Plan B

[AnhXao 0]

Well yesterday I received an email of NOA2. I have updated my timeline already and if it different on the paperwork then I will change it.

Loan and I have talked about our plans if she is denied a visa. We like the idea of my return for Têt. We will have a Dam Hoi before then an album wedding after the new year.

We are wanting to have a few days to ourselves in Mui Ne. A nice honeymoon if you will. I am curious about any of my fellow VJer's experience with coffee money for hotel accomodations. Should I just book two rooms or offer fifty percent gratuity to management?

We are also taking a train ride from Sai Gon and I have never done that. Any personal experience on what to avoid on the train ride and which hotel in Mui Ne would you recommend if you went there.

I am now hoping that I am as lucky at Luckytxn (I hope I got it right). Either way on the K1 I think we will do this and it would be nice to bring Loan back afterwards. Thanks for your help and now I must start my reading on what to do next for the package I will send to my love for her P3 or whatever it is called.

[Anh map 2,098]

Remember that everything is busier/ more crowded at Tet. So last minute plans may be tougher.

Get the highest class service on the train. OR better yet, hire a car to drive you.

Never had any issued regarding booking one room in VN.

Way too early to be thinking/talking about visa denial. Concentrate of preparing for success.

[tcTTct 37]

Just book one room for the two of you. There's no problem.

[joenlemy 2]

I agree with Ahn map, no need to think about denial now. Time to focus on now.

My wife and I stayed at the Hai Au Spa & resort in Mui Ne. Booked it with Agoda and the manager gave us a free room upgrade. The food was great, the service was excellent, it has a private beach, nice pool, The only drawback was it is a bit isolated. So anything you want to do you need to hire a taxi.

Heres a link.. http://www.agoda.com/asia/vietnam/phan_thiet/hai_au_resort_spa.html

Good luck with everything

[VinhBao MyTam 3]

Not sure where Mui Ne is, but there is a Golden Train from Saigon to Nha Trang with stops between that is well worth the small price difference. Keep in mind that right at Tet, the whole rail system shuts down for a bit, so.... prepare accordingly. I love the train. Honestly, I always look forward to riding the train in VN b/c I can't afford a seat in the US, let alone a luxury sleeper.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Well yesterday I received an email of NOA2. I have updated my timeline already and if it different on the paperwork then I will change it.

Loan and I have talked about our plans if she is denied a visa. We like the idea of my return for Têt. We will have a Dam Hoi before then an album wedding after the new year.

We are wanting to have a few days to ourselves in Mui Ne. A nice honeymoon if you will. I am curious about any of my fellow VJer's experience with coffee money for hotel accomodations. Should I just book two rooms or offer fifty percent gratuity to management?

We are also taking a train ride from Sai Gon and I have never done that. Any personal experience on what to avoid on the train ride and which hotel in Mui Ne would you recommend if you went there.

I am now hoping that I am as lucky at Luckytxn (I hope I got it right). Either way on the K1 I think we will do this and it would be nice to bring Loan back afterwards. Thanks for your help and now I must start my reading on what to do next for the package I will send to my love for her P3 or whatever it is called.

I am hoping you are even more lucky than I was.

As the others said. Do not think about failure right now. Get her prepared with the interview. Make sure she knows everything there is to know about you.

[jac_chappin 24]

OP - One room is sufficient! I never had an issue with getting one room.

Don't think about failure. Prepare for the toughest interview possible and you'll have success.

It really comes down to how hard you are willing to work to make the best case possible. All up to you!

[Dan_P 5]

Don't worry about being denied. The chances of being denied are very very slim, especially if you are well prepared and have a solid case. Most of the cases of denials I hear are either being unprepared or extremely suspicious behavior.

Everything will be expensive and much harder to book for Tet, if not sold out. For plane ticket, before Tet is expensive, but I checked a year or two ago and price was cheaper if you landed i believe the day before Tet or on Tet. So if you have plans for Tet, make them far in advance.

As for travel, i used Phuong Trang sleeper bus and it was pretty good, nice and clean and the drivers drive good for Vietnam. Cost from Nha Trang to TP.HCM was 180.000vnd, or about $9-10 USD. I was hesitant to go on the train because my wife told me the ride was not very smooth.

[wreath 4]

Just book one room for the two of you. There's no problem.

my wife and i had trouble in angiang they wanted to see our licence . we offered wedding pics but they didnt accept and acted hateful and watched us hands on hip drive off.

