There are certainly some very basic planning involves in any trip planning, however, after traveling Vietnam, I realized that Geographical location and inquiring about weather of not the whole-country in-general but particular places you want to visit is important too.
Alright, let us talk about the pros & cons you should be aware of when making a trip to Vietnam.
1. Trip timing
Not that I'd planned well for the trip considering seasons, weather and all as I just one day woke up and decided to buy an air ticket! Which is why, the cons I have faced, not much, but sure were disappointing.
One thing I realized as I travelled through the country is that the country is like a long parallel road, not round, from north to south, like a straight line. Which is why, the weather is very different in Hanoi and HoChiMinh.
Picking the right weather and time will ensure a satisfying experience for you. For instance, I went there last March. Where in HCM it was full-fledged summer, in Hanoi it was absolute winter!! So, my Sapa trip was an absolute failure! Because at that time, the Fansipan peak, the main attraction of SaPa, was completely dark, windy, and full of mist. I did not get to see shit!! And it was so damn cold that even though I was wearing a sweater and a windbreaker, as in Hanoi it was also cold, but those clothing were not enough, I had to buy a down of minus temperature instantly after reaching Sapa!!!
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South The brightest and sunny at 30-34°C
At the same timeline, North, freezing on average temperature 3-9°C
So, checking the temperature of both the North (Hanoi) & South (HCM) part of the city is necessary. I did not realize that and only checked the in-general temperature of the country.
2. How many days for a brief yet whole Vietnam trip?
Of course it differs from person to person. Again I want to mention that I did not check the geography of the country, which is one of the very important parts of the Vietnam trip plan. As I said before, this country is like a long, straight line. HCM is in the south and Hanoi is all the way in the north. And if you are on a very strict budget but want to explore soooo much like me, you are in trouble if you do not have enough days at hand at least. There are air services in the big cities, which is not a big deal for people from high valued currency, but for Asian budget friendly folks, it is indeed expensive due to our currency value. So, you have to travel through buses, which takes a huge time and the journey is not very comfortable either. And the North is probably the most spectacular, as everyone agrees compared to
3. North vs South
Though I only realized how less time I have to cover for such a long time to be precise instead of a big country after going there. Almost all the travellers I have met there, have been roaming around for months! The lowest number I got from someone was like 1.5 month! And there I was, planning to cover from the South to North in only 8 days! Anyway, lucky for you, you can plan well. So the North is richer for exploring than the south. So, I guess, a wise decision would be to start from the North, as in Hanoi and head to the South, which I did the opposite! The best thing about the south is I think of the magnificent Phu Quoc island. I will discuss that in another episode. And compared to the South, there are much more things to explore and do in the North.
4. Air ticket & Visa:
For Vietnam, you can have 2 types of visa, electronic and sticker visa, and electronic visa is way cheaper and not to mention I got that one, takes about 2 working weeks maximum. I did not apply by myself as I was busy, some agency helped out with 40$. You need air tickets before applying for a visa.
4. Sim card:
People who travel with a lay-over in India, will have the privilege to buy sim and is actually cheaper than the Vietnam airport. I doubted though, but during my layover at Kolkata airport, I was convinced to buy the Sim card and after reaching Saigon airport, that is HCM, I found out that it is true. Also for sim cards, Vietel is probably the best, and has a broader coverage.
5. Money exchange:
I actually took some VND from my country in case of an emergency and also thought it would be expensive exchanging in the airport. As this was my first international Solo, I do not know much about money exchanging systems. So question for you guys, do you know if I can always exchange currency in the airport? Also, if you run out of money and have Dollars with you, you can go to the bank, however, banks do not accept less than 100$ notes, very few accept 50$. I was in a rather tight situation as I had only 20$ notes with me! In that case, if you fail to get an exchange from the bank, you can go to the nearby gold-shop and get your money changed! That was really new and very helpful information for me.
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