CATS, AND DONG

Diet may be the most difficult part of this trip. They eat weird stuff in Vietnam, and Cà phê chồn is probably the mildest iteration of sustenance available in Vietnam. Cà phê chồn is Vietnamese for Weasel coffee. The coffee beans are harvested from the partially digested coffee berries eaten by the civet, a feline-like creature. The beans are collected after the civet defecates the beans and well, this shit ain’t cheap. It’s expensive, and at a boutique café Weasel coffee will cost about $10.00.

yum...Weasel coffee

WEASEL SHIT COFFEE

HANOI WEASEL SHIT CAFES

To go into detail here about some of the odd foods they eat in Vietnam may stop you from reading any more, so here’s a quick list of strange foods in Vietnam. Explore carefully.

One hint: Though attitudes are changing, they still eat dogs in Vietnam.

We may be looking for a McDonalds a lot.

YOU'RE EATING WHAT?

VIETNAMESE FAST FOOD SURVIVAL GUIDE

Our tour is reasonably costly. It is roughly 294,599,983 Dong or VDN, but that includes everything, accommodations, international and internal airfares, land transfers and meals, tours and gratuities.

But, don't fret! When you see the price 15,000 VDN for a beer, remember it's just $.60 cents. Consider this when you’re pining for a cuppa Weasel coffee.

It's currently 0.000041 Dong to the Dollar.

don't spend it all at once

HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA

We are going on the 20-day small group adventure, Inside Vietnam with the Overseas Adventure Travel company. In addition to this itinerary the company also offers a “pre-trip” and a “post-trip”. The former is called “Hill Tribes of Vietnam: Journey into Ancient Cultures”.

temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia

We (Janet) opted for the post-trip to Cambodia. Over five nights we’ll fly to the modern city of Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit the notorious Killing Fields and explore the ancient temple of Angkor Wat. We will then fly to Ho Chi Minh City for our return trip to the United States.

TRAVEL TO VIETNAM

This is some trip, but I’m glad I’m doing it now and not back in the 70s. Stay tuned for more information about our trip to Vietnam.

Thanks for reading,

Love Janet and greg

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

2023 IN REVIEW

WHERE WERE WE?
Where were we?

Last year we traveled well. We visited 5 countries, a couple of trips in the United States and still managed to be homebodies for a few months. After a while though the trips can blur from one to another, and without a review like this we will look back on 2023 and wonder “where were we?”

So, to help jog our memory for some future conversation here is where we traveled last year.

ENGLAND (twice)

All you followers of this sometimes-tedious blog know Janet’s grandchildren live in Nantwich, Chesire and we try to see them at least once a year.

(Is it cheating to say this is one of the “foreign countries” we visited last year?)

Well, though it is a family sojourn whenever we visit England, we also try to piggyback from there to some other destination in Europe; Ryan Air offers some incredibly cheap flights to the continent.

We have also traveled within the UK while there. We visited Edinburgh, Scotland before flying off to Belgium. We’ve taken day trips to Liverpool, Chester, York, Lancaster and the Lake District, where we took a leisurely boat ride on the largest lake in England, Windermere. This year we took a day trip to the beautiful Welsh town Llangollen.

RYAN AIR

Christmas in England

Our first trip to England last year had us in Nantwich for the Christmas holiday. It had been a LONG time since we had kids desperately pounding on the bedroom door to awaken us for presents!!!

After the New Year we took a Ryan Air flight to Budapest, Hungary for a week-long trip.

BUDAPEST
Budapest Parliament

We basically chose to visit this beautiful city in Central Europe because it sounded like an exotic place to visit. We hired a 1 ½ day private tour with Andrea Makkay and saw a lot of this capital city that was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

With thermal spring bathing facilities all over the city on both sides of the Danube (the twin cities of Buda and Pest were conjoined when the Chain Bridge opened connecting them finally) there was an unexpected charm to Budapest.

We expected dour Soviet era dreariness, but learned quickly the nightlife, including the Ruin Bars that are in the Jewish Ghetto, and our favorite, the Tuktuk Bar, was lively. Budapest is a popular "Hen-do" destination.

