A note about this and
future lists to follow in Vacations From Home; it is limited to our personal
experiences. I’m sure we’ve missed a few, I mean how many Lost Weekends can
there be?
Feel free to contact us
at VFH Central if you know of a place we don’t mention where we can wet our
whistle if we ever return. And, we’ll buy you a drink if we see you there.
Becoming a lawyer was
never an option for me, because I could never pass the bar, although, not
passing the bar is a noble aspiration for a writer, and as a world traveler the
heavenly portals of a watering hole have led to many great experiences and more
than a couple of hangovers.
It’s all positive
drinking though because stepping into a bar in a foreign land only adds to the
experience of a different culture. Sometimes it’s an area with plenty of honky
tonks or pubs where the collective experience can be fun, if not overwhelming.
Sometimes it’s an intimate quiet find that leaves one giggling with delight
over the discovery.
It’s all good and as
Team VFH has decided to compile a list of bars we’ve known over the years, I’m
surprised that our livers are intact, but our minds are filled with glorious
memories.
ONE or TWO, FOR THE
ROAD
Going through our
history of alcohol-induced exploring expeditions and innumerable pub crawls has
been daunting because there’s a whole bunch of them. So, rather than casting a
wide net, we have to focus! In this edition of THE POWER OF POSITIVE DRINKING,
we will tell you about the Moveable Feasts of Southeast Asia, in particular,
Vietnam. Several cities in Vietnam have dedicated areas to partying, sort of a
“red light” district for carousing.
DRINKING BINGO
Before we begin, here’s
a bingo game for those of you reading this blog while relaxing on your Barco Lounger.
Take a sip of your
favorite alcoholic beverage whenever I write the word “Vietnam.”
Take another sip if I
mention a city you are interested in visiting in Vietnam.
Chug your drink if I
mention a place or establishment that you have also visited.
Most importantly, if
after reading this blog entry you are inspired to visit these particular places
AND you see me sitting there, you MUST buy me a drink.
MOVEABLE FEASTS IN
SOUTHEAST ASIA
VIETNAM (sip)
“Mot, Hai, Ba, YO!“
Everywhere you go in
Vietnam where there is drinking, you will undoubtably hear the raucous drinking
toast “Mot, Hai, Ba, YO!“ (1-2-3, Cheers) and you know you’re in the right
place.
HANOI
Ta Hien Street aka Beer
Street
Located in the Old
Quarter Ta Hien or Beer Street is crowded, chaotic and every storefront is
offering Bai Hoi a light crisp low alcohol beer, from 3-4%, that is brewed
daily and costs between 7,000 VDN to 10,000 VDN (pennies). Perfect drinking for
hot nights and a great place to experience local and international cultures as
all the world seemingly descends on Beer Street.
Located in Hanoi’s Old Quarter
this narrow railway line passes inches away from homes and cafes and it has
become a tourist attraction that is both unsettling and exhilarating. Throughout
the day trains travel north or south along a set schedule, passing inches from
the establishments. People flock here to experience trains passing by too close
for comfort, get souvenirs and drinks. If you visit, make sure you place your
beer bottle cap on the track to have it flattened for a free souvenir.
Train Street Hanoi
HUE
Night Walking Street
bar on the Night Walking Street Hue
The Tet Offensive raged
through the streets of Hue and places like the Citadel still show signs of the
war, but across the Perfume River the lively Chu Van An Street brims with bars
and restaurants. Sectioned off from vehicular traffic on the weekend evenings the
Night Walking Street aka Hue Western Street, it’s hard to imagine you’re
in a Communist country. Music blares out from many places and you have your
pick of places to eat and drink.
Any visit to Vietnam
should include a visit to this ancient city that is an UNESCO world heritage
site. It is beautiful and heavily touristed with a very lively night scene.
After taking a lantern release boat ride along the Thu Bon River
grab a drink at any number of nightclubs in the area. Make sure you grab a Banh
Mi Phuong after a night of carousing. Tell them Anthony Bourdain sent you. Banh
Mi Phuong was his favorite.
