Asia Archives - Page 4 of 4

Dec 29 2014

Hong Kong Money is So Unnecessarily Complicated

I’ve realized that dealing with a toddler, especially a jet lagged one, renders my “live” trip report near impossible. Even when I find the time, I’m too tired to go through all that effort.

BUT – I still can post some random thoughts quickly. We’ve made it safely to Hong Kong, though not without a bit of excitement. It’s been about six hours and I can honestly say it’s good to be back. For those who’ve never been, it’s kind of like New York on steroids with tons of more people and a lot more Chinese characters (both the language and the humans).

Cash is ordered from big to small - literally. I mean, I guess that's useful? — Cash is ordered from big to small – literally. I mean, I guess that’s useful?

What I’d forgotten about Hong Kong money (cash tender) is how unnecessarily complicated it can be. I was distributing cash between myself and Jess (as I do in every new city) and I was just blown away by the number, sizes, and shapes of the bills. I always forget it’s like this here.

So the money is made in all sorts of shapes and sizes, issued by different banks, plus coins, plus coins with frills, plus the old money, plus newly issued money, plus oh my gosh my wallet looks like it threw up on itself and it’s only been a few hours.

Case in point: here are three different twenty dollar bills.

Three different twenty dollar bills - why!? — Three different twenty dollar bills – why!?

Like – why? These bills represent two different bills issued by HSBC and one by Standard Chartered. And it’s not just the twenties – every single bill has multiple issues. It’s crazy. The color scheme is pretty standard, and I guess the different sizes help, but why!?

I’m not even exaggerating when I say that the bigger bills don’t even fit in Jess’ wallet.

Then there’s stuff like the 2 dollar coins, which are cool looking despite their unnecessary looking fringe. And then there are the < 1 dollar cent pieces! It’s enough to drive me crazy.

Of course, you’re probably asking why I’m using cash at all. Mostly because we were just tired and I was feeling lazy and because I had some. But I’m thinking of just loading the majority of my cash onto my Octopus card and calling it a day.

The Octopus card is so easy I might (gasp) rely on it more than my CC here

Actually, maybe the government doesn’t want us to use cash. If that’s the case, then I guess their funny money makes more sense. It’s just so weird to me, Hong Kong has one of the most developed economies in the world but the most badly designed (to me) cash system. Or maybe I’m just too dumb to get it.

Dec 28 2014

Dealing with a Jet Lagged Toddler

With crowds + jet lag, the Beco is a lifesaver

I wish I had the answers, but I don’t. Although we managed to handle the long flights to Asia without too much issue, jet lag has definitely been kicking our butts. Here are some of my random thoughts after the past 72 hours – delirious ones, I might add.

1. A toddler compounds all of your own personal jet lag issues

This is pretty “duh” as far as thoughts go, but this is even clearer to me now that I’ve seen it in action. I should add the corollary that your personal jet lag issues compound that of your toddlers. Mine, at least.

Example – when any of the three of us wakes up at night, generally at least one if not both of the others will wake up. Case in point, two nights ago at 2 AM I moved my arm and M woke up and we had to deal with her for a little over an hour. This morning M woke us all up at 5 AM.

Of course the biggest problem is you are adding jet lag problems to general lack of sleep for parents of toddler problems. As far as I can tell, it just kind of spirals. When you go to Asia with your parents as a kid, jet lag doesn’t seem like too big of a deal. When you’re responsible for your own kid it feels pretty different.

2. Naptime has devolved into a disaster

Overtiredness + jet lag = totally screwed up naps. At least as far as our child is concerned. Compounding the issue is our familial obligations that keep us out of the hotel room a lot.

We’ve tried everything, Beco, strolling, straight up cradling in the arms – with little to no success. What has made things worse is the new environment is one that M is obviously keen to explore.

The train ride there was no problem, but the return ride... — The train ride there was no problem, but the return ride…

Things hit a low point yesterday as I held a screaming child for 35 minutes straight on a High Speed Rail train. We were in the passageway between cars but Jess said she could still hear her. She ultimately just fell asleep crying. At that point she had been awake from 5 AM until 5 PM – twelve straight hours!

So if you can help it, I’d suggest taking things even slower than you think you should with a jetlagged toddler. They need that rest!