Széchenyi Thermal Baths

We bathed at the outdoor Széchenyi Thermal Baths and ate a lot of goulash. We attended a performance of Der Fledermaus at the Hungarian Opera. I learned that my last name, DUNAJ, means “from the Danube River area”. Duna is the Hungarian name for the storied river.

Who knew?

ANDREA MAKKAY BUDAPEST TOUR GUIDE

TUKTUK BAR BUDAPEST

BASEBALL

After our quick start to the year, we settled into the routine of home life for three months. We did manage to attend a Phillies baseball game in April.

Even though Luis Arraez of the Marlins hit for the cycle that game, we were more concerned with getting another hot dog on “Dollar Dog Night” at Citizens Bank Park.

(Janet took a dozen home.)

Our first date was on March 31, 2006. We consider that date as our anniversary, even though we finally married in 2018. I contacted the Phillies for a celebratory message to Janet on the scoreboard that day.

CURACAO

We traveled in May to Curacao, part of the “ABC” islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao”, just off the coast of South America. It was another Sandals vacation, our fifth since our honeymoon in 2018.

Willemstad, Curacao

The scuba diving in this part of the world is phenomenal and we managed to go out for five of our eight days at the all-inclusive resort. We also hired a local taxi driver to take us around the island and we saw or swam at some beautiful beaches and had lunch in the colorful capital Willemstad.

We hired Ida, her number is +599 9 522 4488. She is also on WhatsApp.

On the way home we stopped in Redington Beach, Florida for a few days to attend a family wedding.

Later that month we partied with friends in their Lewes Delaware home for the Memorial Day weekend.

PHILADELPHIA

McGillin's

In true “Vacations From Home” fashion we entertained friends from upstate New York and explored Center City Philadelphia. It proved to be the hottest day of the year, so our entire excursion was planned around shady spots to get a drink. We met our friends in Sandals Grenada. They also stayed in Curacao while we were there, and later in the year we met up again in Barbados.

HOUSE SITTING

Sometimes you need to pay the piper. Janet’s brother and his family have been watching our dog while we travel. So, when they took an extended family trip in July, we watched their house and their dogs. We were very glad to do this, even though they refused to put in a pool just for us.

ENGLAND (summer)

We traveled again to England during the final two weeks of the grandchildren’s summer recess. We did the previously mentioned day trip to Llangollen, Wales and were also lucky enough to wade through the well-attended Nantwich Food Festival.

By the way, they talk funny in Wales.

Llangollen, Wales

SEVILLE, SPAIN

Another piggyback trip to this historic city in Andalusia. We spent a week there eating tapas and drinking Tinto Verano (red wine and lemonade) and discovered Oloroso, an aged dry sherry. We took a cooking class in Triana and had an apartment in the old Jewish quarter, Santa Cruz, that overlooked the Alcazar gardens.

We went on two one-day trips while there. We took a train and had a private tour of Cordoba and rented a car and drove to see the dramatic cliffs of Ronda.

our view in Seville

Our tour guide in Cordoba was Isabel Martinez Richter. She was enthusiastic and thorough and made our relatively short time in Cordoba fun and informative.

If you’d like to book her here’s her contact information: (+34 669 645, Isabmr@gmail.com )

SARATOGA SPRINGS

Our Sandals companions returned the favor and hosted us at their place in upstate New York for a weekend of drinking in Saratoga Spings. Considered the drunkest city in New York, we sipped a lot of bourbon and a lot of surprisingly great craft beers. Our friend makes a very good, if dangerous, margarita!

craft beer in upstate NY

THE DRUNKEST TOWN IN NEW YORK

BARBADOS

Now, you may think it’s overly extravagant that we went on a second Sandals trip in one calendar year, but there’s a reason for it. COVID disrupted our travel plans and the trip we had planned in 2020 did not happen. Instead of our preferred time slot of early December, which by the way is a cheaper time to travel, we were pushed to May.

After two years of traveling to a Sandals resort in May, we decided to get back to the December schedule. You get a discount whenever you book your next Sandals trip while at the resort, so we decided to book TWO trips in 2023. Makes sense doesn’t it.