October 10&11/2012

October 10 2012

LAT

Take off at 0400 this morning from home, picked up LMR was uneventful given I had about ten minutes sleep all night..guess I was more excites then I knew.  Linda was ready and out the door as we arrived, with a honk goodby to neighbors Linda (yes another Linda) we headed to the airport with brother Paul taking the most indirect route he could find.  We arrived in plenty of time to go thru the multiple scanners and lines that it takes to fly from Portland to San Francisco.  Linda had only one causality and that was the loss of her shampoo and bug repellant..it was in her carry on and was over the limit allowed for liquids in a single container.   I did not have any stops by security like i did in Europe just had to take my shoes off like everyone else and get a full body scan.  We arrived in San Francisco at around 9:30 in plenty of time to shop, eat and wander before our 1pm take off to Seoul.  We have met some other folks from Oregon that will be on our cruise ..so we already have new friends.  We went to the money exchanger to get some Vietnam currency, we bought $250 a piece and ended up with something like 500 million dongs...wow I think we are rich!  We may not come back!  We will miss Patsy's help on the money exchange questions..she was in charge of that all throughout Europe...however we will not miss her directions...we have  managed to find our way throughout many terminals and flight check in..without a national incident.   I won't go into the explanation of how awful it is to sit squished into a three row seat with nice people but people you don't know sharing an Internet space for 14 hours.  But we made it.  The date and time changed so many times I still cannot tell you what day or what time it is... we are meeting for breakfast this morning (10/11 I think) and do it must be morning.  I feel asleep the second my head hit the pillow..Linda was not even tucked in yet... it is hot and humid here...so I am planning on a sweaty day....


LMR

Very long day .. not sure exactly when it is but we are in our hotel room in Hanoi, and it is midnight here.   We gained a day crossing the date line but lost two  hours gong from Seoul to Hanoi.

I only lost one itm in the security check in Portland.  Shampoo was over 3oz in carry on  Oh well ....19 hours of flying time is a LOT!

Korean air was a good airline, they fed and watered us every two hours - wanted to make sure we didn' t get dehydrated I guess,    Always had three choices of meals!

We  bought Vietnamese money in San Francisco,   but apparently over  bought, one dollar is worth 20,000 Bots.  SO we have many millions of dollars, but the bills are too big so need to exchange for smaller denominations at hotel desk.

Six hours of sleep ahead then to breakfast. and an hour meeting and then a city tour.  PM walk then a group dinner tonight at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant.

Have met tour mates from Portland, Edmonton and Stockton, there will be a total of 50 of us on the tour.

I got a little confused when we landed in Seoul, the muzak playing on the airplane was Strauss waltzes,  thought perhaps we had landed in  Vienna.  we did hve Asian music when we landd in Hanoi.  Well off to sleep!!