From Hanoi to Saigon – An Unexpected Journey.

As some of you may know, I decided to do Thanksgiving a bit differently this year and, suffice it to say, I’m back from a 20-day trip to Vietnam. It was an adventure, to say the least. The fact that I am still not in Saigon trying to cross the street is nothing short of miraculous. (And this intersection wasn’t even considered “busy!”)

I planned the trip for months, but as I learned, no amount of planning could prepare me for what was to happen when I landed…

After traveling for 19+ hours, I never imagined not being allowed into the country upon my arrival. Immigration/customs said my Visa was “incorrect,” and with that, they took away my passport and told me I needed to leave the country and come back the next day with the “proper” documents. “Where am I to go?” I asked, and was told (via a translator) that as an American citizen, I didn’t need a Visa to enter Bangkok. (Good to know!)  While I had no choice except to ‘go with the flow,’ the travel-group arranged my dispatch… and if the song “One Night In Bangkok” comes to mind, hum along! 

The next several hours were trying – at best. (To be honest, there is really no feeling like having your passport taken away while in a communist country and not being able to communicate.) However, when travel was arranged, and I headed to my temporary destination, the adventure continued. After a good night’s rest, I ended up having a great massage the next day – and a brilliant Pad Thai to tide me over until my flight.

Once I was allowed re-entry to Vietnam, my actual trip began. Over the course of the next 20 days, I went from Hanoi to Saigon – and visited seven cities in between. From several small towns to the jungle, I was equipped with all the travel items I needed — far more than I thought: 

For starters, I thankfully brought along a solar cell-phone charger which came in handy when I was 5000 feet above sea level to my first-aid kit (when traveling down the Mekong Delta on a wooden boat… (a story for another blog post) to my extra tote bag for shopping and a wonderful and unexpected beach day. (Yes, I was on China Beach.) I also found my universal plug adapter was my lifeline to the outside world. 

From wild and amazing street food (the type Anthony Bourdain often wrote about) and sitting on those tiny plastic stools devouring a variety of food all eaten from a single bowl, to home-cooked meals by locals who invited us into their homes, to a 5-star restaurant nestled in a jungle were a daily adventure. Despite the language barrier, food was our common language. A love language I had never experienced in any of my previous travels. The use of basic ingredients was always transformed into brilliant, flavorful dishes with incredible ingenuity.  I was constantly amazed at the power to be able to make something extraordinary out of almost nothing because of the spark of creativity and know how.

I laughed and cried along the way… from a visit to an orphanage to learning about Vietnam’s painful history, to experiencing everyday life – which always included a good cup of java…

The beauty and the fragility of this world made me entirely grateful, and I must say, it was my most memorable Thanksgiving.

After this amazing experience, I created a list of the Top 30 'Must Have' products I used along the way for your travel adventures.

👉 If you'd like to find out the quick & easy process of elevating your own brand through creating unique custom products like these, I'm freely sharing a 4 part training course that introduces you to the concept of custom products, gives you plenty of ideas, an example of how to create your own line of products and where to do it too!

Also, if you want to know more about my trip, just drop me an email and I'll get back to you soon...