Back in 2012 I decided to get into the points and miles game. I had many e-mentors in my journey, among them Gary Leff, Ben, and Chris Guillebeau (I talk more about my travel inspiration in this post). I had taken a few small trips here and there, and, through manufactured spending and credit card bonuses, built up a nice little amount of American AAdvantage miles. I decided I wanted to use them for a special trip: my first time to Asia. So where would I go for my first trip to Asia? Well, odds are by this point you’ve seen the title of this post, which kind of ruins the surprise, but imagine you haven’t: VIETNAM! Now, why in the world would I decide to go to Vietnam? Well, some of you might be new to the blog, but my loyal and faithful readers (hi Mom!) will probably guess that it has something to do with a British television show by the name of Top Gear. And you’re right. I get a lot of travel ideas from Top Gear, cases in point here, here, and here. They go all over the world and do cool things. Granted, they have a bigger budget than I do, but still. Anyway, they drove scooters up the entire coast of Vietnam (nearly) from Saigon to Halong Bay. That episode was the first time I had ever heard of or seen Halong Bay, and immediately it grabbed my eyeballs and hit me right in... read more