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After a long, full trip and a very long bumpy flight, we are home. Have you ever flown over the international dateline where you leave one day and arrive, after a 13 1/2 hour overnight flight, the same day? Hmm. Where do those hours go? And jet lag. Geez. Circadian clocks do not like to be messed with.
With all that out of the way, on to a trip review. People have asked me if the trip was worth it, how I managed with food as a celiac, what I liked best about the whole five week experience.
Let's start with food.
Our first real meal of the trip was at the wonderful, colorful Shang Palace located in the Shangri-La Hotel in Hong Kong. It was Saturday mid-day and the restaurant was full of locals. Richard ordered off the dim sum menu and I was spoiled rotten by a server and chef who helped me order exquisite gluten-free, vegetarian food.
Here's the catch -- eating gluten-free-veganish-pescatarian always costs more. Dim sum
off the menu for R, not a bad deal even in Hong Kong; special treatment for me, so much
more expensive that I could not bear to look at the bill. This price difference is typical in the
US, so I can't say it is just part of travel.
For several years, we debated taking a land-based tour of Southeast Asia, in part because we knew finding safe, healthy food for me could be tricky. Eventually, we decided that a cruise of the area would be my best option. That proved to be true.
On port excursions, tours included lunch, which was always in a Western-style hotel restaurant and usually a buffet. In Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, the most western of the cities
we visited in Vietnam, the young chef at the sparkly restaurant in a beautiful tourist hotel
introduced himself to me, took my gluten free card written in Vietnamese, and then scurried
into the kitchen to prepare a gluten free meal for me. I think what he prepared was
probably the most authentic Vietnamese meal I had and I appreciated both his culinary
efforts and willingness to give me a traditional meal.
Always, always, always travel with
these cards --
and lots of them because chefs like to keep them. You can find the celiac cards at
www.celiactravel.com.
For someone with celiac who eats veganish-pescatarian, traveling by ship is a good option
and Celebrity Cruises does a nice job, especially in the Blu Dining Room where each night I
could order fish or something vegan, gluten free. But this cruise, I really lucked out. The
chef who oversaw the Oceanview Cafe, Celebrity's casual buffet restaurant is celiac, too.
First day on board, I introduced myself and we discussed good dairy-free, gluten-free options for lunch or really anytime. I favored his vegetarian chickpea curry and he made sure it was available each day at lunch. Thank you, Melvin and Celebrity.
THE TRIP
The trip was completely worth our time and money and we feel privileged to have enjoyed such a varied, colorful adventure. With that said, if we were to re-do the trip, I'd make these changes:
---- Cruise on a smaller ship, like the ones sailed by Celebrity's Azamara line. Because
many ports in Vietnam are smaller, our ship docked at larger ports which were long rides away from city attractions. That wasn't all bad because we had views of the countryside, rice paddies, run away water buffaloes, motorbike frenzies, local housing, native farmers and more, like rest stops with squatty potties. But convenience is nice, too as well as
western-type toilets.
----- Cut the Australia cruise: We booked back-to-back or consecutive cruises from Hong Kong to Sydney mainly because the second cruise stopped two days in Bali after Singapore. The stop in Bali when added to an itinerary that included Hong Kong, Vietnam, Bangkok, and Singapore provided an excellent overview of Southeast Asia. Celebrity cancelled our stop in Bali because of credible information from the UK and Australian governments regarding planned terrorist attacks in the area. While we completely
understood the need for safety, especially when large groups of tourists can be tempting targets, without Bali, I doubt we would have booked the second cruise since we could have arranged to visit the Great Barrier Reef on our own and the other Australian stops
simply did not offer much allure (previously we'd visited Adelaide, Sydney, and Kangaroo
Island). Celebrity tried to convince passengers that visiting a zoo in Brisbane was a good
substitute for Bali. Since we'd visited Kangaroo Island a year and a half earlier and saw hundreds of kangaroos in the wild as well as wallabies, koalas, birds, and seals, strolling through a zoo, even a great zoo, held little interest.
WHAT WAS BEST ABOUT THE TRIP? I've been asked that question frequently.
