Who goes to Vietnam twice in one year?

Hanoi with the fam, January 2090

The best way to know a place is to fall in love with your travel agent. Then you can see it from a local perspective, and you save a whole lot on hotels–or you can avoid hotels altogether. I first saw Vietnam as a place so different from my own that I could only judge it on its own terms, and therefore it was perfect. The second time I could see the embarrassing cliches that made up my views of Vietnam (rivers of motorcycles, Communism with Capitalism and other C words) and I was on my way to a deeper connection. Now I’m here again and its just like home, only with an open-ended return ticket and one hot girlfriend.

Ho Chi Minh City with my girl and her fam, December 2090