Traveling adventures

Officially on our way!

Friday morning came quickly. I made sure to wake up early so I could finish cleaning out our fridge, and do a few more dishes. Kitsune had to work, so he logged on while I finished getting the house ready and packing. After a quick shower Steve arrived to take us to the airport. We were extremely lucky that we scheduled our flight when we did as the weather was turning awful that day.

Steve driving down Pleasant hill in the yuck and rain. 

The temperature was dropping, and the rain was starting to get heavy. Steve safely got us to the airport, and we promised him a fabulous dinner featuring my awesome rib eye steak and possibly some fish as well. He did us a wonderful favor last minute by taking us to the airport when our previous plans fell through.

One of our favorite things to do when flying Delta, is going down to Concourse E and dining at One Flew South. Especially for some cocktails before a long flight.

Little Bear approves of the menu choices.

View from our table

Kitsune ordered You Only Live Twice, Bear ordered Pisco Sour

Kitsune's cocktail was pretty amazing. It had 2 different Sake's, and a rosemary infused syrup. I was surprised at the depth of flavor and that a fair amount of sweetness came through. My Pisco sour was tasty, but it was a sour. I pretty much knew what to expect. We both ordered sandwich plates and shared. One Flew South is a fusion restaurant, so it's always interesting to try their takes on classic recipes. We ate a Pulled Duck Sandwich (duck confit, fig and toasted peanut relish, scallions, side of slaw) and Benton's Bacon BLT (black truffle mayonnaise, bacon, lettuce, tomato, five-spice fries). Both were fabulous, wonderful choices. I really liked the five-spice fries. They were shoestring, with Chinese five spice and salt. I will have to try and recreate at home at some point. Finished off the meal with Hamachi sashimi. Noms.

Little Bear relaxed in my Kumamon bag while we ate.

Our flight was originally supposed to leave at 2:25pm but when all was said and done, we didn't leave until 3:50pm. Not because of any weather issues in Atlanta, but on San Francisco's part. 

Thankfully the flight was uneventful, and we made it to San Fran with plenty of time to go out with Debbie and Dave for dinner at a super tasty, and super busy, ramen shop.

Soybean broth, with nothing extra added. Mild.

The noodles are hand made, and have a lovely chew to them. Very different than Umaido ramen back home. Unfortunately the mild was still rather spicy, and as I ate it got to the point that it was too spicy. So sad face. I know for next time I will just have to go with plain and be boring. 

Little Bear and Debbie were thrilled to finally meet :D

 Debbie and Dave were awesome and I was super excited to finally meet them. They brought us milk tea and eggy puffs that were really tasty. After dinner we headed for coffee and just relaxed and chatted until it was time for them to bring us back to the airport.

Waiting to board

Unfortunately, my nerves started to get the better of me when we got back to the airport and my stomach decided to turn against me. I wore my Sea Bands from there on out, but my stomach still revolted. This, of course, made the flight super uncomfortable, and I wasn't really able to eat anything for fear of a relapse. The flight other than that was uneventful as well, although still miserably long. My compression socks worked like a charm, and swelling stayed at a minimum. 

Waiting for our check bag in Hong Kong. 

We needed to drop off some things for Tom, so we went through immigration and picked up our luggage. Met with Uncle Herman, and then checked into our flight to Taiwan, and re-checked our bag. Once through security, we waited around until we had a gate number, as it was just under 5 hour layover. My stomach was still very sensitive, and since neither of us can really sleep on plane rides in our old age, we were exhausted. At that point we had been up for over 38 hours. 

lean pork and preserved egg congee

 We found a congee place, and had a light breakfast. The congee was plain enough that my stomach could handle it, but still really quite good. Kitsune had wonton with noodle soup. We were both thankful for lite and warm food.

waiting on the flight

 

The flight to Taiwan was super quick, and we were very thankful to finally arrive at our destination. We got on a bus that would take us to the MRT line we needed to head up to Beitou. Unfortunately we did not realize we needed to tell the bus driver that our stop was one of the early ones, and when we tried to get off, our luggage was in the back of the storage area. Because of this, we couldn't get off. So we got back on, and ended up at the HSR Main Station. We were trying to look at a map and figure out how to get to another MRT station, a really helpful man took pity on us, and quickly lead us through a serious of elevators and halls until we were where we needed to be. Once on the right line, we rode for a bunch of stops until we finally arrived at Xinbeitou. Thinking we would be able to easily walk to our hot springs hotel, we set off dragging our luggage along. Needless to say, after a half hour of walking around congested streets and up lots of hills, getting lost and having to backtrack, we finally arrived at our hotel. 

Success!