Around the World In Eight Days

Hello, loyal blog readers. When last we communicated, the Grants of Norcross were sailing around Halong Bay, Vietnam.

Well, today, we greet you from Norcross. Yes, we are back home. How did that happen, you say? I shall tell the tale.

We completed our pre-tour trip to Halong Bay on Sunday, March 8, and we returned to Hanoi that afternoon. Our tour was scheduled to begin on Monday, March 9. We were staying at the lovely Metropole Hotel which has a fascinating and distinguished history having served guests since 1901. It is beautiful.

On Monday we met with our Tauck Tour director only to learn that, due to some additional cancellations, there were only 9 guests preparing for the tour, down from 14. In addition, there were rumblings that some Asian governments were beginning to impose arbitrary closings and other measures to help contain the COVID-19 virus. Concerning.

In what had to be the ultimate stroke of luck, an American physician with the World Health Organization was staying in our hotel and we had the opportunity to discuss our options with her. The Lady who has the innate ability to go for the jugular and ask just the right question, turned to Dr. WHO, and, while pointing to me said, “If this were your Dad, what advice would you give him?” The doctor replied without any hesitation, saying, “I’d tell him to take the first flight home.”

Enough said. We relayed that information to our Tour Director and informed him that we were leaving. As it turned out, the tour company, a few hours later, decided to cancel the tour.

We put a mighty strain on Delta’s reservation system and finally found a routing to get us home. We left Hanoi Tuesday afternoon and flew to Tokyo where we spent the night. Wednesday afternoon we flew out of Tokyo to Los Angeles arriving there mid-morning Wednesday. We caught a noon flight to Atlanta and arrived home late Wednesday evening.

Wednesday was a weird long day since we crossed into Thursday while in the air on Tokyo time, but jumped back to Wednesday after flying over the international date line.

In any case here’s the review: Tuesday, March 2, we left Atlanta. Flew to Minneapolis, then to Paris, then to Hanoi. On Tuesday, March 10, it was Hanoi to Tokyo then on to Los Angeles and eventually Atlanta. Since we only flew east, that meant we flew around the world -- in eight days.

It was not the trip we expected but it is a story to tell the grandkids. Another story for me to tell! Yes! Just imagine the eyerolls emanating from my family. Tough. I have a story and I’m going to tell it.

Thanks to all who have followed this short adventure. The Lady and I will surely be plotting a new adventure as soon as COVID -19 is subdued. In the interim, take care of yourselves and let us hear from you.

Random postscript notes:

Dr. WHO advised that the Lady who wheezes with asthma was a candidate to head home immediately. I only outranked her in level of concern because I’m old. Ouch, that stings.

ANA Airlines is delightful and very detailed oriented. I managed to leave my headphones and iPad on the plane when we landed in Tokyo. The flight attendant staff found them and tracked me down at baggage claim to return them to me. Color me grateful.

Although away for only 8 days, we managed to make a new friend, Mary, from Calgary, Canada. Travel is so enriching.

Once home, the Lady who keeps the pantry stocked, sent me off to Publix and Ingels to stock up for the coming apocalypse. See photo below. I couldn’t resist.

There’s Always a Plan B, C & D

Tour companies have a tough job. Just think about it. They deal daily with an entitled group of mostly opinionated customers.  Like today.

I mentioned before how COVID-19 had depleted the number of people on this Halong Bay cruise. The group became even smaller when those who had booked a one night cruise left the boat. The sum total of those remaining was . . . 7.

On the agenda for today was swimming in a small cave, kayaking outside the cave plus visiting a floating village. Added to the confusion was the fact that we were supposed to transfer to a ‘day boat’ which would take us to those activities. Due to some un-described technical difficulties, the day boat did not show. In its place was a smaller cruise boat which was to be our transport for the day.

So, seven hardy souls boarded the tender for the short trip to the substitute day boat. Once on board, the guide for the day asked for a show of hands: how many want to kayak . . . no hands raised; how many want to swim . . . no hands raised. Color the guide stumped. What to do with these people for a whole day? Well . . . there’s another, much bigger, cave to visit and there is always the floating village. Oh, and there must be lunch.

