Taipei 2012: Day 1 -- Flight + TS Hotel + Ximending
Here comes the 1st proper entry about our very 1st family overseas trip!
Preston was super excited about taking the airplane for the 1st time and he was so pleased with his SkipHop Zoo luggage! At the airport, he certainly got his fair share of attention & "aww..." from people we walked past.
Here we are at Terminal 3, clearing customs & having a quick bite prior to take-off.
Preston's OOTD
Top: H&M
Bottoms: Mothercare
Sneakers: Converse
Looking grumpy cos i wanted a bite out of his strawberry donut! Heh...
And i love this Laura Ashley x Uniqlo top i wore for the flight cos it's soooo soft & comfy! Anyway, i must post this photo cos i was having a good hair day.
And how can we forget Daddy? :p
Anyway, we cleared customs shortly after checking in our luggage because i wanted to get some duty-free shopping done. I have a few items on my shopping list and #1 priority went to the new Lancome Maqui Blanc Miracle compact foundation. This retails for S$92 (case + compact powder refill) at department stores and i knew i would be saving some $$ by buying it at duty-free. Unfortunately, my shade (O-02) was totally OOS. Can you believe it?!! @_@ Anyway, this meant that for the first time, i boarded the plane empty-handed after shopping at duty-free!
So we proceeded to the playground to exhaust Preston before the flight! He had the entire playground to himself though he kept wanting to remove his sneakers because the rubber sides were making it hard for him to zoom down the slides fast enough.
This playground was conveniently located right in front of our boarding gate. So lucky right? And right before we entered the gate, we rushed into the Baby Room & put pull-up diapers onto Preston. I didn't want to chance him wetting himself if the toilets on the plane were full so we decided it would be just easier for him to wear pull-ups.
Preston gamely climbed onto his seat and buckled himself in! I thought it was so cute and i was also secretly very relieved. I had prepped him mentally a month ahead that he must sit by himself on the plane. Not on daddy or mommy's lap. Phew!
After headphones were handed out, Preston kept himself entertained with cartoons! He watched Little Einsteins, Handy Manny & Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Anyway, the individual screen was too high for him & couldn't be adjusted lower, so we put pillows under Preston to prop him higher.
Tip when flying with kids -- order a special meal for yourself too! For my SIN-TPE flight, my special meal request was Vegetarian Indian and my food was served at the same time as Preston's. Apparently, special meals get served first and that was great because Hubby could help Preston with his food while i quickly ate my food. Then when Hubby's food was served (together with everyone else in cattle class), i could take over and feed Preston as I had finished eating. :)
At some point, he insisted on changing seats with Aug as he wanted the aisle seat. I think he was amused and also because he could see what's going on. The cabin crew also stopped by frequently to talk to him and Preston was actually playing/chatting with the elderly couple sitting behind us. *rolls eyes* I've got a little charmer on my hands.
The best part of the flight was him zonked out! It took some patting and a bottle of milk, but Preston fell asleep! Whoo!
We kept him busy eating/chewing during take off & landing so we didn't experience any trouble or complaints from Preston regarding the ear pressure. It was good to know that flying with Preston was easy! We were proud of him when the cabin crew commented that he behaved so well for a young child (read: active preschooler) on his first plane ride. He didn't ask to walk around, didn't cry/fuss and there wasn't a single "Are we there yet?" query from him.
I guess all that prep i did (reading books & watching youtube videos) about plane rides paid off!
And we landed to a cold rainy Taiwan!!! Clearing customs was fast because there was a Family Lane for people travelling with young children in strollers. So we didn't have to Q at all!
It was around 19 deg cel when we arrived and the private driver that i hired (Mr Jack Wang) told us that it had been rainy for the past couple of days. Boy was i glad that we had our jackets & jeans on! We left the airport after purchasing our pre-paid 3G microsim cards from the Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan Da Ge Da) counter at the airport. This enabled us to have unlimited 3G network throughout our stay and that was how i was able to access Google map, Whatsapp & post to FB during the trip. This unlimited 3G data plan only cost us NT$345 (approx S$14.70) each for 5 days...Waaayyyyy cheaper than getting Singtel's Data-roam which costs $40 for 3-days worth of unlimited data usage.
Jack was wonderful! He was friendly, bilingual (he writes & speaks English well, which is quite uncommon for Taiwanese) and drove us safely from Taoyuan to Taipei City. He also pointed out some touristy stuff to us during the 50-min long ride to our hotel.
This time, we stayed at TS Hotel again. The rooms are spacious & comfortable. As usual, the highlight of the room was the bathtub because Preston suddenly loved bath time in Taipei. LOL... we dumped our luggage and walked to the Watson's store at Ximending (XMD) to meet my little sis!!!! She was in Taipei too & we had made plans to have dinner together with her friends.
Anyway, it was raining and cold. We had our stroller with us (thank goodness for the Jeep rain cover!) and XMD is no fun when it's rainy and wet. So we simply grabbed dinner and then, headed back to TS Hotel to rest.
Next up? Day 2: Shifen + Sky Lantern + Raohe Night Market