OFF I GO
Yay. Finally.Taiwan~~! I came month early because I wanted to celebrate Lunar New Years in Taiwan with my relatives. I haven't been in Taiwan for New Years since I moved to America, so now is a good chance :D PLUS. I had a lot of "business" that I want to do before school starts. First would be LASIK (if you are interested, I have an page dedicated to that). Also, there's the NTU dorm deposit fee and health exam. They sent me my dorm information around the first week of January, so I wanted to just wire the money from the bank account in Taiwan and avoid that transaction fee + currency conversion flunctuation. The health exams are cheaper in Taiwan as compared to the United States, even if I don't have NHI (the required National Health Insurance for all Taiwanese citizens).
I took China Airline because it's way cheaper than EVA airline at this time of the year. BTW, I booked my airfare from STA Travel because they have discounts for people under 25 years old. It was my first time booking ticket from a third-party site, so I was paranoid. (what if something goes wrong? what if the site was not legit? what if the airline wouldn't recognize my booking? what if....) BUT. when I went to the counter at the airport, it went pretty smooth. VERY smooth actually. The line wasn't that long. (My flight departed at 1:05 AM, I arrived around 10:00, boarding started at 12) When I got to the front of the counter, I basically threw everything (booking confirmation printout, passport, debit card) I have at the guy. However, it turned out that he doesn't really need it?? I'm not too sure though. I don't think he really looked at the confirmation page, and he didn't even need my debit card. So I don't know. This whole process went faster than any other time I travelled abroad. It felt kinda unreal...by the time it started to feel real, I'm already past the security. OH. I forgot to mention earlier, but I brought 2 Suitcase + 1 Giant Victoria Secret Bag + a Backpack + my Laptop Bag + 2 pesonal bag. Yeah, I know. that's more than the carryon limit, so I stuffed the laptop bag and personal bags inside the VS Bag. Yes. It fits cuhs my VS bag is that big and it was pretty much empty.
When I landed, it was 5:55 AM local time. I wanted to get the SIM Card at the airport since airport has better deals when it comes to unlimited internet + calling, but it doesn't open until 10 am (I think?). Oh wells. Don't worry too much about getting the SIM card at airport though, there are carriers everywhere in the city. As for transportation, my uncle's company is in charge of the screens (you know, the ones that has the arrival and departing information) at the airport, and since they were working on putting new screens on at the time, my uncle was pretty much at the airport all night. So my point is. I didn't have to wait or worry about the transportation; I had my uncle driving me. Yay. But for those of you who do have to worry about transportation, there's still the bus and taxi that you can take.
