A previous post covered the first 2/3โs of the travel day from Cyprus to Vietnam. This one will focus on Bangkok BKK Airport to Vietnam. I need to provide some tips on Bangkok Airport so travellers are aware of the length of time it takes to transit here.
Arrival
Firstly, there are two major airports in Bangkok, I have experience with BKK only so far. I arrived just after 12 noon. As I was walking from the aircraft, I overheard two males behind me contemplating how long the immigration line would be today. Their guess was 1.5 hours!! WHAT?? I thought surly Iโm missing something here.
Nope, as you follow the signs for Immigration and baggage, you will eventually come to the back of a line. What you donโt realize is how long this line is.
It only took 50 minutes for me, lucky? The first part is one long queue down a hallway, moves slowly and towards the front, people are cutting in left, right and centre. Then you will travel back and forth through stanchions that go up a ramp. This moves quickly and gives you a false sense that you might me nearing the end.
Now you arrive into the actual immigration hall where you slow down to almost a complete halt, and again follow the stanchions to the Immigration agent. All in all, 50 minutes for me, but perhaps up to 1.5 hours on a bad day?
BKK
I had given myself four hours in BKK, and thank the heavens I did. Please if you take anything away from this post, let it be to give yourself extra time for transiting this airport. I retrieved my luggage and went out through customs into the arrivalโs hall. Chaos and crowds. ๐คฃ๐คฃ
I quickly found my way up two levels to departures and was lucky that I was able to check in for my third flight of this travel day(s).
After depositing my suitcase, I had an uneasy feeling, so thought I should just go through security now instead of waiting. Thank the heavens once again.
Security was fine really. But after that, you have to go through passport control. Here is the second and potentially flight missing lineups. This area took me 1.25 hours to get through, it was painful!!
The line moved so slowly, but at least you are inside stanchions so no butting Betties. I had a male behind me who decided he would hum and keep bumping into my shoulder bag. Do that for 1.25 hours and see what your stress level is like. ๐คฃ๐ฅ๐ค
Once through, BKK is bright, clean, and oozing luxury retailers everywhere you look. I had a little time, so was able to have a wander around. Prices were high, but nothing extraordinary for an airport.
BKK to DAD
Last leg of this trip!! I flew on VietJet from Bangkok to Da Nang in Vietnam. This was the best flight of the day. For a budget airline, they sure are pretty good. Friendly staff, clean aircraft. No food or beverage, but thatโs ok. The flight was 1.5 hours and was over fairly quickly.
Arriving into DAD, I was exhausted and still had to figure a few things out.
DAD
Immigration here was not bad, the line up went fairly smoothly and quickly. I retrieved my luggage and found the SIM card counters inside this luggage area, before the Exit doors. Usually, I donโt buy my SIM card at the airport, but I went to check the prices and was happy with what I found. For US$10, I purchased a Viettel card that lasts for 30 days and has 3G of data per day! I donโt think I use that much in a month!
Once into the arrival hall, I needed to find an ATM for cash. These are located outside the building. I tried four times and kept getting rejected. Turns out I could only with draw VTD $1,500,000 at these ATMโs instead of the two million I was wanting. Sounds like a big number but in CAD this is $82. ๐
Next and last leg, using GRAB for the first time to get to my hotel. As soon as I agreed to the ride, my phone rang. It was my driver asking where I was. I told him arrivals at the airport. I could hardly understand a word of what was being said.
After two more attempts, I just waited where I was. Another phone call and he was standing across the roadway waving frantically at me. ๐คฃ Poor guy. Into the Grab, and whisked off to my hotel I was. The cost was VTD 95,000 or $5 CAD.
Iโm here! Iโm in Vietnam!!!
