The planning phase

A little about myself.  I'm 42.  I'm single.  I have 5 children aged 9-15.  I have one daughter and 4 sons.  I live in Brisbane, Australia.  The last time I travelled overseas I had no children.  I have decided to travel to Vietnam because (a) it's a completely different culture, (b) the food is great and (c) it's cheap.

I'd like to document the adventure in case there are other single women or men who would like to travel to Vietnam alone with a larger family.

I've just booked and paid for our tickets.  I spent a little time looking for flights by myself before I realised it was all too confusing.  I seemed to be able to fly into and out of the same city for a reasonable price, but if I tried to locate flights that came into the south and out of the north, the prices were about $2000-$3000 more expensive (for the 6 of us).  My plan is to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City and then travel north to Hanoi.  I have 19 days to do it.  I'm leaving 9th April, and returning 27th April.  I wanted to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City and leave from Hanoi without having to backtrack to keep the price of the flights down.

To avoid the chance of f***ing up with bookings over the internet, and to ensure I was actually making a wise choice with flights, I paid a visit to Flight Centre.  They did it all for me.

So the plan is...fly with China Southern airlines from Brisbane to Guangzhou.  I've googled this word, and Guangzhou seems to be a city in China that is quite close to Hong Kong.  We spend about 6 hours in the airport in Guangzhou, and then fly to Ho Chi Minh City in the south of Vietnam.  Seems like a roundabout trip, but it was a cheap option.  I plan to book accommodation in Ho Chi Minh and in Hanoi, and for the rest of the trip we will just wing it.

I thought it might be nice to record the preparations and the adventure of travelling to Vietnam with 5 children.  I have read quite a few blogs written by families travelling with 2 or 3 young children.  Perhaps by recording my adventures travelling alone with 5 children, I might be able to help someone else.  I'm sure there will be lots of fun, and I'm sure there will be hick-ups.  I will endeavour to describe the entire journey in the most comical way I can.