On the Plane

Hello! Sam and Callum here. On our first official blog post of the trip!! As we type we are sitting on the plane (beverage in hand). We realised that on our blog we haven’t really outlined our trip very clearly so we’ll do a short summary of the highlights of what we’re all doing:

Start: 7^th-8^th June (Bac Giang- Halong Bay)

10^th-18^th June (Halong Bay- Phong Nha Khe Bang National Park) 

20^th – 24^th June (Phong Nha Khe Bang National Park-Hoi An) 

26^th June-2^nd July (Hoi An – Lein Son)

4^th- 8^th July: End (Lein Son – Ho Chi Minh City)

At an average of 88km a day we are looking to cover a total distance of over 2,300km!

OUR REST DAYS!; Top right: Halong Bay. Top left: Phong Nha Khe Bang National park. Bottom Left: Lein Son. Bottom Right: Elephant rides

With gift aid added to the donations we have received so far we are on £12,480, which is incredible considering our initial target was only £5,000! We want to say a huge thanks to everyone who has donated to us and the 700+ people that have supported us along the process. Whether that be donating on our JustGiving page, our sponsors like DHL or simply buying Krispy Kreme doughnuts at one of our fundraisers. 

As it stands we have a target of £15,000. With your support we are hopeful of raising more money to benefit the education of Vietnamese children through Saigon Children’s Charity (SCC). Once we have finished the cycle they have kindly offered to show us round their projects so we can relay on to you back home the amazing work that they are doing and exactly how your money will used to provide university scholarships. 

The 4 of us are so excited now that we are finally packed and on our way to Vietnam! Although Jamie is a little gutted that he won’t be able to stay for the whole trip due to his internship. This means he’ll have to leave towards the end of June for an internship starting in July (about 2/3rds of the way along the trip). 

The trip will be physically grueling; with climbs of over 1,000 meters, days of more than 115km, the possibility of monsoons, an overall distance more than London to Greece that being 3 times the length of John O’Groats to Lands End. Not to mention it being mentally challenging; Being in a foreign environment with none of us speaking Vietnamese, temperatures of over 35 degrees and last but not least having to put up with Sam’s “bant” for 2 months! This said, with 4 scheduled ‘rest days’, and the whole country to discover, as you’ll see from our photos throughout the next month this is sure to be an once in a life time challenge.  

We hope you guys will keep following our blog and keep checking up on us once in a while as we’ll be updating it with photos, videos and stories every few days.... www.just...