Combine those opportunities with the fact that the captain can sail slowly, very slowly, and you have an extremely relaxing day. Sounds boring? Not so much.

The day was saved, in part, by the spectacular views afforded us as we floated through the many islands in the Bay. There are 1969 islands, limestone formations thrusting out of the water in amazing shapes and many sizes.

The cave we visited has been the subject of significant study and it has been determined that humans lived there over 10,000 years ago. The place was a bit of a mess, but what will your place look like in 10,000 years?

Early 21st Century Cave Dwellers

Speaking of homes. After lunch, we visited one of only a handful of floating villages that remain in existence.  This floating village rested in a cove completely surrounded by limestone outcroppings. Our guide said that this protected the floating homes even from typhoons.

The villagers surround their floating homes with fish raising pens. They also have boats that are used at night to fish for squid. The boats are rigged with bars of lights that are used to lure the squid to the surface.  Even now, this way of life is going away. Most of the families send their children to the mainland to live with relatives so they can go to school. And much like small towns everyone, once the children leave, they rarely return. It was fascinating to observe this ancient way of life.

Floating Homes Taxi

One Floating Homes Neighborhood

This is a Squid Fishing Boat

While visiting the Floating Village, our tour guide, Blue, took us into the one-room schoolhouse and gave us our first lesson on the Vietnamese language. Much more work is required.

The Lady & Betsy were very attentive in class

The Lady even rocks a life vest. Amazing.

So, today was a tour company’s nightmare. Plan A went out the window. Plans B & C failed to launch. But Plan D was conceived, and worked to provide and interesting and relaxing day.

Travel works best for the flexible.

Bonus Post from Halong Bay - Technical Issues

Good morning from Halong Bay. I discovered that people that signed up for email notifications are not receiving same. I made a technical adjustment last evening and am sending this post to see if that helped. If you received an email notification for this post, would you please add a comment and let me know that. Thanks.

Do You Know the Way to Halong Bay

The Lady who wants to go everywhere had learned that one of the most interesting places to visit in Vietnam is Halong Bay. Since that was not included in our tour itinerary, she booked us on a two-night, three-day cruise. The Bay is a two hour drive from Hanoi so we ordered a van for the trip.

The tour company did a little up-sell since there would be four of us and all our luggage. They suggested that we forgo the 8-passenger van for a 15 passenger luxury  van. Turns out, we had the rad party van complete with cushioned leather seats, strobe lights on the ceiling and a simulated disco ball. Neat! So we rolled into Halong Bay in style.

Thanks to COVID-19, there were only about 20 people who showed up for the cruise which would normally accommodate about 70 people. We have about 4 staff members for each of us and the boat is lovely. Many activities were planned for us.

First up was a magnificent cave, Hang Sung Sot. At approximately 75 feet above sea level, this cave occupies more than 100,000 square feet in two enormous caverns. We were advised that the trip would involve 700 steps. I suppose technically that would mean 350 up and 350 down but it felt like 600 up and 100 down. In any case, it was a sight to behold and unless you have any illusions about commerce in a communist country, when we reached the pinnacle of cave, we were greeted with, you guessed it, a souvenir shop.

With just a quick break back at the ship, we were ushered off to the pearl farm. It was there we learned that cultured pearls are created by irritating the hell out of a poor oyster. 30% of the time, the irritation results in the creation of a lovely pearl. 70% of the time, not so much. Many opportunities were provided to purchase the product of this irritation but the Lady who rarely meets jewelry she can say no to, said no. Oh, happy pocketbook.

Tomorrow will bring further opportunities including hiking, kayaking and swimming. Remember, there is little relaxing on these trips. Wish me luck.

Beam Me Up, Please!!

Oh, Captain Kirk, where is my transporter? Having spent the better part of three days to get from Norcross, GA to Hanoi, Vietnam, I’m ready to be beamed up.

We left home at 7 am on Tuesday, March 3 and we arrived at our hotel in Hanoi on Thursday, March 5, at about 7 am, and no, we did not cross the international date line so it was all real time. Our trip was lengthened due to Delta cancelling flights in and out of Seoul, South Korea. Thank you COVID. For that reason, we had to fly from Atlanta to Minneapolis to Paris to Hanoi with significant layovers in the intermediate cities.

