Packing...

He who would travel happily must travel light.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Well, I think we're almost ready for our Vietnam trip. Our flight departs early Monday morning, June 7th. It is 14 hours later in Vietnam than in Phoenix, Arizona. We arrive in HCMC late on Tuesday night, June 8th. Our flight itinerary: Phoenix, USA - Salt Lake City - Tokyo - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

In case you'll be planning a Vietnam trip in the near future, there were a few things we needed to do to get prepared.

It's important to have all vaccinations up-to-date. Our kids were already up-to-date on their vaccinations and Typhoid was the only recommended immunization that they received. For adults, it might mean Hep A and Hep B vaccinations and up-to-date Tetanus, as well as the Typhoid. The Typhoid vaccine is good for two years. We also filled prescriptions for Ciprofloxacin antibiotics in case we need them for any intestinal infection. For the kids, the travel doctor just recommended using Pepto Bismol as they can't use the cipro. We also have a Doxycycline antibiotic prescription that can be used for Malaria prevention. There is no Malaria risk in the big cities or along the coast from Nha Trang northwards.

Look for up-to-date recommendations on the CDC website:
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/vietnam.aspx

We are planning to pack relatively light since we are travelling in-country by train and domestic flight as well as planning an overnight on a junk cruise in the Halong Bay area. We are packing used children's clothing to bring to the orphanages as well as dental supplies provided to us by our kids' wonderful pediatric dentist and orthodontist office (http://www.smilesbyapdo.com/). When travelling to an Asian country it is always a good idea to bring along some local items for gift-giving, preferably not 'Made in Vietnam' (or China). In addition to some items that I've heard frequently recommended such as health and beauty supplies, I found a site which sells travel/trial size items (including pistachios):
http://www.minimus.biz/

I also ordered small individual-size bags of jelly beans in bulk from Jelly Belly:
http://www.jellybelly.com/

Ivy and I needed our passports updated. The airlines require at least six months remaining on your passport when you depart.
http://travel.state.gov/passport

Then, you need to decide whether you're going to get your visa ahead of time or visa-on-arrival. It appears that the visa-on-arrival is less expensive, but we applied ahead of time just to make sure that we have no issues when we arrive late at night. Here is the info to apply ahead of time:
http://www.vietnamembassy.us/consular_services/visa_info

When travelling to Vietnam, it is also prudent to purchase travel medical insurance. We used International SOS for our last adoption trip in 2002. We are considering World Nomads for this trip.
http://www.internationalsos.com/
http://www.worldnomads.com/