I am happy to report that approximately 24 hours after leaving Austin, Texas we arrived at our hotel in Taipei safe and sound!
We landed in Taipei at 10:00pm as scheduled. The flight itself was uneventful albeit a bit bumpy thanks to Typhoon Bilis which was heading to our same destination. The little girls and Courtney slept a great deal of the twelve hour flight. Montie and I managed to get some sleep between kidney kicks from the girls who were sprawled across our laps.
Two overtired 5 year olds waiting for luggage in Taipei!
We had the coolest experience before our trip even started. While waiting in line at LAX we met up with a couple from Joplin, Missouri. They were on their way to Taipei to pick up their 4 month old little boy they were adopting from an orphanage in Taiwan. They had never seen him and told us the people who ran the orphanage were bringing him to the airport to meet them when we landed. While we probably weren’t quite as excited as they were, we were plenty excited for them and we also couldn’t wait to meet the sweet little boy. After meeting back up with the couple at baggage claim in Taipei we were able to walk out to the waiting area with them. We were so fortunate and be with them when they met their adorable baby for the very first time. What an amazing thing to witness! It was something I don’t think any of us will ever forget.
Kim and baby Jack. He is absolutely adorable!
We also got the opportunity to meet the couple that ran the orphanage. They are from the US, but have been in Taiwan since 1969 running an orphanage. What incredible people. You could just tell from meeting them what wonderful people they were and how lucky those babies were to be cared for by these people. Again, I just can’t describe how incredibly lucky we all feel to have witnessed something so awesome.
After clearing customs, getting our luggage, crying and congratulating Mark and Kim and visiting with the couple who ran the orphanage we were ready to get to our hotel. The man who ran the orphanage encouraged us to save money and take a bus rather than a taxi to get to our hotel in Taipei. He said “it’s super easy and much cheaper than a taxi.” Perhaps it was cheaper, but it certainly wasn’t easy. We had no clue what bus to take. Montie was smart enough to have the name and address of the hotel written down to show the ticket person, but we weren’t entirely sure they understood where it was we wanted to go. After lots of gesturing and confused looks we were directed to the two story green bus for the 30 minute ride from the airport to downtown Taipei.
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Courtney sitting in the big green bus!
The person at the ticket counter said our hotel was across the street from the Hyatt and we should get off at the “Hyatt stop” and it would be an easy walk. Ok, we thought…How hard could it be to find the Hyatt? Even in English we couldn’t understand the driver as he announced the different stops and from the second story of the bus we couldn’t read the names of the hotels very well (not that we can really read Chinese). We had a few tense moments worried we were going to miss our stop. Luckily we didn’t miss the Hyatt stop, but as it turned out, our hotel was actually about 2 miles from the Hyatt. Certainly not the quick walk promised at the bus station and certainly not a walk we could take in the dark, at midnight and in the middle of a typhoon. Thankfully a kind bus passenger who spoke passable English let us know and we were able to quickly find a taxi. A after driving around in what seemed like circles for 15 minutes we made it safely to the Asiaworld Taipei.
Arriving at the hotel around 1:00am (local time) with our bodies thinking it was lunchtime, we ordered sandwiches from room service and attempted to sleep.
