We have some coffee and tea in the lobby area, but this morning William is craving a big breakfast. A hamburger or sandwich will not do. I extend my Google search and find N.Y. Bagels Cafe near the Taipei Main Train Station, a 20 minute walk per Google calculations. We get on our walking shoes and go!
The walk to the station is familiar - through the North Gate. City Mall is almost deserted, but the Q Square with it’s upscale stores has more foot traffic. We find N.Y. Bagels Cafe across from the Starbucks in Q Square. We settle in to a cozy booth and order American-style breakfasts, Steak and eggs for William and scrambled eggs and bacon for me. Mmmm. It’s a very expensive breakfast by Taipei standards ($34 USD), but worth every cent.
The walk to the station is familiar - through the North Gate. City Mall is almost deserted, but the Q Square with it’s upscale stores has more foot traffic. We find N.Y. Bagels Cafe across from the Starbucks in Q Square. We settle in to a cozy booth and order American-style breakfasts, Steak and eggs for William and scrambled eggs and bacon for me. Mmmm. It’s a very expensive breakfast by Taipei standards ($34 USD), but worth every cent.
Following breakfast we walk to Shandao Temple, the largest Buddhist Temple in Taiwan, then continue exploring the city heading back to the Roader’s Hotel. We arrive around 1 pm. This gives us plenty of time to take a short nap, shower and finish packing before we leave the hotel at 4 pm.
The hotel arranges for a fixed-priced taxi to the airport. It costs $1,000 TWD ($33 USD), a savings of $600 TWD ($20 USD) over what we paid on our arrival. Our temperatures are scanned as we enter the airport. We answer the mostly-standard questions about coronavirus at the check-in counter then breeze through security and immigration. Soon we are settled into the lounge, snacking as we await our flight.
The hotel arranges for a fixed-priced taxi to the airport. It costs $1,000 TWD ($33 USD), a savings of $600 TWD ($20 USD) over what we paid on our arrival. Our temperatures are scanned as we enter the airport. We answer the mostly-standard questions about coronavirus at the check-in counter then breeze through security and immigration. Soon we are settled into the lounge, snacking as we await our flight.
EVA Airlines flight to Chicago is scheduled to depart at 8:10pm and arrive at 8:45pm - seemingly just 35 minutes but actually 13 hours and 35 minutes. The flight is delayed 20 minutes in boarding, but the staff is efficient once we are on the plane. But then, the plane is hardly full. We are two of the seven people in the Premium Economy section which holds 64. The flight attendants are so efficient that we feel rushed through our meal, with the ice cream for dessert arriving when our meal is only half-eaten.
We arrive at O’Hare a few minutes early. The International Terminal at O’Hare always means a 15-20 minute walk to Immigration. As we start to get close to the Immigration Hall we encounter a long line. OMG ... we have efficiently been processed through Immigration 12 times in different countries since January 9th. The worst is the US. The queue is at least 500 people. The sad part is that I don’t think the US is being more thorough or discriminating than a country like Singapore. William and I are happy we took extra steps a couple of years ago - we have Global Entry which allows us to use a kiosk and avoid the long queue.
We catch a shuttle to an O’Hare hotel for the night. We hit the hotel bar for an appetizer (chicken wings) and some beverages then grab some zzzzzz’s. I’m able to sleep until 8 am, but William only makes it to 6:30 am.
We arrive at O’Hare a few minutes early. The International Terminal at O’Hare always means a 15-20 minute walk to Immigration. As we start to get close to the Immigration Hall we encounter a long line. OMG ... we have efficiently been processed through Immigration 12 times in different countries since January 9th. The worst is the US. The queue is at least 500 people. The sad part is that I don’t think the US is being more thorough or discriminating than a country like Singapore. William and I are happy we took extra steps a couple of years ago - we have Global Entry which allows us to use a kiosk and avoid the long queue.
We catch a shuttle to an O’Hare hotel for the night. We hit the hotel bar for an appetizer (chicken wings) and some beverages then grab some zzzzzz’s. I’m able to sleep until 8 am, but William only makes it to 6:30 am.
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