TAIPEI — I’m not going to say it was easy. FAR. FROM.
And I wasn’t sure what to expect when our family decided to come to Taiwan for the first time in six years — a long time coming because of the birth of two kiddos. Before that, we had gone three times in three years since my wife and I got married in 2014.
It’s a major part of who she is. While she was born in Oregon, her heart will always be in Taiwan because her parents brought her to their native country every year growing up.
It was important for our kids to experience what she had. And I was totally down since I believe experiencing different cultures and traveling to different countries is important.
We can sometimes be so consumed by our own bubbles, even moreso due to COVID. So the opportunity to do this at the right time and doing it safely was something we couldn’t pass up.
But honestly, IT IS HARD! Especially when you have a 2-year-old and an almost 5-year-old who are so used to being outside to play.
We were very fortunate to have my in-laws’ place to stay in, where we had a kitchen, separate bedroom areas, plus a living and dining room. While it was small and reminded us of when my wife and I used to live in San Francisco, we at least had the necessities to make this quarantine period bearable.
If anything, while it was an adventure for our family that we’ll look back on and forever remember, it was also a challenge for us as a family to keep it together and not go totally insane on each other.
Here are a few things we learned:
• Patience and pace yourself: You’re in this for the long haul and gotta remember your family is a team that needs to get through this together. Don’t try to do everything at once, like eating everything or getting over jet lag at once.
• Plan ahead: Can’t stress how important it is to plan an activity or exercise everyday. You can never have enough things to keep you occupied, especially with kids. Even if alone, thinking of things to occupy your time was important to get through the 10 days.
• Make every day special: Whether it’s a new activity you look forward to doing or ordering out at a new restaurant, we tried something new everyday to make it memorable.
All of this may seem kind of obvious, but looking back, it 100% was helpful.
I totally made fun of my wife for wanting to come to Taiwan with FIVE suitcases. It was originally four, but we decided an extra one was needed the day before we left to carry everything we wanted. I wasn’t sure how we’d get five suitcases, plus FOUR carry-ons, ourselves. But we really did need everything we brought, like snacks for the kids and their toys that took up three suitcases themselves.
I’m not making fun of her anymore! It was well worth it.
While we survived and got through these 10 days, I’m not sure if I could ever do this again. Ten days in isolation is A LOT.
Seven days, no thanks. Five days, maybe? Three days? Possibly.
If we come back to Taiwan next year, it’ll be interesting to see what (if any) quarantine period is in place. And we felt real fortunate with our situation to have family help us out by dropping off food by our front door every other day and checking in if we needed anything.
Even though this whole experience was challenging, I’d like to give major props to Taiwan. These rules were put in place for a reason, and they’ve taken this pandemic seriously — something I can’t say some in the world has. They’ve still closed this country to tourists.
It’s no surprise Taiwan has some of the fewest numbers on the entire planet. And yet even though they’ve had record-breaking numbers recently, it’s been minimal, like less than 200 a day.
Everyone is still cautious with wearing masks, inside and outside. So much love to you, Taiwan.
And I will end this by saying my wife is everything: All-Star. All-league performer. First-ballot Hall of Famer. She wasn’t going to be denied to get our family here this time around.
She was prepared for ALL the rules in place. She knew everything inside and out with every document needed by the Taiwanese government.
It was not easy getting our whole family here. She researched everything over the last few years, keeping up-to-date on Taiwan’s quarantine rules every day. And it all paid off in the end.
She truly is our family’s Most Valuable Player.
ICYMI, here are all of our daily posts since we arrived ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Alex Tam 