Da Lat Dec’19 Trip: Flight (09 Dec 2019)
Xin chào! I decided to write a short review regarding the trip to the southern part of Vietnam, for as time passes by, memories get fogged up. Up to date, I’m still reminiscing Da Lat as it is such a peaceful and beautiful place.
This post would be purely on Day 1 when 7 hours were burned just getting from Singapore to Dalat.
Location: Dalat (09–12 Dec’19), HCM (13–14 Dec’19)
09 Dec’19 Singapore to Dalat
Flight: Scoot TR302 Airbus 232 (Changi Airport to Tan Son Nhat Airport),
Vietjet VJ364 Airbus 232 (Tan Son Nhat Airport to Lien Khuong Airport)
I came across reviews online that domestic flights in Vietnam have a high likelihood of delays. And behold, encountered a 2hrs delay. It was only informed that the aircraft had some problems after 20 minutes of sitting on the plane. So we had alight from the plane and wait for the rearrangement to be done, to get on the shuttle bus to the new plane.
Well, one thing about VietJet is that the hidden costs come up at the end when you start purchasing their tickets. The price was shown to be SGD33.09 initially, but came up to be SGD37.52 at the end. Not much difference, being only SGD4 more expensive. It could be a tactic of being price competitive, to trick ill-informed passengers into buying the seats. But it was not ethical of them not to be price transparent!
And at the end of the day, it came up to almost the same rate as Vietnam Airlines, which is much more spacious and has better service on flight as well. Hands-down would go for Vietnam Airlines, if not for the timing compatibility for transfer flight from VietJet.
Car ride: Dichung Taxi https://dichungtaxi.com/
Pre-arranged a car ride to the Moonstone Hotel Dalat with Dichung Taxi at a rate of 250.000 VND (14.8 SGD). With the flight delay, the rate went up to 316.000 VND (18 SGD), which translates to a 3.2SGD increase. The rate was pretty worth-while considering the distance of the airport from the town area (29.6km = 35mins), and inclusive of taxes and fuel.
Moreover, there is regular check-ins from the operator on whether the service was satisfactory. I would highly recommend engaging their service for airport transfers, as it is more reassuring engaging the service of a trustworthy local taxi operator. Grab was not available at the timing when we arrived. The way Dichung Taxi operated, appears to be the same as how Grab operates, where drivers with their own cars would pick up the bookings from the operator. Interesting, I do hope they would be able to compete and dominate the market instead of Grab heading into Dalat.
And with that, that concludes our day 1! Arrived to our hotel shivering and cold, for it was pouring heavily when we touched down.