Menus in this very
touristed beachfront town are listed in Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese
and eventually English. Nha Trang is an extremely popular tourist destination
for Russians and their families and at one time the Soviet, Russian and Chinese
navies maintained a fleet there. High rises overlook a beautiful beach and if
you happen to get there here are two places you must visit. Both are on the
beach.
Na Trang
Louisiane Brewhouse
& Restaurant
A very western-style
craft brew house right on the beach. It seemed out of place at first, only
because it was unexpected in Vietnam, but heck, this wasn’t the Vietnam we
learned about while growing up. (That was a double sip sentence.)
We didn’t find an area
of this cosmopolitan city that is similar to the dedicated areas in Hanoi or
Hue, but here are a couple of places for well-made martinis and/or craft beer.
Continental Hotel Saigon
Continental Hotel
Historic hotel journalists
frequented during the war and where Graham Greene wrote The Quiet American and
where Hunter S. Thompson stayed while documenting the final days of the Vietnam
War. A must stop while in Saigon…oops HCMC.
Overlooking the Opera house
and the Continental Hotel across the square their 2-for-1 happy hour martinis and
the views of the rapidly expanding city scape makes for a pleasant stop.
The craft beer scene is thriving in Saigon, surprisingly, perhaps driven by all the ex-patriots who
have settled here. We were able to get
to one, Pasteur Street Brewing. Sadly, we missed getting to the Heart of Darkness
brewery… so many bars, so little time. But, that’s what pub crawls in foreign
lands are like, a journey into the unknown.
Used to be that you could just jump on a plane and fly off to Europe, no visa required, but since the 9/11
terrorist attacks, security concerns have tightened and now with the digital
age travelers are vetted even before they leave home.
As Americans, you still don't need a visa to travel to Europe or the UK, but you need to apply for "pre-approval". This modernization of
border security streamlines entry procedures and helps track travelers entering
the country. In 2009 the United States rolled out the Electronic System for
Travel Authorizations (ESTA). Travelers from countries that did not previously
require a visa, which includes much of Europe, Australia and Japan, among
others, now have to apply for the ESTA and are charged a nominal fee of $40.27
that is good for two years and allows for stays up to 90 days.
On the surface the cynical thinking this is just a money grab, but this added process will lead in the long run to a faster, more secure travel experience.
The ESTA does not guarantee entry into the United States, but only the right to reach the airport, border crossing or port of entry. You still need to clear customs to actually enter the country.
RETURNING THE FAVOR
The UK has started
their own travel authorization version called ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization)
in January 2025. The fee is £20 ($27.11) and is valid for two years or until
your passport expires, and it is another layer of security for the UK. Like the
US’s version ETA is basically a pre-approval system and screens travelers for
security risks before they depart.
When we travel to
England for Christmas later this year I will have to apply for an ETA. Janet
already has hers.
NOW THE EU GETTING INTO
THE ACT
The European Union is
also rolling out their own pre-approval electronic layer of security. It’s
called the ETIAS, but it is not starting until the 4th Quarter of
this year. Their fee will be €20 ($23.43) and valid for three years for
multiple visits. The fee will be waived for applicants under 18 or over 70.
Also, in October the EU will start EES the EU Entry/Exit System. It will
be free, but biometric data like facial recognition and fingerprints will be
collected and the system will digitally log your arrival and departure and
automatically tracks how long you’ve stayed. The maximum length of a visit is
90 days in any 180-day period. Overstaying a 90-day limit could result in fines
or future entry bans.
We won’t have to apply for
the ETIAS or EES on our next trip to Greece, but will need to for future trips.
WHAT’S REQUIRED?
The USA UK and the two EU
versions of this new normal electronic authorization are separate and there are
different requirements for each. Just make sure you visit the individual websites
(listed below) for instructions. Make sure your passport is valid and will not
expire within 6 months of your return and apply for the necessary paperwork
well in advance of your departure. Required times vary, but if you apply at
least a week in advance you should be fine.
Please avoid any scams
and only apply with these official websites listed below.
Janet and I love small ship cruises.
