Why Vietnam?

As Americans, many people have asked us “why, of all places, did you choose to visit Vietnam?”. Honestly, it wasn’t a question I was prepared to answer at first. I hadn’t really thought about justifying it to anyone. Some people asked because their only exposure to Vietnam was related to the US and Vietnam war, while others were concerned for our safety. And then of course, the question that got posed the most frequently, “why travel so far for vacation?”.

The answers to these questions are always impossible to communicate without a more in-depth conversation. Which can be said for most of our trips. It always comes back to “why we do what we do”. That why is rooted in a specific feeling. It’s the feeling of stepping off of an airplane and knowing you are in a completely different part of our world. The people are different, the language is different, the food is different…literally everything is different. That newness sparks curiosity for us. It ignites adventure. It makes us remember how small we are. For Kailah and I, it isn’t just a “vacation”. I try not to even use the word because it comes with the implication of escape. We don’t want to escape anything. We just want to live more. And for us, that living is defined by experiencing new cultures.

We chose Vietnam because we had such an amazing experience during our first trip to Asia and we wanted to have another adventure just like it (Not to mention the low cost!). We decided that our perfect recipe this time around would be “a dash” of city and the balance spent near a beach, with copious amounts of culture. After visiting Thailand, we knew we wanted to explore some of the other surrounding countries like Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. We also knew that during our time frame, the most southern Asian and Indonesian countries would be in the middle of Typhoon season, so we wanted to be certain to avoid a dreary trip. Following in-depth research and conversations with other travelers, we landed on sunny southern Vietnam.

A deciding factor, the culture piece is so important to us when traveling. Like anyone else, we enjoy lounging on the beach with our beverage of choice, but we also generally try to combine it with a new authentic experience. In Vietnam, we were able to get the best of both worlds by exploring Ho Chi Minh city (formerly Saigon) for a couple days and then spending the balance of the week on the tropical island of Phu Quoc. Bustling Ho Chi Minh gave us exposure to the chaos of everyday life in Vietnam’s capital, delicious Vietnamese restaurants (shout out to Bep Me In) and the bustling night life of Bui Vien Walking Street. In Phu Quoc, we were able to slow way down, enjoying more Vietnamese cuisine on the beach, but also exploring a nightly open air market, organic bee farm, pepper farm and panoramic gondola over to Hon Thom island. I will never forget the garlic and herb, pork Bun Cha dish served near our hotel. It was a simple, traditional, mouth watering dish served by smiling locals.

There ya have it. The “why” for Kailah and I. We will continue to return to Southeast Asia (and everywhere else we can get our hands on) in continued search of the curiosity and inspiration that we get from stepping off a plane for the first time. Hopefully this helps put in perspective why we love to do what we do. More details coming soon on our Vietnam adventures!

Safe journeys,

Kyle

"Congratulations! Your Travel Days Are Over..."

How many times were we told that Selima would bring the end of our travel lives? Too many to count. People would say "you did it right. You got your traveling out of the way before children". As if when the she came out, there would be this invisible barrier that prevented us from walking out the front door of our house. Or even worse, when people found out we were having a baby they would say "Well, I guess you're traveling days are over!". As if that little embryo crawled up Kailah's uterus and flipped the ol' "travel switch" permanently to off. Honestly, it was disheartening. But it was also motivating. And fortunately for us, we made the commitment to each other to continue to do what we love.

Selima has now been to 4 countries (Iceland, Switzerland, Austria and Germany), California, Washington and Texas. She's flown on 10 different airplanes. Chugged along on over 25 trains. And walked (or been carried) tens of thousands of steps. Kailah and I are proud of ourselves.

I say all of this, to say…that it has also been hard. We'll be the first to admit that travel is far from the same with a baby or toddler…not to mention if you have multiple. There are minimal dinners out past 5 PM (unless we invite grandparents on the trip!). Rather than sightseeing, or enjoying a relaxing glass of wine on our balcony, we very well might find ourselves at the park in town swinging and sliding. What it comes down to is that we would rather be traveling with Selima, than not traveling at all.

Many people have asked us how we've "done it". How have we continued our love for visiting foreign lands, with a baby (and now toddler) in tow. For those that do travel with their kids, they know that there isn't a single answer to that question. We are all different people, with different children and since our kids are constantly growing, we are always traveling with a new version of our child. So how the heck can we help others by providing advice? We can only do our best to try.

