October 1, 2025
Travel day! This one was a bit more annoying than most because we have two flights on different airlines so we need to get our bags and recheck them before doing security again during our layover. We are headed to Vietnam today so that means a new visa, that I hopefully did correctly, as well.
We got an early start to the day since our pickup to the airport was at 7:30AM. Kayleen and I took turns doing quick stints at the gym, determined to not feel gross and lazy on another travel day. Once we eventually got the boys up and moving, they complained of the apartment being too cold so sat quietly on the porch till we told them it was time for breakfast. They must have been still half asleep to sit so still!
I was doing the checkout process while Kayleen and the boys headed to breakfast. They only beat me there by 3 minutes but when I arrived, I saw Lenny alone at our table with nothing but two doughnuts on his plate. I asked him if Kayleen knew what he had picked and was eating. He silently shook his head no with a big smile on his face.
We all enjoyed one more of our last best breakfasts in recent memory before going to meet our driver to the airport. For the ride we took a few of Lenny’s favorite tiny bananas which he has an endless appetite for.
The airport was only 15 minutes away and we arrived before the check-in counter even opened. Our travel company suggested that we get picked up 45 minutes earlier this morning but good thing we disagreed. We would have been standing in an empty airport!
We were on Batik airlines for this flight which had me a bit nervous but the plane was actually nice for our hour long flight back to Bali. The boys quickly dove back into their normal iPad routine.
Once in Bali we started the process of collecting our checked bags, rechecking them, going through security, and customs. Even though the bags are carry-on size for most US airlines the smaller airlines in Asia have strict weight limits for carry-on bags so even though they would fit in the overhead they are nowhere near the weight limit of 15lbs.
Everyone was tired by the time we got to the Vietnam customs line. The boys were playing/fighting on the ground over a water bottle until the customs agent called us. Any foreign official in a uniform usually gets us 5 to 10 minutes of good behavior after we remind the boys that the person can take them to jail in this country.
Once through customs we collected our bags and Lenny built his hiding fort while Ollie and I were in the bathroom. A favorite past time of his in each airport we visit. I grabbed some local currency from the ATM and we started the drive to Hanoi with our guide and driver.
The drive should have been about 40 minutes but took closer to 2 hours because of all the traffic. A typhoon had poured rain on Hanoi for two days before we arrived and caused tremendous flooding. Things looked mostly normal to us but the affects were still being felt across the city.
Lenny was very unruly for most of the ride before passing out shortly before our arrival to the hotel. He was dead asleep and needed to be carried into the hotel where he went straight to bed. The rest of us were a little hungry but too tired for the effort required to go get food since the hotel restaurant only did breakfast. We ate a few snacks and then all went to bed.
