This year we're spending the holidays in Taiwan with Mike's oldest brother, Chad, and his family. We leave tomorrow evening from Los Angeles and arrive in Hong Kong early Friday morning (we completely miss Thursday, December 17, 2009) and Taipei early Friday afternoon.
Having never travelled across either ocean, we're really anxious about this trip. At 14 hours from LAX-HKG, this will be the longest flight we've ever been on. Additionally, at 3 weeks, this will be our longest vacation, too. As far as location (we've been to Mexico and Desi's been to Costa Rica), we're anticipating Taiwan to be completely different from anything we've ever experienced before (characters versus Latin alphabet, majority Asian versus white, tonal language, etc.).
There are a number of things about this trip that we're looking forward to but one of the highest on our list would be the cultural exchange we'll receive by staying with a Taiwanese family. Additionally, Mike hasn't had the opportunity to spend this much time with his oldest brother, or anyone in his family for that matter, since he was a kid. This fact alone is worth a 14 hour flight.
We wanted to be sure to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year prior to our departure. We look forward to sharing our adventures with you upon our return.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
