ACTION NEEDED -- TIme to book your Vietnam flights

[Kien Pham]

Dear Classmates:

It is now time for you to book your plane tickets to and from Vietnam.  You are coming at the height of travel time for overseas Vietnamese to come home for Tet so grab your plane seat before there is none left and the price goes crazy.  Do I have your attention now?  :-)

Here is the deal:

We start our adventure in Ho Chi Minh City on February 3rd so you should bring yourself to HCMC before noon on the 3rd to claim your seat on the bus.  There is no other option for you at this front end of the trip.

However, at the back end, when we say our group goodbye at the Apricot Hotel in Hanoi at noon time on February 17th, you have two options to exit Vietnam.

Option 1:  You can fly out from Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi to your home destination or your next adventure.  Hotel checkout is noon time and taxis will be limited on the first day of Lunar New Year so you should pick your flight time wisely.  Kien will remain in Hanoi as a voluntary safety net to rescue any lost soul.  I solemnly promise that I will not leave any American behind,  :-)  (Even though, you know who left whom behind in Saigon in April 1975. :-) )

Option 2:  You can fly out from HCMC to your home destination or your next adventure, and your exit flight time at HCMC airport should be after 3pm on the 17th.  Upon your checkout at the Apricot Hotel, we will take you on a domestic flight from Hanoi to HCMC.  If there is a long wait for you in HCMC on that day, we can put you in an airport hotel for a few hours.  Don't worry, we have you covered.  Remember, we leave no child behind! :-)

To make sure that you can leave Vietnam and not become a POW prisoner of wish, I need your Vietnam arrival and departure flight info.  Just forward the airline confirmation email to me and my capable staff can decipher it and put the info in our database for VIP airport pickup and send-off.  Without such info, we cannot make appropriate arrangements for you.  Please remember that you will exit Vietnam on the first day of Tet and local services are more limited, so let's get rolling and lock things down asap.

Lastly, in my last email to you, I asked for a photo of your passport data page.  Many of you have responded but the following friends need to take such action today, please.

1. Ann Moses McCarthy

2. Bill Glazier

3. Donna Greenwall
4. Ephraim Greenwall
5. Dan Scherlis

6. Kate Scherlis

7. Alison Krausz

8. Steve Krausz
9. Sue Panella
10. Mark Panella

11. Signe Watson
12. Winthrop Watson

Ok, classmates and friends, this is all for now.  I hope you begin to pay more attention to news on Vietnam these days.  Let us know if you have questions.  We are here for you.

Your friend, kp

Kien Pham
Imperfect Servant of the People
VN Mobile and WhatsApp: +84-98-5656-566
"You make a living by what you get and a life by what you give"
Sorry if you see typos.  This email comes from a blind man on mobile device!

[Lisa Kelley]

THANK YOU!!

sent our flights in separate emails.

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Lisa Anderson Kelley

li...@kelley.pro

650-279-0750

[Kien Pham]

Yes, Winthorp, that morning departure time will work. You will have the most amazing experience travelling in Hanoi when there is no traffic. Everybody will be at home with their family, preparing to go out visiting friends and relatives that afternoon.

I am very excited to have you among the travelers, kp 

Kien Pham
Imperfect Servant of the People
VN Mobile and WhatsApp: +84-98-5656-566

"You make a living by what you get and a life by what you give"

Sorry if you see typos.  This email comes from a blind man on mobile device!

On Mon, Nov 24, 2025 at 12:10 PM Winthrop Watson <winthro...@gmail.com> wrote:

Kien - Would a flight leaving Hanoi 11:30am on Feb 17 work? Thanks. And thanks for everything. Winthrop 

On Nov 23, 2025, at 9:27 PM, Kien Pham <Kien...@neverchange.com> wrote:



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[BRET HEWITT]

Kien - So if I'm reading this all correctly, you want us at the HCMC (aka, Saigon) airport before noon on February 3, 2026 to catch the bus to our hotel for the first night(?)

And then, when returning, if out of HCMC airport, you will provide a flight from Hanoi to HCMC and we are to book flights home no earlier than 3:00 pm on February 17, 2026(?).

