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Travel Tips

Here are some practical lessons that I learned from my trip.

Planning Your Trip: Give Yourself Extra Time

My husband and I had planned to stay nearly a month, an amount of time which all the guide books said would be plenty to cover the entire country. We had initially also planned to see Angkor Wat in Cambodia and spend 2 days in Thailand. In the end, we cancelled all these plans to spend more time in Vietnam. Even then, we felt rushed. Give yourself at least 3 full days to get settled in and explore the essence of a given town or city. Always plan in some down time or time to relax.

Getting to Vietnam: Research and Keep All Options Open

I spent months researching how to get the best airfare. I posted to the Lonely Planet’s online Thorn Tree Forum and searched the Web sites of airfare consolidators. I called travel agents on the East and West Coast of the United States. In the end I found my best price in a magazine ad in Conde Nast Traveler. (Believe it or not!) At the time Malaysian Airlines was offering an Access Asia Pass (19 cities including Hanoi and Saigon) for $747 USD Roundtrip, which was the best price I could get any where roundtrip even if I was only traveling from Baltimore to Saigon and back. Still, my research served to be useful in understanding what the going rate for airfare was.

While You’re There: Spend Enough to Enjoy Yourself

In many ways Vietnam is a bargain hunter’s paradise. Contrary to expectations, I found that a large number of American Tourists in Vietnam spend much of their time haggling over the cheapest price for everything. One particular incidence of this stands out in my mind. My husband and I were in Hue and were trying to find a one-of-kind restaurant set in a water garden where they served food in the style prepared for the Hue Emperors. When we came upon the place, there was another American couple there, who had also apparently spent an hour searching for this restaurant.

When the other couple found out the price of the restaurant’s ten-course dinner, $10 USD, they decided they could get a better deal at another restaurant and left. The price was relatively high compared to other restaurants in Vietnam, where you can usually eat like a king for $4 USD, but it was not high for the truly unique experience the place offered or for the price of cheap restaurant meal in the United States.

Boy, did these people miss out. The restaurant was an oasis! The garden was flowing with orchids, palm trees, waterfalls and tropical birds. The ten courses were works of art: The food was sculpted in the forms of elephants, phoenixes, turtles and dragons. The other couple didn’t look particularly destitute, and they had already spent hundreds dollars to get to Vietnam. I wish I could have counseled them spend enough to enjoy themselves.

Traveling within Vietnam: You can Fly for Cheap

Vietnam Airlines offers inexpensive flights between most major cities. We flew between cities for between $24 and $36 USD. You could probably take the bus or the train for between $4-16 USD, but we found that traveling by train or car would take an entire day or two whereas a flight might only take a few hours. If you choose to travel by bus, be willing to give up 2-3 days.

Annoyances in Vietnam:The “Surcharge” for Foreigners

I found that in general the Vietnamese will try to charge foreigners five times the price that a Vietnamese person would pay for any good. Viet Kieu or returning Vietnamese are charged twice the price. This is very hard to get around, even if it is the law not to price gauge and the price is posted. Though the posted price for a taxi trip from the Hue airport into town was $10 USD, the taxi driver tried to charge me twice as much.

In many ways merchants and service providers will try to hoodwink you because they believe you are wealthy. The myth that everyone who comes to America from Vietnam is showered with money by the U.S. government still exists. There is also a belief that everyone in America is independently wealthy or else they would not be traveling. I have no real advice about this, try not to be discouraged and stick to your guns. Make them aware that you know they are price gauging and that you think it is unfair.