The Last 24...

Waking up at 9am I had a horrible feeling. What if I had read my flight details wrong?

What if I was flying out Saturday morning, not sunday. If I've missed my flight, due to the MIQ voucher system I wouldn't be able to get back into the country until mid February. Shit. I scramble out of bed and find my phone, pulling up my emails my heart is beating out of my chest. Opening my itinerary my eyes are scanning for the departure date, Sunday the 29th. Thank the lord!

Well, I was awake now and there was no way I was getting back to sleep, so it was time to start my last 24 hours in Saigon. It was weird, it didn't hit me, the last sleep in my room, the last shower all the little things. I guess it was because I had so much still to do. I had 10,000,000 VND to exchange. I had to repack my suitcases (more on this soon) I had brunch at 1pm and from there that would be the start of the end.

Exchanging money in Saigon always feels dodgy. They never keep the money on site. The girl behind the counter made a call and five minutes later an old man pulls up on a bike and brings the cash. I feel like its part of the experience! I mean I'm not exchanging Pablo P's. Ten Million is literally like five-hundred NZD. Yes, I lived abroad for 18 months and saved five-hundred (to be fair I have one last pay from work which will bump my overall total to $2000) but it's still not great. Hey, can't put a price on memories right??

Returning back home I needed to start repacking my suitcases. To give you the full picture I was allowed 30kgs of checked and one carry on that could be 7Kgs. At this stage my suitcase was roughly around 30Kgs and I had two carry on bags around 10Kgs each. Before you even start to think "just leave some of your clothes" - Bro I had already gotten rid of two rubbish bags full of clothes, I was leaving behind half my wardrobe and eight, EIGHT pairs of shoes. It was actually really tough. So I rejiggled, did a last minute throw away and got my checked bag down and just stuffed my carry on. My thought was if I could finesse them at the weigh in counter (by hiding one bag) and then maybe just crying I could get away with it. I mean once I was checked in the don't really stop you anymore.

With that said it was time for brunch. Free flow of course. Now I know that this is not native to Saigon, lots of countries do it, but NOWHERE does it like Saigon. As there are no real drinking rules like there are at home you can really get loaded. There is no such thing as being too intoxicated or you never get cut off, EVER. I saw one guy skull a beer, vomit, order another beer and keep going. It's truly a sight to see.

It starts at 1pm so we were there on the dot. Two-hours of free flow alcohol (Beer, wine or house spirits) Three courses all for 500,000 (around $30 NZD). What a bloody bargain.

Kicking off by ordering a watermelon juice with a shot of Vodka seemed like the best plan. And then another shot, and another. Usually Free-flow places are pretty chill but they do usually require you to finish one drink before you order another, but not Chanh. We were each ordering four shots at a time when we thought you know what would be easier, if she just left the bottle. We called her over and made our request and she was more than happy to oblige!

I don't really remember the food, but I do remember stuffing my purse full of focaccia bread as I knew it would come in handy. Free flow was meant to finish at 3pm but at 3.35pm the waitress came over and told us last orders- as she went to grab the vodka bottle I also placed my hand on it, made eye contact and simply said "no honey". That was all it took.

at 4.30pm we were all rolling out of there, absolutely blind.

The plan was to go home, get a change of clothes, go for a rooftop pool swim and then head off into the night!

Getting home Emily needed to have a shower and then we were off. Sitting on the balcony she hands me a book..

"Genie in Saigon" with a big picture of me on the front.

I open the front cover and see a bunch of hand written messages.

Nope.

I slam the book closed and try to hold in the tears. I am waaaay too drunk to do this right now.

After a swim, we are relaxing in Zodys apartment, having a few more drinks and waiting for my friends to start coming back. The flood gates had already been opened so everything was making me cry. Mates started saying nice things, giving me meaningful gifts and things to help me on my way. I was a wreck.

Sitting at the canal, a lot drunker than anticipated the crew was coming together.

A friend who had recently returned from New Zealand even wore an All Blacks jersey to mark the occasion. It was all fun and games until people had to start leaving. My plan was to stay out until it was time to go to the airport, but my mates had work.

Every person that left made me straight crying all over again. I would stop, pull myself together and then the next pal would leave. It was honestly heartbreaking. As the night went on it got worse and worse. We headed to the next rooftop bar where I had several more hard goodbyes. These people were (and still are) my family, they have been my whole life for the last eighteen months and now I was leaving them. I know I will see them again but with the world being what it is it is too hard to say when.

Of course I had to go back to 185 to say goodbye. A bar that has seen me at my best, and my worst, has looked after me on so many occasions, given me a tab when I had no business having a tab, and have genuinely been like Vietnamese parents to me.

Heading to the last bar, one that specifically opens at 5am when all the other bars are closed. We had three hours to kill before it was time to head off. Leaving Broma I had four more extremely hard goodbyes.

At home I had enough time to shower, get changed and then get a taxi to the airport. Em came with me which was amazing, I left one of my bags with her so I could rejigg my belongings and try to get as much of my stuff home as I could. Before Em sent me on my way she gave me a lil snack pack so I had some food with me. The last hard goodbye and I was off through security.

Ahead of me, a three hour flight to Singapore, a 9 and 1/2 hour layover and then a 10 hour flight to Christchurch.. Queue the biggest comedown in all of history 😅