Background of Quat, Hy and Quang in Vietnam
Thursday 2 July 2026
Yung and I arrived at the terminal early, checked in and found the departure gate. Unknown to anyone in advance our friends Anisa (with Amina’s friend Ranya), and Natalie (with Ella and Sophia) were booked on the same flight. Flight delayed initially 2 hours and then extended until same time next day. Qantas arranged – for each passenger – overnight accommodation, Uber vouchers, several $15 shopping credit cards, and $200 vouchers for future Qantas travel. Today was a good practice run for the long distance flight because we boarded and were seated for 3 hours while engineers trouble-shooted an air-conditioning issue. The cabin attendants handed out icecreams and suggested we use our safety-information-cards to fan ourselves. Yung and I entertained ourselves by watching airport arrivals and departures on the tail camera. Eventually the 11pm airport curfew arrived and no departure was possible on Thursday. So about 500 passengers disembarked to “re-enter Australia” and pick up their luggage from the carousel. Ours was missing, so after a night at a comfy local Hotel we went home to pack some more, just in case our bags didn’t show up the next day. While at home I offloaded several kilos of carry-on items that YouTube experts had told me were essential, such as compression socks (uncomfortable), snacks (brought them home for Danny and Amina to enjoy), iPad mini (iPhone will see me through), books (took precious space, and Qantas had a good movie selection), and two jackets (each seat was given a blanket and pillow). So, with a lighter load we returned to the Hotel for breakfast before an Uber back to the airport and, thankfully, Qantas luggage services had our bags.
Friday 3 July 2026
Travelling.
- 2pm arrival Los Angeles. Long wait. Recharged our phones and had dinner.
- 4am arrival Dallas. Huge airport with a train connecting the terminals.
Saturday 4 July 2026
- 11am arrival Tampa. Picked up by Quang and Harry.
- Noon – visited Quat, Thuy and Andy in Moreton Plant Hospital, Clearwater.
- 2pm – arrived at the Tyrone Blvd home generously provided by Quat, Thuy and Andy for our accommodation. Good to see Vinh again who had preceded us from Australia and had helped Quang and Harry to prepare the home.
- 3pm – Amazing Buffet restaurant with Quang, Vinh, Harry and Harry’s assistant Anh Duong.
- Squirrels in the yard.
- 9pm – fireworks in nearly every backyard for American Independence Day – 250 years of independence.
Sunday 5 July 2026
- 10am St Jude’s church with Quang and Vinh. Yung’s other brother Hy/Tony joined us in the church afterwards.
- 3pm – visited Quat in hospital.
- 4pm – visited the Chua Phat Phap – Southwest Florida Vietnamese Theravada Buddhist Temple in St Petersburg, met “Auntie O Phuong Lan (Cousin of Tuyet in Sydney, Treasurer of the Temple), and paid respect to the memories of relatives including Quang’s late wife Sang. Harry introduced us to two of his students of Buddhism. Beautiful statues outside the Temple including one representing Maitreya or Metteyya (meaning “the Friendly” or “Loving One”). He is “the prophesied future Buddha who will appear on Earth to rediscover, master, and teach the pure Dhamma after the teachings of Gautama Buddha have completely faded away” (Wikipedia). Another statue was of one of Gautama Buddha’s past lives, the “compassionate and generous prince, Vessantara, who gives away everything he owns”.
- 5pm – afternoon tea at the home of Thuy’s neice Nhi and husband Tuan and their children Nanda and Victoria. Joining us were Nhi’s parents (mother: Thuy’s younger sister Tuyet and father: Tuy)
- 6pm – dinner at the home of Hoang Bao’s family. Bao is first cousin of Yung. Bao’s father Tam (who we remembered at the Chua Phat Phap temple) was younger brother of Yung’s father Trac. Bao’s wife is Tuyen. Their sons are Long and Viet. Also present were Tuyen’s parents, and Tuyen’s sister Gui. Also present were Andy and his friend Giao (or Dao?). Also present was neighbour Phi.
- 9pm – more celebration fireworks courtesy of neighbours.
Monday 6 July 2026
- 10am walked with Vinh in Florida heat to the nearby shops for supplies. Enjoyed an hour of airconditioning and coffee with Vinh at Starbucks.
- 3-5pm took Vinh to Tampa Airport with Quang and Harry.
- 6pm International Plaza near Tampa Airport, with Harry and Quang.
Tuesday 7 July 2026
- 7am – Delicious mangoes from the trees in Tyrone Boulevarde home.
- 3pm – Tour of Clearwater Beach with Quang.
- 4pm – Arranging bus tickets at Park St, Clearwater
- 5pm – Visited Quat in Hospital
- 6pm – Pho restaurant
- 7pm – Quang’s office
- 7.30pm – Quang’s home.
Wednesday 8 July 2026
- 12noon – With Quang and Thuy in the Tyrone Blvd home.
- 1pm – Japanese Buffet with Quang and Hy
- 2pm – Chinese shop with Quang and Hy
- 3.30 – 6pm – Tyrone Square mall for icecream and shopping.
Thursday 9 July 2026
- Home all day. 40degrees outside during the day. 30degrees outside all night. Welcome to Florida. Grateful for air-conditioning.
- 5pm – Tour of St Petersburg beaches and downtown, with Quang.
- 8pm – Pho restaurant
Friday 10 July 2026
- 10am – 1pm – Visited Quat in hospital, with Harry and Andy
- 1.30pm – Siagon Noodles with Harry, Andy and Thuy
- 3pm Dunkin’ Donuts with Harry
- 3.30pm – Seminole tour with Harry. Home of Quat, Thuy and Andy still being repaired after cyclone a year ago.
- 4-5pm – Tyrone Square Mall with Harry and walkie-talkie.
Saturday 11 July 2026
- 9am – Squirrels in the front yard
- 4pm – Sky Bridge to Bradenton Beach
- 8pm – Chinese Meal
Sunday 12 July 2026
- Church with Quang and Hy
- Meal at The Public (shop) where Quang’s wife Sang was a cake decorator.
- Quang’s office
- Hospital
- Ice Cream with Quang, Harry and Anh.
Monday 13 July 2026
- Farewell to Tyrone Blvd and its delicious mangoes
- Quang, Harry and Anh at Tampa airport
- Tampa to Dallas
- Dallas to Sydney
Tuesday 14 July 2026
Crossed the international dateline near Fiji
Wednesday 15 July 2026
- Arrived Sydney 7.10am
- Some passengers’ bags including mine were offloaded in Dallas so that extra fuel could be onloaded.
- Met by Danny who brought us home. Amina and Danny looked after Cleo well. Danny had the window roller shutters repaired while we were away.
- Solid sleep for 4 hours.
- 6pm delicious dinner by Danny, with Amina and Danny in Monterey.
- 8pm until 4am – another deep sleep, to be ready for work .
- Missing suitcase was delivered to home the next day. Cleo looking after it until I got home from work.
