{"id":6793,"date":"2026-01-02T05:27:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T05:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=6793"},"modified":"2026-01-02T13:40:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T13:40:51","slug":"1-heading-to-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=6793","title":{"rendered":"1. HEADING TO VIETNAM."},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, we are off again.\u00a0 Back from a lovely Christmas break with Jeremy and Lucy.\u00a0 We have two days to get organised!\u00a0 Strictly speaking, add to that, two weeks preparation by Glenda before Christmas … but there’s still plenty to do.\u00a0 In my case, the words “work, expands, fit, available and time” spring to mind.<\/p>\n

Currently, as I write this, we are in a taxi on the way to Heathrow.\u00a0 But for our convenience, we have been diverted off the motorway and have just passed one of our favourite campsite near Malmesbury.\u00a0 There’s been an accident on the M4.\u00a0 Major delays expected!\u00a0 Does this sound familiar?<\/p>\n

Apart from that, a very smooth drive.\u00a0 Apparently, even smoother than my driving.\u00a0 According to one passenger,\u00a0 MUCH smoother!\u00a0 Well done Jonnie!<\/p>\n

Arriving at “our” hotel – and it should be noted that there are at least three Radisson hotels opposite Heathrow airport – I dived in before we unloaded the car to make sure we were at the right one.\u00a0 Memories of being delivered by taxi to the wrong hotel in Austria are still fresh in our minds.\u00a0 We were in the right place.\u00a0 Check-in was super smooth and we were upgraded to a “better” room.\u00a0 Result.\u00a0 But not a good one!\u00a0 The room was still very basic, seriously in need of renovation.\u00a0 Further negotiations with management eventually resulted in another upgrade – to the “International Suite” – allegedly the biggest room in the hotel!\u00a0 From the sublime to the ridiculous.\u00a0 Or should that be the other way round?\u00a0 Two of everything.<\/p>\n

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Two rooms, plus a bathroom, two showers, two sinks and two baths.\u00a0 Two sofas, two beds, two televisions, two separate (noisy, but not working) a\/c systems, two free drinks vouchers etc. etc..\u00a0 The rooms had, at least, been updated.\u00a0 But are now ready for the next up-grade.\u00a0 I must remember never to book the Radisson Blu Edwardian again – I guess there’s a clue in the name!<\/p>\n

The main bar is closed “for Christmas”.\u00a0 The restaurant is serving a drastically reduced menu (“for Christmas!”) at exaggerated prices.\u00a0 We ended up with seriously unimpressive burgers in McDonald’s next door!\u00a0 Things have got to improve!<\/p>\n

We had been advised by the concierge that the pre-booked, shared, electric limo service didn’t cover this hotel.\u00a0 So we elected for the bus (which also “Sometimes doesn’t stop at this hotel!”.\u00a0 ” I suggest you take the bus before the one you need!”)\u00a0 Later research in the lobby found two separate electronic stations on which to book the non-existent limos!\u00a0 “Oh well, they sometimes don’t arrive as booked, anyway” said our helpful concierge.\u00a0 “Also, be aware that there are two different buses.\u00a0 The H2R and H2D.\u00a0 The former takes 25 minutes to Terminal 3, the latter 45.”\u00a0 Anyway, at 6.04 am the bus arrived, one minute early.\u00a0 That should have alerted us!\u00a0 We got the late-running H2D (snail bus) by mistake!\u00a0 Well, it was perishing early in the morning!\u00a0 Off into the far easterly extremity of airport hotels.\u00a0 The Ibis, I think.\u00a0 I got 25 minutes of earache for not checking the bus number!\u00a0 Then we arrived at Terminal 3.\u00a0 So the “snail bus” was actually the “cheetah bus”!\u00a0 Concierges sometimes have the wrong information.\u00a0\u00a0 In this case, always!\u00a0 He told us that he’d only worked there for 14 years!<\/p>\n

And that reminds me that exactly a quarter of a century ago today, I worked my last day at AstraZeneca!<\/p>\n

Breakfast at the airport courtesy of Cathay was brilliant.\u00a0 Champagne and poached eggs on toast!\u00a0 Mince pies and stollen.\u00a0 Plus a few other bits and pieces.\u00a0 \u00a0Plus a bit more champagne – just in case the plane doesn’t have any!\u00a0 London to Hong Kong on a totally full plane is 12 hours of fun.\u00a0 An excellent flight.\u00a0 Cathay did very well on the food and seat front …<\/p>\n

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… although the entertainment system was a bit hard to navigate.\u00a0 But the bed was magnificent!\u00a0 There was then the little matter of a seven hour wait at Hong Kong airport for our onward flight to Hanoi.\u00a0 Actually, it turned out to be almost eight hours because we arrived early and departed late.\u00a0 We had to immigrate into HK, collect our luggage, hang around for four hours, then re-check-in, drop off the bags and emigrate once more back through security.\u00a0 We used the lobby of the Regal Hotel for a relaxing wait.\u00a0 Five minutes walk from the arrivals hall.\u00a0 We are booked to stay here for a night on the way from Vietnam to Brisbane.\u00a0 So, now we know the way!
\n<\/p>\n

From Hanoi airport, it’s about an hour into the city via the famous illuminated (at night, obviously) Nh\u1eadt T\u00e2n Bridge.<\/p>\n

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… and as seen by night (but not by us, sadly) …<\/p>\n

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Photo (possibly) byTuan Mark.<\/p><\/div>\n

Twenty minutes to get nearly<\/strong> to our destination and 50 minutes to cover the last few kilometres!\u00a0 Just before reaching the outskirts of the old historic area, our cab was joined by zillions of motorbikes, weaving in and out of the traffic.\u00a0 Carving out their route.\u00a0 Horns blasting at 5 second intervals all the way to the south end of Hoan Kiem Lake.\u00a0 Here we had to bail out, open a police barrier and walk the last couple of hundred metres through a temporarily pedestrianised (for New Year’s celebrations) area.\u00a0 We arrived in time for supper, a quick walk outside to see the decorations and laser display …<\/p>\n

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It’s all a bit hazy… I’m not sure, but I think we had a rest in bed and supper came into it somewhere!\u00a0 Later, a trip to the roof-top bar, where we had reserved a table, gave us one of the best views of any firework display we have ever seen … anywhere!\u00a0 Right in front of us!<\/p>\n

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What a way to end 2025.\u00a0 I say that, because, unlike most places, the show was timed to <\/span>finish<\/strong> at midnight.\u00a0 Apparently, to drive out all evil spirits before the start of a new year!\u00a0 Different!<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, we are off again.\u00a0 Back from a lovely Christmas break with Jeremy and Lucy.\u00a0 We have two days to get organised!\u00a0 Strictly speaking, add to that, two weeks preparation by Glenda before Christmas … but there’s still plenty to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vietnam-and-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6793"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6847,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6793\/revisions\/6847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}