3. Be prepared to break the rules

Rule 1 broken: no T.V. outside of football

Rule 2 broken: no chips

Rule 3 broken: no juice

The first two were broken in the middle of our marathon flight, but no juice happened yesterday. During the aforementioned train meltdown a kindly conductor came by and produced a juice box out of thin air.

Admittedly most kids her age drink juice already but for whatever reason we’ve never felt the need to. Until yesterday! At my wits end I popped the straw in, gulped down over half the juice myself, then gave M a few drags.

The first thing she did was squeeze the box and get it all over her face and clothes (mine too). Then after drinking a bit she calmed down for a few precious minutes. Sugar really does soothe. She eventually started bawling again but this time it was short and she finally passed out. Breaking the rules in order to survive!

4. You can’t stop a tantrum if it’s happening subconsciously

It’s true, M is hitting the terrible twos, but the reality is most of her tantrums have been jet lag related and totally out of her control.

If a child is crying with her eyes closed can you really do anything about it? It’s not like we are withholding something from her and she’s getting mad – she’s just screaming and crying subconsciously. This is all due to being over tired and jet lagged.

This happens at home from time to time but it’s happened since we’ve got to Asia at least once per day (or night). We just have been waiting her out as best as possible, the worst example being that train! (By now you probably have gathered I’m mildly traumatized by the whole thing).

5. Just go with it

Probably the motto all parents fall back on at some point. There’s nothing we can do about jet lag, hers or ours, we’re just doing our best to survive. Family helps, of course, but we’re just learning how to adapt situation by situation.

Last night when M woke up in the middle of the night I just firmly told her she had to stay in bed – luckily it worked. She woke up at 830 this morning, hopefully we’re out of the woods? We’ll see.

Final Thoughts

Dealing with a jet lagged toddler is definitely tough. 12 hours is the most she’s had to deal with and some times are definitely harder than others. Like we do at home, we’re just trying to survive – and have a little fun in the process! Feel free to offer your jet lag related thoughts in the comments!

Dec 26 2014

Home for the Holidays: 26 Hours to Taiwan with a Toddler Part 2 – EVA Royal Laurel Class Review

Saw this plane on the way to the gate. Wanted to switch flights so badly!

Here is Part 2 of our epic 26+ hours of travel to Taipei. You can find Part 1 here.

EVA Air Royal Laurel Class to Taipei

As I mentioned in the introduction, EVA straight up trolled us by throwing Hello Kitty in our faces as soon as we got onboard. Like, ha ha, Hello Kitty could be all up on this plane but she’s not so you just gotta watch her on TV!

I think EVA Air Royal Laurel might be the best longhaul business class product I’ve experienced. Everyone raves about the Rimowa amenity kits, which are nice, but I’m all about the pajamas. They are quite soft and comfortable and I got a size too small so they are very form fitting and flattering. They gave me two pairs, one for M, but they don’t fit her so more for me. Picture omitted due to over form fittingness :).

Unfortunately did not get a lot of pictures of the seat due to a crazy child (pictured here)

The service on the flight was excellent. The flight attendants were super accommodating, there seemed to be an army of them, and they were very attentive/helpful. Obviously it helped that the cabin was only 60% full but I think they were working their tails off regardless. The seat was also great, everything “made sense”, from the seat controls, to the storage comforts, and to the bed itself, which was very comfortable.

They had no problem accommodating our request to eat separately – M and I ate first (with Jess assisting the former) and Jess ate second. I would swing by the galley whenever I needed something but they seemed to always know what I wanted before I even asked. Cold milk? Check. More champagne? Check. Instant noodles? CHECK.

Instant noodles. Turnip cake not pictured.

There were also some peculiar things that piqued my interest. Like someone was hanging out in the galley wearing pajamas. Was she a flight attendant who had something spilled on her? Flight attendant just a passenger on the flight? Random buddy? OK, I guess that was the only thing that was curious to me. But I will never solve this mystery!

The champagne was excellent (Veuve Cliquot La Grande Dame 2004)

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about the food in Royal Laurel Class (well, complaints is too strong a word but lack of enthusiasm). I didn’t really have any issues with it. Though I’d have loved to drink some Dom, the Veuve was a worthy alternative. The food was simple but I thought it was tasty and it definitely was satisfying.

The duck breast appetizer was my favorite part of the meal

The midnight snack was great and they had seaweed flavored potato chips. Honestly my only complaint was that I could have used some chocolate sauce with the ice cream. Oh, and Jess would like to add that that milk tea was good and the porridge for breakfast was great. I slept through breakfast.

