SFO-YVR flight (2hr15min)
Enjoyed a nice meal in “first” class (thanks to my status upgrade) consisting of asparagus soup, Asian chicken salad and a warm cookie. Also the little bowl of warmed mixed nuts is always tasty.
The one downside was the plane was super cold – I put on my socks, zip pant legs and Icebreaker merino wool cardigan.
YVR airport
Walking from the plane (I think 90% of flights arrive at the 2-3 gates at the very far end of the terminal wings) to immigration, I passed through a First Nations display that included a water feature, and then next to the stairs/escalators down to the immigration hall itself, there was a pebbly-bottomed waterfall.
Breezed through immigration using the Nexus kiosk, then waited and for bags again.
So far, from wake-up alarm, this was from 2 pm Thu until 1:30pm Fri (both Pacific Times), or almost 24 hours.
But wait, there’s more!
After taking the SkyTrain downtown-ish to meet my friend Steve, he kindly drove me to the train station for my 4hr10min Amtrak train to Seattle…
First Nations scene – with water – inside YVR (Vancouver airport)
Waterfall next to stairs/escalators in YVR customs hall
NRT-SFO flight (9 hours)
This flight was on an older 747 which, in stark opposition to the 777 I flew westbound, had no power outlets by the seats and no seatback entertainment system (and only one third of economy was economy plus). Three and a half movies were shown on the overhead monitors (they started the fourth one too late to finish). I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda 2 and Midnight in Paris which were the only ones I watched, as I took a sleeping pill after dinner with wine and actually managed 5 fairly solid hours of sleep in my window seat I even slept through breakfast
Surprisingly I didn’t feel chilled (barefoot, shorts, no sweater).
I did arrive in San Francisco at 9am feeling a little refreshed.
SFO airport
I used the global entry kiosk at SFO to bypass the immigration line (and the questioning by a customs officer), which got me to the baggage carousel quickly so that I could wait. Of course my bags were one of the last ones off (it didn’t help that I didn’t get a “priority” sticker on it like should have been done at checkin).
I had to clear customs and re-check the bags, after which I quickly went into the Red Carpet Club (I had received a status “domestic” upgrade on this international flight) for a coffee with Bailey’s and as light breakfast (half-size yoghurt, a banana, and 3/4 of a toasted bagel with cream cheese as the other 1/4 flopped onto the floor when I was separating the bagel halves for toasting duty).
Can of Cold Peanut Soup from a vending machine with a folded plastic spoon in lid (I didn’t get to taste it)
Golf course on Taiwan northwest coast shortly after takeoff.
Hazy view of downtown from the plane; Taipei 101 is barely visible
View north over Danshui river near Taipei Main Station, on way to airport
Northwest tip of Taiwan
To TPE airport
The air conditioned bus took 50 minutes at 6 am, and cost only NT$125 (US$4.50).
It looked like they are working on a metro line along the highway out towards the international airport.
TPE-NRT flight (3 hours)
This was operated by ANA (All Nippon Airways); all the announcements were in Japanese, Mandarin and English. Being a Japanese airline, I was surprised that there was no Sudoku in the inflight magazine!
I also got to experience regular economy (as opposed to economy plus) as the couple in front of me and my seatmate immediately leaned back all the way, bringing the seatback personal entertainment screen that much closer to my face. There were a few movie choices – I watched Happy Feet, an animated penguin movie, which was cute. The lunch meal was decent, with wine, and kudos to the airline for putting a real quantity of pepper into the little packet, as opposed to the usual barely noticeable amount.
I had a window seat on the right so that I could see the Taiwan coast and had a view of hazy Taipei (having arrived on a cloudy night I didn’t see much then)
Fun feature: the flight showed the image from a forward-facing camera on the overhead monitors for the last 10 minutes of the flight, including during the landing at Tokyo’s Narita airport.
NRT airport
The answer to my previous question is: I gate-checked my rollaboard bag. They were kind enough to put a fragile sticker on it (recall it was mostly empty so I was worried it would get crushed – it looked fine when I claimed it in SFO). Though when I rechecked it after customs for my next flight, the baggage guy really wanted to close it (no way).
I also lost my cold peanut soup can I had bought at TPE (just to try it for fun) since I forgot about it in my carry on bag when going through the connecting flights security area at NRT.
One of the things I bought at NRT (besides cough drops) was strawberry kitkats (chocolate bar), which I had never seen before. Not bad, though a little sweet for my liking.
Actual waterfall next to stairs and escalator when going down to immigration hall
Yes, I know it’s insane, but my cheap Taipei flight required me to return to Canada, so I flew to Vancouver and am taking the Amtrak train to Seattle in a few hours, after I visit with my friend Steve.
In short, my Toronto-Seattle one way flight, with a detour to Tapei, turned into:
YYZ-ORD-NRT-TPE followed by TPE-NRT-SFO-YVR-train_to_Seattle
Which also means I passed through US Customs & Immigration each way despite connecting through (unlike Japan where you could transfer through without immigration)
I survived my 5am alarm clock and slog out to TPE airport. At least there wasn’t any bad traffic.
Exchanged my last TWD for JPY to buy some chocolates and, more importantly, some more cough drops as I’m coughing up a storm today. I’m sure my seatmate and others nearby appreciate that.
Now I’m debating if I should “gate”-check a nearly-empty rollaboard carry-on since the handle won’t close all the way (will it get crushed in cargo?), or put it in sideways in the overhead bin and annoy other people on a full 747?
(I have a knapsack which has my carry on stuff – it fit into the rollaboard)
Also a new blister today in a new place – on the side of my heel. Never had one there before that I can recall. Sigh
I managed to get a blister on each little two the first 2 days (first one foot, then the other). Oof, feel like I’ve been limping all week. Not fun.
I didn’t get to bike the riverside today as I had planned, mostly because it turns out you can’t rent from one location and return to another (plus it was getting late in the day, and being tropical here, it does get dark early). I did pick up a cycling trail map from the tourist office, and it is quite impressive! There are 3 rivers that come together in Taipei, and they all have trails (plus some street bike lanes too). You could easily bike for hours along the rivers, even up to Danshui/Tamsui which is practically on the coast.
And yes, I did do the needle & thread through the blister trick (thanks to dad for that one almost exactly 10 years ago when I was in Kyoto, Japan).
Oh, and the rash on the inner elbows and inner knees. It might be a heat rash, but I noticed it after the public hot springs… It took me a few days to find my anti-biotic ointment though!
Yesterday I took it easy (lots of sleep!) and rode the metro around, as parts of it are above ground. While underground, I read up on Taiwan history in my Lonely Planet guide (pdf on my smart phone – I bought a few electronic chapters, not the physical book).
Anyways, I called Chiang Kai-Shek one of the founders of Taiwan (big statue of him etc.) but it turns out he was a dictator who ruled with martial law and is not liked, to say the least. Oops. To wit: most of the statues of him have been removed from public squares, the international airport was renamed to Taoyuan International Airport, and even the square around his memorial hall was renamed.
Side note: the international airport is an hour west of Taipei, while a domestic airport with its own metro station is right in town (when I was at the Confucius Temple, the planes were coming in overhead for landings).
Set an alarm to try a recommended Taiwanese breakfast (inc. salted soy milk), and plan on going out to get some more photos (from top of Taipei 101, as weather is better) and maybe a bike ride along the river. And a different night market (Shida) tonight near one of the universities. And a little shopping.
