May 22 – May 23: Getting to Taiwan

Well getting to Taiwan ended up being quite the adventure. Going in to it, I think Rebecca and I were expecting a lot of the unexpected, so although things were stressful, we were able to take everything in stride.

Rebecca and I spent all Monday morning packing and doing our final house projects in preparation for the trip. We were both working non-stop, but we had planned it out pretty well and were able to finish everything up in time to pick the children up from school. Once we got them, we drove down to spend the night with Nathanael and Mary-Anne. They were so nice to let us stay over and drive us to the airport the next day. It was fun seeing the children play with their cousins and to catch up with them. Also, they put their smoker to good use and we got to enjoy some smoked chicken legs and homemade bacon! While we were there, I realized that I had forgot to pack our Taiwan money. I had exchanged about $3,500 American for us to have as cash to use as we traveled around. I had kept it in a peanut butter jar and I didn’t recall taking it out of the jar ever to put it in with our luggage. But I couldn’t figure out how I would have forgotten it because I had packed up everything else that I had placed in that spot. Unfortunately, that spot was on the ground and we figured that Asher must have picked it up and played with it and placed it somewhere else in the house. So, we figured we would just have to exchange some money in one of the airports.

Getting on our first flight from Salt Lake City to San Francisco was no problem. However, about ten minutes in to the flight the pilot made his usual announcement. He said that we would be arriving in San Jose in about an hour and a half. Rebecca looked at me and I figured he must have just made a mistake. Surely they didn’t allow us to get on the wrong flight. After talking to our neighbors we found out that after we got on the plane they made an announcement in the terminal. They said there was poor visibility in San Francisco, so they were going to fly us in to San Jose and then bus us to the San Francisco airport. I was a little worried when they announced that, but we had a three hour layover and they were estimating only 30 minutes for the bus ride, so I figured it would be no problem. Well, with traffic the bus ride was 1 hour. That meant that when we got to the San Francisco airport we had two hours to get checked in and to our gate. The day before I called in to let them know that we would have a lap infant. Apparently, for international flights, lap infants still have to have a reduced cost ticket. The ticket itself was $50 for the round trip, but we also had to pay the $250 for taxes and fees. There was nothing I could do about it then, so I bought the ticket over the phone and they said I would have to check him in in person when we got to San Francisco. So as soon as we got there we rushed to find the Cathay Pacific counter. For some reason, they couldn’t figure out how to check Asher in. We spent another hour at the counter while they tried to figure it out. Now we were panicking some. I told them I was worried we were not going to make our flight, but they said it should be no problem. By the time we got all of our boarding passes and luggage checked in it was 12:20 and we had to board by 12:55. I got some quick cash, but only about a third of what we had originally planned because the rates did not seem very good. After that we ran to the security and luckily got to go through the priority lane. It was still a long line though and we made it through all of the security by just before 12:50. So I, with some of the older kids took off running as soon as we got through and we figured that we could stall them until Rebecca and the younger children caught up. When we got there, they ended up being delayed by 20 minutes so we were not late at all.

The plane ride went great. I think Asher hardly cried at all, but maybe I just didn’t hear him because I had my noise cancelling headphones on. We did have two stinky diapers to deal with from him, which wasn’t that fun. But basically, we all just watched movies and did a little bit of sleeping. At first I was worried about getting the sleeping timed just right, but then I realized that the children were staying up pretty much the whole time to watch movies and play games that they would be tired and ready for bed as soon as we got to Taiwan. That was perfect because we were not getting in until 10pm. The food was all pretty awful. There were two meals and I tried to make sure the children ate half of each one, but I didn’t blame them for not wanting to eat any more than that. They said Asher had to have a baby meal since he was a lap infant and so they brought me to jars of baby food. One was applesauce, which he scarfed down. The other was chicken. He ate one bite and spit that out. I tried it after that and almost threw up. We have never fed our children baby food and I am sure he was wondering what we were trying to put in him. For all of the meals I was really hoping that Rebecca and the children weren’t thinking that all of the food in Taiwan was going to be that bad.

We landed in Hong Kong and had an hour to get to our connecting gate. We did have to go through security again, but it all ended up going smoothly and we made it there in plenty of time. When we got on that final plane, then it really started to hit me that this was going to be a real adventure. On the flight to Hong Kong, there were people of all different nationalities and they said everything in English first. However, on this flight to Taipei, we were the only non-Asian people on the plane. Everything was now Chinese first, and then English. I thought it felt really cool.

After arriving in Taipei we had the usual routine of customs and things like that and it all went really smoothly. Then we had to catch a taxi to our hotel. For all the other nights I picked places that we could walk to and use public transportation, but for this first night I couldn’t figure out how late the buses and trains went and if they were even close to our hotel, so I knew we would have to do a taxi. I wondered what they would do for all of us though. They ended up just having us go in two taxis. Rebecca was worried, but I had remembered that the taxis were still pretty cheap and the cost for a twenty minute ride for both of them was still only $30. On the taxi ride to the hotel I wanted to start up a conversation with the driver, but I was really nervous that he wouldn’t understand me. After a minute or two of working up my courage I did though. And the conversation went great. I was a little slow on processing things, but I did get everything that he said. And I stumbled over my words here and there, but I was able to say everything I wanted. I was so happy about that. But then I thought about Rebecca and the three children that went with her. She couldn’t communicate with her driver at all. What if he got lost or couldn’t figure out which hotel we wanted. I realized that I had the hotel address with me. Scenarios were running through my head about needing to go to all of the police stations in the area to see if any lost Americans had showed up. I just realized how much trust Rebecca and the children are placing in me with this trip. I hope I can make it fun and a worthwhile experience for them.

When we got to the hotel we had another unexpected expense. I had thought I purchased two larger rooms so we could all fit in. The rooms were large, but they charged for extra children that were taller than a certain height. So with the two rooms, Rebecca, Julia, Ethan, and I were covered and Agnes and Asher were too short, but we had to pay $15 more for both Elliott and Christian. So Rebecca, Julia and Agnes are in one room on the fifth floor and I am here with the boys on the sixth. There is a sauna in our room, so we did that, then all took baths, wrote in our journals, and then watched a Spongebob episode. They all fell asleep pretty quickly after that.

So a lot of stressful things came up as we traveled to get here, and some unexpected expenses, but I am so glad that we are here and super excited for the morning!

All of us in the car ride on the way to the airport. Nathanael was nice enough to drive us and take care of our car while we are away. They also sent us off with some donut holes and muffins!



At the Salt Lake airport. Ready for the fun to begin.






The first flight to San Francisco (I guess I mean San Jose).





All set on our flight to Hong Kong. You can see the treats and headphones for movies.






In the Hong Kong airport waiting for a plane to Taiwan. You can tell we are all a little sleep deprived here. But, it was only 7pm Hong Kong time (5am Idaho time).





On the final flight to Taiwan!!!