Talefeathers: The Latitude 35 Blog

I've always been a solo, DIY traveler at heart, so signing up for a week of group travel with total strangers filled me with both excitement and trepidation. Here's what I learned. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam (Unsplash) A Quick Primer on G Adventures I recently returned from my very first group tour, which was to Vietnam (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay & Hoi An, and Saigon & the Mekong) with G Adventures. G Adventures is a Canadian small-group adventure travel company running trips since 1990,

Heavy history in Saigon, a slow boat down the Mekong, and a 100-year-old grandmother making rice crisps by hand. Vietnam's contrasts continue. A sign at the Hanoi airport, celebrating 50 years of national reunification, peace, and development.(© 2025, Karen Cristello) Ho Chi Minh City: History, More Phở, and Good-Luck Geckos After the Ha Long Bay & Hoi An segment of our tour, we flew from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to start Day 6. The first stop was lunch at the fam

Dragon legends, a cave that felt like a Star Wars set, and tai chi at sunrise on the deck of a junk boat — and that was all before I reached Hoi An. Bái Tử Long Bay from our boat, which was similar in size to the boat on the far left. (© 2025, Karen Cristello) Sailing Into Dragon Country Day three took us out of Hanoi and gave us a taste of what the National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures itinerary is all about. On the way to the coast, we stopped at World of Pearls to

Ninety-degree heat, 76% humidity, and an iced Vietnamese coffee that fixed everything. That's how Hanoi welcomed me back after 25 years away. There’s just something about this combination of old shops, painting, graffiti, motos, and cartoon tiger that I really love. (© 2025, Karen Cristello) I’m in love!! … with G Adventures, that is! I just got back from a one-week familiarization trip with G Adventures to beautiful Vietnam. That means it was an educational trip with just 10