Reading a story with Grammy
Advising Grandma on smart phone use
Those who are old enough to remember the TV show, The Beverly Hillbillies, recall the family arriving in Beverly Hills with all of their earthly possessions piled high on their well used truck. I fear that we gave that appearance today (October 28) on our move from Taipei to Tainan.
Outside Taipei Main Station
We went by high speed rail. Moving all the luggage was the challenge. In addition to the personal luggage of each traveller, Christine and Rick (".. we were being responsible parents") brought two car seats from home, which have not been used. Also, they had to bring from home sufficient containers of Bo's prescription liquid food for all of the days of the trip - 75 containers would have been exactly the amount needed, but 15 more were included, "just in case". Add to this the stroller for Bo and the large bag of Maylee's clothes, personal belongings, formula, diapers, etc.which the orphanage gave to Christine and Rick.
To get it all to the main train station, Rick and Marj went in a taxi with most of the luggage, completely filling the SUV, including any seats not used by the two passengers. Christine, Maylee, Brenda, Bo and I walked to the station.
At the train platform
We were aware of a couple of Taiwan High Speed Rail realities: (1) there is no checked baggage; it all goes with you onto your assigned car, and (2) the train stops for only about 2 minutes before moving on again; the conductors are hyper-vigilant about keeping the train on schedule. When the train arrived at the boarding platform, Christine, Maylee, Brenda, Bo and Marj got on first. Rick got on next to start finding spots for the first of the large bags, intending to come back out to assist me in gathering the remaining bags. Just as I was turning to motion the passengers behind to go past me, the elderly Taiwanese couple next in line generously motioned their offer to help. The husband grabbed one large suitcase, and the wife took another, and they wheeled them onto the train as I gathered the remainders. Rick was able to stay on the train and pile luggage, and the train was able to stay on schedule.
The train trip was relaxing. We had a warm boxed lunch purchased on the train - affordable and tasty.
Chicken, egg, rice, vegetables
It is nice to see that no flat, arable land is left to grow up as weeds or bushes; it's all planted with one crop or another.
Credit: http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/m1.aspx?sNo=0002039
Credit: http://goeatlove.blogspot.tw/
After a shuttle bus ride into downtown Tainan (with similar luggage handling challenges) and a bit of a walk from the drop-off point (thank goodness for wheels on suitcases), we arrived at our hotel.
This was a wonderful post. We have also travelled with 2 small children (and various degrees of luggage). Occasionally we've found ourselves in situations where we say to ourselves "we're saving $20.... But if this was a job, you couldn't pay someone $20 to do it." Well done all of you!! -Z
ReplyDeleteOh my--that is a challenging way to travel for sure! Good work on getting all the luggage on in such a short time frame!
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