Judysfinds

I read every word and loved it. Thank you so much for taking the time. I hope I can write as thorough report as you have done. My trip planned for October will be quite similar, only adding some cooking classes and will be 24 days and include Laos & Bangkok. Could you email me as I would like to ask some questions about the airports. Thanks

absolutkz

I read the whole thing and saved for the tips for my hopeful trip.

bniemand

Judysfinds and Absolutkz, so glad you enjoyed my report!

Judysfinds, I can try to answer your airport questions here (might be helpful to others too) or I'm happy to email you if you give me your email address.

Judysfinds

We had some frustrating experiences in China and although we wanted to travel busn class to be able to use the lounges, on the internal flights in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, they are not available.
What is the process like checking in and then if you have overweight luggage, do you shuffle back and forth between lines? Also what are the waiting areas like. In China some airports did not having waiitng areas before you checked in.
Just want to be prepared and try to know what to do. Thanks for your wonderful reports.

bniemand

Our 4 internal flights, within Vietnam and between Vietnam and Laos, were all on Vietnam Airlines. We had 3 bags that we checked and 2 of the 3 were overweight. Not sure if we were lucky or what, but we were only charged for the extra weight on 1 of the 4 flights. Our flights were booked by Buffalo Tours, and I imagine they are a good customer of VA, so maybe this helped and maybe if we had booked the flights on our own we would have been charged?? Who knows, just a guess. Oh, also, our guide would typically stand in line with us and help with communications as we checked in. Maybe this helped us avoid fees as well.

We did have to go to a different desk to pay the fee, but no line there. After paying when we went back to check-in we were able to cut in front to pick up our boarding passes.

About the check-in lines, they were not bad at all.

I found all the airports to be quite nice and all had decent waiting areas -- well, I guess Luang Prabang was a bit primitive, but nothing we couldn't handle for the hour we were there. The airports in Vietnam all seemed new-ish and were small and easy to navigate.

No need for business class on the internal flights in my opinion. I can't imagine the lounges were anything special, and the business/first class seats (when they existed; on smaller planes there were no special seats) were definitely not worth paying extra for, especially since the flights were only 50 - 60 minutes long.

All our flights were on time and overall we had no problems.

Judysfinds

Oops I meant Banyan Tree in Lijiang, great place, we're staying at Nam Hai in...of course Vietnam.

absolutkz

May I ask how much the overweight fee was?

bniemand

I'm sorry, I don't remember the fee.

marya_

From the Vietnam Air site:

"Excess baggage shall be charged for per kilogram at the rate of 1.5% of the highest normal direct adult one-way economy class fare."

So, the fee varies somewhat depending upon the regular adult fare.

We found them to be flexible about baggage weight on in-country flights but they did assess the excess baggage charge when we flew outside Vietnam. We were travelling on our own though and don't speak Vietnamese.

dgunbug

Thanks for your wonderful trip report. I am beginning to take notes for a future trip and this was most helpful. Think we will try to start in the South and head North to help with the heat a bit if we can get there in the winter time.

Vientianeboy

Nice report. Just a quick note to any readers. there are often questions about malaria prophylactics. You do NOT need malaria prophylactics unless you are going for an extended trek in the jungle. (By extended I mean for several days). All the expats I know here take nothing, including the medicos. Dengue fever is far more prevalent and there is nothing you can do for that. I suggest covering up at night and using a deet based spray.

bniemand

Thanks for this input Vientianeboy. In the US there seems to be no agreement on the right answer. My doctor said I only needed the malaria pills for Laos, and my husband's doctor said he needed the pills for both Vietnam and Laos. And they can't seem to distinguish between a trip that is mainly large cities versus a jungle trek. I guess they take the better-safe-than-sorry approach. It's too bad, because I know those pills made me feel nauseous on several days.

And it's also too bad that, because I visited a "malaria zone", I am now not eligible to donate blood for the next 12 months. I haven't been able to donate for 3 years because I always manage to take trips to countries deemed malaria risks.

Vientianeboy

"And it's also too bad that, because I visited a "malaria zone", I am now not eligible to donate blood for the next 12 months."

I wonder if that is a US thing. I live in Laos permanently, and when I visit Australia there are no restrictions on me giving blood.

As far as advice from doctors is concerned: most doctors, (read GPs here), get their advice from government websites. They can't be expected to have a full working knowledge of what medication/prophylcatics are required for every country. These web sites are notoriously conservative as Govts do not like being sued for any advice they give. Best to ask a specialist in tropical medicine who lives in the area, though I know this is not easy.

The problem is that both Doxy and malarone can lead to nasty side effects. Nausea is just one of them. I take nothing, and as i stated in a previous post, not one expat I know takes anything either. And contrary to some opinions, "no" we don't get immunity by living here.

glover

Thanks so much for your report. I enjoyed reading every bit of it. Just starting to think about a trip to parts of Asia - keep reading that everyone loves Vietnam. Yours sounds like a great itinerary - with lots of variety, time for chillin', and pursuit of great food. My kinda trip - thanks again.

sueblue

Hi Bniemaid. I read through half your trip report so far. I am intrigued by Buffalo Tours and was thinking of contacting them for my own trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in December. I also like doing my own research but having the details worked out on the ground for me. We are planning to go to a few different places than you . . . at least so far in our research . . . but was wondering how you found Buffalo Tour's prices. We will be traveling for 3 weeks during peak time. Can you provide a sense on the total cost of your trip? Thanks!

bniemand

Glover and Sueblue, so glad to hear you've found my report useful! Sorry it took a few days to respond.

The amount we paid to Buffalo Tours was around $8,000. This included hotels, flights within Vietnam and Laos, airport transfers, tours, private guides and drivers. Not included were tips for drivers/guides/bellmen, food at restaurants, taxis to restaurants (if not in walking distance), visa stamp fees, international flights.

I am a good trip planner but one thing I am NOT is a good price negotiator. I am quite sure that many people on this board have used a travel agent to get a similar trip for less $$$. I also picked some higher-end hotels and I know Buffalo caters to all price ranges, so definitely you could get a package for less.

bniemand

I just realized I never posted links to my photos!

Hanoi
http://tinyurl.com/clsm8f

Luang Prabang
http://tinyurl.com/ctasz9

Hue
http://tinyurl.com/c78alg

Hoi An
http://tinyurl.com/ccufkh

Saigon
http://tinyurl.com/dmtbzd

Smeagol

I'm just getting a black screen?

sueblue

Thanks, Bniemand! Was the $8,000 total for two people? I like nice hotels as well and I was hoping to do the whole trip including meals for about $4500 per person excluding international flights.

bniemand

Smeagol, not sure what's happening for you -- I just tested all the links and they all are working for me. It takes a couple of seconds to redirect the tinyurl address to the Kodak Gallery address, but they worked.

Sueblue, yes, it was $8,000 for 2 people. This did not include food, but even really good food is inexpensive in Vietnam, so I'm sure you could easily hit this budget assuming you negotiate a better package than me