Mom and I decided a couple of days ago to stay at the airport because I was able to use my Bonvoy points to get a night at the Sheraton Gateway right at the Terminal. Jay drove us to the airport and opted not to stay to go out for dinner so we just had him drop us right to the door and we'll eat here.
We came in the doors, I don't think we looked like we were struggling, but the doorman said inside and to the right to the elevators. I looked ahead and there was an escalator - I said "we can take the escalator to get there?" he kinda looked at me and shrugged and said "yes, up and to the right for check in". We made it up just fine.
The check in line was unusually long and didn't seem to move very fast. A rep from the hotel came over shortly after we lined up letting us know that they were using a new check in system for the first time that day and there would be a longer wait than normal and asked if we'd like a bottle of water.
We got all checked in, came up to the room (murder central) and went right back down to grab something to eat. Someone in the line was asking about restaurants close by and the staff member said she didn't want to seem biased but the smash cheeseburger was really good in the restaurant here. Mom and I shared and I had a Corona Cero - the smash cheeseburger was excellent.
After dinner we came back up to the room and got ready for bed, it was about 8pm so we both read our books. Mom and I had a miscommunication over the adapter.
I thought that she was asking if in addition to the black adapter did she also need her white apple cube and I was saying no. She was asking if she needed the black adapter and I said no so she didn't bring it. It's fine, that adapter has a plug and also 4 USB slots so we can just make due with one but also I wouldn't be surprised if the hotels and ships also had USB style plugs (thus the USBC to USB charger adapters because some of our cords are USBC on both ends now). So we'll be fine, charged up and fully accessible - - only not really because we're 12 hours ahead/behind (not sure yet which one) and so we're fully accessible with a super long delay unless you reach us between 7-9am or pm your time then we should be mostly accessible. lol
I had a good sleep, the Sheraton beds are always so comfortable. I woke up about 5:30am but decided to get up anyway since we have a long flight today to Hong Kong (15.5 hrs) and then a 3 hour layover there before a 3 hr flight to Hanoi. When we arrive in Hanoi it will be 6pm there (6am here) so I'm going to try to just nap so that I'm tired to go to sleep when we get there. Fingers crossed.
I got this handy dandy travel wallet at Threads Boutique in town and Averie asked if I would take pictures with it (kinda a joke) like Flat Stanley travelling the world so you'll see this little gal popping up throughout the blog.
We left the room and walked over to the terminal around 8am. There was no one in the Nexus line, the gate agent asked where we were going, repeated "long flight" twice and said Cathay Pacific has the best service and we should ask for wine and beer, lol. There was also not a single person in the Nexus security line so we put our bags in the bins, sent them through, picked them up and were off. Mom's ginormous bag of liquids wasn't a problem while I stuffed my liquids into as small a bag as I could like a woman wearing too small spanks just closing it up with a little prayer hoping it doesn't burst at the seams.
It's a long walk to the Plaza Premium Lounge but it turns out it's right by our gate which is super handy when it comes time to board. I had said to Mom in the hotel that we should go to the Cathay Pacific desk if there isn't a line up so that we could do our passport verification. Because we fly carry-on and check in online we always have to do this at the gate. We didn't end up going to the check in because it wasn't immediately identifyable and the Nexus entrance was so we have to go and do that before we board.
When we got settled near the gate I left Mom and the luggage to wait while I went up to the check in desk to do our passport verification. Because we fly carry-on we always have to see the gate staff, even though we have our boarding passes, because no one has checked our ID yet. So I approached the desk, asked about passport verification and handed them our two passports. They said they had announced our names and I told them we were in the lounge but know I need to have it done so came to the gate right away. One of the reps said "I've never seen a passenger so prepared". Then they asked about our Vietnam Visa which is with Mom in our bags so I went back and got the other document holder and sent Mom up with the Visas and passports (because they wanted to see her) - she said there was a bit of confusion because we both have Patricia in our name but then she got it and confirmed the Visa information I had to provide in order to get our boarding passes.
Our Carry-on bags - well mine, Mom's is the same same but different colour.
We boarded within about 15 mins of being at the gate, got to our seats, threw everything in the overheads and settled in for a long flight…
...
