Not much to write about since we arrived in Hanoi at 10pm. We flew 13 hours from Boston to Tokyo, had 1 hour 45 minute layover in Tokyo, and then flew another 6 hours to Hanoi. Hanoi is 12 hours ahead of Boston so we are completely flipping our time. We slept some on the plane but were feeling pretty groggy an upon landing in Hanoi. Customs was easy; they didn’t even look at our visas. We exchanged some money and picked up our luggage.
The driver to take us to the hotel was outside the exit. He didn’t speak any English and communicated with us through google translate. It was about a 45 min drive to our hotel. There seems to be a lot of air pollution and it smelled quite smoky. We noticed that most of the street food cafes were still full of people at 11:00 at night. We aren’t sure if that’s because it’s Christmas Eve or if it’s always that way. Also there were lots of motor bikes.
We arrived at our hotel, May de Ville Corner Hotel. The hotel is decorated for Christmas but we didn’t seem much evidence of Christmas on the drive to the hotel. Our room is clean but a little basic. We got a little settled and promptly went to bed.
When pressed to say my favorite OAT trip, I name the Inside Vietnam trip with pre and post. You are in for a treat!