Friday 30th September 2011 – Day 1.5!!
I suppose officially we’re now at the end of the 2nd day of the trip but as most of yesterday was spent travelling I didn’t think it was worth devoting a whole Blog to 12 hours on a plane!
I’m joined on this trip by Mia Smith and we left Heathrow at 11.30am on Thursday afternoon after a 2 hour journey across London including just over an hour on the underground with all of the daily commuters – I don’t know how people can do that everyday!
Our first flight was to Singapore and it was on a massive Airbus 380 – the third or forth time I’ve flown on one of those and they really are the best way to fly (would be nice if I could afford a First Class Suite though!). The 13 hour flight went quite quickly but the films weren’t great; I watched Bridesmaids as a few people had said it was funny but I thought it was awful! After a 2 hour stopover in Singapore we were back on our next flight to Ho Chi Minh City. That flight literally flew by (!) as we both slept the whole way only to wake for some scrambled eggs for breakfast.
We landed in Vietnam just before 11am and by 11.45am we had gone through Passport Control, collected our bags and were outside trying to find the guy who was supposed to be collecting us. After a few phone calls to the tournament director (which must have cost a fortune!) we met the driver and he took us through Ho Chi Minh City to our hotel for the week. Driving in Vietnam is always an interesting experience and I have no idea how there aren’t more accidents with the millions of motorbikes weaving in and out of all the cars trying to find a small space.
Surrounded by motorbikes!
After checking into the hotel we just had time to unpack before getting the 3pm bus to the tennis centre where we managed to get in a really good 45-50 minute session before it got dark. I think it’s always important to get the flight and travel out of your system as early as possible so no matter how far I travel I like to get a hit in on the day I arrive at a tournament – it also helps to keep you awake a little longer too!! At 6pm we headed back to the hotel, had an early dinner and went off to our rooms for an early night around 8pm.
More on the country, the tournament and Mia tomorrow!
