Flight to Hanoi peppered with more morons again!! Our seats were behind possiby the most obnoxious man I have ever had the misfortune to travel with. Brash, loud American in a baseball cap who I can only assume is travelling to Vietnam to purchase a wife on account of his hideous chat. Nearly gave himself an aneurysm laughing at his own shitty Trump joke. He was under 6ft, had bags of extra legroom but decided to recline his seat the entire way back from take off. Shut my eyes and tried to sleep knowing there is a special place in hell reserved for douchebags like that guy! #political #actualarsehole

Also met the most adorable lady who was on the aisle of our row. A great ambassador of Vietnam: friendly, chatty without being annoying and taught us all the great things we should see and most importantly eat once we arrive! As well as some language basics.

Terrifying airport drive! Again! Was honestly like being in 40 minutes of live Mario cart. They have no concept of lanes or even roads. One car just mounting the pavement with kids jumping out of the way to beat the traffic jam! Insane!

Hotel gutting…after joy of Shangri la. Didn’t smell like lemongrass and no-one to carry bags and bring us gin!!!! Heartbreaking. But this is travel life from now on, so we better get with the programme.

Room had no window…as is customary in Vietnam apparently but we had a special exec room which had one…this was the view….

Toilet didnt flush and half the lights didn’t work but we found the positives (…we had each other!?!).

Had a wander round the Old Town. You literally just have to step out into the road and hope for the best, traffic is vile here. Mopeds everywhere and no one had consideration for pedestrians…like at all!!!

Went to the night market. Way better than the hustle and bustle of Hong kong…ray bans for £2 clothes of every kind in every colour and a can of Tiger beer is 50p…same old tat but what’s not to love!

1 day to explore Hanoi then meeting the rest of our tour group tomorrow eve.

Breakfast was basic…… omelttes were a safe winner. Orange juice had distinct air of Jif bathroom cleaner about it and we spent a good 10 minutes looking for the champagne bar….doesnt seem to be one?! Strange. Hopefully just an oversight and order will be restored at the next place #backpacktroubles #hahabutseriously #problemofstartingwith5star

They played my heart will go on from titanic, the saxophone version on a loop. Encouraging that the soundtrack to the trip thus far is also one from an epic disaster movie. Let’s hope it’s not a sign of things to come.

Saturday was a visit to the Famous Hao Lo Prison or “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner of war camp where they held prisoners during the French occupation of Vietnam in 1858-1954 and also American pilots shot down in the Vietnam War.

Put our hotel in perspective so that was worth it. Really fascinating day out and good to see our first bit of real history since we’ve been here but propaganda doesn’t even cover it!!! Vietnamese entirely blameless and mercilessly persecuted…so truth probs somewhere to be found! Good nod for things to come from the rest of the tour.

Afternoon was nails to cheer ourselves up!!!! Decided luminous pink with tiny bananas was the best option, Liz went for classy floral pattern cos she’s not got the attention span of an ADHD toddler when it comes to shiny or funny things! #nevergrowup #bananasfoethewin.

We also met our first contestant for our new travel gameshow “well isn’t that a small world”. Bit 6 degrees of Kevin bacon but my sister’s boyfriends cousins best friend…still bizarre sure there will be more to come.

Today was the first evening with our tour group and after a couple of tinnies in our room to calm the nerves and cheers the start of the next chunk (oh and a nap cos we are old!), we braved if down to our “group meeting”.

Tour guide is, Jack who’s with us for the entire trip through to Bangkok. He is literally a dream and just the kind of person you need on a tour like this.

He’s from Cambodia and has already invited us to meet his family when we get to Siem Reap. Hes charming, funny and full of his own little classic one liners like “drinks for you? Coke, fanta, 7-up, 7-down”? (He’s done that one 3 times already so ask me again in a week if he’s still lols!…) He’s nicknamed us “The Sunshine Family”…! Spirit of adeventure and all that jazz Xx