18 Hour Overnight VIP Train Ride in Vietnam | Da Nang to Hanoi

All right, so that's a wrap for Hoi An. We are getting ready to get in a Grab, make our way back to Da Nang, where we are going to catch an 18-hour overnight sleeper train. I have been waiting on this. I am so excited. I'm pretty excited too. Yeah, so we've done two other trains here, but they've been to soft seats, like second class, and they were great for shorter trips. They were like eight-hour trips, but this is 18 hours, so I'm really excited to be able to spread out, lay down. We did do a first class one, so it's only a two berth cabin, so we're not going to have anybody else above us that we're having to share with. So we will take you along for it. We'll give you a tour of the train in case you want to travel this way when you're here in Vietnam. Jessica, is there anything like you're really looking forward to with this next move? Like the train ride? Is it just the train? I would say, one, the train ride. I'm very excited for that. I'm pretty excited about that. You know, and two, the part of slow travel is like, we were here eight days. Yeah. And being a little bit of a smaller area, like eight days was maybe too much, and that's just the, I think that's just part of it. You kind of figure it out and make the best of it. So just on to some new sites, I think. Obviously, Hanoi being like a larger city, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. And like, I'm really excited. There's some specific cafes and stuff I want to do. Like, I want to like maybe try and find like the best egg coffee or the best coconut coffee or something, because there's so many cafes and there's some really neat ones. I've loved that through Vietnam, so I'm excited for that. And we're going to do Ha Long Bay. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that, doing a cruise on that. Yeah, that'll be cool. That'll be cool. I'm really excited. I think the main thing that I'm looking for is a chair to sit in. We have been sitting in that hotel, in the hotel, and there's, it was just a bed, basically. It was a small, it was probably like, what, 10 by 10, maybe? Yeah, and I mean, I don't mind hotels or anything like that, but I don't like laying in the bed all the time with my legs crossed. Oh my gosh. Most hotel rooms still at least have like a little desk and a chair you could sit at, but this one did not. It was literally like a bed, a nightstand, and then a door to the toilet. Like, that was it. Like, you actually had to walk in and kind of go behind the door to close the bathroom door if you wanted some privacy. But it was a great place to stay, I mean, for what we were needing, so it was nice. But yeah, I think I'm looking forward to that, but I am looking for the train, right? I don't know, I'm just, I'm excited about having our own cabin for some reason. I don't know, I don't know why. We've never done it. But yeah, that's, I think that's going to be really cool. Kind of get in there and shut the door and just enjoy it. Reporting now. Reporting now? Oh, thank you. Oh my gosh. Did we get here just in time? I don't know. Like, we've literally just, we literally just got here. Here, right? She said you're right here. Oh boy. That's not the train. Is that our train? But she's. Is that it? I don't know, baby. You want to ask her? We're trying to figure out if this is our train right here. Is this our train? What car is it, Jess? Oh, seven. Oh, okay. So it is our train. We literally just got here. We literally just got here and. We're not supposed to leave till six. We're not supposed to leave till six and it's already boarding. It's 5 20. We just walked in through the front door and they're like, yep, boarding. Zoom in here. Oh no. You got it? Yep. That's a lot on your back. Yeah. 7a. Let me see, nine or ten. I don't know what I'm looking for. These are, oh yeah, they're going down. Nine and ten. Oh, let's check this out. Okay, you'll check it out before we get in here. All right, we'll show you really quick and then we'll. Before we get in here and mess it all up. Look at this. So you can see this can be turned into a four berth. I am a little surprised about that. I didn't think they were going to be up there, but that's okay. So our two beds. That'd be a good room though for storage. We've got snacks and then we'll put luggage up underneath there. So what do you think? This is awesome. This is so cool. All right. So cool. All right guys, welcome to our room for the next 18 hours on the Lotus train here in. Where are we at? Da Nang. Oh yeah, we're in Da Nang. We were in Hoi An, made our way back to Da Nang. Here's the train station and we're going