vietnam: good mooooorning vietnam!

well, i figured it's about time i blogged about vietnam.

here's the truth. are you ready? I.LOVED.IT. i've traveled to quite a few places in my 25 years, but let me tell you vietnam was definitely top three. however, i tend to fall in love with any new place i travel.


this was an entirely different experience for me, because i'd never been to a country where i didn't speak the language, or where someone couldn't translate for me. i went with two of my greatest friends brittany, and kate, and we had an absolute blast. i couldn't write quickly enough, and take quick enough notes on the things that i was learning!!


so this will be an introduction to the trip, of sorts, and i'll answer the most FAQs.


1. why vietnam?
well, brittany and i had been talking about doing an amazing trip for quite some time. we threw names out there like belize, south africa, india, istanbul, new zealand, and for some reason we just kept coming back to vietnam. we'd look at other flights, but secretly we'd both be google imaging vietnam for hours on end at work, and one day we both admitted it to each other and it was like it all CLICKED. the stars aligned, and it all came together before we knew it. it met all the requirements: a beach, new culture, indigenous people, somewhere we'd never been.

2. why brittany and kate?
because they're amazing!! britt and i had talked about going somewhere for a while (i was turning 25, she turned 30, celebrating 1 year of her divorce, lots of stuff). kate, on the other hand, i knew would be up for anything any time (background: we met in ECUADOR on trips we had planned to go on by ourselves two years prior, we're both adventurous only children, who have the no-one-can-stop-me attitude), so i told her we were going, and she didn't even think twice about it. we bought our tickets the next day!


3. where in vietnam did you go?
unfortunately we only had the pleasure of exploring the northern part. someday i'll go back and do the middle and southern parts of vietnam! and go see thailand, and ankor wat, and the philippines, and everywhere else in south east asia that blows my mind! so the cities we spent the most time in were: hanoi, ha long bay, cat ba island, and sa'pa. absolutely incredible, and i'd recommend it to anyone!!

4. what did you do?
we showed up with no plan. the only thing we knew we had was two nights at the hilton the first two days there, and one night the last night there. all we had were some travel books we bought right before leaving, our passports, some ca$h, and a duffle bag/backpack each....as for what we did and what we learned, stay tuned for more sporadic posts in the next few weeks :)