DIM SUM FOR DINNER

WEDNESDAY--APRIL 17

My feet were swollen from the flight and I had a mystery  blister on the back of my left heel.  Mystery because I wore circulation socks and open back, slip on shoes and there didn’t appear to be a reason for the blister.

By morning my feet were less swollen, but the blister was a bit bothersome.  I remedied this by wearing my sandals, but I can’t figure out what caused it.  Maybe I did get bitten by an airport zombie.

We spent the day getting orientated, setting up home base, and just relaxing with feet up and short walks around the apartment.  

We went out for dinner to a popular restaurant named Kao Chi.  The restaurant has been serving traditional Shanghai dim sum in Taipei for over 60 years.

The following pictures are from their website:

www.kao-chi.com

Portions were very generous and very good, served family style, and we  brought home the much coveted take out bag with enough leftovers for another meal.

The restaurant is located in a very nice area of town on a pedestrian friendly narrow street.  After dinner we went for a walk around the area, passing by a park where ladies were practicing line dancing,   and window shopping for special  stockings requested by my daughter:

It was an enjoyable evening.  It was a nicer taxi drive back home because there was no rush hour traffic.  To go to the restaurant we took the freeway out during rush hour, but we came back along nice boulevards and fancy department stores passing 101.

TOKYO TO TAPEI, FINALLY!

TOKYO  TO TAIPEI

We boarded the plane and discovered that again we had been bumped up on a very full flight.  Unlike United, ANA offered a meal on their 3 hour flight and beverages included wine.  We had the chicken with pasta in a marinara sauce, a side salad, and fresh fruit with a glass of white wine.  A little more reading of my e-book and we were in Songshan.  

TAIPEI AIRPORT

We arrived about 12:30 pm and went through customs with no problems.  We got our suitcases  and found AndreAna waiting for us on the other side.  Songshan is a smaller airport than the Taoyuan International Airport.  First impression is that It appeared to be smaller and easier to travel through.  

We decided to have lunch at the Subway in the airport.  A group started setting up for a live performance of local music a little before we left to take a taxi home to the apartment. I took this as a welcome to the city.

It was a nice drive down wide boulevards, very green with lots of trees and colorful flowers and shrubs.    This airport is located in the center of the city, not likeTaoyuan where we had to stay in a hotel in the area the night before because it was so far from downtown.  

We got to our apartment and just relaxed.  I took a nap when Andreana went back to work and then she brought dinner home from the chinese cafe on campus.  I like their duck dinner and truly enjoyed my dinner in the company of my daughter and husband.  

We talked a while and then went to bed.  Although there is an 11 hour difference in the time from San Antonio to Taipei-- our day is their night-- we were so tired we fell asleep and slept all night.  

TOKYO TO TAIPEI and another security check

We got into Tokyo some time between 4 and 5 in the morning, and we had lost a day because we crossed the international date line during the night.  Walking zombies, we just followed  the rest of the passengers, went through customs with no problems, and were directed to the next waiting room.  Because our flight did not leave until after 9 in the morning, we had plenty of time to explore.  We got something to drink and a not-so-creamy ice cream cone in the upper level food court and went to find our gate.  When we went through customs, they scanned our boarding passes and gave  us a small slip of paper with our gate number.  Very efficient.  We went and sat there as a home base; one of us staying with the suitcases and the other shopping for souvenirs.  Haneda Airport is not as big as Narita and it probably does not offer as much, but there were enough shops to keep us busy for a while.    We bought some souvenirs, played with the buttons in the bathroom(see picture below), read our e-books , and played some games on our tablets.  

We watched two flights leave from that same gate. One to London and the other to Hong Kong.  And then it was our turn to leave on the final stretch of our journey.

LAX to TOKYO

After the grand tour of the LAX tarmac, we were ready to settle down for our twelve hour flight across the Pacific to Tokyo: (LAX  to NRT on the map)

The plane was full, we sat in the middle section of three seats, and I sat in the middle seat.  My husband on my right and a young man on my left.  The latter fell asleep almost as soon as he sat down and slept all the way across.  Lucky him!  He even missed his evening snack (a turkey brioche sandwich with cream cheese and pesto sauce).  I read my e-book, played some games on my i-pod, read some more, played mahjong on my tablet, read some more, on and on.   I think I did eventually cat nap but I don't think it was for very long.  There was also a lot of turbulence on the flight. About three hours out of Tokyo, the plane starts to wake up with the morning routines: a wonderfully warm cloth towel to freshen up, orange juice, and a choice of breakfast.  We had the option of Japanese( grilled salmon and steamed rice) or western breakfast (scrambled egg with back bacon, sausage, and potatoes.)  The following website is a good one for seeing what the food looked like and the choices available:

http://www.ana.co.jp/int/inflight/guide/pdf/201303/lax_hnd_y_201303_m.pdf

I watched a movie while I ate my breakfast and the time went by a little faster.  "Fire with Fire" was a pretty good movie.  That made the time go by faster.  Before I knew it, we were on the ground.

