Saturday January 21

We know from Long and others that many Vietnamese return to their hometown for Tet which starts January 28.  We were a bit concerned about how busy the airport might be, especially as we were flying domestic, so decided to leave plenty of extra time.

Because we are going back to the same hotel Monday night (Mom is so smahhht!!) we left our big luggage there and only packed a small bag to bring with us for our relaxing weekend, so this made it so much easier to manage!

We got a cab to the airport and were pleasantly surprised that the traffic was not bad at all and we made it in ~30 minutes which was what we expected.  The domestic terminal seemed busy, but the line for Vietnam Airlines was not that long and within 30 minutes we had checked our bags and made it thru security!

We were also pleasantly surprised that they have made some updates to the domestic terminal!  The first time we flew domestic it was hot, a bit dirty and had limited food options!  It now is much cleaner, has AC and a lot of food options including a new food court this year!

Since we had a little over 2 hours before our flight, we decided to treat ourselves to a foot massage, and it was so lovely!  We have seen the spa before but have never used it as we have never had enough time!  We also treated ourselves to some Burger King, and then made our way to gate 7, which is where our flight was **supposed** to board!

However, at gate 7 there was a 12pm flight for Hue boarding.  Our flight (at 1155am) was nowhere to be found.  At 1153am (plenty of time to spare) the board displayed that our flight was delayed until 1225pm and we would board at gate 5!

The flight was quick, 40 minutes of going up to come back down!  The Phu Quoc airport is very small and our bags came off quickly and we were on our way!

Our hotel had a free shuttle service so we were happy to see them waiting for us and off we went!  Our guy asked if we had been here before and when we said no he asked if we wanted to learn more about it.  He spent the next few minutes talking and literally all I got out of it was something was “4 km” away.  When he finished, he asked if we had any questions, to which we responded, “no thanks”.  After comparing notes, the “4 km” was all we learned!  Normally after comparing notes we do better!  Oops!

 One thing that is very different at the luxury hotels in Vietnam is that you never, EVER, go to the check in reception.  They have desks and people there, but you are always brought to the lounge for a welcome drink and that’s where the check in process takes place.  Cool facecloths and 4 types of cold teas later, we were ready to rock!

Mom, being the best Mom ever, got us a room overlooking the water and it’s just beautiful!  After getting situated, we headed down to the pool for a late lunch at the pool bar.  We shared a pizza which was delicious and then plopped ourselves next to the pool for the afternoon.   

It was so lovely to relax and (in the shade) the weather is absolutely perfect!  The sunset over the ocean was beautiful (we told the sun to say hello to all of you) and then we headed back upstairs to the room to get ready for dinner.

 

We decided to have dinner at the Italian Restaurant at the hotel.  We knew there was both an Italian Restaurant and an Indian/Vietnamese/Grill Restaurant (yup you read that correctly) so we knew the Italian one was the one for us.  We were a bit confused when we went to the Italian one but it seemed like the hostess was walking us down to the other one, and after we sat down realized that was not the one we wanted, so walked back (literally a minute) to the Italian Restaurant.  At first we were the only ones there, but it quickly filled up by 730pm and we had a lovely dinner!

After an awesome FaceTime with Nate and Dan, and then Dad, we called it a night!