Instead of listening to me babble on about in-flight tactics and travel planning with kids, I think it's best to talk about our high level mindset (however, don’t hesitate to email us at travelplanning@nowhereonearth.com for any specific questions!). The entire ordeal of travel, from a difficulty standpoint, is really all psychological. If we were traveling alone, we would deal with most of the same stress that we do with Selima, but with her getting added to the mix exaggerates those worries. For example, after a long day of flying, the last thing you want to do is stand in a line for two hours at customs. When you add a screaming child to said line, the anxiety can sky rocket.

So how do we do it? We start by booking the flights…

Well "duh" Kyle. Everyone knows that. But seriously, it's literally one of the most difficult things we do. When we commit ourselves to hundreds (if not thousands) in airfare, it creates a pretty damn good motivator to follow through. It also does something more important. It starts the ball rolling. It represents action and commitment. There is such a huge difference between planning a trip that we have purchased flights for and planning a trip we haven't. Especially when traveling abroad.

The next part is discipline. And this really starts at a young age. When 4 month old Selima was screaming in her crib and had been for 30 minutes, we watched with frantic, weary eyes from the baby monitor. All we wanted to do was go in there and pick her up. But the doctor said she'd learn to put herself to sleep. 10 minutes later…she was out like a light. It seems small, but it's this level of discipline that is so helpful for us when traveling. It helped prepare us, and Selima. When you know that screaming baby is ready to close her eyes for the remaining 7 hours of a flight and you just have to fight through the next 20 minutes of bouncing, shushing, screaming and crying…it gets easier, and less stressful. This goes for more than just tired babies. Once you've learned to keep pushing through, that cancelled flight, or two hour wait in customs doesn't seem so bad. Last week in Switzerland, my phone stopped functioning (thank you Selima for punching it repeatedly), Amazon compromised our credit card (and then did it again 2 weeks later) and somehow we got separated at the train station in Bern. I literally watched in disbelief as my wife and daughter drove by me on a bullet train headed for Interlaken, while I stood on the platform. These types of things would be stressful at home, within our comfort zone. But in a foreign country? …Only if we allow it…

The final piece when traveling with children, in my opinion, is "expectation versus reality". We do not travel with the expectation that we will be able to follow our plans. We ALREADY KNOW that kids AND travel are unpredictable. So we set that expectation in our PLAN. If we convince ourselves that one dinner out on the entire trip would be "nice", then two dinners is a bonus! (plus, shopping for local foods and sampling them at your apartment rental is a blast and cheaper). If we want to see multiple sights in one day, then we might leave the next day open. If the first day's plan goes awry, no problem! The moral of the story is that we will do less, but still more than if we were at home. We just need to be sure to set our expectations correctly.

To tie it all together, the key to travel with kids is really like doing anything else in life. It's a combination of the “why”, our discipline and expectation versus reality. We do it because it's WORTH the effort to us, we remain disciplined to push through the difficult times and we set our expectations correctly. If we do these things, we are at least setting ourselves up for success. The rest is just noise. Usually screaming…

Kyle

Flight Planning 101

When it comes to flights abroad, the most concerning sentence for me to hear is “We got a great deal!” (Unless of course, it’s actually true!). This is because many times we sacrifice time, stress and our overall experience, in order to save a few bucks. OR… and possibly even worse, we just don’t take the time to plan. Many of us have dreamed of showing up to the airport and buying tickets last minute to some far away place. This sounds wonderful and romantic, but it generally isn’t realistic. While it might not seem it in the moment, stress, travel time and experience are just as valuable (if not more) than money and we need to balance our flight selection accordingly. Flights are literally the logistical foundation of our trips. This is because they set the tone at the beginning and then cap off the adventure at the end. If we miss a connection, or get a major delay, it can really taint our vacation, or god forbid, deter us from travelling long distance ever again. Why would we want to risk such an important piece of our experience? Unfortunately, many of us take that risk on every trip.

How can we avoid these “costly” mistakes? Can we get the exact flights we want by following a few “rules of the sky”? Can we balance cost with value? The answer is yes, but we need to plan appropriately. In fact, getting last minute deals on airfare is generally a myth (with minimal exceptions), so planning is our only sure-fire way to make sure we get what we want.

