We are currently in Taiwan. I love it for the tasty food and the affordable prices. If you read the last post you will know that we have a child. Traveling with an infant is very different from traveling without one, but I think it is still a great thing to do. Why?
Learnings
Obviously my kid isn’t going to remember this trip, but I will. Normally my wife and I share a bag, but on this trip we checked in 6! That meant we paid more for baggage than the tickets on a budget flight from Okinawa to Taipei. We packed and unpacked several times as we stopped in Tokyo and Okinawa before getting to Taipei. It sure will be nice to be at home where I know where everything is. And I think this is why traveling with an infant is great, because it will make me appreciate many more things when I get back home. Here are some more.
- Finding baby stuff
- No Amazon. No English. Just me trying to explain what I want in Chinese at a baby store we found.
- Transportation
- The streets of Taipei are not flat as storefronts have different levels shop to shop. Rough ride in the stroller.
- You have to stay super alert to make sure you or the stroller don’t get hit by a scooter. Cars don’t stop at stop signs, so I am constantly peaking around corners to make sure no one is coming.
- We had to take 4 elevators to transfer subway lines. Popping in a car seat is so much easier.
- We have an Uppababy Vista which is an SUV in Asia. Yet I’ve managed to go through night markets and subways with it. Not easy during rush hour.
- Living arrangement
- Our Airbnb is smaller than our home and we have to boil water every time to wash the baby bottles. Using a dishwasher will be great.
- Storing breast milk
- There should probably be a dramatic movie about this breast milk because it has had me look up words like dry ice and styrofoam in Japanese. We have stored it in the hotels’ freezers and in the Airbnb. The plan is to bring it back as a carry on in a styrofoam box with dry ice. Stay tuned.
- Discomfort
- Holding a baby for 14 hours isn’t something I’d like to repeat anytime soon (I will have to on the return). However, I don’t think I will complain about holding her for short periods at home.
- Taking others opinions
- I have been told many times that our child must be cold because the temperature is 60 degrees. In America, at least I could respond.
Conclusion
I wouldn’t blame you if you stayed home because there are certainly times when I wished I was at home. We waited until our child had the first set of vaccines to go in an airplane. Overall, definitely a taxing time, but glad we were able to get out of the house and to go so far. I’m pretty impressed with all we’ve done, but also looking forward to being back home.