Going to Vietnam for first time and taking my GF.So will be a good boy most of the time.Still want some night life and ideas of where to stay.Flying into Ho Chi Minn for about 3 days and taking the train to Hanoi for rest of trip.Doing the bay excursions for sure and shopping of course.Basically looking for some good tour companies and also mid priced Hotels.And as much sight seeing as I can do in around 3 weeks.

Also want to buy a one way airline ticket in and leave when ever that's cool right.I went with a one month tourist visa ,VOA, with a company and hope that works alright.

I can recomant this compagny I used it my and wife for a week ( INDICHINA VENTURES CO.Ltd), I plan for next year to use them again, they are helpfull an very friendly

Hopefully you plan some stops between HCMC and Hanoi off of the train? Don't wait til last minute to buy your train ticket and try and get soft sleeper lower berths in 4 berth compartment even for daytime travel.

Great stops would be Nah Trang which is a very pleasant beach resort....also Hoi An which is near Danang is good for a couple of days.

Tons of cheap and good hotels all over Vietnam....some good info and advice here: http://www.travelfish.org/country/vietnam

This site has some good info on Vietnam, including the Hanoi to Saigon train, although they did the trip in the opposite direction. Good places to stop are Hue, Hoi An. Buy train tickets in advance, as often sold out even the day before.

http://www.renegadetravels.com/category/vietnam/

In Ho Chi Min I would recommend a trip to the Cu Chi undergrounds tunnels and the Tay Ninh temple

Both pretty interesting, did them both with a tour agency in one day

In Hanoi be sure to check out the water puppet show

No problem flying one way to Vietnam?

No problem flying one way to Vietnam?

No problem. I flew o/w in March, Bangkok to HCMC.

In Hanoi be sure to check out the water puppet show

it is word to see it, very nice show better than the show we have seen in HCM

No problem flying one way to Vietnam?

No problem. I flew o/w in March, Bangkok to HCMC.

my first trip to Vietnam was as follow, departure with Airaisia to Hanoi - to hue via Vietnam air an back to Hanoi, by car to Dien Bien Phu took us 3 days return to Hanoi by Vietnam air an back to BKK via Vietnam air.

Very nice trip if you like history