Hitting the road: the itinerary for Vietnam

So, as mentioned in my last post, we've quit our jobs and we've now officially hit the road!

So what's next? Well first I'd like to show you our whereabouts of the last 2 weeks:

We landed in Ho Chi Minh, headed south to the Mekong Delta which took in Can Tho, My Tho and Tan An (plus working in Ben Luc), all before coming back to Ho Chi Minh to kick start our adventure again.

What's next is a tour of the rest of Vietnam going from south to north, starting in Ho Chi Minh and finishing in Hanoi (the capital) with a day or two in ha long bay to boot.

The itinerary is:

1. Mui Ne
2. Da Lat
3. Nha Trang
4. Hoi An
5. Hue
6. Hanoi
7. Ha long bay (round trip from Hanoi probably)

With this itinerary we'll take in beautiful beaches, sand dunes, high hills, ancient monuments, beautiful (well, apparently) cities and the stunning Ha Long Bay - which is likely the first image used when advertising Vietnam as a destination.

That's roughly 1,250 miles by a combination of coach and train (starting with coach as it's cheapest but the train is a little more expensive so we will try both to compare along the way).

We estimate this should take us about 3+ weeks, and with up to a week in Hanoi to allow for the Ha Long bay trip and a last chance of a job offer we will know for sure by then whether Vietnam is where we want to be for longer. We'll apply for jobs on the road so that we keep the prospects going ready for when we've finished touring.

If come the end of all that things don't work out here in Vietnam, it'll probably be full steam ahead to Thailand or Cambodia!

First up though, show me those beaches of Mui Ne, I can't wait!