Initial communication... - Initial communication with the company was very good via WhatsApp. However, there was a communication problem with the company and the driver after I requested one hour earlier pick up time. The company gave me the wrong driver and the car information. The hotel rep had to call the company several times for us to fix the problem. The driver who was assigned to us at the last minute was a great driver. We communicated with him using the translation app.

Thankfully reached our destination, but the driver was likely intoxicated - It pains me to write this review as I hate writing anything negative about a business. However, this ride could have ended disastrously so I feel it’s worthy to let people know. Based on the experience, I think the driver was contracted by the tour agency and is not an employee of the agency. Communication with the agency was great and everything was planned well and clearly. In fact, the pickup and 2/3rds of the ride back was fine as well. The issue arose after the last (3rd) rest stop break on the drive from Sapa to Hanoi. The driver disappeared for like 30 minutes in what should have been a quick break. One of our passengers noted that he was drinking something and a lot of it. Based on driving behavior after that stop, we highly suspect that he was drinking alcohol and became intoxicated. He was swerving and drifting into lanes and couldn’t drive straight. He was randomly braking hard at green lights (claiming he thought they were red), driving very slowly in comparison to earlier in the drive and kept driving in the wrong gear (for those familiar with driving manual transmissions, you’ll know the transmission shake). He also kept rubbing his eyes and face and chewing lots of gum. After the drive, he appeared to pull over to stop driving (perhaps to sleep it off). We thankfully reached our destination, but we were scared for that portion of the drive (especially with young children in the van) and it could have ended very badly. I notified the agency of what happened and they were apologetic and claimed this has never happened before. Again, my sense is that this is a separate contractor, but at the end of the day, the agency is responsible for those that it hires to provide its services.