all the way to Hanoi. So almost 18 hours on this train. A lot of it will be taken up by sleeping, but we thought before we mess everything up and things start moving, we'd give you a little bit of a room tour. I don't have far to go, so I'm just gonna take a couple steps back. So when you look in here, this actually can be turned into four berths, but we paid for the VIP first class edition. So they have these up. It's only a private room for two people. To be able to do that, it does require you to book both beds, which there's two of us. So that wasn't a big deal. So we have quite a bit of luggage because we're traveling with our scuba gear and book bags and everything. So we were able to put one of our suitcases below. So there's open space below both of these for you to put luggage. Unfortunately, our big one doesn't fit up underneath. So we're just going to slide it up underneath there. We do have our two big book bags, so we may put this down at some point and we can sit it up top. But then there's also some storage right up here. Right up there. That you could put your bags. I think it's somebody's sandwich that they forgot. You could put luggage if you wanted to. So it came with this nice, this we brought, but all of this came with it. So it looks like we have some type of coconut treat, blueberry muffins. We got two coffees. Hello. Hello. Do you want a beer? Uh, no, no beer for us. You got a orange juice. Yeah. Coca-Cola. Uh, Coca-Cola is fine. Thank you so much. Everything free next in the morning and coffee. All right. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay. More storage. So you get one free drink, which is what he just came back. So he was knocking, um, so you could pick a beer. They had this orange, orange twist. I want that one. They have this orange twister. Uh, he gave me a Coke. Um, okay. So I love these things. We actually bought 10 of these. We're not eating all 10 on this trip, but it was a pack of 10. And little did I know there was going to be two on here. So, and then we got some bananas. Maybe we'll open this in the morning. He said, yeah, I think this is your breakfast in the morning. So maybe we'll show you this in the morning and see what's in it. And then we have a couple of waters. So like I said, these, you got one. So now if you want more, you have to pay for them. So only one came with it, the water. So that's awesome. We have a nice view. Well, eventually it'll be a nice view. You've got a lantern, a plant to give you an ambiance as well as some beautiful wallpaper. And actually like I'm already sitting on the bed. Like it's pretty cozy. Like it's actually not like we've slept in some hard beds and like, I'm not upset about this. So we have our pillow. We have like this comforter and then just your sheet. How does it look? I haven't looked. They look pretty clean. It's pretty clean. It's pretty clean. Like I have a feeling they changed the sheets, but I'm pretty sure like these comforters probably just get folded back up. I could be wrong. We brought jackets. It smells clean. That's nasty. You're going to put your head on it? I ain't putting my face on it. How do you sleep? Like seriously? Like it smells clean. So I guess they changed the pillowcase too. Maybe I won't smell the comforter. Okay. So up here we have, I don't know. Oh, it looks like to change like the volume and then turn lights out. I don't know what that is. So we're not going to press it. Just some plugs, just some plugs, but I don't know. There's some. Oh yeah. Yeah. Look over here. Oh, they got, okay. So over here we have a USB and we can turn our little light out. We can scan for more food to order. And then we have some little hooks to hang our stuff. Hey, this is pretty nice. And then he said there was bathrooms at either end, which we've done these trains before. So normally at either end of the cart, there's always a restroom. You have to go outside the door. So we'll take you on one of those because this is a different train line than we did last time. So we'll show you what that looks like later. And the ones that we did before were soft seats and those were actually pretty nice. It wasn't bad. Yeah, no, the soft seats were great. Like, but like, I mean, we were on there for like eight hours. I think anything more than that, you might want, you know, a little bit more space, but eight hours, they were totally fine. Like I didn't, I didn't, and you can get up and walk around. Like it's different than flying because you're so cramped. Like there was plenty of space and you could get up and walk around. You weren't having to worry about turbulence and stuff like that. So I actually like train