From Minneapolis to Paris, the Lady, who has come to covet Business Class, enjoyed Delta’s new Delta One service. She had her own ‘suite’ which even had a little door she could close to keep me from bothering her. I had to behave. 

Now I don’t want this blog to be COVID-19 all the time but I think you may be interested in what we have observed as we traversed half the globe.

First and foremost, people are quite absent. Airports were nearly empty and that annoying announcement of “Today’s flight is completely full,” was mostly missing in action. You want to snag a better seat. Well, my friend, you are in luck.

We are also seeing a lot of face masks outside the U.S. On our Vietnam Airlines flight from Paris to Hanoi, all the flight attendants wore masks. As a veteran of a few surgeries, I kept expecting to see someone bring out the IV tray. Which one of you is the anesthetist? Of the 32 Business Class seats on that flight, only 8 were occupied.

Around lunchtime today, we were reunited with our delightful travel friends, Betsy and Bert, who arrived from Los Angeles. This is our 6^th trip together. Betsy commented that we have been traveling so long together that I could probably begin to retell all my stories since she has forgotten the early ones. SCORE!

This is my second trip to Hanoi. I visited on business in 1997. As luck would have it, this time we are staying near the Opera House which is the area I visited back then. Tonight, we found the hotel where I stayed and had dinner in their restaurant.

I found it, 23 years later!

No report from Hanoi would be complete without a line or two about traffic. These people supersize traffic. Hanoi has around 8 million residents but there are 5 million motorbikes. You do the math. I learned this evening that people on motorbikes basically ignore traffic lights. A red light means keep going just watch for people and vehicles and try to avoid them. The basic rule for pedestrians is once you start walking across the street, for God’s sake, don’t stop. Move steadily and with purpose. These motorbike drivers are quite good at near misses.  

Early tomorrow we head out for a three day, two-night cruise on Halong Bay. With all the emptiness we’ve encountered so far, the four of us may have the ship to ourselves. Tune in tomorrow to hear the exciting continuation of Where’s Tran, and Phan, Tuan and Waldo, etc.

Grants on the Move

Well, it’s that time again. The refrigerator is nearly empty, the suitcases are out and open and the last-minute frenzy of buying supposedly necessary items has been completed.

If you have followed this blog in the past, you may recall me waxing eloquent about the Lady who accompanies me on these trips and her desire that the fridge be empty and perishable items be consumed before we head out the door. My challenge this year was a loaf of raisin bread. What possessed me to buy it last weekend, I don’t recall. But by Tuesday, I realized that I might be in trouble. The Lady, you see, is not a bread eater. So, you can see my predicament. It was all on me.

You will notice by the photo below, I managed to finish the loaf. Whew. I had visions of having to pack some of it and eat it on the plane. Crisis averted but please don’t offer me any raisin bread for a while.

We are headed to the far east: Vietnam, Cambodia, & Thailand, Covid-19 notwithstanding. Our research tells us that with good hand-washing and keeping our hands away from our faces, we are as safe there as we would be here.

Our only concern at this point is the possibility of having trouble getting home on March 24, if the U.S. airlines continue to curtail flights. Well, as intrepid and experienced travelers, we will deal with that when it becomes a reality. Head-in-the-sand, you say? Precisely.

I look forward to sharing this adventure with you, but I must remined you in the strongest terms, I need your comments to keep me motivated. The Lady who is the Chief Nagger each evening can only do so much. She often reminds me that my readers are expectantly standing by for each and every posting. Color me skeptical unless I see a comment or two from real readers. The incentive to lay my head on the pillow and forget about you is usually quite strong. You have been warned.

We fly out of Atlanta tomorrow, Tuesday, and arrive in Hanoi on Thursday, with stopovers in Minneapolis and Paris. I think we lose a day or something like that as we travel. This international date line thing always confuses me. In any case, I’m thinking my next post will be Thursday or Friday.

See you then.

Will it all fit?