That was a LONG flight. But they had a good non-alcoholic beer and a cheeseburger on the menu!
We made up some time in the air so they announced it was going to be 14h and 13m (instead of almost 15.5hr). We arrive in Hong Kong at approximately 1am our time (1pm their time) - I had two very short very restless naps on the plane. We have approx a 4hr layover now that we arrived early and then another approx 2h15m hour flight. We arrive in Hanoi at approximately 6:10pm, get our transfer to the hotel and hopefully go to sleep and get onto “time”. Tomorrow we have a free day because we’re arriving a day ahead of the group - about 8 weeks ago I said to Mom “If we can get a refund and it doesn’t cost too much more how would you feel if I changed our flights so that we aren’t flying through the middle east?” We were flying Qatar Airways. I checked and could get a refund. Actually Wendy Wood from Cruise Holidays checked and we could get a full refund so she did that for us and then I booked us independent of the tour we’re on with Uniworld Cruises on Cathay Pacific through Hong Kong and it was significantly cheaper per person. But, it meant that because of the timing of the flights we arrived a day early. And instead we went this way!
For those who made it this far maybe I should explain! This is a 50th birthday trip with my Mom, courtesy of my Mom. We decided together where we would go and then I did some research on the river cruises that are in this area - Uniworld had a really nice Vietnam and Cambodia for 15 days between land and sea and then an optional 4 day pre-tour extension in Halong Bay which I definitely wanted to do. Then I reached out to Wendy, who I worked with at Cruise Holidays back in probably 1997/1998, who goes to Curves with me and she did an amazing job booking it, our extra excursions, arranging our flights, answering questions, etc.
This is the cruise we're doing if you're interested in the itinerary but backwards because I wanted to do the Halong extension as the first thing we did.
https://www.uniworld.com/ap/river-cruise/asia/mekong/timeless-wonders-of-vietnam-cambodia-and-the-mekong/2026-ho-chi-minh-city-to-hanoi
We arrived in Hong Kong and after going through the transfer security made our way to the Cathay Pacific lounge to sit some more...we'll probably do a walk before we get on the next flight but I'm tired! I'm not a night owl so staying up like this kills me but I like to try to get on the local time as soon as possible. At security my bag got pulled aside because I had nail clippers and tweezers inside but they said they were fine after looking at them.
The flight to Hanoi was super quick - it was supposed to be 2h15m but it was 1h34m just enough time to have a meal and watch 2 shows.
Once we arrived in Hanoi we had to go through the worlds longest immigration line but it moved pretty quick. The 4 people behind us said enough stuff about being in education that I figured out that they're professors at Melbourne University so I asked my Mom if that's where my cousin, Jason, is a professor. Then I asked them if they knew him, they didn't. They were super nice though. I think Jason's a professor of Chemistry.
I booked a private car to pick us up from the airport from a site recommended by TripAdvisor. The hotel private transfer was $250USD (yikes) so I looked around and got this one for $18USD - yes you read both those right. The driver was right where he said he would be, he didn't speak english but drove well enough. Traffic is a little chaotic here - several times Mom gasped and said "I can't look" and twice his car said "Start recording emergency video" except for the one time that he almost took out 3 vespas and a minivan the car didn't register that as emergency worthly.
Lots of scooters - the most people I saw on one was a family of 4 and the most stuff was 4 x 2' square boxes (two high like a passenger and then one on either side of the scooter). The population of Hanoi is 5-8.7M depending on where you draw the boundaries so without the scooters I can't imagine how congested it would be.
Our tour starts tomorrow with the group arriving but we booked the same hotel to stay tonight - the Sofitel Metropolitan Legend and I requested when I booked that we could stay in the same room for tomorrow night when it's part of the group booking as well and they were able to accommodate that. I didn't add the breakfast at the hotel to our booking becasue it was $65 pp for breakfast. We're in a REALLY nice part of the City - there is a Berlutti and I think Prada across the street, so I'm sure there will be a coffee shop where we can get something for a light breakfast in the morning somewhere down the street.
We look not bad for having travelled 24 hrs (by the time you factor in we were at the airport 2 hrs early and then we had an hour in immigration and an hour almost drive to the hotel) and only had airplane naps.
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