travel. So Jessica has determined that she's going to take my twist, Tropicana twist that I wanted, but we've come to an agreement. Yeah, I was gonna say, wait a second. We've come to an agreement. This was my suggestion. And what was the result? Well, I brought this with me because I saved mine. She's right there. We did get drinks, but I got a ginger beer. Not my fault. I didn't know she was saving it for later. I thought she was going to drink it in the room. I was being smart. And then they gave us one of these, which I don't drink. Um, and then he got this. So I said, I'll keep my diet. He can have the regular and we will share the orange. That was my suggestion. So I agree with her. It's all good. I still got my drink. So we just heard them start blowing the whistle. So can y'all hear that? They're ringing the bell. We're getting ready to start moving. He's still blowing the whistle. We act like we've never traveled by train before. Yeah, but we never traveled like this before. This is fun. I don't think it's us getting ready to leave. Well, we are, but there's another train coming in. So I think they were maybe, I think they were maybe telling everybody to clear out of the way. Oh, it's our turn. I heard the big, uh, the engine whistle. I'm so excited. I don't even know what to say. We're starting to move now backwards. I'm not sure which way we're supposed to be going though, but I'm going forward. You're going backwards. I picked the right side. Let's get this party started. Leaving the yard. I don't know why this is so exciting. I'm pretty excited too. I think cause we're on it. It's kind of like our own little room, right? I mean. So I think it is going to be dinner time for us. They've already been coming up and down the hall here. They just kind of scream. Hello. Hello. Um, we opened the door. They had like rice, chicken, some vegetable soup that you could buy. Jason wound up buying a bun bao something. Oh, it was a big bun thing. So he's already eaten that, but now I'm ready. He gets mad when I call him out. Well, he did. So, but we brought our own noodles. Yeah. So we're going to make a couple of them and see if we can remember how to get the hot water to work. And we know we got to hit two buttons. And the guy about scalded Jason last time. I absolutely love these little forks. They're not like, it's a pitchfork. They're like, it's like a pitchfork makes it very easy to eat my noodles. But I think they're so cute. Let me hold one. No, I think I got it. Are you sure? Don't think. Yeah, but you got to put it up underneath there. No, maybe it's that, that red one. There it goes. There it goes. Yeah. So you do get it. It's like, it's got like a sensor. It's like unlock. Yeah. But if you don't put anything underneath it, it doesn't come out. Well, that's smart. That's why when I was doing it, it wasn't coming out. Oh my gosh. Why'd you put so much in there? Holy cow. What's up? I came with cold beer. No, no, we don't need none. They're coming with more beer. We got to get back real quick. Oh, that's burning my hands. Oh, uh, right here. Right here. Right here. Right here. Sorry. Right here. Hurry up. It's hot. So I think that's going to be it. We've got tummies full. Did a bathroom break. We'll show you the restroom tomorrow. It's been raining outside. And so like one of the vents was like dripping rain on me in the bathroom. So, um, we'll bypass that tonight. Maybe revisit that tomorrow. We've got our little setups here. I've got my iPad. Jason has his phone and I think we're going to get like a bit chilly in here. And that's been one of the complaints when we watch some of the videos on trains is that it gets cold in the room and there's, you don't have nothing that you can do with it. No. Yeah. There's no, we look for controls and stuff, but there's, there's nothing. You just can control the lights and like the sound of the, um, the people that speak over the intercom when that comes through. But other than that, and yeah. So let's wrap that up for tonight and we'll see you guys in the morning. Good morning, everyone. It is 5 30 in the morning. The sunrise is beautiful out here. And then we have the princess is still sleeping. Good morning. It's like 6am now. It really wasn't that bad. It wasn't bad. Jason said he didn't sleep much, but he slept just fine because I got up to go to the bathroom like three times and he never even heard me go. That is true. But I didn't sleep solid all the way through, but it wasn't, it wasn't bad. I didn't expect to sleep solid. No. Like it is a bit loud. I had, I even had earplugs in and I didn't. