This day seemed like it would never end! I had a ton of things to finish up at work and also a bit of last minute shopping.
I managed to get out of work at 3 PM, picked up a few things from the store and got home by 5 PM. A quick last minute check of our packed bags and we changed into travel gear and we were ready to fly!
A combination of Muni and BART got us to SFO. I wanted to make sure we get there at least 3-4 hours before our flight. I like to get to the airport early and walk around. It’s fascinating to see all the flights fly to different destinations and in general it helps avoid last minute delays. Another reason to get to the airport early was that we did not have seats reserved and wanted to ensure we were seated together and not in the middle seat! Check-in with EVA Air was a breeze and we got decent seats. We went through security and walked around in the international terminal. Since we hadn’t eaten dinner, we got some quesadilla at one of the restaurants at the airport. It wasn’t all that memorable; but what is after you’ve eaten in the Mission in SF? We walked about for a while and finally settled into a spot by the window from where we watched our plane being loaded and sat and read a book.
After what seemed like eternity, our flight announcement was made and we boarded. The plane was an older 747, which meant no personal TV, no choice of music stations and the seats were not as comfortable. Our flight was just 15 hours – so what am I cribbing about anyway. For whatever the airline lacked in terms of amenities, they made up in service with a smile. As soon as we took off we were served a meal – vegetarian chinese food. It was alright, but I was really hoping for some hot noodles. The food was bland and luke-warm. After the meal, we went to sleep for about 6 hours. The rest of the flight we walked around the plane, read and spent a lot of time talking to each other about all the places we were about to visit. So, not having the TV and personal music was a blessing in disguise.
We landed at Taipei airport on Friday morning (lost thursday) at 6 AM. We walked towards our gate and found a restaurant that served vegetarian dim sum! We got Oolong tea, a vegetarian curry puff and dim sum filled with green vegetables. All of it was delicious! Bellies full, we walked about the airport for a bit. The airport has nooks with pictures and specimen of various flora found on the island of Taiwan. Great idea!
- Provide a respite from the duty-free shops.
- Had a lot of information about the unique flora of Taiwan.
- Convinced us to visit Taiwan and travel around.
After using the free internet at one of the few booths that are available on the airport, we decided to head to our gate. We almost missed the gate, since the entire gate was decorated with a Hello Kitty theme! (Hello Kitty is the mascot for EVA Airlines, Taiwan’s national carrier). We kept thinking it was a kids play area.
Our flight to Bangkok was in a nicer plane (Boeing 777) – newer, comfortable seats and personal TV with a wide selection of movies. Heena watched Hairspray, and I watched Transformers. Neither of us really focused on the movie, we were too excited to be finally landing in Thailand!
