Last Week Today #2

Planning for Vietnam

Drew is our travel planner—usually. I’m the easy-to-please, documentarian co-pilot who makes recommendations along the way. We usually travel with points of interest in mind, but with no timeline to meet them. If we see a cute market in a village and we want to stop for a while, it’s totally fine. There are really no hard and firm agendas that we have to adhere to or reservations we have to make.

And while Drew is usually our planner, this time we’re giving our trip planning to someone else. Just like our trip to Peru, we’re heading out and trusting our travel plans to Gate 1. We loved our trip with Gate 1 and really appreciated the freedom to just sit back and relax, not worry about bad roads, confusing directions, or language barriers. Just enjoy. Negative side? You don’t really have the opportunity to “get off the beaten path,” people on your tour may annoy you, and you can only go as fast as your slowest group member.

However, the outings that Gate 1 plans are simply amazing. When we were in Peru, about six of us from the group visited a local family in their home and ate a delicious home-cooked meal. We loved seeing how people lived, what “home” looked like to them, and even though there was a language barrier, we all became fast friends. It was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had while traveling.

So, for our Vietnam trip, there isn’t much planning on where to go, though we do have some free afternoons and evenings that we’ll plan out.

I’ve been researching where we are going and planning out some of the shots I want to take. When you’re with a group, you might have limited time at each stop, so it’s important to know what you want to see when you arrive at your scheduled location.

Since Vietnam tends to be a more conservative culture, showing a lot of leg isn’t really appropriate. This isn’t really something that impacts me or the way I dress, but it’s good to keep in mind. My plan is to bring a lot of midi dresses (like this one, this one, and this one) and skirts—any breezy clothing made of cotton blends is perfect for the heat and humidity. I’m loving these wide-leg pants (as well as these, these, and these).

I’ve read that the mosquitos in Vietnam are quite the nuisance so I’m pulling out our bug spray and sunscreen (I love this Japanese sunscreen spray and this watery — not oily at all — sunscreen by Biore!).

Apart from the obvious street food, pho, and banh mi sandwiches that I can’t wait to eat in their birthplace, I am looking forward to a real Ca Phe Sua Da (iced coffee with sweetened, condensed milk). Ca phe means coffee and is pronounced just like coffee. Sua (or Nau in the North) means milk (which is sweetened, condensed milk). Da is ice.