Seems more than a little vague to answer "Everything about Southeast Asia." Instead I'll say that early in our visit to Vietnam, I felt transported to a place foreign, exotic and unlike areas I'd visited before. Briefly, I had a little window into a colorful life completely dissimilar,
except for the capitalism, from my life in the states.
In photos below, a man is transporting enormous water jugs on his motorbike, a woman chats on her cell phone while minding her shop in the old section of Hanoi, and an overburdened, ancient electrical box once disguised as a street light stands as testament to, perhaps novel perspectives on safety. It is a different world.
these cards --
and lots of them because chefs like to keep them. You can find the celiac cards at
www.celiactravel.com.
For someone with celiac who eats veganish-pescatarian, traveling by ship is a good option
and Celebrity Cruises does a nice job, especially in the Blu Dining Room where each night I
could order fish or something vegan, gluten free. But this cruise, I really lucked out. The
chef who oversaw the Oceanview Cafe, Celebrity's casual buffet restaurant is celiac, too.
First day on board, I introduced myself and we discussed good dairy-free, gluten-free options for lunch or really anytime. I favored his vegetarian chickpea curry and he made sure it was available each day at lunch. Thank you, Melvin and Celebrity.
THE TRIP
The trip was completely worth our time and money and we feel privileged to have enjoyed such a varied, colorful adventure. With that said, if we were to re-do the trip, I'd make these changes:
---- Cruise on a smaller ship, like the ones sailed by Celebrity's Azamara line. Because
many ports in Vietnam are smaller, our ship docked at larger ports which were long rides away from city attractions. That wasn't all bad because we had views of the countryside, rice paddies, run away water buffaloes, motorbike frenzies, local housing, native farmers and more, like rest stops with squatty potties. But convenience is nice, too as well as
western-type toilets.
----- Cut the Australia cruise: We booked back-to-back or consecutive cruises from Hong Kong to Sydney mainly because the second cruise stopped two days in Bali after Singapore. The stop in Bali when added to an itinerary that included Hong Kong, Vietnam, Bangkok, and Singapore provided an excellent overview of Southeast Asia. Celebrity cancelled our stop in Bali because of credible information from the UK and Australian governments regarding planned terrorist attacks in the area. While we completely
understood the need for safety, especially when large groups of tourists can be tempting targets, without Bali, I doubt we would have booked the second cruise since we could have arranged to visit the Great Barrier Reef on our own and the other Australian stops
simply did not offer much allure (previously we'd visited Adelaide, Sydney, and Kangaroo
Island). Celebrity tried to convince passengers that visiting a zoo in Brisbane was a good
substitute for Bali. Since we'd visited Kangaroo Island a year and a half earlier and saw hundreds of kangaroos in the wild as well as wallabies, koalas, birds, and seals, strolling through a zoo, even a great zoo, held little interest.
WHAT WAS BEST ABOUT THE TRIP? I've been asked that question frequently.
Seems more than a little vague to answer "Everything about Southeast Asia." Instead I'll say that early in our visit to Vietnam, I felt transported to a place foreign, exotic and unlike areas I'd visited before. Briefly, I had a little window into a colorful life completely dissimilar,
except for the capitalism, from my life in the states.
In photos below, a man is transporting enormous water jugs on his motorbike, a woman chats on her cell phone while minding her shop in the old section of Hanoi, and an overburdened, ancient electrical box once disguised as a street light stands as testament to, perhaps novel perspectives on safety. It is a different world.
I've also been asked if I'm happy to be home, back to "God's country" as one enthusiastic friend called it. Honestly, I'm not sure.
Certainly, I'm happy to be reacquainted with our washer and dryer and clean, uber
comfortable bed. But traveling, exploring, discovering and learning something new, often everyday, offer a uniqueness I've yet to replicate in my day-to-day life. Anyone out there accomplished that?
Reentry has been aided by resuming training for a half marathon walk and plans for the next adventure.
Certainly, I'm happy to be reacquainted with our washer and dryer and clean, uber
comfortable bed. But traveling, exploring, discovering and learning something new, often everyday, offer a uniqueness I've yet to replicate in my day-to-day life. Anyone out there accomplished that?
Reentry has been aided by resuming training for a half marathon walk and plans for the next adventure.
Stay calm and travel
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