The simple action of slipping on old hiking boots seems innocuous enough, but the last time I had the boots on my feet, I was on a different continent. The anxiety started to rise as I put all the gear next to the front door. As with my previous trips, I was wandering throughout the house for the last hour or so to figure out if I had remembered everything, or if there was one last item I forgot to pack. Did I need the 32 degree sleeping bag for the mountains? Was the house in order for Jaime to live without me? Could everything be set on auto-pilot? None of these questions had immediate answers, but I knew the answers would come to me once I was on the road.
The great land of America left me with one funny stupid moment before leaving. At the ticket counter, the ticketing agent was reviewing my Taiwan visa. She noticed that the visitor visa was for 60 days and then said "You have a problem with your visa. Your trip is more than 60 days (as she was counting the weeks on her fingers)." I replied that I was leaving from Bangkok on December 17th and I was only in Taiwan for five weeks. She acknowledged as if I was telling her something she already knew, then I realized that she didn't know the difference between Taiwan and Thailand. Not again! Are you friggin' kidding me!?
The trip was extremely long, but I was lucky to arrive before the typhoon. Peter and I were supposed to go snorkeling this weekend, but likely not with the rain. It is really coming down hard now! No worries. It will take a day or two to get over the jet lag and to get a feel for the city anyways. I should be back to full speed by Monday.
More on the accommodations and my cousin Peter later.
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