“I came to Vietnam to travel and wished someone had warned me beforehand about the real feeling of sitting on a sleeper bus”, Mia Challiner, KOL (a person with influence on the internet) from the UK shared her experience of taking a sleeper bus from Hanoi to Hoi An. Mia said that when she saw the travel time last 20 hours, she felt “quite interesting”.
Sleeper bus in Vietnam
The sleeper bus has a bunk bed structure. When booking, Mia and her brother chose the upper bunk and quickly realized that it was a “stupid” decision. There was no place to put things on the bus. The female tourist is 1m85 tall, the bed on the bus is not long enough to stretch her legs.
She called it “a disaster” because she slept in a curled position for the whole journey. The female tourist was given a blanket and a drink by the bus, but did not use it because the bus did not have a toilet.
At 12 o’clock, while sleeping, Mia was awakened by the bus staff announcing that guests could take a break. The female tourist followed everyone and thought it was a stop to eat and drink, but quickly realized that there was only enough time to go to the toilet.
Sleeper bus in Vietnam
The bus had wifi so Mia called her parents while eating salad on the bed and told them about her travel experience. “They laughed at me”, Mia said. The bus then stopped at 3 o’clock for everyone to go to the toilet again, but this time it was on the roadside.
At 6 o’clock, passengers were asked to get off the bus and get on another one. They sat for another two hours to get to Hoi An. From there, Mia and her brother took a taxi to the hotel. She said that in 20 hours sitting on the bus, she only slept for 2 hours.
The share of the British female tourist attracted more than 3 million views after posting a week and more than 300 comments. Many people agreed with Mia’s point of view and said that the bus without a toilet was “a nightmare”.
Sleeper bus in Vietnam
In addition, many tourists spoke up in defense of sleeper buses in Vietnam. Remy Gumbs, 27, another British tourist, said “you can’t ask for luxury when the fare is too cheap”. Gumbs came to Vietnam for a month and booked a sleeper bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Mui Ne, a 15-hour travel time. She pointed out the advantages of this type of vehicle are cheap, a reasonable solution for budget travelers.
Sleeper bus in Vietnam
Sleeper buses are also the means of transportation that female tourists use the most when traveling to Vietnam. The female tourist said “I will definitely introduce sleeper buses in Vietnam to other tourists” because of the economic benefits they bring.
For Canadian female tourist Aron Spray, sleeper buses at night in Vietnam are safe for women, even though sometimes the driver picks up passengers along the way, making the travel time longer. Tourists who travel with a tour can sit on a better quality bus, stop at some rest stops for guests to go to the toilet, and buy refreshments.
So, what do you think about this? Have you experienced sleeper buses in Vietnam?