They are intimate and the ships are able to get to ports too small for those
floating cities. We’ve been on cruises where there were more crew members than
passengers and the largest one had 65 patrons on board. THAT felt crammed.
We’ve sailed through the
Grenadines, the Dalmatian Islands of Croatia, the Sacred Islands of Fiji and
along the Pacific coast between Costa Rica and Panama.
CLOSER TO HOME
It was on the Costa
Rica/Panama trip that we traveled with Variety Cruises on their three masted
Panorama. We booked that trip in December 2019 for a February 2020 departure,
effectively a last-minute deal. It was on that trip that the crew outnumbered
the passengers.
Understandably, Variety
Cruises is a Greek company and no longer sails that particular route and stays closer to home.
the Panorama
In June we are sailing with Variety again, and we are going to be on the Panorama. Variety is calling this trip UNEXPLORED GREECE and the itinerary involves some very small islands like: Ikaria, Patmos, Lipsi, Kalymnos, Amorgos and Serifos. I know, it's all Greek to me, but I'm sure there will be plenty of wine, coffee, sponges and swimming!
We had both been in Greece
before. I traveled there after the Sarajevo Olympics spending time on Crete and
Santorini and Janet had an extended visit during her summer off time shedding
her image and presumably her sarong as a proper Schoolmarm, but we’ve never
traveled to these smaller islands.
AFTER SAILING
After the cruise we are then taking
a ferry to Hydra island, about a 90-minute ferry ride from Athens and where cars
aren’t allowed and the Uber rides are donkeys.
BOOK EARLY
We lucked out in getting a half-price
excursion with Variety the last time. The old adage is that once a ship sails
with empty berths that is lost money. Not wanting to chance waiting we pounced
on a deal in December that has since risen in price. We were also able to cash
in frequent flyer miles with American for one free trip. We purchased another ticket,
hoping that prices would come down, which they sometimes do…but current world
events put the kibosh on that thinking and prices have gone up! Even the required
frequent flyer miles have risen! So, we are lucky.
IT'LL COST YA
The thing about Variety is there
is an upcharge for some of their excursions. We compiled roughly $800.00 in excursion
fees in Costa Rica/Panama. It was worth it, but we only paid extra once before in
Croatia when we went to an Agrotourism dinner on Korcula. In Fiji we paid extra
to go scuba diving. So going through the Variety Cruises itinerary for our trip
the excursions will cost us around $700,00, I say, money well spent.
Remember, it’s a big world out
there and someone has to see it.
IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING
These are the ships we’ve sailed
on:
M/S Panorama – Variety Cruises
This majestic three-masted
motor sailer can accommodate up to 49 passengers, so you can imagine how quiet
it was with just 16 passengers.
We consider this trip to
Croatia the absolute best. We sailed from Dubrovnik to Split through the
Dalmatian Islands and then spent two weeks in Croatia. Lovely people wonderful
country.
Sadly, the Fiji Princess has
recently been retired after a weather-related incident caused the ship to hit a
reef and was deemed unsalvageable after serving Blue Lagoon Cruises for 22
years.
Fiji Princess-Blue Lagoon
There is a new ship though and I’m sure they will cater to travels for
full and half week trips through the Sacred Islands. The Fiji Princess had a
capacity of 65 passengers.
Our first vacation together
was on this majestic three-masted sailing ship that actually sailed, tacking
into ports. Sadly, Windjammer Cruises as a company is defunct, but we had
sailed with her roundtrip from St Lucia to Grenada. We recently returned to the
Grenadines to visit St. Vincent and Bequia.
Janet and I have been
together since March 31, 2006. I know just shy of April Fool’s Day. I married my
trophy wife in 2018, but we consider the day we met our anniversary.
Sometimes, when you set
out on an adventure things don’t go as planned. There are no straight lines in
nature after all, but how we got here doesn’t matter, because the relationship is
so natural.
Some may consider 20
years an eternity, but I am eternally grateful that we are together…especially when
she insists on that morning coffee before the day can begin. As luck would have
it, I like coffee too.
