Opua to Changi to Ho Chi Minh- Airport Hopping

---

The night before leaving NZ I had been chatting with our housesit host in London from 2015. She asked if we would return to housesit for them in August. Our plans were now made for the winter but it felt great to be wanted and appreciated feeling that a positive connection had been formed from the previous chapter. It was a poetic start to our new chapter, creating a link from the previous chapter to the start of this new one


We left home by bus to Auckland on Saturday May 21. I was well prepared for the trip with loads of yummy snacks and a heap of downloaded movies to pass time. I barely looked out the window the whole way and the trip went relatively quickly.


It was bad weather and strong winds according to the forecasters but I hardly noticed a thing. This was a part of the journey that I just wanted to get over with, it wasn't new or exciting and that was what I was craving for.
I felt a strong pull to get going and move forward.


Tomas had been told that his contract would not be renewed and he said that it was a relief, as it had been all too easy to go back to the familiar rather than to take a risk for something new. As predicted on his last day of work he was asked if he would consider coming back later in the year. This had been the same story for the last 8 years. I was so sick of the tedious predictability of everything in our lives at this point.


I slept relatively well overnight and woke at 4.30 am to prepare for our early check in. We re-weighed our luggage before checking in and were happy with our 7kg each, which was the cabin baggage limit. Tomas didn't even get asked for his bag to be weighed at the counter!


I was astounded that the flight to Melbourne was packed with predominantly 90% Asian passengers, this is no exaggeration and probably gave a fairly accurate account of Auckland's present population demographic.


Snacking on my treats and listening to my favorite music the whole trip to Melbourne went fairly quickly. Tomas slept so he barely had a chance to complain about being stuck in the Jetstar middle seat with his knees scrunched behind the chair in front.


We would only be in transit in Melbourne airport so wold not have to clear Australian Customs. This meant we could remain in the comfortable airside area of the airport. I could also keep all the treats that I had carried with me.


It was barely an hour wait before the flight to Singapore boarded.


The Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Singapore was very civilized and much better than expected. It was a Dreamliner jet and as good as the Air Brunei flight we had taken last year . Being Jetstar it meant that we just had to pay a extra for all the luxuries that are normally included.
I managed to score 3 seats to stretch out on and had a pretty good sleep and extremely comfortable flight.


Rather than taking an immediate flight to Ho Chi Minh and arriving late at night we opted for an early morning flight and spending the night at Singapore airport.


I have noticed a pattern with my behaviour when travelling. I get very excited at anything new and then the excitement fades in time. I love the challenge of researching something and conquering the challenge. Once it has been conquered I need to extend myself to something new.


Changi airport gave me that feeling on arrival. Tomas was overly tired so rather than drag him around complaining I went exploring what the airport had on offer and then dragged him along.
There was a butterfly farm, lily ponds cactus gardens, luxurious lounge areas both public and private, a swimming pool and free foot massage stations.


We found a great lounge area designed for sleeping and Tomas wouldn't move from there once we found it.


I had been researching options to get from Ho Chi Minh to Hoi An once in Vietnam and much of what I read had been making me nervous about bus or train travel. It was 1000km and would take an arduous number of hours. I spent the night looking into it more and then decided to book the flight for the Friday, meaning an extra unplanned night in Ho Chi Minh which I had left for the overnight travel. Meanwhile Tomas continued to snooze on the comfy reclining chairs.


At 7 am we were on the flight headed for Vietnam.

---

Photos

Changi Airport Butterfly House
Little did we realize that we got the worst mosquito bites of all from here

Comments

[Sue Harcombe]

Fabulous!
What a great start! I can't wait to hear the next instalment.