A travel guide to Vietnam, what to pack, and essentials  

So, you booked that ticket, and now need to plan your trip to Vietnam. Here’s my guide on what to pack, basic phrases, apps, itinerary and more. With a month-long trip planned travelling North, Central and South of Vietnam. I had to deal with all sorts of weather. The North is cooler in December months, the Central tends to have heavy rain, and the South have temperatures of 30 degrees.   

What to pack for Vietnam weather in December?  

Most of my trip would be spent flying domestic flights, and I only had a 12 kg limit. I brought the trusty Gomatic navigator collapsible duffel 42L as my main one-bag travel carry-on. It meets most major airline carry-on dimensions. Dimensions. 21 in x 13.5 in x 9 in (53.3 x 34.3 x 22.9 cm) 12 in x 7 in x 2 Collapsed.   

Many of my outfits were hot summer wear, with layering options to keep me cool. Linen is a great material choice for humid weather, matching shorts and shirts made it easy to throw on a put-together outfit. My travel capsule wardrobe consisted of merino wool t-shirts, cardigans, linen shorts, linen trousers, cotton t-shirts, long oversized shirts, vests, 1 pair of all-white trainers, a nude sandal, a black sandal and a raincoat.  

Towards the end of my trip, the weather dropped to winter weather, and I was glad to have packed my North Face thermoball jacket with me. The South of Vietnam tends to be humid all year round hitting the 30’s degrees daily. Central Vietnam has a lot of rainfall and if you plan to visit the Golden Bridge in Ba Na Hills, it is foggy and cold.   

Medicines  

I had diarrhoea from the tea on the plane enroute to Vietnam. I packed imodium and po chai pills to combat the diarrhoea. I also took Optibac travel abroad capsules and that helped me get used to the water in Vietnam after the first week.  

Apps for travel  

Grab – This was my saviour! I’ve done tons of research online and sometimes you might get taxi scams. I can book a car/motorbike ride in the app, pay in cash or card and have a transaction receipt with the driver’s ID and vehicle details. Just like Uber you can also food at your accommodations or eateries.   

Bing translator – I find the translations with Microsoft more accurate than Google. There’s a speak-to-translate in real-time function.   

Google translate – the OG of translators, you can download the dictionary offline  

Airalo – It was my first time using Airalo eSim, they provide excellent onscreen instructions on how to activate your sim card. I did mine a day before landing and the eSim appeared on my iPhone immediately. A 20GB data sim card costs me $32 for 30 days and you can top up the sim if you run out. Use my referral code “LE5740” for $3 off.   

Currency  

Vietnam primarily uses cash over a card, especially local street vendors and markets. I used No1 Currency for the exchange rate of 26, but we found the exchange was better in Vietnam. We used our zero-fee cards abroad at Vietcombank to withdraw additional cash with a better exchange rate.  

How to cross the streets in Vietnam  

When I first arrived in Hanoi, crossing the road was overwhelming, walking through the Labyrinth maze, constantly honking, and looking in every direction for incoming traffic. Motorcycles are parked on the streets, so the only option is to walk alongside the pavement. The key is to relax and watch for a gap where there are no cars, motorcycles are great for predicting where you’re going, and they will honk lightly with their presence.   

Some Vietnamese phrases to get you by 

Scams to look out for in Vietnam  

Like anywhere else in the world there would be people out there to scam you. The only time I got scammed was at a Korean restaurant where the owner shortchanged me, and drivers/vendors harassed me on the streets. Overall, I found Vietnam safe in general.  

Grab scam, be wary of cars with the grab taxi sign on top of their car, these tend to be unlicensed cars with meters. For your safety always book via the app, and don’t let drivers in uniform approach you from the street. Check the license and driver’s photo before getting in.  

G7 taxi  

G7 taxi was often booked by the locals we were staying with; they are reliable and sometimes cheaper than grab.  

Phone: 024 32 32 32 32  

Web: http://g7taxi.vn/  

Mobile sim card airport scam, we sat next to a guy on our domestic flight, and as soon as the plane landed, he turned on his mobile phone and the sim card he brought was out of data. He just brought the sim card from the airport hours before the flight. Some mobile shops out there sell you used SIM cards.