Have I got that all right?  If so, then I'll proceed.

Do you happen to know if United flies into Saigon?

Thanks for all.

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From: gsbvi...@googlegroups.com <gsbvi...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Kien Pham <kien...@neverchange.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2025 8:27 PM
To: GSB Vietnam 3 <gsbvi...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: KP Support Team <kpsupp...@vnfoundation.org>
Subject: ACTION NEEDED -- TIme to book your Vietnam flights

[Kien Pham]

Hello Anne and All:

FYI, the base price that we told you already included your flight from Hanoi to HCMC since the basic planning assumption was that all of you will enter Vietnam in HCMC and exit Vietnam also from HCMC.  So you can go ahead and buy your homeward ticket from the HCMC airport which is called Tan Son Nhat Airport or code name SGN.

Good question, kp

Kien Pham

Imperfect Servant of the People

VN Mobile and WhatsApp: +84-98-5656-566

"You make a living by what you get and a life by what you give"

Sorry if you see typos.  This email comes from a blind man on mobile device!

On Nov 25, 2025, at 7:01 AM, Anne Moses <anne.e...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Kien!  What is the cost of going from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City if we want our return flight to be out of HCMC?  Thanks!  Looking forward to seeing you in February……..Anne McCarthy Moses

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[Anne Moses]

Thanks, Kien!

[Kien Pham]

Hello Alan:

We have answers to all of your questions.  Ms. Anh Can can give you more details but basically:

1.  Somebody will meet you at airplane door to take you on fast-track through immigration and custom.  No matter when you arrive.

2.  We can book an extra night of February 1st for you and you can pay for that night when checking in.

3.  We will work with Apricot Hotel and Vietravel to ensure you will have a smooth exit at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi on Feb. 17th.

In short, no problem once we know details of your entry flight and exit flight.  The rest will be handled by my staff and the tour operator.  I copy the group here so they could benefit from your good qwuestions.

Very excited to have you and RObin here, kp

Kien Pham

Imperfect Servant of the People

VN Mobile and WhatsApp: +84-98-5656-566

"You make a living by what you get and a life by what you give"

Sorry if you see typos.  This email comes from a blind man on mobile device!

On Nov 25, 2025, at 8:53 PM, Alan Colner <colne...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Kien-

Here are some details for the itinerary that Robin and I booked. And I have a few questions:

-We are arriving in Ho Chi Minh City on February 1 at 18.35 (6.35pm) on Cathay Pacific CX 799. Who will pick us up at the airport?

-We need to book the night of Feb. 1 at the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. Who can help us do that?

-After your email to Winthrop Watson yesterday that a morning departure from Hanoi can work on Feb. 17, we booked a flight leaving at 11.05am on Cathay Pacific CX740. Please confirm how we can travel to the airport if many taxis are on holiday that morning.

Thank you for all your help - Alan

I will supply all of our flight information in a separate email.

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[Alan Colner]

Kien-

Many thanks for your prompt reply. You (and Walt) deserve superstar status for making all this happen.

Take care - Alan

[Walt Spevak]

Semi-long attempt at humor written by a retired person who clearly has too much time on his hands on a Tuesday morning.

Navigating the Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, often in the middle of the night, reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from Shakespearre in Love.  The one where the theater manager, in our play performed masterfully by a blind man, is about to be strung up owing to the plague closing the theaters and investors losing their investments.   

Play Manager's Line:  My dear classmates.  Allow me to explain about the nature of travel to and in Vietnam.  The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

Traveler (with aggravation, or curiosity, depending upon how the traveler wants to play the scene): So what do we do?

Play Manager: Nothing. Strangely enough it all turns out well.

Traveler (with suspicion, or even more curiosity): How?

Play Manager:  I don't know. It's a mystery.

Observation by one who has seen this play several times in Vietnam's airports and on the streets.  It's not a mystery.  Our play manager has a supporting cast well-versed and rehearsed in shepherding tired Americans from the airport to their hotel.  When disembarking your plane you will see your name on a sign to then be escorted through this queue and that...and it all turns out well.

