How Jeannie Mai Jenkins' Life-changing Anniversary Trip to Vietnam Brought Her Even Closer to Her Heritage — and Her Husband

The Emmy-winning former host of ‘The Real’ talks exclusively to Travel + Leisure about the transformational power of heritage travel.

Born and raised in California, Jeannie Mai Jenkins always felt a connection to her family’s Vietnamese heritage. Not only does her hometown of San Jose have the largest Vietnamese population outside of the Asian nation, but the Emmy-winning host of America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation and former co-host of The Real grew up in a three-bedroom house with 15 family members. 

“I had a little Vietnamese ecosystem in my own house…with the language, the cooking, and community…of many different generations,” the Dancing with the Stars alum told Travel + Leisure. “When you grow up with refugee parents, you don't wander very far from the story of them having escaped communism. You hear it in all things, so really understanding my culture was a huge thing.”

When she was 15 years old, Jenkins' mom took her on a trip to her native country and she was instantly enamored. “I was blown away by how exciting and electric Vietnam is,” the 44-year-old said.

Her husband, rapper Jeezy, always understood how connected Jenkins’ was to her culture — originally planning to propose to her in Vietnam, until the pandemic sidelined their travel plans. Instead, he decorated their entire condo with lanterns to look like Hoi An and she said "yes" in March 2020 before they tied the knot in April 2021.

So for their second wedding anniversary, Jenkins decided to plan a surprise trip, not sharing their destination until about an hour before their flight took off. “I threw him off with really wild clues and he was totally surprised,” she said. “Having married me, he knows by now that it's all about the adventure for me!”

Within hours of landing in Ho Chi Minh City, the couple found themselves on the back of motorbikes winding through the “exciting and energetic” streets, indulging in street food, visiting the historic Củ Chi Tunnels, and soaking in the spirit of the city that Jenkins had visited before.

But she wanted to go deeper into her heritage travels, so from that point on, the host — who has been sharing her adventures on her Hello Hunnay with Jeannie Mai web series — also became a first-time visitor to the rest of their sites.

They ventured on to Phú Yên, which Jenkins called “Vietnam’s greatest unkept secret” — and her favorite — because it’s “where the mountains meet the sea” and where she found the truest blue waters. “It’s also a fisherman’s village, so it’s very quaint and time stops there because all you feel around you is this Zen ecosystem of fish feeding off of the land, and children working with their parents,” she said. “Everything is so humble — and it’s beautiful.”

Next on their itinerary was Da Nang, where they indulged at one of the “most luxurious” hotels, the InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort on the Son Tra Peninsula. Jenkins especially was entranced by the Bill Bensley-designed property’s multiple levels, named Heaven, Sky, Earth, and Sea, all connected by a cable car.

“It’s definitely worth it,” she said.

The couple then ventured over to Hội An, which she called “such a special place” — especially since it inspired their engagement decorations. “This was a huge bucket list place for Jeezy and me,” Jenkins said. “It was even better than it would have been five years ago because it was one of the most remarkably romantic places I’ve ever seen in my life."

There, they followed the tradition of putting paper lanterns into the water. “This allows you to wish, but also give thanks for all the things you’ve been blessed with,” she explained. “Jeezy and I just put down so many, like 20 to 30! We are just so grateful for everything that has happened in our life, especially baby Monaco,” she added of their one-year-old who didn’t join them for the trip.

Also in Hội An, they did a deep dive into the food culture by farming with a local family in the rice paddy fields. “We planted, harvested, and took care of their animals including pigs, cows, chickens, and goats,” she said. “We learned how a local family in Vietnam can basically not only feed their family from the farm, but also provide to the community around them and make a living off of it.”

They then headed north to Hanoi, which had an extra layer of meaning since it’s where Jenkins’ dad is from. “The city life is bustling, but not as crazy as [Ho Chi Minh City], and it’s more inspired by the French,” she described. They delved into meaningful experiences, like fishing for their own dinner and visiting the country’s first gin distillery Sông Cái, which works with the rural communities to use indigenous plants and herbs, which she thought was “really special.”

The pair then went to another of Jenkins’ favorite spots, Ninh Binh, which she called “the most precious, beautiful garden escape,” where they “lived, biked, and slept within the rice paddy fields" surrounded by huge epic rocks, like those in Halong Bay. “It’s a great amazing unspoken treasure.”

Then came the most transformative part of their trip, a six-hour hike up Yen Tu mountain, the sacred center of Vietnamese Buddhism. “When you’re going up, you're so reflective and you're so in your own head,” she remembered. “Also what's beautiful about Yen Tu is the Buddhists actually created temples along the way that encouraged you to stop and just take a moment to really peel away the layers that don't serve any longer. You're really in your spirit when you go up there, so it's very meditative.”

The journey was well worth it. “I've never seen the earth and the winds and the sun all formed this electrifying greeting for us when we were up there,” she said. “The winds were going at like they had to be like 40 mile winds and the sun was beating down on us at the same time there was a rainstorm also happening. It's a very spiritual place for anybody who really wants to take that big reset in your life. All these very reflective questions come up — we were with different people coming down than when we went up.”

To top off their adventure, they ended their trip in Halong Bay among the stunning rainforest-topped limestone mountain islands that are iconic to the Vietnamese scenery.

“When I got back to the United States, I have to admit, I went through a bit of a culture shock because my entire life is surrounded with work,” Jenkins admitted. “Being in Vietnam, the flowers smell different and your tummy rumbles differently for a meal rather than something to just kind of satiate your appetite, like you're hungry for different herbs and senses and textures. You even look at people differently.”

Her husband was just as transformed. “Jeezy was very moved and emotional,” she said. “He actually wrote a whole album of songs out there because he was just so enchanted with how beautiful life is for people who allow yourself to live it.”

That life-changing feeling, Jenkins said, was in great part because of the tour company Your Travel Nation, which she found on Instagram and chose because it was female-founded and focused on sustainable experiences while paying homage to the Indigenous people. “I saw they were very aware of the local life and making sure the footprint of their travelers is meaningful, which is what I want to do in my travels,” she said. “A good travel agency should take my dreams and bring it to 2.0 — make me actually more thoughtful about what I'm doing, so that I leave with a sense of responsibility and open my eyes to what I can do at home more."

Despite eight epic stops on their Vietnamese adventure, Jenkins headed home with one major realization: “I've always heard that when you travel, it's not about the destination, it’s about the journey. But It's actually not about either, it's about your company.”

And that even included looking at her husband in a new way. “I was like, ‘You're even cuter out here in Vietnam because I'm taking the time to appreciate you,'” she said. “I'm taking the time to actually react to what I'm seeing, what I'm sensing, what I'm feeling. It was hard to figure out how to preserve the essence that Vietnam taught me, but also bring it back to America so that I'm not out of touch.”

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