Travelling to Taiwan

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Taiwan (TW) is a completely new world to me. The prospect of travelling to there raised some matters I've never had to consider before.

I've lived all my life in Australia (AU), and have only ever seen a small percentage of it (although that percentage in land area is far greater than the land area of many other countriesincluding TW. Taiwan looks to be about the size of the Tasmania.)

I've only travelled overseas twice before. Once was way back in 1981 for my first honeymoon, and that was a relatively short four-hour flight to Fiji. Twice was in 1988 for a quick two-hour hop across the Tasman to New Zealand for a look-see and ski holiday.

In late 2004, I travelled to TW for work, to meet with my relatively new employer, and to present a writing workshop for my fellow writers working for the parent company in TW. This trip will involved a nine-hour flight to Hong Kong (HK), followed by a one-and-a-half hour leg to TW with an additional hour-and-a-half in HK airport between the flights.

The return trip took the same overall time, but the TW to HK leg took a half-hour longer for some reason, compensated by the half-hour less wait in HK airport for the transfer between flights.

I was away for 5 days, even though I only staying in TW for 3 days mid-week, having spent the balance of the time travelling there and back. That didn't leave much time for sight-seeing whilst I was there. One morning and two (or maybe three) evenings.

All travel and accommodation arrangements were provided by my employer for me, so I had no say in stop-overs, carriers, routes, or hotel. I was pleased to let that happen for me, as I had no previous experience in the matter to suggest otherwise for the better. Apparently, I'm to return visit every quarter or so, so I used the first trip to suss-out the journey, and intend to stay-over longer in HK or TW on my next visit/s. Maybe even branch out from there to visit other neighbouring Asian countries.

Matters of consideration:

Language; English usage and understandability
Money; exchanging, carrying, taxes and tips
Health; vaccinations, drinking water and food preparation safety, pollution
Clothing; weather conditions, availability or portability
Times; local timezone, daylight saving offset, business working hours
Local customs; religious, ceremonial, holidays, sacred sites
International customs; passports, visas, travel documents, forms, quotas
Technology; accommodation, transport, internet, email, phone
Procedures; do's and don'ts, tips and tricks, caveats and catches

Travelling to Taiwan

Matters of consideration:

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