Finding Joy: Traveling for a LONG time!

We are in Taipei!!
And I have to say, finally! It was a long trip, but not difficult. Just a long time to be in one seat! Just so you know, EVA air's Evergreen Class (Business Class) is NOT the same as the way I was flown to Japan to sing (First Class)! I didn't realize just how spoiled I had been flying with my own "pod" to recline in! I hope being grateful in retrospect counts!

We had bulkhead seats which were nice enough. Had room to stretch our legs out on the bulkhead but not much room in the seat to squirm. But we survived! And we even slept, so when we got here, we felt pretty decent, which surprised me.

A few irrelevant observations about Taipei -
The airport signage is in English and Chinese, but not too many people speak English. So while the sign pointed us in one direction to catch the shuttle to the hotel, another person told us to go a different direction. We finally found a bus that would take us - a city bus! It was kinda wild! Worked just fine, but we certainly had no idea where we were or how long it would take to get there! It was much cheaper than a cab, so we were content to just let it happen. We didn't think we could check into the hotel so early anyway, so we got a nice tour of the city.

Which brings me to - Thank you, Mother, for wanting to go to China and for taking me with you! It was the perfect preparation for this trip!! I felt like I wasn't worried about finding our way and things just felt kinda familiar. Taipei, or at least the part we saw at first from the bus, reminds me of what Beijing might have looked like 10 years ago, before the government starting pouring money into it. Lots of industrial warehouses, dogs running around the sidewalks but with coats on and not interested in chasing the scooters, and English translations that were iffy to say the least! (One run-down restaurant said "Beauty Palace Restaurant". Huh?)

Then we got to Taipei proper. It looks like I expected Beijing to look like, honestly! Lots and lots of scooters. I mean LOTS!! No wonder Joy asked us if we owned a motor bike! I don't think I could manage taking the bike to get groceries though! Hopefully, she'll be happy enough with a car ride instead.

We are staying at the Sheraton and they are wonderful! We checked in at 9:30am for no extra charge! And we got a late checkout when we leave. They upgraded us to Executive level. (This poor little girl is going to think we are the richest people she's ever known....) It's nice. It's also easy and comfortable and worth it. (I highly recommend Starwood vacation points!)
We had a great breakfast (just like the breakfast buffets we had in China, Mom) and time to take a shower and change clothes and write this.

And now, we are about to leave to meet Joy. We have our play day and our "date" at McDonalds at 3:00. We'll be there about 2 hours. Then she stays there tonight. We'll do paperwork and then we'll take her with us tomorrow.

Today, we're taking a disposable camera for her to use tonight to take pictures of her friends and caregivers. We're also bringing our Colorado Rockies squishy softball to play with at the park. And the camera(s) and the flip video.

Yes, we're excited. Anxious a little bit. I've only changed clothes 3 times....and fought with the blowdryer (remember the one on the boat on the Yangtzee, mother, that you had to hold the button down while you dried your hair?) which took a while. Tim is studying his Mandarin (wo ai ni). But, we are also pretty calm. We're ready, or as ready as we can be! Just want to stay in the moment the whole time so we can remember it for a lifetime!

Here are some pictures -

Our Gorgeous Room at the Sheraton!

Our seatmate on the flight to Seattle. She was from China, dating a guy from Taiwan. She worked in Kansas (for the boy scouts?) and he was working in Canada. They were spending their holiday together in Seattle. She told me that in China, you have children so they can take care of you when you get old. So, make sure I teach her how to do dishes and laundry and clean the house! :)