Our Asia trip is fast approaching… my parents ship out on Tuesday (after they cast their ballots), and we’ll meet them in Taiwan in a couple weeks. On our weekly call this morning, my parents stressed me out with all their questions about our travel logistics. No, I don’t know where I’m staying the first night we arrive in Taipei (we’ll need to catch the next day’s train to Kaohsiung). No, I don’t need auntie to pick us up via car. What sense does that make? They’re going to drive 5 hours to get me by car when I can just stay overnight and catch the high-speed rail the very next day for a 90-minute trip?? Are they insane? Inefficient hospitality.

Anyway, the interrogations kicked my butt into high gear, and now I’ve got the Taiwan part of our trip all figured out. Well the arrival part at least. I found a cute little budget hotel (Thanks TripAdvisor!) in Taoyuan (the city where we fly in– just outside Taipei) with the train station right down the street. And the train runs like 3 times an hour, so maybe we’ll even explore the area a bit before heading to the South. I’m totally psyched about riding the train. Seriously, 5 hours down to 90 minutes? Gotta love engineering and innovation.