Travel Newsletter: 30 September 2022
Where I’m At: Hanoi, Vietnam. Latest Post: Notes on Koh Lanta. Travel Reads: Life in Ukraine, The Azores, airline uniforms, and more...
I’ve often said that I’d like to spend a month in Hanoi to get to know it better. That still hasn’t happened, but I now inadvertently find myself here for 10 days after another travel plan fell through. I’ve already spent 4 days here this year, so an accumulated 2 weeks is a good compromise.
I was in Haiphong at the start of the week, and I had planned to do some rail travel on some branch lines around Hanoi, but the lines I wanted to ride have not restarted. It’s been raining a lot as well due to storm Noru on the Central Coast. There were no storms this far north, but the rain has found its way here.
Drizzly days in Hanoi make for good days to sit in cafes to write, and this week I filed my trip report for Koh Lanta.
Latest posts at Nomadic Notes
Travel reads
• What is life like in Ukraine right now? Inside two very different cities
• The Azores: Secrets of Europe’s Hawaii
• The voyage is the main event: five fantastic no-fly adventures in Europe
• New Zealand retirees cycling their way across Australia, again
• On the Thai island of Koh Tao, can tourism and the environment coexist?
• Where in the world can you travel for free on public transport?
• The world’s largest collection of standing totem poles keeps getting bigger
• Life in the tiny alleys off Saigon's backpacker area
“In contrast to the bustling nightlife to their front, alleys off Bui Vien's backpacker streets in HCMC are home to incredibly cramped shacks.”
Digital nomads
• Spain plans ‘digital nomad’ visa scheme to attract remote workers
• China’s digital nomads trade mega-cities for backpacker havens
“Tired of punishing 72-hour weeks, tech-savvy Chinese are choosing to work remotely in regional towns.”
🚆Train travel
• 12 scenic U.S. train rides for fall foliage views
• American trains aren’t great — but you should still take them anyway
• Portugal plans $4.7 billion Lisbon-Porto high-speed rail line
✈️ Air travel
• The world's best airline for 2022 named
After seeing that none of the world’s best airlines are US-owned, Alex Tabarrok makes the case for foreign airlines being allowed to operate domestic US flights.
• The hidden history of quirky airport codes
The Nomadic Notes Travel Newsletter is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads and interesting travel news from around the web, and random ramblings by the editor.
- James Clark