Smooth Sailing

I woke up at 3am yesterday and finally headed to the airport around 4:30am.  Needless to say this was going to be a long journey with three flights, multiple time zones and then finally waiting for some of the team who were coming in from PEI and NS.  To be honest it was one of the most non-eventful travel experiences I've had in a long time while flying.

The weather was fine in Halifax when I left, I had a 1.5 hour delay in Toronto (on board the plane...why not add some more time to an already 13 hour flight!!) as they had to clear the runway of snow and then de-ice a couple times and when I arrived in Tokyo because of the delay, I arrived just in time for boarding my final leg of the journey.  Some 27 hours later and an 13 hour time change, at 10:30pm I was sitting in the Ho Chi Minh City airport.

 A couple things worth noting along the way were the toilets in Tokyo.  Gave me a chuckle in my sleepless state when I looked down at all the options you had when flushing the toilet.  The more standard were "bidet" and "extra water", but my favourite ones were "flushing sound" and "powerful deodorizer"...just what everyone needs on their toilet.  While in Tokyo I was also amused by the announcement on our bus that was taking us to our plane.   It said, "our #1 priority is safe driving, however due to possible unforeseen driving conditions, sudden stopping may be required".  What did they expect to happen on the tarmac...a plane to just suddenly appear in front of us?!?!?!  Too funny.

After waiting a couple hours for the rest of the team to show up we met our driver outside, only to find out he thought it was just me who was arriving...not four of us.  We were joking about what he was going to pick us up in, only to find out it was a compact car, with minimal trunk space.  Let's just say it was a cozy ride to the hotel...but how else should we expect to get to know our team mates!!!  I love Vietnam already.

We are staying at the Ha Hien Hotel.  It is a nice 3-star hotel, with great service so far and cozy rooms...and so far the wireless internet works...bonus!!  Too bad I just realized my converter doesn't except 3-prong plugs...oops.  Need to figure that out some time tomorrow or there might be limited blogging going on...only 20 minutes of battery power left.

Well that's it for me tonight.  It's 2:30am and I think I should try and get some sleep and figure out this time change thing.  Meeting the rest of the team tomorrow and can't wait.  I do wonder where Jennifer might be however?!?!?!

Until tomorrow....