Lost in Translation - Part One, Planning

For Robin’s 70th birthday we decided a redux of her 60th by traveling with all three "kids" (now adults) to celebrate her’s, and Brynne’s 30th two days before.

As we plotted options last fall we considered East Africa, India, Japan, and tropical islands, running the gamut from adventure to just relaxing. Our goal was to introduce them to non-European cultures and navigate the uncertainties of travel in undeveloped countries. However, after discussing over the holidays we realized they each have different levels of interest, tolerance and time off. 

We selected Japan because it is non-European for different cultural experience, but it is also very developed for ease of travel. We would go with a guide which would make in-country travel easier where we can’t speak the language, or even read signs, and I wouldn’t be responsible.  Also, because despite transiting through Narita international airport over 60 times I’ve never been to Tokyo, and Robin hasn’t been in almost 50 years. After a week Connor and Brynne would return home.  

Intrepid Tour from Tokyo to Osaka

Teigan wanted to stay a little longer having traveled so far from London so we added another week with her before she returned. This would be self-guided and include going to the west coast on the Sea of Japan and cross the mountains back to Tokyo to see less developed parts of Japan. 

Inside Japan self guided tour of Japan

Since we were “in the neighborhood”, as my former CEO used to say, and Robin had never been to Vietnam, we decided that after Teigan left we’d travel ten days on a tour from Saigon to Hanoi. Finally, our plan was to spend five days on our own in the mountain town of Sa Pa, Vietnam and I booked our return flights accordingly. 

Intrepid Tour of Vietnam

Then I read an article about Laos. This was the last SE Asian country we both hadn’t been too. We decided to do that instead. Unfortunately, I couldn’t change our return flight so we had limited time and just visited historic Luang Prabang, another UNESCO site. From there it would be a long roundabout way back. Luang Prabang to Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City to Tokyo to Seattle.  38 hours door to door.

Return Flight path.   Overnight (four hours) in Saigon

For the next month I did detail planning and made reservations.  Five people from three different cities in two different countries all arriving in Tokyo on the same day. Then three different return dates.  We used four tour companies; two in Japan, one each in Vietnam and Laos.  In the end twenty individual flights, though most tickets were in pairs.