I thought it might be worth setting out what practical preparations I’ve made.

First, you’ll need a visa for Vietnam if you plan to stay longer than 15 days.  You can apply for an e-visa online which I did, with *slight* trepidation, here.  It cost $10 (about £7.50) and arrived by email a couple of days later.  I was still slightly concerned that this didn’t feel sufficiently like an official process, so I sent it over to Paul at Rickshaw, and he checked it and confirmed it was good enough!  So…

Jabs.  I checked that I was up to date with diptheria, tetanus,  Hepatitis A and B, MMR, and typhoid.  I ruled out varicella as I’ve had chicken pox.  I decided the risk of contracting rabies and Japanese encephalitis weren’t worth the expense of those particular injections (about £200 a pop).  I’m not taking anti-malarials… I never have, and will buy myself a DEET-soaked mosquito net when I arrive in Hanoi.  I have, however, bought some seriously industrial insect repellant.

I am taking loperamide and some isotonic rehydration-type lozenges in case of traveller’s tummy.  I’m considering asking my GP for a prescription for antibiotics in case of bacterial gut infection, but it doesn’t feel like a thing he’d likely accede to, so I may not.  Otherwise my first aid kit extends to blister plasters, painkillers, antihistamine (cream and tablets) and a witch-hazel roll on for incase the bastard bitey things attack.

Other protective measures I’ve invested in are a personal attack alarm, a powerful torch and an addalock (recommended on a blog, somewhere and cunning as a fox).  I also have a small Travelon handbag which is pretty much pickpocket and snatch-proof (provided I remember to wear it cross-body) and RFID protected, too.  It’s compact, but I’ve used it happily in Morocco and across Europe and it about squeezes in most of the things I’ll want about me every day.

I’m packing light.  I’m taking just an Osprey Eja 38L rucksack.  I’m working on the assumption that, because I’m not staying in big hotels, there won’t be much in the way of left luggage storage.  So I’ll need to carry everything with me, wherever I am.  I also wanted something that wouldn’t be too uncomfortable to carry in the jungle.

I’ve pre-booked, paid for and confirmed all my accommodation and internal travel.  The only thing that isn’t locked down is local transport from airport/train stations to accommodation, and bumbling around towns.  I plan to rent a bicycle in Hoi An, and possibly Hue, which should be relatively cheap.

And that’s my advance preparations. I’ll do another post with my packing list, at some point (if only so that I can reference it easily when I’m packing/re-packing and on the move!)