Willing myself to Nha Trang

Somehow I slept through my alarm, which left me 20 minutes to shower, dress, pack and eat breakfast before heading to the airport. Fortunately, everything came together, and I made it to the airport five minutes early. I have three flights today, which makes me nervous; a delay in any one of them could make it impossible to get to Nha Trang. I was warned by the tour company that flights out of Yangon are often delayed, so I made sure that I had a longer layover in Ho Chi Minh City. The plan was to travel from Mandalay to Yangon to HCMC to Nha Trang. I’m typically not too worried about delays when I travel, but I have paid for an airport transport, a hotel room and two dives in advance. To not get to Nha Trang would be inconvenient but mostly expensive. Unfortunately, when I attempted to check in for my flight, I discovered it was delayed by an hour, making the connection in Yangon tenuous. Luckily, I still had my guide with me, and she was able to get me on an earlier flight. Phew.

As I was waiting for my new flight, I noticed a young man talking with the gate attendant. He had a faded sticker on his water bottle that looked like a Colorado license plate. He walked by and I read the sticker, “Red Rocks.” “Are you from Colorado?” I asked. He was, and from Lakewood, no less. He was the first and only American I ran across in Myanmar, and we live less than 10 miles from each other. Weird. We had an enjoyable chat, and I may have convinced him to go to Antarctica. Nothing gets me more excited than talking about traveling!

I arrived in Yangon and made my transfer easily to the international terminal. As the plane lifted off, I was glad to be leaving Myanmar without incident. I was looking forward to a couple of relaxing days at the beach, after the 12-13 hour, non-stop days, since arriving. Nha Trang, Vietnam is supposed to have a lovely beach, and my hotel is about five minutes away from it. If the five minute walk feels like too much, I may just hang at the hotel pool.

These happy thoughts came to a screeching halt, when I discovered that my flight from HCMC to Nha Trang had been cancelled, and I had been rebooked on a 12pm flight to Nha Trang. I stared at the agent and thought, “Uh, have you noticed that it’s 5pm? I wasn’t even in the country at noon.” No problem. I’ll just catch the next plane, right? “We can reschedule you on the flight tomorrow at 11:00.” I’m not sure if I was angry or panicked. I desperately started looking for flights to Nha Trang and had very little luck, since it was already so late. I searched the internet and then went from counter to counter, asking if I could get on the few flights I found. I had no luck, and I was down to one last airline. At Vietnam Airlines, the agent seemed more understanding than the previous ones. “We have one flight, but it is full. If you come back at 6:45, I can see if there are any seats left.” A sliver of hope was better than nothing at all. I was tempted to start contacting the taxi service, the hotel, and the dive shop, but I refrained, worried that my lack of faith might jinx me.

When my phone showed 6:45, I returned to the counter. To my surprise, she issued me a ticket and pointed out the counter, where I needed to check in. The agent had already closed the check-in and was surprised to see me. I explained briefly, which seemed to quicken her pace. “You need to hurry,” she said, handing me the boarding pass. So now I just had to navigate a foreign airport, clear security, and find the right gate. When I arrived at Gate 8, the gangway door was shut, the gate was closed, and there was no one left in line. I was defeated but thought I might be able to beg her to open up the door for one last weary passenger. “Excuse me,” getting the gate agent’s attention, “Can I still board?” I asked, pointing at the flight number on my boarding pass. She glanced and said, “We will be boarding in about 10 minutes.” Not funny.

I made it to Nha Trang about 5 minutes later than I had been originally scheduled but with a way more stress than planned.Read more