Brisbane to Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Beyond

You have quite a selection! And a bit over 2 weeks. All are worthwhile destinations, but all require a flight between, so most of a day to change.

I think I would begin to narrow down the options by how you can string them together in a way that suits your budget and timeframe. I personally wouldn’t stay anything less than 4 nights in any of them, since your first night will just be arrival day. And that is without knowing WHY you want to go. You could easily stay longer.

Nice to hear from you again, you are a great resource.

It's 8-9 hours from Brisbane to most of these places.

Some places easy to string together might be Saigon/Hanoi/Bangkok and Hong Kong/Ghoungou?

The closest place in Japan would be Okinawa, so that might be a final option?

I think all your potential destinations are worthwhile, so it comes down to time (if flights between are workable). This isn’t a trip I myself would be able to make - I just don’t travel that fast and make the different cultural transitions that quickly anymore (a “know thyself” situation).

Random thoughts: Four destinations for 4 nights is 16 nights. Are you thinking 2 stops within Vietnam as a possibility? I haven’t been to Okinawa, and I know people enjoy it, but I have heard it is its own culture (not typical for “mainland” Japan). Whether you include a mainland China stop would depend on a lot of things.

A nice puzzle!

You can also do Vietnam only with that amount of time (Travel South to North of VN).

Here is what I have so far-thoughts please?

Brisbane to Bangkok-3 nights

Bangkok to Hanoi-3 nights

Hanoi to Hong Kong-5 nights

Hong Kong to Okinawa-3 nights

Okinawa to Tapei-3 nights

Will you need visas? That means you have to make decisions soon enough for that.

Yes, I am definitely aware of that. That’s why I’m hoping for more great advice so I can finalize this and make my visa applications.

It looks like flight times for all your connections are fairly short except Brisbane to Bangkok, which makes me wonder if you might want an extra night in Bangkok (taking it from Hong Kong). For the others, if you can arrange morning flights, you would have nearly half a day in each city in addition to the two full days scheduled. You might be able to drop off luggage and head out seeing the city.

You will need a visa for some of the places, but not all, if you have a U.S. passport. I did mine for Vietnam (it’s tricky) but it was approved and back to me within 48 hours. It’s been few years since I was in Thailand or Hong Kong so I wouldn’t trust my experience. I don’t need one for landing in Tokyo in April and I would assume Okinawa would have the same regulations.

You know yourself and your travel abilities, but I would wonder about Okinawa. My impulse would be to cut it and spread those 3 nights out between your other cities.

great advice and much appreciated.

I'm working on Visas this week.

As for Okinawa, there is a Hilton Grand Vacations there that I wanted to stay at. But I may reduce that to two days.

I travel light, with a backpack, to avoid luggage problems.

Come back and do a trip report! It’s a different sort of trip than most on here.

What is your plan for Hanoi in 3 nights?