[tuandanh 3]

Why do you need to give coffee money for the hotel? To get VIP treatment? Never been to Mui Ne but have heard mixed reviews. You can preview some places at Trip Advisor. Also, book one room and make sure both of your names are on the receipt. Might help later as part of your evidence.

[pfroehlich2004 0]

You definitely will not have any issues booking one room for the two of you in Mui Ne. My wife and I went out there dozens of times before we were married.

The only places that would give you grief as an unmarried couple are foreign-owned hotels and places way off the tourist trail.

If you want to stay anywhere nice around Tet, you should book now. Mui Ne is hugely popular with Russians and a lot of hotels will already have been booked out by Russian package tour companies. Sea Horse Resort is nice. So's the Sailing Club.

[tcTTct 37]

The only places that would give you grief as an unmarried couple are foreign-owned hotels and places way off the tourist trail.

Only if they think the girl is a prostitute. I have never had a problem anywhere.

[rostov007 29]

One thing to keep in mind during Tet is seemingly everyone in the country travels for the holiday to hometowns, vacations, etc. Last year my wife and I booked a sleeper car from HCMC to Hue to visit her family, which, if you've ever been on the VN trains, means one person per bed realistically from a size perspective. Each room has 4 beds (on this train, I don't know about others). Which, logic would suggest, means a maximum of 4 people per room. Even at it's best, there is no privacy in a "private compartment".

But that is not what happened. When we boarded the train we actually found out that each "bed" has four seat assignments. So we entered our cabin and found 12 people already in the room. So my wife and I crammed into one of the top bunks and twelve others crammed onto the other three, for a 15 hour trip. Also, no running water or cleaning in the bathrooms, no paper of any kind anywhere, and more people sold tickets to sit in the hallways and corridors of the train.

Truly a nightmare. Any other week I'm sure it's fine, but not at Tet.

Take Anh Map's advice and hire a car, your sanity will thank you.

[Dan_P 5]

One thing to keep in mind during Tet is seemingly everyone in the country travels for the holiday to hometowns, vacations, etc. Last year my wife and I booked a sleeper car from HCMC to Hue to visit her family, which, if you've ever been on the VN trains, means one person per bed realistically from a size perspective. Each room has 4 beds (on this train, I don't know about others). Which, logic would suggest, means a maximum of 4 people per room. Even at it's best, there is no privacy in a "private compartment".

But that is not what happened. When we boarded the train we actually found out that each "bed" has four seat assignments. So we entered our cabin and found 12 people already in the room. So my wife and I crammed into one of the top bunks and twelve others crammed onto the other three, for a 15 hour trip. Also, no running water or cleaning in the bathrooms, no paper of any kind anywhere, and more people sold tickets to sit in the hallways and corridors of the train.

Truly a nightmare. Any other week I'm sure it's fine, but not at Tet.

Take Anh Map's advice and hire a car, your sanity will thank you.

Or take a quality sleeper bus like I mentioned above.

[AnhXao 0]

Remember that everything is busier/ more crowded at Tet. So last minute plans may be tougher.

Get the highest class service on the train. OR better yet, hire a car to drive you.

Never had any issued regarding booking one room in VN.

Way too early to be thinking/talking about visa denial. Concentrate of preparing for success.

Thank you for the sage advice and kind words, anh map. I am working on the concentration but wanted my love to have something to look forward to and be happy about. She is very happy now.

Just book one room for the two of you. There's no problem.

It would be nice. I know from my last trip there that the receptionist wanted her ID just to walk inside the hotel lobby. I gave her a serious look and said "no, she is using my tmboile wifi calling to the states". She just gave me an ugly look.

She did not have her ID on her.

...My wife and I stayed at the Hai Au Spa & resort in Mui Ne. Booked it with Agoda and the manager gave us a free room upgrade. The food was great, the service was excellent, it has a private beach, nice pool, The only drawback was it is a bit isolated. So anything you want to do you need to hire a taxi.

Good luck with everything

Thank you for the link and luck. I will discuss that hotel with her.

... Keep in mind that right at Tet, the whole rail system shuts down for a bit, so.... prepare accordingly. I love the train. Honestly, I always look forward to riding the train in VN b/c I can't afford a seat in the US, let alone a luxury sleeper.

That was my thought about traveling on the train. At first we thought about Da Nang but that is too far.

Edited September 30, 2011 by AnhXao