In January 2014 I had the privilege of guiding a group of Stray Journey-ers around New Zealand. I have been a Stray driver since 2012 but, as I normally drive the “HOHO” (hop-on hop-off) circuit, this was my first chance to experience the Stray Journeys‘ itinerary. One of the many differences between the two itineraries […]
Tag: Keys
My Vietnam Experience: Hanoi
Stray New Zealander Keys continues to make us all jealous as she travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip… Our final day. We arrived in the capital Hanoi on a Friday afternoon about 4pm just in time for rush hour. This did not stop our driver from backing up about 200m on […]
My Vietnam Experience: Mai Chau
Stray New Zealander Keys continues to make us all jealous as she travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip… As we headed to Mai Chau, we were privy to a breathtaking sunset which highlighted the beauty of the surrounding valleys. We descended from a mountain pass into a valley with numerous rice […]
My Vietnam Experience: Ninh Binh
Stray New Zealander Keys continues to make us all jealous as she travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip… We left Dong Hoi at 7am knowing that today was going to be the longest travel day of the trip. Most people slept a bit more in the van and we stopped for […]
My Vietnam Experience: Dong Hoi
Stray New Zealander Keys continues to make us all jealous as she travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip… We drove out of Hue through damp streets accompanied by overcast skies, but for now the rain had stopped. It was a relatively short ride to Dong Hoi so we just stopped once […]
My Vietnam Experience: Hue
Stray New Zealander Keys continues to make us all jealous as she travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip… The trip from Hoi An to Hue took no time at all, with a couple of noteworthy things en route. After driving along the coast past numerous resorts and casinos (apparently these are […]
My Vietnam Experience: Hoi An
Stray New Zealander Keys continues to make us all jealous as she travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip… View all Keys’ posts > The first thing to grab my attention as we drove into Hoi An at dusk were the beautiful (Chinese) lanterns dotted along the streets. Once we had checked in, […]
My Vietnam Experience: Introducing the Crew
Stray New Zealander Keys continues to make us all jealous as she travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip… The next day we had Naomi join us. She had been unable to start the tour with us in Ho Chi Minh because of a delay getting her visa but was now happily united with […]
My Vietnam Experience: Qui Nhon
Stray New Zealander Keys continues to make us all jealous as she travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip… The Road to Qui Nhon Our journey took us back out on the coast and we enjoyed beautiful vistas all day. There is no such thing as a boring road trip in Vietnam […]
My Vietnam Experience: Stray’s Buon Ma Thuot Homestay
Stray New Zealander Keys continues to make us all jealous as she travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip… We got into Buon Ma Thuot by early afternoon, where the whole group would stay in a traditional house – an experience exclusive to Stray. We could tell that this village was quite […]
My Vietnam Experience: Vietnamese Roads and Language on the way to Buon Ma Thuot
Stray New Zealander Keys (aka Eileen) continues her travels on Stray’s very first Vietnam trip. We headed out of Dalat and eventually made our way back down to sea level. The trip took us over another mountain range with stunning views of coffee plantations as far as the eye could see. We […]
My Vietnam Experience: Dalat
Keys (aka Eileen) is a Tour Leader with Stray New Zealand, and also our Environmental Officer, based in our head office in Auckland. A keen and experienced traveller, we sent her off to Vietnam for the very first Stray trip, to explore and report back on her experience… Day One: Dalat At last the […]
My Vietnam Experience: Pre-Stray, Ho Chi Minh City
Keys (aka Eileen) is a Tour Leader with Stray New Zealand, and also our Environmental Officer, based in our head office in Auckland. A keen and experienced traveller, we sent her off to Vietnam for the very first Stray trip, to explore and report back on her experience… Good morning Vietnam! I arrived in […]