A Life of Travel: Fake European Village, a Cheap Flight and the 100 Greatest Places
Derek Baron
July 30, 2024
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It's Tuesday and it's time for a travel newsletter...
update
My time in Vietnam is finally wrapping up. After 7 weeks of staying put in the splendidly pleasant beach city of Da Nang, tomorrow I shall begin to move on.
The plan is to spend a few days in Phong Nha, Vietnam, visiting the impressive Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park that is home to the largest cave system in the world. I was there back in March but I’m excited to explore this area some more.
And then I’ll head to Ho Chi Minh City for 2 days before flying to the US to visit family.
Over the past few weeks here in Da Nang, I maintained my routine of exercise and work. I spent less time at the beach due to rain but I had a couple of great friends here and we had all kinds of fun. We also took some day trips.
One of those day trips was to the Sunworld Ba Na Hills.
If you’ve never heard of Ba Na Hills, it’s a bizarre place located in the hills of course, about 45 minutes drive outside of Danang.
You might have seen the famous bridge located there, the one on top of a mountain that’s held up by two giant hands (see below!). Now, take that bridge and add in a huge life-size replica of an entire European village, also located on top of the mountain. The village is called the French Village but it looks more like France, Italy, Germany, Greece and about half a dozen other European countries all mashed together. It’s trippy.
Now, take that village and add in a series of confusing yet appealing gardens, a massive white Buddha statue and Buddhist monastery, two huge castles that were almost completely empty, an Azerbaijani restaurant, two beer halls and a brewery, a Starbucks, Thai street food, Russian dancers doing the French cancan dance, various fountains and odd gold statues, fruit juice stalls, a Parisian bakery with American newspapers on the wall, a wine cellar, a tiny merry-go-round, several carnival games and a lot of hot dogs for sale…. and you have the Ba Na Hills!
To top it off, the only way to reach this strange fantasyland is via cable car. In fact, there are 4 cable car options between the bottom and top of the mountain.
At 5.8 kilometers in length, they are actually the longest single wire cable cars in the world, as well as the cable cars with the largest difference in elevation between the starting and ending points (1400 meters).
We spent an entire day at Ba Na Hills and while it was a most unusual experience, it was hard not to enjoy the craziness!
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Once I do leave Vietnam, my schedule becomes really intense. In fact, I’ve spent so many hours bookings flights over the past couple of weeks that I can barely remember where I’m headed for the rest of this year.
That’s why I’m truly thankful for this long period of time I’ve had in Danang. It has allowed me to rest and get organized so that I’ll be able to thoroughly enjoy the adventures ahead!
Golden Bridge at Ba Na Hills, Vietnam
the points game
Speaking of flights…
When it comes to travel, the below is a great example of how playing the ‘points game’ can make a huge difference.
At the very least, collecting airline points every time you fly can lead to huge savings. If you can add a credit card or two that also earns points and offers benefits, the savings can be very impressive.
Check this out:
The other day I went to book a one-way flight for September. This flight would involve at least 9 hours of flying time and I had to reach my final destination by a very specific time. The most ideal flight ticket cost $1350 USD.
Ouch.
I then went to Pointsyeah.com and did an airfare search with the same parameters. This website checks award flight options with all airlines.
It showed that the exact same $1350 flight could be booked on the American Airlines website for only 17,500 airline points.
I rushed over to aa.com and booked it! Since I collect airline points on every flight I take, I had 32,000 American Airlines points available. So I used 17,500 points and that was that.
In the end, I got my ticket for no money at all and a very low amount of points (17,500 is equivalent to $175 USD). That’s a massive savings.
This is why you should always, at the very minimum, sign up for airline loyalty programs and collect points for every flight you fly!
2025 wandering earl tours
Small Group Tours for Curious Travelers!
Two Wandering Earl Cuba trips and a Mauritania trip have already sold out but I’m also offering small group tours to Morocco, Romania, the Balkans, Vietnam, Jordan, Iraq, a Surprise Destination and more!
Here’s the 2025 lineup of unique, super fun tours you really don’t want to miss :)
around the globe
Greatest Places
Here’s a collection of the “World’s 100 Greatest Places” according to Time.
CopenPay
Through the new CopenPay initiative, tourists that make environmentally-friendly decisions during their visit to Copenhagen will earn points that can be redeemed for tours, museum entrance tickets, coffee and more.
Global Architecture
The World Architecture Festival takes place in Singapore in November and there is a long list of impressive architectural projects vying for the top prizes.
Mount Everest
This beautiful drone video shows the full Mount Everest trekking route, all the way up to the summit at 8848 meters above sea level.
Drone Photography
Check out the stunning global nominees for the 2024 Siena Drone Photography Awards. Categories include People, Nature, Abstract, Animals and more!
Tuscany Underdog
One town in Tuscany, Italy has long gone under the radar as a tourist destination. But it’s now starting to be recognized due to its focus on smart and sustainable tourism.
Cheese Museum
Here’s one more thing to do in Paris - the city is now home to the world’s first cheese museum.
Underground Places
Salina Turda (an old salt mine turned into an amusement park) in Romania is one of my favorite underground destinations. So I was happy to see it covered in this Smithsonian list of underground places worth exploring!
where in the world?
A big congratulations to…. no one 🙂 That’s right…nobody guessed the location of the photo in the last newsletter!
The photo is from the very small village of Resville, Sweden, located about 15 minutes from the town of Lidkoping. Random, I know.
This week’s photo:
It’s time to guess…where was the below photo taken?
If you have a guess (the more specific the better), click reply and let me know. Anyone who guesses correctly will be mentioned in next week's newsletter 😄
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Thank you so much for reading!
Derek
(my middle name is Earl)
Travel Insurance: My personal recommendation for affordable and reliable travel insurance is Safety Wing. It was created by travelers, for travelers, and it's rapid growth in popularity is well-deserved.
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