Though, of course I am thankful for her for dragging my lazy, uncultured butt, however I never really see Vietnam as a 'Go-To' destination for me. Also after going to Japan, all I ever wanted to do is go to... well, Japan haha!

Yes, please take me back.

Just like Thailand before, I felt that Vietnam is similar to The Philippines, so what's the point of going somewhere that is the spitting image of your own country? Wouldn't that bore you? Those were my initial thoughts, until of course I'm already in Vietnam.

Our flight that day was at 10 P.M., so initially we have plenty of time to waste, but given the manila traffic, that despite leaving your office at 3 P.M., you'll still end up at the airport at 8 P.M. Since my office is at Eastwood in Quezon City, taking a cab or Grab going to the airport in Pasay is not practical ubos kayamanan kaban ng bayan mode. Instead, I decided to take a grab going to Araneta instead, and there I took the UBE bus that goes straight to the airport.
The UBE bus' terminal is at the back of Shopewise, and a few meters away from the restaurants at the ground floor of the Manhattan township. The bus follow a schedule- however due to the awful traffic situation in Manila, that 5:00 P.M. arrival time in Araneta become 6:00 P.M. Aguy.

Click here for more details

I arrived at the airport at around 8:00 P.M., fresh from slumber thanks to the soothing movement of the bus-thanks to the traffic, our bus barely moved hahaha! But anyway, I got in time for the best stuff, the lounge.

Sadly, I wasn't able to take a photo of it because my focus was completely stolen by the unlimited chao fan and Coca Cola HAHAHA! Anyway, due to my cousin's heavy use of credit card + her being a frequent flyer, despite being aboard with Cebu Pacific only, she gets to enjoy the Delta lounge facilities any time she's at the Terminal 3 airport. I must say it is quite a nifty perk.



At around 10, we are aboard the plane where me and my cousin spent the 3 hour flight talking about how much Pho we'll be having hahaha! We arrived in Hanoi at around 1 to 2 am. At first I was feeling quite problematic, because I haven't converted my pesos to Vietnamese Dong, and since we arrived quite late already I feared that all the money changers are closed already! But thank heavens there are still 2 money changers open near the exit of the terminal!

Another problem we faced that night was transportation. Supposedly we should have booked airport transfers from Klook or KKday, but since we got so tied up with things, me and my cousin weren't able to do so HAHAHA! But lo and behold, they have Grab! And guess what? It's less expensive than the airport transfers that usually goes for around Php 700+ per way! From Noi Bai airport to old quarters, I think we spent around 200,000+ Vietnames Dong only, or roughly Php 450+, and that covers the 2 of us already!

Hep Hep!

Soooo, what's the moral of the story?
1. Go waaaaay earlier than the usual! Especially when heading to the airport, because Manila traffic is awful.
2. Do not panic! One way or another, there will be a better option that will pop-out of nowhere!
3. EAT AS MUCH AS YOU COULD AT THE LOUNGE! Since Ceb Pac doesn't have an in-flight free meal, indulge in all the sandwiches you could see at the lounge! Also, get yourself not one, but two bottles of cola, so you'll save a ton of money when you get thirsty up in the air.
4. Google translate is your bestfriend- more of that on the next coming posts!

Love Always,

Nicole <3 p="">