I thought I had planned well, but I had not checked the weather. 

There was a typhoon that had decided that it was going to strike a glancing blow at Taiwan.  The Pilot came on and said he would have to change the route, adding an hour to an already long 14 hour flight.  Total flight time-now 15 hours. 

For that long of a flight, I had to continue go to the back of the plane and do deep knee bends just to remain limber.  I was going to need all my strength and flexibility when I landed in Taipei. 

I arrived in Taipei on Saturday, 7 p.m. local time.    It was raining due to the tail end of the typhoon.

 Taipei Airport Immigration and Customs

Taipei Airport-inside the lobby

I had already researched the bus system and was ready to go when I hit the ground.  Within 15 minutes I was on the bus into Taipei.  After a one hour bus ride the bus driver let me out a couple of blocks from the Taipei Hilton where I would be staying.  I walked the last 3 blocks in the rain. 

I quickly checked in and showed my plans to the concierge.  He helped me out by writing instructions on a card in Chinese for each destination where I wanted to go. I could quickly hand them to any taxi driver and maximize use of my time.  Taxi drivers in Taipei generally don’t speak English. 

By this time it was 9 p.m. and the clock was ticking.  I was losing precious time. I better hurry.  I had to leave tomorrow!!

Steve Barrymore

Next-The race is on!

post your comments here or e-mail me at ssb11@prodigy.net

See all my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com:

Travel tips:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/travel-tips/

Colombia:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/

Mexico:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/

Caribbean island of Barbuda:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/

San Juan  with a 5 hour layover:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puerto-rico/

Fly around the U.S. for the day:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/

 When I boarded the American Airlines 777 in San Jose, my seatmate was a Taiwanese woman who asked me how long I was planning to vacation in Taipei.  I told her “only one night”.  She didn’t believe me, so I called Carol on my cell phone and asked her to talk with the lady and tell her my plan.  Carol agreed(reluctantly) to speak with her on the phone.

 Here is my new  best friend from Taiwan-my seatmate

My new friend listened intently to what Carol was telling her.  She finally said “I think your husband must be crazy, but our mayor should give him the key to the city for doing this”.  Whereas Carol replied, “I think he must be crazy too, but just humor him on the 14 hour flight!”. 

After thinking about it for awhile, my new friend volunteered for her family to give me a ride from the airport into the city to my hotel.  I politely declined telling her I needed to master the airport bus system while I was there. 

I then buckled up for the flight.  It was only supposed to take 14 hours, but a typhoon was making its appearance!!  Add 1 hour.

Steve Barrymore

 Next-The flight over the water-

Post your comments here or e-mail me at ssb11@prodigy.net

See all my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com:

Travel tips:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/travel-tips/

Colombia:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/

Mexico:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/

Caribbean island of Barbuda:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/

San Juan  with a 5 hour layover:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puerto-rico/

Fly around the U.S. for the day:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/

Here was the plan: ( Continued) 

I would leave Oklahoma City at 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning, fly to Dallas, then to San Jose, CA and on to Taipei across the international dateline, arriving there at 7 p.m. on Saturday and leaving on Sunday at 2 pm.   I would be back home by 7 p.m. Sunday (total trip time-61 hours) leaving only 19 hours on the ground to see the city!

 I purchased the ticket and for the next two weeks spent every evening laying out a plan to maximize my time in Taipei. 

Due to time restrictions, I decided to concentrate on just seeing everything possible in the Southwest quadrant of the city.  Every night I poured over the map doing my best to memorize the layout of the city.  I planned every minute of the 19 hours in quarter-hour segments. I was energized by the challenge.  

 I booked a room at the Taipei Hilton in the center of the SW quadrant across the street from the Taipei main subway station to maximize my time, and yet still be able to catch a few hours of sleep to avoid total exhaustion. 

I left Oklahoma City with $200, a Chinese phrase book, my rollaboard luggage, and a great sense of adventure!

