What I did next

I delibrately didn't plan or put any pressure on myself to do x, y or z by this time etc. although I had drawn up a long list of things to help remind me. Retiring, leaving the UK and moving to Vietnam was more than enough to take on board for anyone.

I basically just chilled and did nothing for two or three days, just wandered around taking everything in. Drinking coffee in the sun watching the world go by.

Sim card and cost

One of the key things I wanted to do was source a SIM card and Vietnamese phone number. Again I took pressure of that tasks by pre buying a Esim to last for the first 10 days while in Hanoi. 

I eventually purchased a physical esim from Viettel, one of the largest providers in Vietnam. They had some long term offers on. I went for a 6 months, 6GB a day, including a Vietnamese phone number for just 1.08Million VND, or £35. The shop were very helpful. After they took all the details from my passport I passed them my phone and they inserted the card and set it all up for me. 

So I was then using my Vietnamese esim on a daily basic but also on my phone was a 2nd physical sim, this was my UK Sim from Lebara maintaining my UK mobile number.  If I needed to ring home or my UK bank needed to send me a OTP code I would just switch the sims over.

Problems back home

Within the first couple of weeks I also had to sort a few problems with my new tenants back home that I hadn’t expected. My UK Letting Agent had contacted me to say my new tenants had flagged up a couple of minor issues.  The Lettign Agent was great offered solutions and we agreed they would source local contractors and sent me the quotes, I agreed on the work to be done and left it with my Letting Agent to deal with it all. They then deduct the cost of the repairs off my next monthly rental income.  I was so pleased I had agreed to use alettign Agent and not have to deal with things like this from thousands of miles away.

Ladyfriend

It was great to also meet up with my Vietnamese lady friend that I had met last summer and winter and kept in touch with. We went for out for coffee and street food and we spent a few days catching up and because she works in one of the busy bars down Beer Street in the Old quarter I spent a number of nights out sat in her bar having a local Hanoi beer or two adjusting to Vietnamese life.

Tieng Viet

I also picked back up with my twice weekly online Vietnamese lessons that I had already been doing for about four months. The focused changed completly from theory to actually lived experiences and speaking it for real, or trying too.  

Take a look at my Vietnamese Lesson Blog where I share the up and downs on learning a new language at 62 years old.

Apartment hunting

One of the key things I needed to do was find an apartment to rent. I had an option on the hotel to extend my stay there if I needed to but I didn't want to stay there too lng if I could help it. So I started to look round and visit different areas to consider where I would like to call my new home.  Look at my Blg - Finding an Apartment which goes into much more detail.

Those first 2 weeks flew bye but I knew at that stage I had made the right decision.