The story before the story .....

In the wee, wee hours of Easter Saturday night Tiziana, Emma and I will be flying out of Melbourne, via Kuala Lumpur, to Hanoi.

To say we're excited would be the understatement of the year. 
Reason for this excitement include, but are not limited to -> 

1. We will not have seen Georgia for over one year .... if you leave out what feels like, to a parent, the sporadic and too infrequent Skype calls.   Sorry, Georgia, but we miss you so much ;-)
2. This will be the first time for Tiziana to visit Vietnam. I wonder if she is secretly learning Vietnamese so that she can master it like she did Japanese?
3. This will be Emma's first trip to an Asian country as well as our first long holiday together.

Easter Saturday, in the wee, wee hours (15 minutes past midnight, to be exact) we will be heading off. 
Much to Emma's dismay we are flying Malaysia Airlines. 
Yeah, what the heck. Live on the edge, I say ...... and pray to Allah or god or the deity of your choice that we get there safely.

Tiz and I have tried to plan as best we can, and within reason, so that we all have a interesting and relaxed holiday.

The plan, which we shouldn't deviate from too much, is to spend one week in Hanoi and one week in Hoi An.
Georgia, who is currently living in Ho Chi Minh City, will be returning to Hanoi to meet us a few days after we arrive. 
We will spend that first week doing some day trip and wandering around Hanoi.
It's a city with a lot of history and it's relatively easy and cheap to get around so it should be fun for us all.
Then we head down to Hội An.    

I've been there before and loved it every time.

In 2010 Georgia, Angus and I went there and I always felt, perhaps incorrectly, that the kids were too young to appreciate it but Georgia has since returned as an adult with her friends. She told us that she loves riding down there on her scooter.

It's a ~800kms trip which according to Google takes ~16hrs so I'd say my little girl has become a hardened motorcyclist, or should I say scooterist.

To bolster that view last night she commented that she "... hates the cars in Hanoi.".

I only wish she would wear more protective footwear and clothing whilst she rides.

I digress, as any father would on such a topic.

Hội An is a place that has generally embraced tourism with a good approach to visitors, which is not always the case in Vietnam. 

Outright scams and "white person / weaterners tax" are prevalent so it pays to keep an eye on things and know when to say no.

Having said that there is much to enjoy and the people, by and large, are friendly and helpful beyond belief.

More than anything I am hoping that Tiz and Emma enjoy it.

One of the places I am very keen to visit is the Tra Que Vegetable Village

I think this would be like heaven to Emma, being vegan.

With our $85/person visas and our Business class upgrades, from KL to Hanoi we're all set to go.

On the down side we received an update from Malaysia Airlines that the stopover in KL is now reduced from 7 hours, which was planned so that we could have a break and head into KL for a feed and a little shopping, to 4 hours, which is just long enough to be annoying and nothing else.  

more to come so stay tuned .............