Everyone who has read my reports before know in-flight entertainment is big for me, but unfortunately I barely got to watch anything on the personal screens (more on that later). I did watch a HK Cinema rom-com which had a terrible ending. One of those, “that’s it?” kind of endings. I mean my goal was to brush up on my Cantonese, so I guess I accomplished that a little bit. “分手100次” is the title if anyone’s interested. But maybe just skip it…

EVA Royal Laurel Class Toddler-centric Review

Obviously I would have been a lot more comfortable and relaxed if I didn’t have a toddler climbing over me the entire flight. But EVA’s Royal Laurel Class helped make what would have been an unbearable flight into a decent one for M. I mean, she had a great time, so I guess I really mean for us.

We ordered M a children’s meal (which covered both dinner and breakfast). Both were way too much food for a toddler (maybe too much for any pre-adolescent), but it was good to have that alternative. Can’t really go wrong with spaghetti though it was a little too salty. Jess said breakfast was eggs with mashed potatoes WHAT? Wish I had been awake for that.

Semi-eaten children's meal, forgot to take picture before. — Semi-eaten children’s meal, forgot to take picture before.

We survived the flight by taking turns. I ate dinner first while Jess fed M the children’s meal, then I took over and put M to bed while Jess ate. Putting her to bed was a bit of a mess. I had been letting her sleep on top of my chest more (for naps and stuff) in anticipation of this very flight, so I started things off by rocking her to sleep and lying down with her asleep on top of me.

At this point I thought I was golden – she could sleep, I could sleep, everybody happy. Alas, the best laid plans…about fifteen minutes later she woke up and basically kicked me out of the bed (which was really comfortable btw! Forgot to mention that before). I sat on the side of the seat with my legs half hanging out in the aisle for a little while.

I then realized that I could kind of sit at the head of the bed since she’s so short. It wasn’t great but at least it was a semi-natural position to sleep in. So I just sat there as she rested and watched The Fellowship of the Ring on my tablet (thanks Google Play for the free movie!). At some point, I even managed to fall asleep resting my head on my knees.

After some unspecified amount of time (lost track of time really quickly on that flight), I tried to readjust my position – this led to the inevitable toddler wake up screaming while still sleeping situation. Yikes. I think we managed to keep this under five minutes although who knows it could have been eighteen hours like in Contact.

At this point, Jess took her and calmed her down and put her back down on her seat. I took this time to finish aforementioned terrible ending HK rom-com, after which Jess and I switched spots so she could get some sleep. I managed to get a seatbelt on M so at that point I started rotating back and forth between sitting next to her and sitting in one of the empty seats in the cabin. I managed to finish Gravity on my tablet (Google Play free again), but started getting pretty tired.

The difference between a lie-flat bed and laying a toddler down in coach is you still have somewhere to sit, sorta

M eventually woke up with about 3 hours to go in the flight (which ended up being almost 4 due to a landing delay). At this point I finally got to use the lie-flat bed for real and I had two very nice hours of sleep. This sleep was punctuated with faint recollections of a toddler peering over the center console wearing headphones and singing, though I can’t be too sure of that.

Anyway, I was on M duty the last hour of the flight and at that point I was so tired that I finally caved. M isn’t allowed to watch any TV at home besides football (both American and World versions), but I just gave up on life and flipped on one of the fifty Hello Kitty movies they had on IFE.

Of course these videos were in Japanese with Chinese subtitles so I didn’t bother giving M the headphones, instead I read the subtitles as fast as I could and just made up a story on the fly. I do now know that Hello Kitty does not like eating vegetables, if only I could figure out how her parents magically convinced her to start eating them!

Hello Kitty, the best distraction of all

Oh, and as I had mentioned in the introduction, EVA also provides diapers on request. The medium diapers we asked for were size 4 Huggies (5 diapers). The diapers kind of backfired a little because Mickey Mouse was on them and even though she has never heard of him M is now constantly asking for “little mouse” diapers. Luckily she is not above falling for the old bait and switch!

"Little mouse" diapers — “Little mouse” diapers

Taiwan Immigration and a Jet-lagged Toddler at the Grand Hyatt Taipei

A few final notes because I feel they fit better here than elsewhere in the trip report. We had to wait 15-20 minutes or so for our gate checked stroller – life of a parent. That obviously negates the benefit of getting off the plane first. M did get a chance to run around though.