Another anecdote followed by a request to Kien.  On our 2011 trip, our government trained and certified tour guide, who was incredibly patient (eye roll in the direction of "Fry 'em"), would give an historical account of what we were about to see, only to have Kien grab the microphone and say "Let me tell you what really happened. I was there. I was ten.

Kien, my request, could you and your team take us to a street intersection circa 2011 (or when you were a child) where there are still thousands (ok, maybe only hundreds now), of bicycles and motorbikes, overloaded with people and stuff. In other words, insurmountable obstacles on the road, literally, to imminent disaster.  I'd like you to lead our group across it as you do so well.  The Ton Son Nhat airport is a piece of cake compared to crossing the street.

Here's a link to the Shakespearre in Love Scene.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  How blessed are we to be traveling to Vietnam in a few months.

Walt

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Walt Spevak
415-298-1173 (cell)

[Kien Pham]

Friends:

I added our travel group to this email so they can benefit from Woody's good questions below.

On the Vietnam Airline nonstop flights between SFO and HCMC, I flew that route twice last year on business class and it was excellent.  They might have inflight internet connectivity now, so check it out.

No problem arriving at Tan Son Nhat airport at 4:30am.  We will be there for you.  If you don't look good, we don't look good.  We will make sure that your hotel room is ready for you, too.

Now, if you plan to go to Cambodia first and still want to be on that SFO-HCMC nonstop miracle, then I advise you to connect at TSN airport for a short flight to Cambodia on the same morning.  You are not going to get any more climatized in HCMC for 1 or 2 days.  Just go on to Cambodia and suffer the same light jetlag, tour the Wats under sunlight to reset your body clock, enjoy Cambodia, and travel back to TSN airport after Cambodia.  To note, you might need a multiple-entry visa for Vietnam if your plane ticket is broken into two separate trips.  Check with your ticketing agency.

Tell me if you choose to fly on that SFO-HCMC nonstop so I can ask the flight attendants to make special cafe sữa đá iced coffee with condense milk for you.  :-)

Best, kp

Kien Pham

Imperfect Servant of the People

VN Mobile and WhatsApp: +84-98-5656-566

"You make a living by what you get and a life by what you give"

Sorry if you see typos.  This email comes from a blind man on mobile device!

On Nov 27, 2025, at 1:41 AM, Walt Spevak <wsp...@gmail.com> wrote:

I defer to Kien and his million-miler SF<>Vietnam status!  

That said I'm 99.9999% sure airport pick-up and transport can be arranged literally 24x7.  It's not a good look for Kien to have wayward Americans wandering the airport at 4 am murmuring "Where is Kien?  Where is Kien?  We can't see him and he can't see us."

There is a small group (Mary Ann, Ephraim/Donna, Janice) planning a pre-trip Angkor Wat excursion.  You could perhaps join them.  Or go solo.

On Wed, Nov 26, 2025 at 9:54 AM Woody Scal <wood...@gmail.com> wrote:

Kien and Walt, 

Claudia and I are getting excited about the trip.  A few questions:

1. We’re considering a non-stop to HCMC from SFO that arrives at 4:00 am.  Is it possible for someone to meet us at that time?  If that doesn't work, we’ll take one of the connecting flights that arrives at a more reasonable hour.
2. What do you think of Vietnam Airlines?  We’d probably be taking business class.
3. We’re considering going to Angkor Wat before the trip.  It looks like a short and fairly cheap flight there from HCMC. I’m thinking that we’d want to allocate 2 days there (1-Feb and 2-Feb) and fly back to HCMC mid afternoon or evening Sunday 2 Feb.  Any thoughts on whether we should connect immediately to Angkor Wat upon arriving in HCMC or take a day or two to acclimate?

Thanks again!

Woody Scal

Mobile: 415-637-4672

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gsbvietnam3/7ef08175-88cb-4388-986c-3eb3b1d3d593%40neverchange.com.

[Alan Colner]

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Robin and I are in the process of insuring our Vietnam trip. We're looking at Allianz and AON (both of which we have used in the past). Just curious what other people are selecting.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend - Alan

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gsbvietnam3/2919e72c-ba9e-45e2-8b77-6c06853cc0aa%40neverchange.com.