Arrival in Taipei

So after that plane randomness, I'm SICK of flying! We stopped at the Japanese airport in Tokyo. That was fun! I used up the yen my sister gave me and bought snacks. All the other souvenirs were things I could get at Pacific Mall.

The snacks I bought to bring home. 

 

The duty-free at the airport.

 They have those gashepon machines at the airport too! 200 or 300 yen each.

 

And a vending machine that I spent my last yen on. No wait...I have 11 yen left.

After the flight from Narita Airport, we arrived in the Taipei Airport with lots of posters welcoming us to Taipei.

There was even a guy with a giant bouquet, balloons galore, and TWO custom made banners ready to propose to a girl. I tried to get a good shot but people's heads kept popping in the way.

Oh and of course, a random newspaper vending machine!

Phew...long post. Let's save it for the next one.

Flight to Taipei

We’re just past hour 2 on the plane. I’m not uploading this until I get some internet but I figure that blogging will be a nice way to kill some time of the flight. It’s not a bad flight so far. There’s a lot of good movies and TV shows although they are currently rebooting the system because some of the aisles were not functioning.

Funny story about that, by the way… I really wanted an aisle seat so that I could stretch my legs and not bother people going in and out of the seats. However, there were some issues with the online check-in and by the time I was finally able to check in, I could not really change my seat anymore. I was given a middle seat in row 33 which was as close to the front of the plane as possible at the time. I switched my seat to a middle seat in row 34 just because I like the number 34 better. (My house number in Markham!) But once we got on the plane, the girl sitting next to me asked if I would switch with her friend who had an aisle seat in row 37. Great! It just so happens that my original 34B seat was one of the ones with a dysfunctional entertainment system anyways. So not only did I end up with a nice aisle seat (although my carry-on is back at 34 on the other side of the plane), I also get to watch movies and TV shows.

So far I’ve watched the two episodes of Community. Other movies they have are Morning Glory, Hall Pass, Gnomeo and Juliet, How To Train Your Dragon, Gulliver’s Travels, I Am Number Four, Just Go With It, Justin Bieber, Limitless, No Strings Attached, Rango, The American, The Dilemma, The Green Hornet, Unknown, and more. Way better than the last time I flew to Hong Kong and the only good movies were Enchanted and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. For TV they have Dexter, The Kennedys (which I did want to watch), Community, Just For Laughs, Modern Family, Nurse Jackie, The Rick Mercer Report, Two and a Half Men, The Winnipeg Comedy Festival, and more. I will be entertained.

Most of the people on the plane are Japanese. Not surprising since we are headed to Tokyo. But we will be switching to another plane to head to Taipei once we get there. I really really REALLY hope I manage to get something cool at the Japanese duty-free. It’s one of my goals this trip. Japanese stewardesses are very polite and they always have nice hot green tea available. Although I’m not the hugest fan of green tea, it’s a good drink to settle my stomach. 

Speaking of stomach…I ordered a fruit platter because I know that plane food does not agree with me. Our first dinner was a chicken/beef with some corn mixture, a bun, water, and a chocolate brownie. My fruit platter had grapes, half a strawberry, a slice of cantaloupe/pineapple/honeydew, a cantaloupe/honeydew mixture (which was not as good as the slices), water, bun, and a raspberry yogurt cup. The girl across the aisle asked for the bottle of water but turned down the meal. She had brought her own sandwiches. I was eyeing the brownie but I figured it probably wasn’t polite to ask for it. But then the woman next to me dropped her fork so instead of picking it up (awkward spacing and all) I asked the stewardess if we could grab the cutlery from the girl’s abandoned meal. Then the stewardess asked if we wanted anything else from the tray! So I took the brownie and the lady next to me took the bun and butter. The stewardess grabbed the wet nap for herself! So that was nice. It was a good brownie too. The stewardess jokingly said to the girl, “Look! You’re making other people very happy!”

Reboot is not complete yet…boo…time to watch some Sailormoon on my laptop…or maybe not since it seems the reboot just finished. Back to movies/TV…what to watch…

Morning of the Flight

Whoo! Woke up at 8am after heading to bed at 1am despite having been at Demetres with my siblings and their significant others a short while before. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep but I actually did! I guess all the other sleepless nights of worrying about my class caught up.

Well the plan was that I would wake up at 8am, take a shower, straighten up the condo since my parents are moving in when I get back, then meet up with my parents at 9:30am for breakfast and then off to the airport for 11am to check-in because Air Canada is being a douche and won't let me check-in online. Flight at 2:05pm.

When do plans ever actually follow through? I woke up to one of the teachers in the facebook group notifying us that our flight was delayed. After confirming that fact, I texted my colleagues who were not part of the facebook group and my parents to let them know. 16:25pm...new plan! Meet parents at noone for lunch and then off to the airport.

I'm sleepy now...waking up at 8am is new for Summer-Vacay Lianne.

Pre-Trip

With so many people hoping to follow along my longest trip to date, what better way to share than with a blog! So here's my blog.

It starts with some background information.

I will be flying out Friday, July 8, 2011 at 2:05pm from Toronto's Pearson International to Tokyo's Narita Airport. It's a 12h45m flight. Much fun to be had. There will be a 4 hour layover at Narita then onto Taipei!

I will be teaching a grade 8/9 split ESL class for three weeks. I've tried to prepare as best as I can but it's nerve wracking because I have absolutely no clue what level my kids are working at. They could be absolutely great at English or they could only know their names. Either way...well we'll see now won't we? It's the scariest part of the trip after the extreme heat I'll be subjected to.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Toronto before the trip. I still have to pack my things, clean my condo, photocopy my first-day materials and just make sure everything is A-OK! Will I get it all time? Let's hope so! Maybe I should stop procrastinating with this blog...