Earlier this year, after a great holiday together in Barbados, my family asked if they could have a Christmas at home, rather than go somewhere warm and sunny. (I know, I don't get it either).  I wasn't overly happy about it, but they agreed that if they stayed at home, then I could go on a trip alone.  But, rather than travel somewhere we would all go, I decided to visit a location that would not be on the family to-do list.  Hence Vietnam.  I spent some time researching what I could do, and where I could realistically go in a total of nine days, and December came round before I knew it.

Vietnam is seven hours ahead of the UK.  This was one reason that it's not on the list of places the family really want to visit for such a short time.  You need a while to get over the jet lag.  Having been "practicing" early mornings for around a week or so, I got up at just after 3:30.  We'd had our family Christmas the night before, and Chloe and Lewis's friend Ben had joined us for a meal, drinks, and Lewis’s annual Christmas game.  I'd had to go to bed shortly after 21:00 in order to be up on time! Once awake, knowing that I’d be sitting on my bum for around 14 hours afterwards (what with the journey to Heathrow, waiting around, and then the 12 hour flight itself)... I went for a 10km walk at around 04:00.  It was a very mild December morning, with a slight cloud cover, but many stars were still visible and there was only a cool breeze blowing.  
 
Cam picked my up promptly at 07:00.  Having missed my previous two flights, both to and from Berlin, I was paranoid about missing this flight. If I did, for whatever reason, I’m not sure I’d have been able to afford a replacement.  Repaying the cost of a short-haul trip to Germany was one thing…. Doing the same thing for a long-haul flight almost half-way round the world was another!  In the end the traffic was clear, and as the skies began to lighten in the dark winter month of December, we were treated to the sights of red-tail kites hovering and hunting in the early morning thermals.  There were no incidents on the motorways, and Cam dropped me off at Heathrow T4 well before 09:00 for my 11:00 flight.
 
I’d been less than impressed with my experience of Vietnam Airlines up to this point.  I’d been unable to check in on line, as an error kept occurring telling me there was an issue with my ticket.  However, once at Heathrow I checked in at the counter without any problems, so I still have no idea what the issue was.  I cleared security in minutes and from this point, knowing there should now be nothing more I could do, the excitement really began to build – the adventure was genuinely under way, and I was not going to miss my flight!

The queue at the departures gate was chaotic. It was as if, even in the realms of Heathrow, I’d suddenly left a first-world country. The was no real queue to speak of, just a jumble of people gathered for a flight which, bizarrely enough, we all already had allocated seats for. What is the human rationale that still drives us all to be the first to those already-allocated seats? Such a huge rush (admittedly me included) to sit down for even longer than the scheduled 12 hour flight.

To be fair, there is a genuine reason for this behaviour- or at least one that I use to justify my own semi-irrational need to get into that spherical-flying device so early: we all want our luggage directly overhead. We don’t want to walk a few steps left or right to get it. So by barging our way to the front of a queue for our already-allocated seat, we may have quicker access to our overhead luggage during the flight. I guess I certainly fall into that category of manic passengers myself.

Once onboard, I removed my sandals. I was travelling light, my electronics (power bank, cables, adaptor) probably weighed as much as my few clothes, and I put on a pair of warm socks. I thought I was being prepared for the flight - the young passenger next to me (very young, she looked around 14?) had a quilt and pillow with her.

The flight was somewhat unremarkable. The food was well presented and looked delicious, yet was all-but tasteless. (Dinner was braised beef - very fatty. Breakfast was omelette and a sausage. It was all very much like army food - functional, but designed to upset nobody except those expecting any sort of flavour whatsoever. The breakfast came with around 13 baked beans. It did, however, also come with a croissant which Will would have loved. And on the whole, given the choice, I think that  I’d take an unremarkable flight every time, rather than risk the extremes).

I never used the in-flight entertainment system, but instead listened to Ishiguro (surely one of the greatest masters of the modern written word) and watched Star Wars on my iPad. The seat was ok and I woke up (after a few glasses of wine) just in time for breakfast, around 03:00 local time. From this point, I stopped using UK time.

I was quite surprised that even when we told we were landing, with the obligatory message about tray tables, seatbelts and seats being in the upright position - that it was all still pitch-dark outside. There was as yet no sign of any cities or civilisation.

The landing was kind of sudden. One minute there was no sign of life, then there were lights, and before I knew it we’d landed.

Immigration and customs were and absolute breeze, and as planned, I went straight to a counter to buy a Vietnamese sim for my phone. This had been advised on various travel sites, as the sims need to be formally registered, and it’s just much easier if you get someone experienced to help you. At these counters they do thousands of them, and by the time I’d bent down to get the cash out of my bag, the lady had sellotape my old sim to the inside of my phone case, inserted the new one, and with a quick snap on her work phone she took my picture and the job was done.

The driver was not there when I got to the pickup point - column 10. Maybe the flight was early. Maybe he was late. I was tired by this point, but I was in a brand new country, so I was excited. Less than 10 minutes later a guy arrived with a sign bearing my name, and we were in the car and off.

I completely lost track of time on the way to the hotel. I think it was around a 30, maybe even 40 minute drive, but I was too busy looking around. Check in was painless, as I’d been in contact in advance to tell them I needed to check in from the night before. It was 07:00. I dropped my bag in my room, and went out immediately for a quick beer in a cafe almost directly opposite. It was still dark, few people were about, so I drank up and then went back to lay my head down for a few hours.

This marketing lark must be easy, right?  I mean, what with all those social media options, the ability to Tweet and blog etc - how difficult can it possibly be to run a campaign?

Er....

So far, I think I'm on track for the world's worst marketing campaign.  I've managed to turn a £90 investment into just a £2 donation.  And that's not a £2 profit - it's an £88 loss thus far.  And this is not a boast.

So come on - lend a guy a hand and donate £2 to Acorns Children's Hospice in memory of my lovely son, Harry.  In return, you could (with a current high degree of possibility) win two seats at a table for Chris Pennell's testimonial day on Saturday 9th March, followed by seats to watch Worcester play Exeter.  For just £2!!

Full details of what you could win here.

Totally unrelated to the Channel Swim or the book... I trekked up to a small town in Tenerife called Masca on Sunday 20th August 2017.  Here is a video capturing the experience.  It's a 13km round trip.... half of which is all uphill!  Video here

In 2018 I decided I very much wanted to visit Nepal, hike up some of the hills, and lay my eyes on the famous Himalayas.  Unfortunately, this was not something the family were very keen on doing, so we compromised and agreed that I would go for a short break on my own.

The shorter duration immediately ruled out the more common treks such as the Everest View or Base Camp routes, but it still meant plenty of time for some serious up-hill walking.  After a bit of research I decided to do the newer Mardi Himal route, flying into Pokhara and making my way to the start of the trek, all independently and without a guide.  I took my Go Pro camera, filmed just about everything that I could, and then had Connagh professionally edit the footage.

​Here is the resulting film!

I head to Nepal next week for six days of hiking over the Himalayas. There was just time for one last local walk in Worcester, and I was joined on this one by my sons Connagh and Lewis - the latter of whom had a bit of a tough time at the end.  Great to have them along though!

The one where Lewis breaks

I love walking over the Malvern Hills.  I'm more than happy to do it alone, but it's even better to be able to hike with family or friends.  So when Becky and Simon told me they were planning on hitting the hills, I happily went along to join them.

Hill Walk

The weather should be nice and warm when I get to Nepal.   But that doesn't mean I can't get outside in the snow in the UK and enjoy a good hike.  This walk didn't go all to plan to begin with...

Snow hike