I can’t be led around on a leash during the mid-November Vietnam visit. It was okay last year as I didn’t know anything, but not again. I’ve told the Vidotour guys that I want my freedom for at least one day, due respect. “The basic idea is that I do not want to fly from Danang to Nha Trang on Thursday, 11.21,” I told the chief rep. “I want to either drive or at least take a train between Hoi An/Danang and Nha Trang.

“Plan #1: Rather than do the motorbike rental to My Lai/Son My on Wednesday, 11.20, I would like to somehow find a one-way car rental and drive myself from Hoi An (or from Danang) down to Nha Trang on Thursday, 11.21.

“I would like to rent the car at the end of the day on Wednesday, 11.20, and then leave early (7 am) for the trip south. I realize that the drive will take a good 12 hours, but that’s fine. For one day at least I am looking to experience the culture of Vietnam on my own without being led around by you and yours, no offense, and without gazing at life in your country from behind a plate-glass window. I don’t want to be driven anywhere, and I don’t want to fly from Danang to Nha Trang. I want to drive there myself.

“Please help me find a rental car agency that will permit me to drive on a one-way trip between Danang and Nha Trang. I will pay the rental car and gas charges. I don’t want to pay for a car and a driver. I want to do this trip on my lonesome, just like I’ve done at home hundreds of times.

“Plan #2: If a one-way rental car is impossible (although I can’t imagine why this would be a non-starter), I want to take the Reunification Express Train that leaves Danang at 10:30 am and arrives at Nha Trang at 8:30 pm.”

Note: The distance between Hoi An and Nha Trang is 256 miles or 413 kilometers. You have to drive fairly slow in Vietnam. The estimated driving time is nine hours, which works out to 28 miles per hour. I’m planning on stopping here and there so figure 12 hours.