Planning

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 This is funny and a little OTT ... But in reflection this is a great way to plan a trip.

Well, I went from not intending to plan this trip at all (see my India Trip here), to over planning it. This time, I googled and read everything I could on Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, Wikipedia and in books. I read forums and blogs and sifted through maps, reviews, photos - I went silly. 
I also purchased the Rough Guides book.

To be honest by the time I had it all planned and mapped and on my Tablet, I almost didn’t need to go at all !! - I felt like I had seen it all.

I put all the content I could collect into MS OneNote and had it synced to my tablet (currency tables, maps, notes, even my full D7000 SLR camera manual, flight info, packing checklists, and a template for this blog). 

I then created a spreadsheet of all the locations I wanted to see and visit and numbered each with a logical sort (visit/trip) order. Each and every place had to have a GPS location.

Here is a snippet ...



I then imported the file it into GoogleMaps (the new version just released). 

 This results in the following





You can see I used the spreadsheet to number in trip sequence and label each of them.

I added train and bus stops between each major centre and did the same.

I initially did plan to use this offline, but I decided I would get a cheap SIM card in HCMC then I'll have full access to this sort of info when I click on my map on my tablet.






I downloaded maps of the big shopping centres (MBK/Bangkok etc) also. Public Transport maps. Expected costs to any destination. Tips and Risks. On my Tablet, for every location I had; 

  • GPS Coords 
  • Accommodation Options 
  • Nearby Public Transport Options 
  • Expected Costs 
  • How to Get to 
  • What is nearby 
  • WIFI Access points nearby 
  • Tips and Traps 
  • Recommended duration to stay in the area 

On top of all of this I also had regional maps. 

To find the GPS Coords, Wikipedia had many of these, if I only had an address - then I used  
If they didn’t and I had an address I used http://www.gps-coordinates.net 

I should not even need to read a street sign!! - and I know exactly the address to ask the Taxi driver. I can even track the journey by GPS !

Devices and Charging 

My plan is to take my Galaxy Tab3 8" and My Galaxy Mini S4 phone. The Tablet has GPS and can access WIFI from a Café or from my phone. I'll leave my phones Amaysim card behind and buy a prepaid 4GB data one from HCMC Airport when I get there. 

To charge my devices, I'll take the two USB cables for the tablet and phone. A mains power plug which takes a single USB and my MIcro Hub which can take about 6 USB devices. This way I can charge both devices at the same time off a minimum of PowerPoints and cables. I tested this and found it only charged some devices while they were turned off - so that means an overnight charge.

 Sadly my SLR camera (which is certainly worth taking), does not charge on USB. I would have to take its charger along for a ride also. It is quite compact so thats really good. 

What did I want to see 

Photography, Food, Culture, Remote Vietnam, Stunning waterfalls.

Im not certain if I'll do any video at this stage. My main concern is taking up to much storage space, I expect I'll take my 2 x 8GB Photo cards. Perhaps I'll invest ina  64 GB SD Card for my camera.

Trip Sequence

I had bought my flights before I did this. And I was  flying into and out of HCMC. After I planned the sequence of places I wanted to visit it soon became obvious that I would have to waste a day or two getting back down to HCMC to fly out. This meant the possibility of changing my departure flight to Hanoi would make more sense.

 I contacted my travel agent to check the costs of this. It turns out that it was only $133 to change. So I proceeded with this.

 This now means arrival in HCMC (Saigon) 20th December 2014 and leaving Hanoi 3rd Feb 2015.

 This freed up a few extra days and allowed me to restructure my exploration of the upper North West of Vietnam. So I decided I would hire a motorbike and tour the mountainous region.

 Below is my planned route map - tens days on a motorbike.

 The Bike Trip Part (up North)

 Below is my intended trip. 
Red arrows denote the direction. Black arrows are where I hope to stay the night.



High Level View of the Trip 

 Note : See dotted area up North for the Bike Portion




List of GPS sites I have mapped to visit (in order)