Dear All-Travel,

We returned last month from a wonderful trip to Singapore, Vietnam, and Laos.  On our way to join a Travcoa tour in Vietnam, we travelled in business class on Singapore Airlines, so we decided to take a day off there and adjust to the sudden reversal of day and night.   The Four Seasons was very comfortable and well located just off the major shopping street.  We also toured the city on a hop-on, hop-off bus just for tourists that stopped at all the major tourist areas.  It's a great city tour.

Singapore Airlines offers wonderful service.  On our outbound overseas flight, we were in an Airbus which had lay flat seats in business class, and impeccable service.  On the return flight, we sat upstairs on a 747.  Being upstairs is always nice because there are only a couple of dozen people up there, so it's always quieter, and no long lines for the lavatory.  The older 747, however, had 'almost' lay flat seats, which were much less comfortable the the Airbus. 

Travcoa does an incredible job, with a full time tour director, and local, English speaking guides in every city.  Our group was only nine people, but they always provided a full sized bus, so we were very comfortable.  The clientele is mostly older and retired, but active people.  The Travcoa tour director does absolutely everything for you, so we were able to relax and enjoy ourselves.  All tipping and all meals are included, the latter being great because we were always provided with wonderful meals.  And if you want to eat somewhere else, you can simply bring your receipt back for reimbursement.  The tour director and local guide will make recommendations and reservations.  Travcoa used the best hotels, and got us the best seats for shows and restaurants.  In one Pho restaurant in Saigon, we sat at the table where Bill and Chelsea Clinton had dined in 2000, evidenced by several photos in the room.

Vietnam is a fascinating country, and crowded with very friendly people.  The food includes lots of fresh produce, and great baguettes, a delicious remnant of the colonial days.  The cities are very crowded, with lots of traffic - mostly scooters, sometimes carrying Mom, Dad, AND the baby.  The people are very friendly, and everyone seems to be an entrepreneur.  Every house has a business on the ground floor, and the streets are crowded with vendors of just about anything you can imagine.  The Vietnamese view of their recent history is very interesting, but the people seem to be focused on the future, and we sensed no animosity about what is called the American War.  We also stayed at a wonderful beach resort in Danang, and cruised on a private junk among the Karst islands in Ha Long Bay.  The days were often early, which got us to the sites before the mobs of tourists, but there was also plenty of down time.

We made one stop in Laos, in Luang Prabang.  It's a small city that's very pious - full of temples and monks.  Less touristy than Vietnam, it was very peaceful and relaxed.  A UNESCO Heritage Site, so the city is well preserved with low rise, colonial buildings, temples, and Buddhist monks everywhere.  We were on the street at 6:00 one morning to watch hundreds of monks line up on the sidewalk, some as young as eight years old,  to get alms from the residents, who got up even earlier to make the sticky rice, that must be fresh when they kneel on the sidewalk and put a spoonful into each monk's pot, which is slung around his shoulder over his saffron robe.

On the way home, we had a nine hour layover in Singapore, landing at midnight.  The transit hotel was booked, which worked out fine.  We ended up in the Executive Lounge just in time to grab a bite before they packed up the dinner buffet before napping on sofas in the back, where there were a couple of other travelers sleeping.  The employees even turned off the lights in that section for us.  In the morning, there was full breakfast, news on TV, and many newspapers.  Singapore airport is a giant mall, with a free movie theatre, and even a butterfly garden.  They even offer half day city tours for free for people on layovers.  Not the worse place to be stuck for a few hours.

It was a great trip, and we had no complaints.  Everything Travcoa didn't do, Vicki did, and did a wonderful job.  This included working with the Travcoa office, which, uncharacteristically, seemed a little less organized than their tour directors.  Other than getting through airports, we never had any logistics to deal with.  Our biggest decisions were what to eat, and what to buy.  Overall, a wonderful trip!

-Ben