Kailah and I have now booked 13 trips, to over 16 countries from the United States since 2013. This doesn’t even include all of our domestic flights. Over time, we’ve made many mistakes and used those opportunities to learn from them. Now we have a process that consistently gets us the best experience and we want to share it with other travelers, so that they can benefit from it as well. Here are the six steps that we take on every single trip:

1.       Define your when

2.       Research your timetable

3.       Test your options

4.       Choose THE flight

5.       Wait and watch

6.       Buy confidently

***Important note: Don’t forget that this strategy is meant to help you find the best value flight. Not necessarily the cheapest. The goal is to provide you with the best experience, at the best cost.

Now let’s break these steps down, so we can see why they are so important:

Define your when: This is simple enough. Write down when you want to travel. If it’s an exact week (school vacation), or just within a certain month, this frames your search and sets you up for step two. Complete this step 4-6 months before your intended travel date (sometimes this can be done even further out, but you risk some flights not being listed).

Research your timetable: Take your travel timeframe from step one and spend 20 minutes searching a third-party site, like Sky Scanner or Kayak for available flights. The purpose of this exercise is to see what flights are available (departure/arrival), with the number of stopovers, total travel time and airline selection that you want. For example, you may find that if you fly out on Friday and in on Sunday, you can get direct flights. At the same time, you might find that if you fly out on Tuesday and back on the following Wednesday, there aren’t direct flights, but the layover is minimal. If you have flexibility in your timeframe, you can also search different weeks, within a given month. Or maybe you simply have always wanted to fly a specific airline, like Emirates. The variables are numerous, and this is your opportunity to balance what is most important to you. Once you have done this research, write down your preferred flights, including the airline, the home departure date/time and the foreign departure date/time. Jot down all viable options regardless of cost. Literally make a list of the flights that meet your schedule and needs. We see $500 fluctuations in price all the time, so don’t limit yourself based on the cost today. Complete this step 4-6 months before your intended travel date.

Test your options: The key to step two was to focus your search, since major airline routes are generally pretty consistent. Most airline routes are available on the 3rd party sites listed above by the 4-6 month mark (Yes, there are always exceptions). There won’t be any “magical” deals rolling in because the airlines decided to throw in a new discounted flight (Keep in mind, available routes will fluctuate between the offseason and high season). Now that you have a group of flights that work for you, it’s time to be patient and watch your flights over a period of 2-3 weeks. The easiest way to do this is set alerts for your email via one of the 3rd party sites. This allows you to see the lowest point of each of your flights costs and 2-3 weeks is generally a large enough sample for you to understand approximately what you will pay when booking. Complete this step 3-4 months before your intended travel dates.

***Note: I still check my targeted flights manually from time to time because I’ve found that the automatic alerts aren’t always accurate. I’m still researching why this occurs, but for now, keep it in mind.

Choose THE flight: By completing step three, you’ve identified which flight balances cost, with the travel time, airline, stopovers and departure/arrival times that works best for you. You’ve essentially identified the best possible flight, at a cost that makes sense for your budget. Complete this step 3-4 months before your intended travel dates. Write down the details, or make a mental note.

Wait and watch: This step is the same as when you tested your options. Your job here is to wait and watch, using the same strategy as before, except you are only doing it for one flight this time around. You also may want to do this over a 2-4 week timespan, to give yourself an adequate sample and make sure you are confident that you know where the lowest price is. Complete this step 3-4 months before your intended travel dates.

Buy confidently: It’s time. You’ve done everything you can do to ensure you are getting the best possible flight at the best possible price. Purchase your flight and don’t think twice. Could your flight drop by another 50 bucks? Of course it could, but it also could go the other way. Take it from me, you’ve done everything that you could to ensure THE BEST flight.

***Note: Some 3rd party websites will book your tickets through another vendor at purchase (for example: AirfareExperts, Vayama etc) opposed to directly through the airline. If the savings are significant, I would definitely consider purchasing this way. However, if the flights are all with one airline and cost is consistent, I would always book directly through the airline’s website. This is a cleaner purchasing process and can add benefits such as seat selection.

Alright. I know that’s excruciating detail for booking a flight. But honestly, there isn’t anything here that should really surprise anyone. There aren’t many shortcuts listed and it does take effort. But trust me, the most important part is that it works.

Cheers and happy flying everyone (maybe both?)

Kyle