What negated the negation was the fact that Taipei Taoyuan has a priority line for seniors and people traveling with children! So when we got to immigration we only had to wait for one other group before we went through.

Another nice thing about Taipei Taoyuan is at baggage claim there is a guy stacking bags on the conveyor belt for easier access. Sometimes it really is the little things that makes the travel experience pleasant.

After a generous relative drove us the hour to the Grand Hyatt Taipei (M conked out), we checked in. The first thing M saw when we walked in was the gigantic Christmas tree: “Waooooow!” Check-in was quick and painless at 1230 AM.

We then entered our suite which is one of the nicer rooms I’ve ever stayed in. I’ll have a full review on the Grand Hyatt Taipei later, but what’s relevant here is that M was running around exploring the room like a crazy person and we were all hungry.

So how better to end a long day (and change!) of travel than to order some Wonton noodle soup from room service? It did not disappoint.

Final Thoughts

Our journey to Taiwan ended up being the marathon I was expecting. Thank goodness we were flying in business class: real props go to those who survive with lap toddlers in coach. We’re all still recovering even three days later, but glad to be here. EVA and Grand Hyatt Taipei are da bomb!

Other Posts in this Series

Introduction

United Domestic First and LAX Star Alliance Lounge

EVA Royal Laurel Class Review

Using Public Transportation in Taiwan with a Toddler

Visiting the Taipei Zoo

Eating in Taipei

Grand Hyatt Taipei King Suite Review

A Tough Flight with a Toddler

Public Transportation in Hong Kong with a Toddler

Typical Hong Kong Tourist Activities

Hong Kong Disneyland with a Toddler

Dec 22 2014

Preparing for a Long Trip with a Toddler

M is our packing supervisor

I can’t remember where I read it, but I once saw someone suggest that parents should take a “lap baby moon” of sorts, one last trip with an infant in arms before they turn two (if you’re reading this and that was you, message me and I’ll link you). Sounded like an amazing idea at the time, so we booked one last trip with Little M – to Asia. I’d be lying if I said that sounds like an amazing idea to me right now; I have no idea what we’re going to do for 14 hours on a plane.

I thought it might be helpful for some to see the steps I’m taking to prepare for the trip. Full diclosure: I’m just making all this up as I go along!

Confirm Itinerary

I booked this trip almost 11 months ago, and there have been some schedule changes since, so I spent some time confirming my itinerary. Originally we were going to fly on the Eva Air Hello Kitty plane, which was going to be super exciting for Jess and M. Alas, Eva no longer flies Hello Kitty from Los Angeles, so we switched onto a flight that we think will work better for M’s sleep schedule (leaving at 350 PM PST instead of 1100 PM).

I've found myself using Award Wallet's travel plan feature out of convenience — I’ve found myself using Award Wallet’s travel plan feature out of convenience

When I confirm my itinerary, I double check the following:

– Confirmation numbers (PNRs) for ALL flights, including any partner carrier PNRs

– Departure and arrival airports/times

– Hotel rooms and confirmation numbers

In this case it took awhile because we are flying on four separate tickets (award ticket to Taiwan, award ticket from Taiwan to Hong Kong, award ticket from Hong Kong to Chicago, cash ticket home). After I checked all that stuff I loaded it into my travel plans on Award Wallet.

Clean up Travel Details

After making sure I remember which flights I’m taking, I take care of a bunch of travel details. In the past this just meant seat assignments for Jess and me. Now with the toddler, it entails quite a bit more. Of course, I started by making sure I selected seats on all my flights (needed the EVA PNR to do that flight).

The second thing I had to do was add M’s infant in arms ticket on our United award ticket. This took a phone call (and $500!). What worried me was I heard people have had issues on EVA flights with infants in arms when booking through United.

Nice touch by EVA to provide diapers on request

So what I did next (and would have done anyway) was confirm the infant in arms at EVA and on all other flights. When I called EVA, I learned some pretty interesting things. I ordered a children’s meal but what was really cool was I requested diapers for free. We’ll see how those turn out but it is pretty cool that they offer them.

The final thing I did to clean up travel details was to double check baggage allowance on all flights. My only concern was our one economy leg on Cathay from Taipei to Hong Kong but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a problem.