Sunday: AT LOS ANGELES AIRPORT

We had good seats on the way to Los Angeles.  The only amenities on the flight were beverages but they did offer a choice of three different snack boxes for $7.95 each.  We decided to share one.  It had a bag of chips, mild picante sauce to dip them in, a bag of almonds, a dried fruit blend snack pack, a fig bar, a small container of  Nutella, and two graham crackers.

The trip was uneventful and we asked the stewardesses about the LA airport:  Do we have to leave security area to get to Bradley International terminal.  Both said no.
When we arrived at the airport, we DID have to leave the secured area.  At an information desk, we asked for directions to the international terminal.  She suggested we walk it but directed us to blue signs somewhere outside the terminal by the loading and unloading areas.  We were a little late getting in to LA and it was already after 10 pm on a Sunday night but you could not tell it from the traffic.  Cars, buses,  limos, taxis,  everywhere and everyone driving very aggressively.  I guess you have to or else stay in the same spot all night long.  We found the blue sign and waited for a shuttle with the letter A as directed.  After a short wait, we found our shuttle and took it around to the terminal.  Such horrible traffic and we never left the airport!

Because of construction, the shuttle drops you off short of the terminal but we managed to find and check in at the ANA counter.  The attendant told us to go through security to gate 138.  The security check had a long line but it moved constantly, we got through with no problems, and then looked for gate 138.  We had to go downstairs to it and discovered that it was a holding area.  We would be loaded like sardines into another shuttle bus and taken to where the airplane would be waiting.  This time we traveled through the tarmac area (I really believe they took us back to where we started our LAX adventure when we arrived).  

Sunday: AT SAN ANTONIO AIRPORT

First answers to my questions:

I had to pay $70 for the extra suitcase because it was at the discretion of the airline/attendant but I refused to pay $39 each for an upgrade on seating.  I would/could have just opened my suitcase and moved two bags around and used one suitcase as a carryon, but hubby said just pay so...
Win one, lose one.

The security scan detected three areas of concern on me:  the back of my head (have you heard about the alien implants?),  my throat/chest area (no jewellery on me at all), and a button I overlooked on my pants.   The pants were very comfortable for travel so I will remove the button before I fly home.   For those of you who did not read my blog last year, I travel without any jewellery, nothing in my hair, no bra, etc. cause I don't like touchy, feelly.  I guess with the bombings in Boston, security will be tighter or our return trip.  No complaints.

DOD (Day of Departure)

Sunday morning and all is better, I hope.

I am still not sure of Los Angeles (United) but ANA has assured me that they will be waiting and all is ready:

"Check-in has automatically been completed, so please obtain the mobile boarding pass which includes a 2D barcode from the URL below your itinerary.
(The URL is only valid for flights shown within this email.)
If you wish to print out your boarding pass, please proceed to issue your boarding pass from "Online Check-in"."

Now just to find them in the maze known as LAX.

Ready (I thought I was) Set (ditto) Go (Hopefully)

 Today was the last full day at home.  Tomorrow we set off for Taipei.  All is well.....

Not really.  I have several problems.  

1.   Baggage:  How many bags can I check in?  If I go to United it says one bag at 70 pounds.  But if I "talk" to the virtual Alex, she says I can check in two.

ANA says I can check in two at 50 pounds each.

Last year we travelled United and ANA and were allowed two.  But what if I get there with two bags and they only take one. 

My solution:  I will have two bags under 50 lbs, one will be able to go as a carry-on if I can't check it in, and all the goodies I am taking my daughter will have to go with my clothes.  This means that people in Taiwan will smell tamales and tequila on me and know where I am from. 

2.  Check In:  I was already pre-checked in on-line.  All my documents had been entered, and all was ready to go.

I even had a scan on my phone to use at the airport to make everything easier....

At least until I got the phone call from United about checking in on-line.  I had already gone to both All Nippon Air and United and filled out all the documents so I thought all I had to do was go and print my boarding pass from United. This is what I got:

OK, I can live with that.  Just get there early and wait in line. 

Then I notice the following at the bottom of the page:

"You have a connection to ANA All Nippon Airways (NH) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). United flights arrive at Terminal 6. ANA flights depart from the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Upon arrival follow the signs for the LAX Shuttle bus located outside the terminal on the arrivals level. Please board any A-route LAX Shuttle under the LAX Shuttle & Airline Connections blue sign.

Please check the video monitors for updated departure gate information."

 3.  Questions....

• Time?  We have a little less than two hours before connecting flight.  How far is one terminal from the other?
• Security?  Do we have to go out and in another security check?  
• Baggage?  Will we have to claim our baggage and re-check it in at the other terminal.

These problems have come up on other flights;  I just hope that I don't get more than one on this trip.

 

Get Ready! (Working on it) Get Set! (Soon) Go!(In one week)

The suitcases are on the bed...my list is now more checked off than not...and most of the last minute shopping is finished.  By this time next week we will be on our way to the airport to embark on our second trip to Taiwan.  This time around my suitcases will be lighter because I know what not to take but I still plan on leaving room in them to bring back more goodies from the places we visit. 

I am adding this trip to the blog I started last year so that if you did not follow it last year, you can still access it.  Hopefully I will not be too redundant in my remarks.

I would love to hear from you and will try to find answers for any questions you might have.

Here is a map of Taiwan with its neighboring countries.