Next-The 15 hour flight to Taipei

Post you comments here or e-mail me at ssb11@prodigy.net

Steve Barrymore

See all my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com:

Travel tips:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/travel-tips/

Colombia:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/

Mexico:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/

Caribbean island of Barbuda:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/

San Juan  with a 5 hour layover:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puerto-rico/

Fly around the U.S. for the day:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/

I got to thinking about some of the BEST trips I have ever taken and thought I would do a few blogs on one that was not only a challenge, but REALLY fun as well!  So here it is:

A couple of years ago I was surfing the net looking for low air fares. I spotted a new route on AA from Oklahoma City to Taipei through San Jose, California. They were offering some incredible introductory fares for a limited time.  Plus, I could rack up a bunch of frequent flyer miles since they were paving the route with bonuses!  It would be the ultimate mileage run!!

I mentioned to my wife Carol, how much I had always wanted to see Taipei. She replied, “you’re not getting any younger, why don’t you just go”? She couldn’t get away, but didn’t want to prevent me from going.

The only problem was that the cheap fare remaining was for a flight in two weeks, on Mother’s Day weekend, leaving on a Friday and returning Sunday—just for a weekend! Carol said as long as I was home on Sunday, and bought her a Mother’s Day present in Taipei, she would be fine with me going to Taipei just for the weekend.

I would have only 61 hours total to fly across the Pacific to Taipei, see the city, and be home. What a great challenge and with only 2 weeks to plan the entire trip!! Was I up for it?  You bet!

Here was the plan: (to be continued)

Post your comments here or e-mail me at ssb11@prodigy.net

Steve Barrymore

Next-The plan is put into place

See all my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com:

Colombia:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/

Mexico:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/

Caribbean island of Barbuda:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/

San Juan  with a 5 hour layover:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puerto-rico/

Fly around the U.S. for the day:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/

A couple of years ago I asked my wife, Carol, what she would like to do for her birthday that was fast approaching.  She said “I don’t know, but make it something different, surprise me”!

So, being the ardent traveler I am, I bought 2 round trip tickets for $150 each to fly us around the U.S. for the entire day to celebrate her birthday.We left OKC at 6:30 a.m. and flew to Chicago (ORD) where we had her birthday breakfast.

Here’s Carol having her birthday breakfast in the Admiral’s Club at Chicago, O’Hare

From ORD we flew to Tampa (TPA) and had brunch. From TPA we flew to Miami (MIA). In the Miami airport outside of security, but still in the airport, there is a hotel. On the 7th floor of the hotel is a restaurant with panoramic views of the runway. It was there where we had her birthday dinner while watching the big jumbo jets land from around the world.

The view from the Miami Airport hotel restaurant that overlooks the runways

Carol getting ready to order birthday dinner at the Miami Airport hotel Restaurant

 Here’s dinner.  Chicken Fettuccine on the left, in the middle is what’s left of conch fritters.  I had the salmon salad–great!

After dinner, we boarded a plane for the flight back to Chicago for a late night snack and then back to OKC where we landed around midnight. 5 flight segments in total. It was 18 hours of being together on her birthday.

On each leg, e.g. OKC-ORD, I gave her a different birthday present with the city codes marked on the outside of the package. Did the same for ORD-TPA, TPA-MIA, MIA-ORD, ORD-OKC legs.  They were small gifts like a Borders gift card, small box of Godivas, etc, etc, you get the idea. 5 presents in all.

Naturally, all the meals were in the airports because of the connection time needed to do that many flights.The fun part of the trip was telling the story to the people we met along the way in airports and on the flights. They really enjoyed hearing about a most unusual birthday present.

For Carol, it was certainly a most unusual present. She couldn’t wait to get back and tell all her friends what an crazy birthday she had!

Steve–

See my other travel blogs on NewsOk.com:

Colombia:http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/colombia/   Mexico:http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/mexico/    
                                                       Caribbean island of Barbuda:                    http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/barbuda/     
San Juan with a 5 hour layover:                                  http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/san-juan-puerto-rico/        

Fly around the U.S. for the day:                                                http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer/category/day-trip/