We're Here!

We arrived in Vietnam late Thursday evening after a very long day and a half of travel.  The 14 hour flight from Chicago to Narita was actually pretty good.  The airplane had lots of leg room and general comforts.  We all watched movies and spent lots of time in the little gathering spaces they gave us so we could stand.  There was a water refill station and snacks set up, so it was as good a place to be as you could expect.  By the time we hit the last 6 hour flight from Japan to Ho Chi Minh City, though, I was wiped out. 

Leaving the airport was fun.  There were hundreds of people crowded outside waiting for loved ones to return, so Gary and Jan got to experience that for the first time.  It’s quite overwhelming, but always exciting.

We had made the mistake of not having our hotel name and address printed out in Vietnamese, so we ended up at the wrong hotel on our first try.  Close… we were at the Royal Saigon Hotel and needed to be at the Saigon Royal Hotel 1 km away.  But we got another cab and were “home” in no time.  In our driving around, we saw the streets beautifully decorated for Tet, the Vietnamese New Year.  Just as we put up lighted snowflakes at Christmas, so do they put up lighted flowers and other designs.  Very pretty.