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, the bed was soft when we first got here, but the longer you lay on it, it's a little harder. It reminds me just of like the baby mattresses that you put like in a baby's crib. Like, I think they're like that kind of material underneath the sheet and it got so bold. Yeah. And they would, to me, it got cold, but then it got humid. Like the AC cut off and then the AC would turn back on. It would get cool again. But, um, but that wasn't too bad. And then the wifi is a little spotty. I mean, I just had wifi, but yeah, like it says you've got like four bars, but nothing on like anything that needs to load. Like my email will load, but not anything on like social media or anything will really load up. But I got mine to load this morning. You did? Yeah. I was streaming something this morning, but I don't know. Maybe there was a storm yesterday, last night. So maybe that was interfering. I don't know. All right. So all the food that you saw yesterday, we have this little package that we saved till the morning. And there's two of them. So thoughtful. Ooh. I have a croissant. Dang. Got a bag of chips. We have a not as ripe banana as the other ones. I got milk. Isn't that weird how they just put milk in that and they don't refrigerate it? But it's cause it's ultra pasteurized. Uh, okay. It says fresh milk sweetened. Bless you. Sorry. What is that? Ooh. What is it? I don't know. I'm going to assume that's some type of fruit and we've got three, three, not a number, three pieces of, it could be four. No, it's three, three pieces of plain bread. Do we have anything to go on the with strawberry and butter? That's it. Just those two. Not a lot of strawberry and butter for three pieces of bread. Well, most people would like spread it out and put two together or something. Need it like a sandwich. What do you do with the third piece? I guess you should have a look. Okay. That's it. That's all that's in there. That's quite a bit in there actually. Yeah. Just like a little continental breakfast. Yeah. Like, you know, so I just have to show you guys what my husband has been up to. Like we're, we're definitely traveling on a budget and have a certain allowance. And so he's been, to be honest, the hardest part has not been the food. It's been like going to the convenience store and getting like snacks and stuff. And so I look over and this is what he's done. He's got our bag of snacks that we brought with us and he's taking all of this stuff. Like we paid for all this stuff. It does come with it. Oh no, it doesn't come with it. We paid for it. It comes with your ticket that you paid for. And so he's just taking all of our, which we brought, we brought the noodles with us, but he's like, he's like taking it clean. I don't know if that's good. These things are awesome here. Three in one coffees. That's what it looks like now. We'll take this water too. Times are tough. Times are tough when you're traveling on a budget. I should see Sleeping Beauty over here. He's so funny. All right, we are almost at our station. Unfortunately, we were hoping to film a little bit outside the station, but it is pouring down rain. So I think we're going to go on and cut this video here so that we don't get too wet out there, I guess. We can pay attention trying to find a ride to our hotel. Overall, I think this was, it was fun. It was an awesome experience. I think the two berth cabin, if you're only two people, is worth it. Yeah. I couldn't imagine having cramped with four people, unless you're a family, like you're traveling with kids or something like that. And you know, you're just one big group where it doesn't matter, but like Jason's laying his head over here and having to step on that thing and climb up and oh my gosh, and I'd have to have bottoms because I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I'd have to be like crawling down over somebody's face. Yeah, so I would definitely make sure that you get the cabin for yourself. If you don't have an option for a two berth cabin, you can do a four berth cabin. They're cheaper and then you would have to pay for all four of them, which is another way to get a cabin all to yourself for your group. But this has been really relaxing, actually, like stress-free. Yeah, you have to eat, get up, walk around, sleep. I will say the longer I sit on the bed, a little harder it gets, but you know, it's okay. But like it's been nice. Yeah, a little chilly. That would be the one thing, bring some travel pants and maybe a little jacket because it does get chilly. There's nothing you can turn down. So, all right guys, well look, we hope you enjoyed the video and please leave any comments. We'll see you on the next video.