we arrived in Ha Noi yesterday morning (wow was it yesterday?) and man it was hot.. seriously we in Florida have nothing to compare to this. we managed our way thru the comparatively small airport, looking for Ninh, our coordinator the whole time. we walked thru customs and there was Teresa, Audrey and Stuart!!!! So happy to see them! But no Ninh. it was one of those mixed feelings where i really just wanted to sit down with them and chat and get to know them, but at the same time looking everywhere for Ninh -- the possessor of our tickets to Da Nang. Finally we borrowed Teresa's cell phone and called him. he was on his way... good. we got to sit down and relax with them a few minutes.
Teresa handed me a disk full of pictures and videos. great pix of the kids and that precious video of Emma humming! Well Ninh arrived soon enough and we talk for a few minutes. he tells us that he could not arrange any G&R's for Monday that they will be on Tuesday, 10 July. we ask what the plan is to return to Hanoi. and he says we'll be flying back to Ha Noi on Wednesday night at 7pm. we're too tired and exhausted to ask what we'll do all day on Wednesday -- presumably without a hotel room, but at that point we're not thinking straight.
Then off to the Viet Nam airlines counter to get our tix for our last flight of the very long day. We check in and they tell us we're over in bags and way over on weight. Ninh asks us what we want to do. well we don't know, but we're not leaving bags behind! so he talks to them a bit longer and settles on a price for the excess baggage. I ask Ninh (again) about letting us fly business class and wouldn't that allow a greater luggage limit (we're planning on paying the diff) but he says no and brushes it off. i still don't know what the problem is with that, but tiredness prevents us from pushing the subject. then the airline agent notices our carry on bags and says, nope there are no overhead bins so we'll have to check those in too. Huh? no overhead bins??? well all our electronics are there and i really don't want to check them in. even Ninh tells us to remove the stuff, but where would we carry it all? so Jeff says lets just check it in. and we sadly say (what we think is a final) goodbye to our stuff. we have 5 minutes to hug Teresa and the kids and rush off thru our last security check point off the day.
We head to the gate area and wait to board. being a small airport, you have to ride a bus out to the plane. that was fun enough in 100+ degree weather : ) we get on the plane and guess what overhead bins!! Jeff and i look at each other and just say whatever! it's a short flight, just over 1 hour. we hit turbulence the last half hour. and finally all the exhaustion, lack of sleep, nerves, anxiety just get to me. i frantically look at the flight agent waving my barf bag and pleadingly try to let her know thru hand and eye gestures i REALLY REALLY have to use the rest room. she tells me no. i look at Jeff and let him know I'm not going to make it. so right there in my seat, three barf bags later, i finally feel a tad bit better. my main concern is stinking out the plane. that reflex action of you smell it you do it. but luckily no other signs of distress from the fellow travelers.
note from Jeff: he applauds me later on for being quite discreet in my vomitorium. apparently i was very quiet. and thanks Jeff for taking such amazing care of me! i love you!!!!
we land and i push my way to the front of the plane. I'm a little annoyed that they won't let us exit until all the bus class passengers have not only exited but walked down the stairs and entered their nice ac'd bus. but i make my way out and stand on the tarmac, trying desperately to get my legs back under me. i see Jeff just leaving the plane and he waves me on to the terminal. so off i go. it's luckily very small, and i find the one AC vent and stand there wobbly waiting for Jeff to come and deal with our luggage. thankfully everywhere we went we found those luggage carts so we gather our things and exit the airport and instantly spot our very friendly driver. he smiles then sees Jeff behind me with another luggage cart full of bags and says oh oh, he only has a small car. we manage somehow to load everything into the trunk and back seat and head off to the hotel. Jeff nicely enough lets me sit in the front and i do my best not to look around but keep my eyes facing front. it's hard to do as i really want to look around but each time i do the waves of nausea return. we see all the scooter and bike riders and trucks all going which way. they honk at each other impatiently to insist the right of way. we find it all amusing and never worry once about hitting anyone. it's kinda like a ride on universal, scary but you know you're in no real danger.
we finally arrive at the Sandy Beach, and let me tell you it was as beautiful as everyone told us. they took wonderful care of us. sat us down, while they checked us in. hand us more waters and get us to our room. The one image i kept holding on to was getting to our hotel room and just sitting down. i kept envisioning that and it's what allowed me to keep going. as soon as i got in the room, i instantly sat down on the bed and gave over to complete exhaustion. i don't think it was even a 1/2 hour before we were both in bed and sound asleep.
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