For those of you in the know, this won’t be much of a surprise, but if you aren’t, allow me to share some news. While I haven’t been able to travel much this year, I’ll be ringing in the new year with my mom and my brother in the ancestral motherland of Taiwan! We’ll be spending ten days primarily traveling around the western coast, with Taipei being our base. Other than the capital, we’ll be visiting a troika of cities: Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, with a day trip to Taroko gorge. All in all it’s a pretty eventful itinerary in which my wonderful mom deserves the credit for putting together. Unlike other trips, we won’t be staying in the same place all the time, which is actually neat since that means we have to maximize our time.

What I’m excited for is the fact that I’ll be able to see where my mom grew up and reconnect with my ancestry, and with my family to boot! Or really, this will give me a chance to dive wholeheartedly in to the culture my mom has shown me glimmers of. I’ve heard plenty of awesome things about the country, so seeing the people, the unique culture, and the food is going to be ten days of bliss!

I realize that it’ll for sure be a unique experience, but I know I’ll have to adapt; having traveled throughout Europe, you honestly kind of get used to a certain standard, i.e. open spaces, relatively manageable crowds, and fairly well organized. I know this is a generalization as I’ve never been to Asia, but from what I’m told, I have to get used to a different set of social do’s and don’ts. Either way, my horizons will continue to expand thanks to a virgin trip to a different continent.

If anybody has been to Taiwan and/or lives(ed) there, let me know! Any and all help would be highly appreciated!

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Preliminary itinerary:
Days 1-3: Taipei

Day 4: Taroko gorge

Day 5-6: Taichung

Day 7-8: Tainan

Days 9-10: Taipei