Flight Over the Ocean

We made it! I’ve been sharing stories on Instagram, in case you’re also there, and you want to follow along with us. It’s also been great getting feedback and recommendations from people from Taiwan or who have visited there recently or often.

Jon dropped us off at Union Station, then drove home and took an Uber by himself to meet us there. Otherwise we’d have had to have booked a more expensive larger vehicle to accommodate for five bodies, including one baby, and luggage. We also happen to live quite close to Union Station, so it didn’t take too long.

We took the Union Pearson train up to Pearson airport, which is so convenient, and which I highly recommend. It comes fast, is very comfortable, relatively inexpensive ($25 for the two adults, I think the kids rode free).

As we were checking in our bags, we saw one disappointed traveler having to check an oversized carry-on, and so Caleb and Naomi had to make sure their bags fit in the carry-on tester.

Caleb, reading books right as his level, haha, just kidding (I think/hope).

On the plane, Jon sat separately from me and the kids because he’s on a different return flight, coming home earlier than us to take care of things at the shop. Flying with all the kids was both terrible and not as bad as it could’ve been, which I guess is saying that the potential for things going very wrong was quite high.

It was a 1:45 am flight, which on first glance sounds brutal. However, the flight timing optimized for reducing jet lag. you leave at 1:45 am, and the flight is basically dark the entire time, although they do serve you two meals in dimmed lighting, and you arrive and “wake up” at 5:45 am Taiwan time, ready to go.

Actually I would choose this flight as a solo-flying adult again (ah, one can dream). Unfortunately my children are optimized for as much chaos as possible. The kids slept from 2 am until their usual 7 am wake up, and then stayed awake for basically the entire flight until they crashed two hours before we arrived.

That being said, their natural circadian rhythms being feral to begin with, here in Taiwan, they seem okay with the jet lag, basically variously super charged and then fading fast at random times of the day, i.e. their usual states.

We made it as a screen-free traveling group, although the kids had a lot of fun watching the updated flight map, our tiny airplane flying over the ocean. It’s a weird feeling walking around and seeing everyone around us in waiting rooms or in lines or on the subway heads bowed into their phones. Work is all-consuming, social media can be a lifeline of community, e-books are easily downloaded and read in small sips, but I’m all up for the challenge of a little boredom and creativity mixed together.

Once upon a time I read a line from Annie E. Proulx about how planes are flying reading rooms, and it’s stayed with me ever since. I’ve realized how satisfying it can be to walk away from all (most?) of life’s responsibilities, laundry, emails, groceries, anxieties, relationships, and to walk to with 4 or 10 or 16 protected hours of sitting with a book or two or your journal and maybe some snacks. A gift!

And even more so to be headed off into an adventure.