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| The crew touches down in Hanoi. ✨(+1 not in the frame ahaha 🌈) |
Our flight to Vietnam was on a Friday night. However, that same morning, I still found myself working, with absolutely no preparations done yet for the trip. 😅 Why does it always happen that whenever I’m about to go on vacation, a deluge of tasks suddenly comes in? Oh well. Thankfully, I was able to wrap up my tasks and switch to vacation mode (finally!) by lunchtime, which was when I started preparing my stuff for the trip.
This was also my first time doing crunch-time preparation for a trip, especially an international one, because I really didn’t want to miss any essential items. Thanks to ChatGPT, I was able to get a checklist of things to pack. It also helped me avoid overpacking on clothes (which I usually do). I decided that if I ended up short on clothes, well, I could just buy some there, which would serve as souvenirs as well.
After checking the weather in Hanoi and Sapa during our travel dates, the forecast said it would be cold. So I packed my heattech Uniqlo clothes that I purchased during our last Tokyo trip, plus a vest I got from South Korea (good thing I bought those!). My packing process ended up being stress-free, and I was done by lunchtime. I was even able to squeeze in a quick power nap before getting ready and leaving for the airport.
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| airport ootd 😄✈️ |
I know I’m not stylish as hell, but the clothes I wore to the airport were very comfy. I decided to wear my hiking shoes (the ones I got for our Masungi hike last year) because I knew we would be doing a lot of walking. By far, these are the shoes I’ve loved wearing the most, even just for errands, because my feet don’t hurt after long walks (which I proved very well during this trip).
I also made sure to bring my stuff for my knees. I packed my knee braces and meds because a friend told me Vietnam is all about stairs, and stairs, and more stairs! 😭 We also had some hiking in the itinerary, so I needed to be prepared.
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| my (literal) baggage |
💡Travel Tip: Take photos of your luggage. Just in case they get lost by the airline, it will be easier to locate them using your photo as reference.
At the Airport
Usually, I arrive at the airport last minute. (The last time I flew, a crew member even allowed me to go ahead in the baggage drop queue because I might miss my flight. HAHAHAHUHU. It was so stressful.) But because I knew we still had to check in our bags and go through immigration, I made sure to arrive earlier than my usual time (🤣) so everything would be stress-free.
Thankfully, we didn’t have any issues with the process, and we soon found ourselves ready and waiting at the gate.
💡Travel Tip: When travelling internationally, accomplish your eTravel pass via the eGov app for a hassle-free experience at the airport.
Because of past experiences (😭), we also made sure we had plenty of time to be at the correct gate before boarding. 😉✨
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| the gang before entering the plane |
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| I like reading airline magazines, so here I am, caught in the act. 😂 |
Even though we had in-flight entertainment, I chose to browse through the magazine and read some articles. I actually found an article about an artist that caught my attention. Their name is Yaelokre. Because of that article, I became curious and wanted to listen to their music.
I was half-expecting Yaelokre’s discography to be included in the in-flight entertainment music library, but apparently it wasn’t. Philippine Airlines, if you’re featuring an artist in your magazine, can you at least add their music to the entertainment system? 😆
We later found out that we actually had free in-flight Wi-Fi, but unfortunately at that moment I didn’t know yet, so I wasn’t able to listen to their music. Instead, I just took a photo to remind myself to check them out later. (Editor’s note: I’m listening to their album while drafting this post, and I love it! 💕 The vibe reminds me of Vanessa Carlton's Rabbits on the Run album).
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| Yaelokre is an artist worth watching out for. 👀 |
PAL also had a very creative safety video. I was hooked the whole six-minute presentation. I even heard some people clap after it finished. 😁 Good job, PAL! 👏
It was also a delight that I got a window seat, so I could enjoy the views outside.
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| Goodbye, Philippines (for now!) |
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| I’ll never get tired of looking out the plane window and seeing the view below. It always amazes me to see the city at night from above. It makes me realize how small my world is compared to everything that’s out there. There are people living their lives that I will never meet, and stories I will never know. |
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| Luna was in sight during the flight. 💖 It was so nice seeing moonlit clouds and a few stars. What a magical way to start the trip. ✨ |
I spent most of the flight listening to music, specifically Maki and 6cyclemind. 🎧🎶
Touchdown, Hanoi!
We arrived at Noi Bai International Airport at around 2:00 AM local time (Vietnam is one hour behind Philippine time). While waiting in line for immigration (there was a long snake-like queue 😣 even at that hour), we started setting up our eSIMs for mobile data. I purchased mine from Klook as a free add-on for the Sapa tours I booked for us.
I started feeling stressed because the installation wasn’t working for me. This was one moment when I really appreciated my friends. 🥹 They immediately noticed something was wrong when I stopped participating in the conversation and was just focused on my phone. They all jumped in to help troubleshoot my eSIM problem. By the time we passed immigration and picked up our bags, my eSIM still wasn’t working. My friends were busy finding an ATM to withdraw local currency, and another friend was contacting the driver for our ride to Sapa. Meanwhile, I was still stuck trying to set up my eSIM.
When I finally connected to the airport Wi-Fi (which also hadn’t worked earlier), the setup suddenly worked on the first try! I think my friend’s roaming hotspot might have been interfering some connection that was needed for the installation process to complete successfully. The timing was perfect because we were already about to leave the airport, and I needed mobile data for the trip to Sapa. All’s well that ends well. ✨
We easily located our ride that would take us to Sapa. 😃 We booked a 9-seater limousine-style van because all five of us had large suitcases, and we wanted the extra legroom (comfort above all else, of course!).
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| loading the suitcases at the back |
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| here we are, comfy in our seats! |
Each seat had ample legroom. There was also a USB port for charging our phones. Of course, the seats could recline, and there was even a massage mode! Naturally, we turned the massage on and slept during most of the ride to Sapa.
We had one stopover along the way so we could use the restroom (in Vietnam, it’s usually marked with a WC sign). To our surprise, we found out there was a 3,000 VND fee (around PHP 7) to use the restroom. Most of us were still cashless because we hadn’t been able to withdraw from the ATM at the airport.
Thankfully, one of our friends had some local currency. We ended up paying 500,000 VND to the lady in charge of the CR. Poor her, I could see the shock on her face. But she was very understanding of us (oh, clueless foreigners LOL) and allowed us to proceed. When we came out, she already had our change ready from our large-denomination payment. 😂
We arrived in Sapa at around 8:00 AM. We were able to withdraw cash from an ATM along the way, so we could finally pay for our limo ride. 😉 Since it was still too early for hotel check-in, we just left our luggage at the hotel reception and proceeded to explore Sapa.
Next post: our first meal in Vietnam + walking around + the night market!
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