I've survived the first two weeks of solo travel in Vietnam! It's about time I get a handle on this blogging situation. Mom & Dad are starting to ask questions...

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a blog, or upload pics to an album on Facebook, or create a private Facebook group to share pics of my trip. I definitely decided to take a break from snapchat. As much fun as it would be to upload My Stories of all the fun things I'm seeing, snapchats go away and you never see them again. Sure, you can save them to your phone but I know me and I'd be seeing things through the lens of "what clever caption can I add to this snapchat" rather than appreciating the real thing. So, with a few cheeky exceptions, I won't be sending snaps for the next few months. Still absolutely loving receiving them though!

Quite a few of my friends have done big trips like this in the past and I've LOVED reading their blogs as much as I loved seeing their pictures. The funny stories and day to day updates don't really translate acres short captions, so it's great to hear their voices through the page instead. That said, I don't really have the attention span to write a small novel every few days! So we'll see how this goes...

I also know how disheartening it can be when you're scrolling through Facebook during a rough day and you see yet another post from "that person" who is on the adventure of a lifetime and uploads every day. So out of consideration for you poor unfortunate souls working long hours in real jobs, I'll keep writing the posts but only post them to Facebook periodically and you can scroll throughout the updates whenever you're interested,

I also don't know how this site/app looks from the other side, but let me know if it's too cumbersome!


So Asia. It's been two weeks since I left NZ and it's been a roller coaster of emotions and experiences. I cried buckets in the Auckland airport, but haven't shed a tear since. My first day in Vietnam was a huge shock and I was not impressed by the city of Hanoi or the fact that every single person seemed to want to rip me off. Luckily, the next few days turned around as I did guided tours of Halong Bay and Sapa for 3 days each. The tours were an easy way to make friends, although the friends only lasted as long as the tour! I spent 2 days in Hanoi after those tours and things were a little easier armed with tips from the other travelers. Then I took an overnight bus to Hoi An, which I've absolutely fallen in love with! (All of these things are in other blog posts!). Tomorrow, I head off further south for 1 day in Nha Trang (beach) and then inland for a few days in Dalat.