The flight was long, but uneventful. We all slept some -- I got the most, Jonathan got the least. We arrived in Taipei at 6:30 a.m., and then waited at the gate for our stroller to come off the plane like all the others, and waited, and waited. Finally, after all the passengers had deplaned, and the crew had debriefed and walked off, the gate attendant let us know that the stroller had been taken down to baggage claim. By the time we left the gate area, all of the passengers from our plane had gone their ways, and the arrival area was vacant. As a result, we had the slightly eerie experience of walking through a major airport, going through customs, and retrieving our luggage -- alone. The pictures give some indication of how empty it was, but only some.
We took a cab to the hotel. Impressions of the drive: (1) Taipei is a big, sprawling, smoggy city; (2) 130 kph/85 mph per hour was way, way too fast for the traffic we were in; and (3) the airport is further away frm the city than I realized.
We're staying at the Royal Biz Taipei, and it's nice (that's not intended to be faint praise). We have a suite, and while it's not large, it's stylish and modern. It took me more than a few minutes to figure out the master control panel by the bed -- you can control the temperature, each of the lights, and the TV all from the nightstand. Very nice. The only feature missing from the room is clothing space. There is no dresser and we've had to put clothes into every nook and cranny we can find.
After settling in, we explored our little corner of the city, but before we got three blocks, we were stopped by a friendly lady who, in friendly but broken English, insisted that we join their birthday celebration and sample their food. As expected, it was delicious.
After making our goodbyes, we walked down to Da'an Park, where Shelley and I enjoyed the scenery...
While the kids reluctantly posed for a picture...
And then blew off some pent-up energy!
We finished the day by taking the MRT to the Main Train Station, getting a late afternoon snack, and then returning to the hotel room for an early evening. The MRT is a real gem -- clean, fast, convenient.
Overall, a great first day.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your blog! So happy we can share in your journey. Many prayers for you and your ohana. Blessings on all of you!
ReplyDeleteLove Dave, Kellee, Garrett, Rachel & Koa
Thank you for sharing this journey with us. Enjoy this trip of a lifetime. We look forward to your safe return and to meeting Malia!
ReplyDeletePS-my elementary school had a metal bar play structure similar to the one the boys are pictured on. Those were the best! Jessy and fam
I look forward to following along! Thanks for sending me the blog address! How cool that you were invited to join a birthday celebration.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind me asking, how long after dossier submission did you receive the call to travel? I've heard people say there is NO notice of each court hearing and it sounds like you guys experienced that as well. We're about to start the authentication process and would love to make a good guess as to when we could travel.
Cassandra, we would have to review the records to know exact dates - we submitted the dossier last summer, got our PAIR approval in September, learned that the materials had been submitted to the Court in late December/early January (some miscommunication on that issue), learned that the first hearing had already occurred in mid-March, then got our call to travel on March 25. Not sure if we are at all typical, but that was our timeline.
ReplyDeleteGreat! Thank you! It's hard to determine what is "typical" since Taiwan has made changes and there haven't been a lot of adoptions since the changes...
DeleteCassandra, Shelley reminded me that we did get a head's up on the first court date; in late February we were informed that our first court date would be on March 6, so we did know it was coming. Then we heard about the result. So there was a bit more information than I recalled.
DeleteThank you for inviting me to this blog! We are very excited for your family and are enjoying being able to follow along!
ReplyDelete