If you’re old enough to remember a 1987 film starring the late Robin Williams – “Good Morning Vietnam” when it first screened in cinemas, you might also remember US forces leaving the American embassy with helicopters full of diplomatic staff in April 1975 after the fall of Saigon.
North Vietnamese Army troops (NVA) took over the city on that day. The taking of Saigon was both symbolically and effectively the end of the USA’s involvement in the Vietnam War. That conflict was waged across Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from the early 1960s until Saigon’s capture by NVA soldiers in 1975.
The film “Good Morning Vietnam” told the true story of a US forces radio disk jockey (DJ), Adrian Cronauer. He became very popular with American GIs posted in Vietnam due to his irreverent, zany, and controversial outbursts. Cronauer was taken off the air as the military management of the propaganda-providing radio station felt that his style was not sufficiently respectful to convey their intended message. The highly entertaining movie of those events shouldn’t be missed if you haven’t already seen it.
Holiday in Cambodia
For those too young to remember such things, a vacation to Cambodia and Vietnam wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the many museums dedicated to different aspects of the war. From fascinating political analysis at the Saigon ‘War Remnants Museum’ to stooping along underground catacombs at the cu-chi-tunnels, there’s an incredibly rich history to that conflict, which every American citizen might perhaps wish to learn. It certainly adds context to understanding the lives of previous American generations sent overseas to fight.
But before embarking on a vacation to SE Asia, one of the first things you should do before leaving home is to download and install a Vietnam VPN onto any devices that you might be taking with you, such as smartphones, iPads or laptops.
Staying safe online and in-country
A virtual private network (VPN) works very simply and effectively by placing an intermediate server, or ‘middleman’ server, between the VPN user’s device and the internet service requested. Whether you’re checking webmail on your phone or booking a flight on your laptop, the VPN sits between the device and the online destination. As the VPN network comprises hundreds of encrypted servers, they provide both anonymity for the user and location cloaking. In short, a VPN user can’t be personally identified, and their IP address location could appear to be anywhere on our planet.
Such facilities assist in keeping VPN users safe from a variety of cyber threats, especially when people are away on vacation. VPNs also provide extra convenience facilities for travelers. Let’s look at a few of the key benefits:
Security on public Wi-Fi networks
When traveling abroad, you’ll be likely to connect to various public Wi-Fi networks in airports, hotels, and shopping malls. These Hot Spots are often unsecured and can be havens for hackers to intercept your data and add malware to your devices.
But a VPN server, like 1 Click VPN, will carry high-security malware protection. The server would detect any malicious activity and disconnect your device from that hotspot before any harm could be done.
The encryption of a VPN-protected internet connection also makes it much harder for hackers to access any personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. Even if someone did manage to intercept your connection, the data that they would see would simply be gobbledygook.
Streaming your favorite shows and internet censorship
Some streaming platforms such as Netflix or the BBC’s iPlayer have restricted services, so that content is either completely unreachable from a foreign country, or a completely different choice of content is offered. This is usually due to copyright issues from the studios and production companies supplying their content to those streaming sites.
However, a VPN allows you to connect to the internet via servers in the same country as the desired streaming service. Within minutes you can be viewing your regular favorite shows from your Hanoi hotel room without any interruptions.
These geo restrictions often extend to social media platforms and news websites, and those restrictions likewise can be side-stepped.
Certain countries like Vietnam, and especially China and North Korea have internet censorship laws that may restrict access to specific websites and online services. Again, a VPN can help avoid these restrictions while traveling. But don’t get caught by the authorities of those regimes. You might end up getting a free stay for several years in one of their not-so-luxurious prisons!
Dynamic pricing and currency of online accommodation bookings
A VPN can also be handy when booking your travel and airline flights before you leave home. If you’re planning a vacation in Vietnam, visiting an online reseller like, say, hotelbookings.vn – will almost certainly display prices in your home currency. So, if your desired hotel is available for six nights at around $30 per night, that’s going to be $180. But if you log onto your VPN using a Vietnamese IP address, the website will show the price in Vietnamese Dong. It might look scary, but 180 bucks is over 4.5 million Dong! But if you buy in USD dollars, the exchange rate offered by the .vn domain website is likely to be very disadvantageous.
Also, dynamic pricing works on the basis that the website’s AI detects where visitors are based and offers prices according to what it ‘thinks’ you can afford. The algorithms can also recognize the device type and model you’re using to connect. So, if you log onto an accommodation website from Long Island on a brand-new MacBook Pro – the prices will likely inflate.
By using a VPN, you can appear to be in a less wealthy location, say Mexico, and your device ID is scrambled, so the prices offered are likely to be lower. Another win for the VPN user!
In summary
Using a VPN when traveling to Vietnam (or indeed anywhere in the world) offers numerous benefits as you can see – and we didn’t have the space here to discuss even more of them.
Think also if you go on a business trip or undertake remote work abroad, if you have third-party or company data on your machine, it’s even more important to safeguard your devices – it could cost your job or livelihood not to.
So whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, backpacking and walking or staying at swanky hotels, a VPN is one of the best precautions you can take – along with several packs of Imodium and a big handful of aspirins!