Day 1 (Sunday, July 26, 2026)
Our first day in Vietnam was quite busy. After landing at Noi Bai International Airport, we headed to the baggage claim area to collect our luggage. While waiting, I had breakfast with some bread that I had brought from Sade Bakery back in Indonesia.
We stayed at the baggage claim area for quite a while because we were waiting for the shuttle bus from our accommodation. Once the bus arrived, we headed outside to the airport lobby. The weather was much warmer and more humid than I expected, so it definitely felt different from Indonesia.
The shuttle bus turned out to be much nicer than I had imagined. It was a Ford Transit, similar to a travel van in Indonesia, and it was very comfortable. The ride to our accommodation wasn't too far from the airport, so we arrived fairly quickly.
When we got there, we had to wait a few minutes for the owner to arrive. After greeting us, the owner showed everyone where each group would be staying. Groups 1 and 2 stayed in one building, while Groups 3, 4, and 5—including my group—shared another building.
Thankfully, our room had air conditioning, which made it much more comfortable after spending time outside in the heat. Once we settled in, we cleaned up our room and unpacked our belongings before taking a long afternoon nap.
Later in the afternoon, we went out to explore the neighborhood. We stopped by a Circle K to buy some snacks before walking to a mobile phone shop to buy a SIM card for our inventory phone. Unfortunately, the shop was already closed by the time we arrived.
Even though the walk took nearly an hour and left us feeling tired, it was still enjoyable because we got to see the area around our accommodation and get used to the surroundings.
When we got back, everyone cleaned up before transferring all the footage from our cameras to our laptops since most of our memory cards were already full. We spent the evening organizing and backing up our files, which took several hours.
After everything was finished, we finally went to bed at around 10:00 p.m., ending our first day in Vietnam.