Tips and Tricks

1. Order specialty meals on the plane - you get your food first and it's YUMMY!

2. Travel with post-it notes. I bought some of these on our first day to cover all the bright lights from air-conditioning units and other electronics in the rooms where we are sleeping. (Another option would be to wrap some black electrical tape around the top of a pencil for this purpose.)

3. Bring changes of clothing on your carry-ons, AND plastic bags. The changes of clothing just seem like a good idea in case luggage is delayed. But on our trip to FL, Weese puked on the plane, and on THIS trip, Stew peed himself (and his dad), so not only have changes of clothing come in REALLY handy, but so have the bags to put the smelly, soiled laundry!

4. Go before you go. Public bathrooms don't exist in abundance in Taiwan so keep that in mind before you head out.

5. Skirts are WAY better in humidity than capris.

6. Take tissue or napkins in your purse/bag. Though eating places abound, they DON'T generally give you napkins with your food purchase OR have napkins sitting out for the taking.

7. Bring an air mattress. Ours has saved us from hard beds a few times, and has augmented the sleeping accommodations in smaller rooms.

8. Bring a flat sheet or two. I completely spaced this, though it had been in the plan. I simply wanted something to cover the air mattress with, but I would have used it almost daily had I remembered it. First, not one of the beds in any of the places we've stayed has provided sheets. You get the mattress and the blanket. The end. At the Catholic hostel, for example, I would have loved something between me and the blanket used by hundreds of other cheap travelers. AND a flat sheet would have provided a faster clean-up after snacks had we eaten on it in any of the places we stayed. Shaking a sheet is better than endlessly sweeping. To both these ends, I also intended to bring a sarong as a swim-suit cover-up. It might have passed as a sheet, a picnic blanket, given added privacy or darkness to windows, been a clean surface to set a clean batch of laundry on, been something to bundle the dirty laundry in, provided extra shade attached to the stroller, AND covered me on the way to and from the pool! Dang!

9. Now we're in our home base, I'm missing sticky tacky to hang pictures to make this place just a bit more our own.

10. For LDS readers, bring hymn books in English. It would be much nicer to be able to sing in church, even in a different language, than not sing at all. We've found the popular hymns here are very different from the popular hymns back at home. (The web-based tools provided by the church have not been very convenient, as hymn numbers are different here, and I haven't found where to look up hymns by name using the online tools.)

11. Carry empty plastic bags with you to the 7-11's or grocery stores if you are going to buy more than you can carry. They charge now for bags when you shop for food. Clothing stores and markets still provide bags for free.

12. Stroller. If you have any marginally small children, bring one! They are a godsend when littler people are tired, and when they aren't, it can haul your purchases at the morning market!

13. Bring an extra bag to put dirty laundry so you don't have to carry the stinky stuff with the clean. And bring laundry detergent for a stay of a few weeks. Some laundromats provide it, but knowing YOUR luck, you won't have enough change for your loads AND the soap or the dispensing machine will be out of order. The other nice thing about bringing your own is it's a familiar brand- you know how much per load to use and you know how it cleans.

14. Speaking of laundry, don't bring too many clothes. I think I brought us 10 days of summer clothes. It's about 3 days too many. The machines here in people's homes are SERIOUSLY SO SMALL that you will want to do laundry frequently to not be stuck doing it forever and having no where to dry it all. Doing a batch every few days means you will have a steady stream of clean clothes, reducing your need to have MORE clothes. Only bring enough clothing for your longest stay away from accessible washing machines.

15. Consider a leash for little people. I get funny looks when my 3 year old is in his, but it has saved him from trips, falls, from dashing to the edge of the train platform, or slipping between legs on the crowded subway. It's saved him from getting too far ahead, from getting hit by a car, and when I am trying to talk to a stranger in a strange language with 4 kids in tow, a leash helps me to always know where my little one is, even if I can't always keep my eye on him!

16. Bring, don't buy. Yes, shopping in Taiwan is a lot of fun. Yes, you can find almost anything here, and the prices are good. And between kids AND luggage, it can feel like you are hauling a lot and you may want to off-load. But if there is anything you NEED that you have at home, don't pack so light that you don't bring it. We made this mistake on a few items. (Walking shoes, bug spray, batteries, etc.) Once here, we discovered sure, we COULD buy what we needed, but finding where, getting there, getting back, or having enough cash on hand when we happened upon something, ensuring quality, getting a good price, making out what was what from unfamiliar brands and all the Chinese on the labels, ALL with kids in tow who have OTHER ideas about what fun looks like (that don't usually include a list of errands) translates into BRING the stuff you need. You'll be glad you did!

