Trang Le’s family spent 11 days driving their own car from Hanoi to Quang Ngai and back, at a cost of about 40 million VND.
Trang Le, 35 years old, with her husband and three children including two 9-year-old twin daughters and a 4-year-old youngest son decided to take a trip “through half of Vietnam” this summer. The purpose of the trip is for the children to relax after a long time of online learning, having to stay at home for a long time and the Covid-19 epidemic is gradually being pushed back.
Her family chose to go to Quang Ngai and then back to Hanoi because they had to arrange a suitable time for the couple’s work. The trip took place in full 11 days, according to Ms. Trang, it is suitable for the health of the whole family.
“My family doesn’t go out to try, when I feel comfortable, I stop to play more, while recovering for my husband to drive, and at the same time following the interests and feelings of the children,” Trang said.
Schedule
The first day was still strong, the family drove straight from Hanoi to Hue , starting at 4am and arriving in Hue at 5pm. Breakfast with bread and canned milk, for lunch, choose a restaurant along the way, when it is crowded, go in. When coming to Hue, her family had dinner with beef noodle soup in Hue, Mrs. Tuyet at 47 Nguyen Cong Tru and specialties of Banh Beo, filter nam, and spring rolls at Me Me, choosing a hotel between these two restaurants to stay overnight. Room price 500,000 – 800,000 VND, with parking space. After that, the whole family took a cyclo to explore the city at night.
On the second and third days , the whole family still stayed in Hue, went to Lang Co beach , visited Thien Mu pagoda , Thuy Xuan incense village , then moved to Paciano homestay for two nights, a two-bed room costs 500,000 VND per night. In the morning, the couple got up early to watch the sunrise and take advantage of buying fresh crabs, cooking breakfast, and steaming right at the beach. The experience in these two days in Hue is mainly bathing and letting the children play in the sand.
On the fourth and fifth days , move to Quang Ngai, have lunch, then go to Sa Ky harbor to go to Ly Son island . Train tickets are 213,000 VND per person, children sitting with parents are free. Trang Le also reminds visitors to remember the train time because there are only 6 trips a day from here and should book return tickets right from the time of buying tickets to the island. The whole family stayed in Ly Son for two nights because they could not book tickets to the mainland because the trip was over. At Ly Son, visit the lighthouse, To Vo gate , Hang pagoda, and Thoi Loi mountain.
On Friday , the whole family returned to Da Nang and stayed at Ba Na Hills. This is also the most expensive place in the family’s itinerary, with room rates of 3 million a night. Guests staying overnight here will have a separate entrance to the cable car, avoiding crowds. “The weather here is hot, cold, rainy, so pay attention to bring a thin coat,” advises Trang Le.
On Saturday , the group went to Hoi An , chose Rose Garden hotel with two beds for 650,000 VND a night, with a swimming pool. In the evening, eating chicken rice with Mrs. Nga, walking around the old town, on the full moon day, there is a ceremony to release lanterns on the river… In the morning, take a basket boat in Bay Mau coconut forest , ticket for two boats is 500,000 VND.
On the eighth and ninth days, the whole family returned to Da Nang, rented a hotel on Vo Nguyen Giap street for convenient access to the sea. Because seafood is not the family’s favorite dish, Ms. Trang feeds her children home-cooked meals, choosing Mau Dich restaurant at 149 Hai Phong, for a one-time price of 600,000 VND. Tea in Da Nang is also hard to ignore, Trang suggests Lien Huong shop on Pasteur street.
On the 10th day , during the journey back to the North, the whole motel in Quang Binh, arrived at 3pm, rented a Sunflower homestay on the coast, priced at 600,000 VND per room. “After the epidemic, this place degraded, just slept temporarily, but I didn’t like it,” Trang commented. However, the beach here is very popular with her children, and dinner is at the table next to the sea. Another interesting experience in Quang Binh is to go sandboarding at Quang Phu dune, rent a car and slide for 300,000 VND two times.
On the 11th day , “hold on” the trip by taking advantage of the last time to swim in the sea and then go back to Hanoi. Afternoon stop in Nghe An to enjoy the specialty of fried eel with banana. Trang’s tip is to choose a restaurant with many public cars and tractors to stop eating, because “long-distance drivers are familiar, so they know where to eat safely and hygienically so that they can drive”.
A memorable memory of the trip was being stuck in the wind power field in Quang Tri. Because the car was busy taking pictures, the car entered the place where the sand subsided, it took more than an hour to call for help to get the car out.
Experience
Trang Le drew some experiences after the trip. Each person in the family should only bring enough clothes, about 5-6 sets per member, then use the laundry service at the resort, which is also affordable. Medicines should bring fever reducers, salt eye drops, anti-mosquito spray, urgo and salt tablets mixed with mouthwash.
There is no need to book a hotel in advance because moving depends on the health of the driver and the “little bosses”, where you can stop and book a room there. On this trip, only Ba Na Hills is a pre-booked family.
Food and drink do not need to be brought much, mainly snacks for children so that they can persist in long-distance car rides. Similar to cash, just prepare a lot of money in your card and account, because Trang shares almost everything is transferred and swiped, including gas.
The total cost of the trip is about VND 40 million, including 5 million for gasoline, and one million tolls (with a non-stop toll card, so it’s convenient). On average, a day of eating and sleeping is about 2 million VND. The most expensive cost is in Ba Na Hills, about 9 million VND. Some other costs are renting a motorbike to move in Ly Son, the cost of buying things incurred during the trip…
“This amount is really much cheaper than going by plane. Such an expense for an 11-day trip for 5 people must be difficult to reduce. I think it’s worth it for the experience the family receives”, Trang said. Le shared.