If you ask the internet what the most visited destinations are by American tourists, you are going to find an article with some mix of the following cities: Paris, London, Rome, Barcelona, Montreal, Cancun, NYC, Miami, Punta Cana, and maybe Lisbon, Sydney, or Reykjavik for some of the more exotic adventurers. There are a multitude of reasons for this. For starters, close proximity has been known to be kinder to your wallet. There is also no denying that we have a spectacularly beautiful country that we could spend our entire lives exploring with no shortage of entertainment and no need to venture beyond the border. Not to mention, all the aforementioned cities have breathtaking sites, beautiful culture, and often strong connections to our family roots. And for all of those reasons and many more, I would never try and talk you out of visiting any of them. But, they also aren’t all that is out there.
This past month I visited Vietnam and Thailand with a friend who I just met in September of last year. That detail is a funny story for another time, but I bring this up because I received a very funny text from my Nonni while I was on the road. The sum of it was her asking me why I went there, to which, I didn’t really have a good answer because it wasn’t something I thought very deeply about before booking. Thailand has been on the rise as a popular travel destination for awhile with the photos of tall green mountains surrounded by turquoise waters and longtail boats dazzling every default rotating screensaver you see. Vietnam on the other hand is not too common amongst Americans. I love history, so you don’t need to tell me the obvious reason. Still, the question remains, why did I go to Vietnam?
I promised to be honest with you so as much as I want to suggest that I’m a worldly individual with an innate grasp on the impressive kindness of the Vietnamese people, the truth is flights to Hanoi were way cheaper than the flights to Bangkok. We started planning the trip with the goal of scuba diving in the islands off of southern Thailand, but neither of us wanted to pay the going rate for airfare to Thailand. In an effort to make the trip a reality, we started expanding our flight search to neighboring countries. Turned out it was cheaper to fly to Vietnam then Thailand than it was to just fly to Thailand. Travel half way around the world and see two countries instead of one? It was a no brainer from that point.
By the time the trip rolled around, I had almost zero expectations for Vietnam. I did enough research to know that Hanoi is known for incredible traffic and bustling streets, Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Hoi An is full of colorful lanterns and Coconut boats. What I discovered while I was there is that Vietnamese people are some of the kindest, most hospitable people I have ever met. The food is unique, flavorful, and affordable. Lastly, despite the crowded streets of Hanoi and a fleet of motorbikes whizzing by at every second, the country had a simplicity of lifestyle that I can’t describe as anything but welcoming.
For example, after an extended travel day, we landed in Hanoi at 7am jet-lagged and desperate to check in to our local accommodations. English is not commonly spoken so we opted to use Southeast Asia’s version of Uber, which is called Grab. Comically, I had to take a photo of myself to help the driver find me at the airport and for some reason the photo snapped before I realized it was taking one and the result was a blurry and confused mug shot. As ugly as the photo was, it did the job and our driver found us and showed us to the car. The ride was fairly short and straightforward up until the drop off. The street that our hotel was on was too narrow for the taxi to drive down so he dropped us off at the end and signaled for us to walk down the alley. My friend and I did the only thing we could and dragged our suitcases across the bumpy alley scanning for the name of our hotel. None of the buildings looked like the right one so we opened our phones to look it up, but before I could even open Maps a very nice woman who was selling Mangos ran over and ushered for us to follow her. She walked us up a block and around a corner and showed us to our hotel then waved good-bye before we even had the chance to thank her. Only 45 minutes into being in a country I knew almost nothing about, and I already felt like I was looked after.
Starting on such a positive note propelled us to really challenge our comfort zones and explore. Every interaction we had from that point was equivalent or better. It was the coldest week of the year in Hanoi and we didn’t pack jackets (dummies!), so our tour guides insisted on letting us wear theirs. In Hoi An, we were dropped off for our tour of the Coconut Village too early so one of the women from the village made us tea and homemade sugared coconut snacks, then taught us how to fish for crab (We named him Fred!). Even on our last day, our boutique hotel owner insisted on carrying our luggage to the taxi despite the fact that she was about half our size and had to traverse several stairwells to do so. There was an immense pride in accommodating us that more than made up for the moments when we thought we might be hit by oncoming traffic while crossing the street.
Every day we spent in Vietnam was a pleasant surprise that reignited the youthful joy of experiencing the simplicity of the world for the first time. When we picture travel it is easy to get lost in visions of the grandiose. No matter how humble you are, everyone has at least one “look at me” photo on Instagram. I resent the unhealthy competition that social media promotes, but I have been engaging in it since I was 13 and it is a hard habit to break. Little by little though, life has a way of helping you heal and grow. For me, walking around a public coffee shop in my socks at the owner’s request and responding to my Nonni’s texts is just the latest example of such. For you, maybe it is stopping at a roadside attraction that you have driven by 1000 times before. Or, maybe it is booking a flight to the cheapest international destination you can find. Either way, “You went where?” is a fun question to answer and could be the start of an exciting new chapter in your story.
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