Even with a Baby...

We Knutsons still manage to make everything an adventure. Or somebody wants to make our lives an adventure!

We left our house in Toronto on Friday, August 9 at 11am, ready and excited for our business class flight - we were going to eat and sleep! Kaeden had other ideas, and decided to stay awake (minus one hour or so) the entire flight, AND he wanted to go look at things. The only time he was happy was when we carried him to the galley so he could hang out with the flight attendants. At least there were snacks there.

We arrived in Tokyo after a 14 hour flight, and tried to upgrade our seats to business there. We were told this flight was so overbooked because of the typhoon that there was no way. But the Japanese agent was awesome and let us into the lounge. We got Kaeden to sleep for about a half hour there. (Kaeden sleep count: 1.5 hours)

We were exhausted, but had only completed 1 out of 5 parts of our trip at that point. Then we heard the announcement that the flight was overbooked and if volunteers would give up their seats, they could fly on Sunday night, and would get $400 vouchers and a free hotel in Tokyo. We hemmed and hawed about it, before deciding that we just really wanted to get home. We didn't know the typhoon was *still* around!

We had planned to take the High Speed Rail from Taoyuan to Kaohsiung. Knowing there were only two possible trains for us to take at 9:2o and 10:16pm, we had to land on time, which was at 8:45pm.

We should have known the night would go downhill from the moment the pilots said the turbulence was so bad that the flight attendants had to take their seats. Then we landed 15 minutes late. And then our last piece of luggage didn't come out till the end (despite our priority status). The last straw was when we asked for the shuttle to the HSR and they told us it wasn't running because of the typhoon.

Great. 4 pieces of luggage, 3 carry-ons, plus a baby. What do we do now?

Hotel, right? Nope. The only ones available had names like "Happy Love Motel." No way was I ready to venture out to a place that might have a vibrating bed and free condoms.

So we decide to take a bus. But the lines were insane, and we'd have to transfer in Taichung.

We finally decided to suck it up and pay over $200 CDN for a taxi. Despite how nice the driver was, the last 120km of the ride was the longest 120km of my life. Rain was pouring in three different directions, the winds were pushing the car in many ways besides forwards, and the driver kept falling asleep. At least Kaeden finally slept. (Kaeden sleep count: 10.5 hours, Parent sleep count: maybe 2)

We finally get home, and the gate entrance keypad is broken. We were so close to home, yet so far. Kris finally had to hop the gate, in hopes that the garage door would be functioning. No such luck. What to do at 4am on a Sunday morning in torrential downpour? How were we going to get 4 pieces of luggage over the fence and our baby too? Luckily, a friend of ours happened to hear a noise and woke up. We got him downstairs and he managed to open the garage with the secret compartment. Finally home...

But, the elevator wasn't working and the entire lobby was flooded. So here we go again, carrying ALL our luggage up seven stories. Exactly what you want to do after no sleep and being completely soaked.

The fun didn't stop there though. Howling winds and pouring rain kept coming, and we entered an apartment in complete disarray, and puddles EVERYWHERE. Thank goodness our friends, the Chois, had come up to mop 5 or 6 times already and had moved all our furniture. We crashed - well, everyone but Kaeden, who was now a nutcase and crying like crazy.

We managed to get a couple hours of sleep before deciding to wake up and try to clean up the mess and unpack. But, again, adventure strikes, and the power goes out for the ENTIRE day. Kris goes to get some groceries, and the stores are jam-packed with people, but little else. He managed to snag a few bowls of instant noodles. We couldn't even boil water, so we had to find friends with a gas stove, just so we could eat that.

The power finally came back on Sunday night, but as of Monday, we will have no water supply until at least Thursday. Thankfully, we live in staff housing, which has a mini-reservoir, although we don't know how much is in there. So here we go - four days of no showering or laundry, and who knows how long we'll be able to flush the toilet. Eating in is a chore because we don't want to use the water to wash dishes. Eating out is scary since the entire city of Kaohsiung is water-less as well.

Sigh...Welcome back to Taiwan?