Oh wait I did one more thing! I’m super anal so I checked to see how full the cabins were on the long haul flights. Less full = better for M = offending less people if she flips out. Looking good so far!

Research Transportation at the Destination – Carseat or No?

Thanks to family, we’re all set in Taiwan for getting picked up from the airport and all that good stuff. However, I’m not used to hitting up Hong Kong without my parents, so I spent some time researching how we were going to get from the airport to the hotel. Turns out the Airport Express is the best way and the Hyatt Regency TST has a free shuttle from the terminus in Kowloon.

Won't need anything complicated this time (Amazon) — Won’t need anything complicated this time (Amazon)

What I spent the most time thinking about though was whether we needed a carseat. If you remember, I’ve debated how to bring our carseat overseas in the past. But since we could borrow/rent in Taiwan, I had to spend some time thinking about whether we would need it in Hong Kong at all. Figuring out we wouldn’t need it to get from the airport to the hotel made a big difference in my thinking.

At that point it was weighing two evils – being confined to public transportation versus lugging that thing around. I ultimately decided that I’d rather risk the stress of public transportation in short amounts than deal with carrying the car seat around. Even if we checked it in, we’d need to get it from the airport to our hotel and that’s just one extra thing to carry. My goal is to have at least one of our four adult hands free whenever possible on this trip. Which leads me to the next step in my preparation.

Evaluate Luggage Needs

On our last long haul flight we had the luxury of grandparents packing diapers for us, but not this time around. We also are bringing a few gifts for relatives, so it took awhile for us to determine what types of luggage we needed to bring.

In the end, I decided that what is most important is that at least one of us has a hand free at the airport. My thinking is that we need the flexibility to hold M’s hand if she wants to walk. I think this is what we’re going to end up bringing:

– Large spinner suitcase (American Tourister purchased from Amazon last week). Before then we had nothing larger than carry-on size suitcases

– Carry-on sized roller

– Stroller (the Uppababy G-lite which comes with a shoulder strap if necessary)

– 2 Backpacks

– Diaper bag

– Toy backpack

– Purse

The last four are what I’m planning to bring on the plane (gate checking the stroller). This way when we’re loaded for bear we’ll still have a hand free for M – and I’m gonna make her wear the backpack with the toys.

One thing we considered for awhile was procuring diapers on site. I decided against this for two reasons. First, packing diapers will prevent us from overpacking on clothes (I already find myself taking an extra garment here or there because I “have the space” now). Secondly, we rarely get to go to Asia, and we rarely buy souvenirs, but I figure the diaper space will empty out and we can buy things. In Asia there are a lot of fun things you can buy that are harder or more expensive to get here. Worst case scenario we stock up on Hello Kitty stuff for M (read: Jess).

Prepare for the Long Road Ahead (entertain the baby)

I’m more concerned about our flight to Los Angeles than I am about the 13 hour flight to Taipei for a couple of reasons. We’re leaving super early in the morning and that flight is just going to be tight – it’s pretty full and it’s not like we can like the seats flat or have her sit on an ottoman or anything.

Toddler headphones, hopefully these come in handy (Amazon)

To that end I’ve been preparing for doomsday scenarios. Will Little M finally get her first real taste of cartoon programming? Quite possibly.

I’ve been stocking up on crackers, goldfish, cheerios. I’ve downloaded a million mp3s to our tablet, Alphabet Aquarium, and a few videos. Our friend generously gave us a pair of toddler headphones. We are ready – I hope.

Find Ways to Save Money

This has plummeted to the bottom of my priority list – convenience over money at this point, so I haven’t even gotten a chance to do this yet. Taiwan is also quite inexpensive in general. BUT, if I end up having time, I really want to look up some ways on admission tickets and the like while we’re over there.

Get Excited!

It’s so easy to get caught up in the details and stresses of a trip that I can forget to get excited. But this should be a great trip. Taiwanese breakfast, Taipei’s zoo, Xiao Ren Guo, relatives, food, food, food, food, food, Hong Kong Disneyland, two confirmed suite upgrades, two new sets of pajamas – gonna be a blast.

Final Thoughts

Guess I’ve made up for my lack of posting with a ton of words here. But there are a lot of steps that go into taking a trip, and the work almost doubles when worrying about a toddler. These are the steps I’ve taken to keep myself sane – would love to hear some brilliant ideas in the comments if you’ve got them!