17. Planning your island tour: IF you want to see all of Taiwan, and it's LOVELY to do so, and it's a smallish country so it IS totally doable, consider doing it in a loop tour fashion. Yes, this requires more stamina from every member of the family, but the alternative is WAY more expensive. On a tour, you can travel from one destination to the next with next to no back-tracking. If you are touring, you also likely aren't paying for another place to stay while you travel around. Our island tour took apx 18 days. I highly recommend booking accommodations through Airbnb.com if you are traveling with more than 1 small child. Our Asian friends were quite impressed with where we stayed for the prices we payed. (Though Taiwan has similar sights to Airbnb, for us English speakers, and between the search options and safety features of Airbnb, I didn't find anywhere that was a better tool.) And as often as possible, hit big destinations mid-week and off season. OUR tour was in Sept. Mostly the crowds we encountered (not too too many) were from mainland China. If you can get out first thing in the morning and be wrapping up for rest and dinner around 2 or 3 pm, you should miss the bulk of the mainland Chinese tour bus crowds as well.

18. Finding a home base: If you plan to stay put largely in one place for all or a part of your stay in Taiwan, here are some considerations to keep in mind when hunting for perfect digs. First, look for a furnished place. My husband made some off-hand comment about being able to furnish a place, but here's the thing: who will be taking you to furniture stores? Who will be hauling your furniture? Even if you think you'll rough it and go furniture light, what about dishes? towels? bedding? pots, pans, and small cooking appliances? what about hangers for your clothing? a sponge to clean dishes, etc. etc. etc. etc. The cost and hassle of buying these things just to leave them when you go or try to sell them simply isn't worth the increased cost if you can find something even simply furnished.  If it's furnished, ask about mattresses, unless you are okay sleeping on very hard, Taiwan style beds. If you will drive a car (and more thoughts on that to come), look for a place with free, near-by, convenient parking. If you won't be driving, be sure you are near convenient public transportation. Being close to a grocery store and/or market is nice too - remember, with smaller fridge space (and you may want to confirm fridge sizes because one of the homes we stayed in only had a beverage fridge), you will be shopping a lot more often. Another odd but necessary thing to look for is closet space. Closets are NOT planned into floor plans here. They certainly are not a given. Even in newer buildings. In our first stay, the rooms were not even large enough to fit a closet. I say ask about closets, because a proper chest of drawers is practically out of the question. But if you are hunting for a home base, at least a closet may keep you from living out of suitcases. And confirm a washing machine (dryer if you are INCREDIBLY fortunate) or the convenience of a laundromat. Finally, consider the activity needs of your family. If you are accustomed to a yard, try to find somewhere with a park near-by. Many apartment complexes have a small playground in them. Newer high rises should have less of an insect problem, but that isn't always a given. Much depends on your neighbors and their cleanliness habits. If you are in a high-rise, there should be a garbage room and policy. Older homes are serviced by nightly runs of the garbage truck. When you hear a tinny-sounding ice-cream truck, that is your cue to grab your trash and head out to meet the waste workers - no ice cream provided!

19. My advice on vehicles. Driving in Taiwan is stressful! There are people in AND out of vehicles everywhere! The fear of hurting yourself or others with a vehicle gives many a traveler pause when considering driving in Taiwan. Of my 4 times in Taiwan, this has been the only time I have driven, though Q did most of the driving. We chose driving over using the abundant and mostly convenient public transportation for a few reasons. Driving, we could come and go according to our convenience and whims. We didn't have to worry about buying train tickets or hauling our little people and ALL their stuff through MRT stations or staying safe on the side of the road while we waited for a bus to come. Though driving IS nerve wracking, so it riding in a bus or cab here - something about being behind a wheel just translates into crazy aggression for most Taiwanese drivers. (Aggression should not be confused with anger. Road rage isn't even heard of.) So driving provided a smoother transit for everyone in the car not responsible for getting from A to B safely. Our van also provided a home base away from home. It held all our stuff, allowing us to take into our accommodations only what we needed for the nights we stayed in any given place. The definite down-side of the vehicle was the cost. We got a better deal because of our extended rental period (over 2 weeks) but at $60/day, that added up fast. And with our digs averaging about $100/night, it might have been tempting to try and get around a bit faster than we did. We just didn't have the family stamina to have everyone hit it hard core day after day after day. (Avoiding hot spots on the weekends was a nice, mandatory break to sit down and/or catch up on laundry.) NOW we are in our home base, I am glad we DON'T drive. Even with a provided parking stall in our building, parking isn't a guarantee anywhere else! And I think the kids enjoy amusing the riders on the MRT with their antics far more than they would enjoy being strapped into seat belts and sitting in traffic. Now, IF we had a car we could drive only when needed, but could otherwise take the public transportation options, that would be heaven!