Saturday, 10/19/2024
Woke up at 6:00am to get ready for a long day of travelling.
After showering and getting dressed, I took care of the cats’ food and tried to spend a bit of time with each of them, though that was not as successful as I had hoped.
I then downed my protein shake breakfast and took my medicines I take each morning.
My Uber driver arrived at 7:10am on time and we loaded up my two large duffel bags and got on the road in a light rain.
The drive to the Phoenix airport was uneventful, and we enjoyed a nice conversation with the driver who had only recently moved to the Phoenix area. (Originally from Pakistan, but had also spent time in the UAE and a few other places).
Driver dropped me at Terminal 4 of the Sky Harbor airport where I found a HUGE line for the check in counters. I had been unable to check in online earlier as the American Airlines app on my phone said I had to see an agent.
I decided to try the self-help kiosk first anyway as then the agent can come over and assist and did not see any desks with people at them anyway. As expected, it said I had to see an agent and I called over one of the ladies helping in the area. She was unable to assist though, but she did take me over to another counter where a person was sitting and I was the 2nd person in line. This actually saved me another 20 minutes or more waiting to drop bags at the check counter as well.
Turns out the agent had to verify my visa for Vietnam before they would let me board the flight. She quickly did that, printed out all my boarding passes for all 3 legs of the journey and checked my bag with all the riding gear all the way through as well.
I then went upstairs, and as I was flying 1st class on the 1st leg of this journey I got to use the much shorter line to get through security, probably saving me about 30 minutes of waiting in lines.
Once done with the security checkpoint, I found my gate and had about 30 minutes to wait till boarding started.
Eventually the time came to board the aircraft and as I was in 1st class was able to board early and relax while the rest of the passengers boarded.
The plane departed a few minutes late for the next stop in San Francisco where I have a VERY tight connection, so every minute counts. This was the reason I decided to fork over the money for the 1st class ticket so I could be one of the first people off the plane.
I only had 1 hour before the next flight departed, so that meant I had 45 minutes to get onboard the other aircraft (officially they are supposed to close doors 10-15 minutes before departure, but I have seen them keep stay open longer, but cannot count on that).
Had a nice flight listening to some music and having a Coke on the way.
We landed and arrived at our gate with 1 hour and 3 minutes till my next flight departed. I was in Terminal B, and had to go to Terminal A for my next flight. I had to walk the full length of Terminal B as we had arrived at the most distant gate! I then had to go up one level and around a long hall to Terminal A. About halfway down Terminal A was my gate which was also down a level.
I went right up to the counter to verify the passes American Airlines had printed would get me on this Japan Airlines flight. (I have in the past had to get new passes printed by the operating airline on some trips, so always check now). They said the passes were good, but would print me JAL passes if I liked, but no point in that.
However, they also had to verify my passport and Vietnam Visa before letting me board. (I found a voicemail from JAL telling me to do this a few minutes later when I finally checked my phone).
At this point I had 15 minutes till boarding started, so sat along the wall (chairs were all full) and relaxed from my marathon sprint across the airport.
For reasons I never could discern, I was unable to select a seat on this leg of the flight, so I ended up with a middle seat in the middle rows of the plane. (Boeing 787 with a 3/4/3 arrangement). I was only in row 27 though, right over the wings, so should be a smoother flight at least.
Flight took off on time and was an 11-hour flight to Narita (Tokyo) airport in Japan. I would spend it listening to music, watching movies, eating, taking short naps and making trips to the bathroom (damn bladder!)
Arrived at Narita airport outside of Tokyo with 1 hour and 40 minutes before the next flight would start boarding (and departing 15 minutes after that).
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| Flight 2: San Francisco to Tokyo (Narita) |
The flight was in the same terminal, but about 15 gates down, and a very long hallway and shopping area stuck in there for good measure! Took roughly 20 minutes to walk the distance to the next gate, where I then sat and read on my Kindle until the flight boarded.
This flight I had been able to select a seat, so was in my preferred aisle seat, but back farther in row 47, but at least close to the restroom for easy access.
