The trip was everything on the trip notes and more. Most of this was down to the leader who offered lots of extra activities for those who were interested, eg bike rides, cooking courses, street food, home meals...
All the hotels we good.
Trails of Vietnam--Traveling During the TET Holiday We were a group of 7 representing 5 nationalities. The size of the group bonded us quickly and kept it that way through out the trip. Couple with an excellent guide it was and will be remembered as a memorable trip.
Before booking a trip in January or February check to see when the TET holiday will occur and decide if potential deviations from the standard trip notes will have an impact on what you want to see and experience.
TET is not a festival, rather a holiday period for the Vietnamese people to leave the cities and return to the country to spend time with their families. Millions of people are on the move which starts with the Vietnamese New Years Eve. All told we experienced the impact from Day 5 through Day 13 of our trip. Some guide books will advise you not to visit during TET as you will experience closed businesses and the businesses that remain open often hike their prices. While the hotels are operating restaurants options are limited and may only offer a set course meal to serve to tourists. Our guide was constantly adjusting our schedule to accommodate for TET--substituting a cycle day for a kayak trip, locating someone to do our laundry while in Hoi An and of course picking our restaurants. On the plus side there was less traffic to deal with.
There wasn't one moment when I regretted my decision to join this trip - it was wonderful from start to finish. Fascinating country, warm and welcoming people, superb food, varied and beautiful scenery, interesting culture...... and that's just the place itself. Add to that the excellent organisation, top-notch guide and support staff, slick arrangements, high quality bikes, amazingly good quality accomodation, fun fellow cyclists, can-do positive attitude from everyone, and you have a really brilliant holiday. Well done Exodus!