Vietnamese Whirl (and a Cup of Thai) - Part 14 - War Torn and Travel Worn!

What were supposed to be our last few days in Thailand turned into a stressful challenge to get home.  Our flights were with Emirates and by the time we had flown back to Bangkok, the airspace over Dubai had been closed due to the Middle East conflict and there were reports of missile strikes close to the airport.

Fortunately, we had booked a couple of nights at a hotel close to Bangkok airport so we made ourselves as comfortable as we played the waiting game.

The following day our fears were confirmed, as our return flights were cancelled, and with no communications from the airline, we were stranded.  Wearing my “travel agent in a crisis” hat, I spent most of the day trying to find a way to contact Emirates, and looking for alternative routes home.  Sadly, many other people were in the same situation, and flight options were limited and incredibly expensive.  On top of that, our Thai visa was about to run out, and with no prospects of a flight back any time soon, we made the decision to return to Vietnam and wait it out there.

Things went from bad to worse the next morning, as we arrived at the airport to discover that Ian had lost his phone!  After a frantic search through his bag, he worked out that he must have left it at the hotel, so after an expensive round-trip taxi ride, we made it back in time for our flight to Vietnam. At least we were let off the 500 baht “overstay” fine – thankful for small mercies!

Choosing somewhere we hadn’t visited before, the Vietnamese coastal town of Nha Trang was a relatively cheap and easy journey from Bangkok.  It had been home to a large Russian naval base in previous years and the resort was much favoured by Russian tourists. As we drove past massive towering hotels, we noticed that many of the restaurants had signs and menus in cyrillic script. 

It seemed incredibly busy and very touristy, so we hoped that our stay here wouldn’t be too long.  Our apartment on the 30^th floor of one of the skyscrapers was clean and comfortable and most importantly had good soundproofing!  Waiting for a lift became a bit of a chore, and of course, crossing the roads was as terrifying as ever, but we recognised that there were worse places to be stuck. 

The temperatures made walking around quite arduous, but there was a slight breeze from the sea as we explored the long promenade. The town did boast a large selection of excellent restaurants and cafes and we enjoyed some great Italian, Mexican and Greek meals (including wine) at very reasonable prices, which cheered me up immensely!

We eventually had word from Emirates that they had rebooked us on a flight back to Heathrow on 10^th March (a week later than our original departure).  Feeling slightly apprehensive at flying over a war zone, but with no better options, we managed to extended our stay by a few days.

We were in a constant state of “limbo” however and felt like we’d run out of steam.  Disinclined to plan any activities or tours, we spent our days “doom scrolling” about the war and keeping an eye on the flight situation.  In an effort to distract ourselves, Ian had a massage and I found a nice salon for one final manicure, and after a few cocktails, I’m ashamed to say we even joined in a “musical bingo” session at the lively local karaoke bar!

We weren’t surprised when our re-booked flights were once again cancelled after ongoing missile attacks in Dubai, but decided to return to Bangkok anyway.  On arrival we checked in with Emirates who managed to get us on flights departing a couple of days later. 

Resigning ourselves to a few more stressful days, we booked another hotel near the airport and tried to remain positive.   Reading my book in a hammock overlooking the pool did take some of the trauma away and the hotel did have a great little restaurant overlooking the river. On what was to finally be our last day, we took ourselves off for some retail therapy at the local shopping mall, and had a nice lunch at a restaurant serving healthy organic food (for a change!).

After checking that flights were still operating, we felt a little more optimistic as we arrived at the airport…we were going home!

The first leg of our journey went smoothly and we landed in an ever-busy Dubai International Airport.  Everything seemed quite normal until we went to take the shuttle train to our terminal. Everyone was being held back behind a line although trains were arriving and departing empty.  Suddenly an alert buzzed on my phone to announce a possible air strike and advising people to “shelter in place” and stay away from doors and windows.  Surprisingly people remained calm, and after 20 minutes or so we were allowed to continue on our way. 

All seemed to be going well as we boarded and the plane prepared to take off for our final flight to London.  Too well, it seems – as the captain announced that air space had been closed once again.  He hoped that it wouldn’t be for too long, but we sat on the tarmac for almost 3 hours waiting for the all clear.  Transiting through Dubai was the scariest experience we’d had since trying to cross the roads in Vietnam…

To add insult to injury, when we finally began our very bumpy descent into Heathrow, we hit severe cross winds and had to abort our landing.  Just wanting to be on safe, solid ground, I closed my eyes and hoped that I wouldn’t throw up before we touched down!  Despite the wet, windy, gloomy weather, I’ve never been so glad to be back in the UK. The delay caused us to catch the rush hour traffic for our journey through London but we were relived to finally be home. 

The situation in the middle east and particularly in Dubai has worsened in the past few days, so we consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have made it back when we did. Again, we were grateful to have been able to have spent time in some amazing places, met some incredibly friendly and interesting people, and created some wonderful memories.  Although the trials of the past week or so haven’t put me off the thrill of long-haul travelling, it has made me realise that in these frightening and volatile times (and feeling our age a bit!) familiarity and routine can be a great comfort…