This flight was 5 hours long (and would have us flying over parts of China) and I spent it again with music (till the batteries failed in my Bluetooth ear pieces) and falling asleep off and on.
We landed in Hanoi, Vietnam about 9:30 pm local time, and it was now Sunday, 10/20/2024 (have to love that dateline!)
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| Flight 3: Tokyo to Hanoi |
Once I got off the plane there was the long walk of doom that most airports seem to have to reach the immigration hall. Thankfully the airport had a well-staffed immigration area and it appeared we were the only plane arriving at the moment, so no huge lines.
It took about 20 minutes to get through immigration where they looked at my passport, at me, at the copy of the e-visa and tapped a bunch on the computer, never saying a word, then handed me back the documents after stamping my passport.
I next reach the baggage claim area where my bag was already on the circular belt, so grabbed it and moved onward to the customs area and just walked through the nothing to declare line without a glance from anyone (typical).
Once inside the terminal common area, I found a shop that could exchange money and they were also able to sell me a Vietnam SIM card for my phone. After I took care of those, I had mentioned I needed a taxi into town and guess what? Yeah, they could arrange a car service as well.
I had traded $200 for local currency (The Vietnam Dong…5,000,000 of them!). It then cost about $15 for the 30-day sim card with phone service and 6GB per day of data, and another $15 for the car ride into central Hanoi and my hotel.
I did have to sit and wait for about 15 minutes for the car to arrive, but used the time to update a few things on social media and check email now that I had internet access on the phone. The guy called me over when the car arrived, gave me the license plate number and told me where to go outside to find it.
I found the car and the driver just outside the doors. Loaded my two bags in the trunk and got into the car for the approximately 15-minute ride into town to the hotel.
The driver did not speak much English, so was a quiet ride. It was dark of course, and very hazy out, so could not see much from the road as we moved down the freeway towards town. Once we pulled off onto the secondary roads in town, then I was able to see the buildings and other traffic much better.
Speaking of traffic, WOW! Things are insane here. Unlike in India where there was the unspoken rule that bigger went first, here it is just a free for all no matter if you are a truck, bus, car, or scooter. Actually, the scooters and bikes can go about anywhere to get through the traffic.
Some vehicles were moving very slowly, dangerously slow in my opinion, and others were zipping in and out of cars to speed on their way, and as in most places outside western countries, the lane markings on the roads appear to be suggestions, not rules!
In many places the bikes and pedestrians are moving along the parked cars using up that lane, so only a single lane is left. Many just drive down the center of the road as the faster bikes were using the far-left side of the lanes as well.
Stop lights were not common, and where they did exist, about 10% of the bikes would just ignore them and ride on through the turning or crossing traffic!
Things continued to get more congested and the roads narrower as we neared the hotel. I am staying in the Old Quarter which is a very dense section of town with mostly narrow streets and alleyways.
We suddenly came upon a gate setup across the road we needed to go down, and guy would not open it for the car. (Something about not being registered to the area?) The driver called over to the hotel to find out what we could do, though at this point I was trying to let driver know I would just walk as the hotel was only 100m (328 feet) down the road.
Driver hung up and told me they would send over a car, but I said no, that would be a waste and that I would just walk over, (all this via Google Translate) so he called back and hotel said they would send someone down to meet me. That was really not necessary, but nice of them, and the guy carried one of the heavy bags for me.
I checked into the hotel and went up to my 5th floor room with a balcony view over the street.
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| MK Premier Boutique Hotel - Hanoi |
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| Room for for the next 3 nights. |
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| View from balcony. |
I started to unpack and sort through things to make stuff usable now. I then spent a few minutes trying to figure out the shower controls and then took a nice hot shower to wash off the 24 hours of travel stickiness. (Both JAL flights were far warmer than flights I take on US carriers where I am usually freezing).
I then played a bit online trying to figure out the international calling, before I realized I had not gotten any international service with the SIM card plan I bought. Oh well.
At this point it is now about 1:00 am on Monday the 21st of October.
I think it is time for bed!
Goodnight!
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