Taipei was never on my bucket list — but it absolutely should have been. A few weeks ago my niece Bridget, who lives in Dallas, texted to say she’d scored a United Airlines companion pass from a friend. We scrolled through the list of international options, and Taipei quickly rose to the top. Compared with the others, it promised to be inexpensive, easy, and utterly fascinating. And wow… it did not disappoint.
All of this came together just 3–4 weeks ago, which didn’t leave much time to plan or prepare. The Monday after Thanksgiving, we met in San Francisco and boarded a 14-hour flight to Taipei.
Miraculously, I managed about seven hours of in-flight “sleep”—not luxurious, but enough to function. We arrived in Taipei after dark and sensibly called it a night.
So now what? Stay tuned — our serendipity-powered adventure is just getting started. No plans, no agenda… just two wanderers diving into a culture rich with intrigue and fascination.
Jane in Spain 