Hanoi Airport and the Trip Home

Airports during the holidays are remarkably similar. They are crowded – there are children who are overtired, hungry, and parents who have used up all their patience already.

We got to the airport the required two hours prior to departure and checked in without incident. The lounge, though, was packed to the rafters with holiday travellers. That part in itself isn’t such a big deal, we can handle the crowds and work around that – the biggest pain for us is that all those people, with their smart phones and pads and laptops – suck up all the bandwidth, meaning that it’s hard for US to get access to the internet.

Not that we are any more important than them; it’s just a commentary on the inconvenience of crowds.

Hanoi airport led to Saigon, where LJ managed to spend all but about 92,000dong of the Vietnamese money – roughly $4.92.

We went from Hanoi to Saigon on Vietnam Airlines. After that, we transferred back to Cathay Pacific and were on them until NYC, when we once again transferred to US Airways for the final leg home.

Travelling such a long distance can play with your mind a bit. From Saigon, we went to Hong Kong. Hong Kong then led to a very LONG plane ride (11+ hours) to Vancouver, BC, where the plane stopped presumably to refuel and get a new crew.

It was there that one of the strangest things happened. We had to leave the plane and take all of our things with us – that’s no big deal in itself – but we were sequestered in a “lounge” (actually another gate area), where we had to go through a Canadian inspection – metal detector (hand wand), open our luggage, power up electronics and be “inspected.”

Now, we went through security in Hong Kong, hadn’t left gone anywhere since boarding the plane. Exactly what their intent was, other than to mess up our luggage, is somewhat unclear. Usually the Canadians are pretty reasonable and rational about stuff like this – much more so than the US – but this was kind of baffling.

So after we’d been off the plane for an hour or so (between about 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. local time) we were re-boarded.

And it was time for another meal!

One thing you can’t help but appreciate is the fact that they food and drink you more than adequately on Cathay Pacific. First, we were given a meal on Vietnam Airlines between Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City. Then we got another on Cathay Pacific, after boarding in Hong Kong, followed by Breakfast before we hit Vancouver. Then after we re-boarded, “dinner” was served.

Each time (other than Breakfast) once the meal was over they dimmed the lights to encourage everyone to go to sleep. These people have the routine down pat. Feed the passengers, then make it dark so they’ll go to sleep. Sleeping passengers tend not to be problematic.

So we’re back on the plane about 10 p.m. (ish) local time headed to NYC, where we’re supposed to arrive 6 a.m.(ish) local time. Since there was a significant amount of sleeping on the trip between Hong Kong and Vancouver, there’ll likely be a movie or two involved in the last leg of the trip.