Vietnam 2011: Going to Hanoi

The distance between San Francisco and Hanoi is 7,300.67 miles (or for the people who use real units: 11,748.97 km).

So it is a long flight, with a least one stop. Be sure to bring something to not be bored to death during the flight, the airport waiting time, and other delays.

Waiting in SFO

Zhenya was the first to arrive (October 2), Kevin followed (October 4), then Matt and Jason (October 5), Witold and me (October 6), Nate and Giorgio (October 8), David and Kirk (October 19), and finally Tom (October 24).

My trip

I flew with Korean Airline. I departed SFO ( San Francisco Airport ), to ICN ( Seoul Incheon Airport ). It is a 12 hours flight, mostly during the night, and above the water, so I didn’t get many awesome views from the sky. Well except for take off …

San Francisco from the sky

When I arrived at ICN, I was of course totally jet lagged, tired, and grumpy. But ICN is an awesome airport: gigantic, quiet, clean, modern. And it was also my first contact with Asia! After leaving the plane, I had to go through a random and stupid security test which took forever.

Busy Airport

Korean Airline Hostess in Seoul

After that, I walked randomly in the airport trying to find Witold. We flew on different airlines, with only a 20 min gap between our flights.

Parts of the airport were full of people and others very quiet and peaceful. Like every airport, it’s full of stores selling beauty stuff, electronics and fast food.

Zen Airport

Busy ICN

I finally found Witold in front of his next flight gate. A few minutes later it was time to grab my flight from Seoul to Hanoi.

Reactor

Once arrived in Hanoi, we had to pass the border. You can buy your visa their if you don’t have one. It is cheaper this way. I bought mine in San Francisco, but Witold bought his at the border.
The next step was to get a taxi to go to the Old Quarter, find a hotel, and finally get some sleep!

Pictures From Thomas Genin