Terminal NotesTravel logistics, tested. Airport rules, money, connectivity — and how to plan a trip with AI without getting burned.
Vietnam, Planned with AI
Plan It with ChatGPT. Then Check the Five Things That Can Ruin the Trip.
I have not been to Vietnam. That's the premise, not the disclaimer. This is a book about a method: how to plan a trip to a country you don't know yet, using tools that are useful and unreliable, without getting burned by the unreliable part.
Sixteen prompts that actually work for Vietnam, a route builder for 7, 10, 14 or 21 days, three regional chapters with the decisions rather than the lists, an honest budget, and the five things you check yourself — because AI is good at reasoning and bad at facts, and the bad facts arrive dressed like the good ones.
Use AI for reasoning. Verify every fact.
The channel
Twenty-second answers to the things airports don't tell you.
What I actually use
These go straight to the provider for now. Some will become affiliate links later — if you buy through them at that point I'd earn a small commission, it wouldn't change what you pay, and nothing is listed here that I wouldn't use myself.
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Travel eSIM
Get a plan on the network the book actually names — Viettel has the best rural coverage in Vietnam, and that's the one that matters once you're out of the cities.
See the eSIM I use → -
Multi-currency card
A Wise or Revolut card sidesteps the foreign-transaction surcharge that Vietnamese card terminals like to add, and gives you a real exchange rate instead of a guessed one.
Open a Wise/Revolut account → -
Travel insurance
Check for evacuation cover and a motorbike clause before you buy anything — most policies exclude riding a scooter unless you specifically ask, and a scooter is how most people get around.
Compare policies with cover for this → -
Intercity transport booking
12Go is the one place that actually lists buses, trains and boats on the same page, in the same currency, so you can compare a sleeper bus against a train instead of guessing.
Book buses, trains and boats → -
Hotels
Booking by neighbourhood, not by star rating, is the whole trick — the book explains why in the chapter on each city; this is where I actually book the room once I've picked the area.
Find a place to stay → -
Ha Long Bay cruise
The single most expensive thing on most itineraries, and the one where the gap between operators is real. This is where I'd check current boats and cabins before paying anything.
Compare Ha Long cruises →