Good thing I still haven’t completely unpacked from my EuroTrip because I found out a few days ago that I’ll be taking my first ever business trip – to Taipei, Taiwan.

WHAT?!

Yeah…that was my reaction. Of all the things I’ve done this year, this one is definitely the most random, unexpected and cool. Though it is a business trip, I do have a few days at the end to explore Taipei with two of my co-workers which should be a lot of fun.

I’m glad I have the EuroTrip under my belt to make the prospect of traveling itself less scary, but I don’t think any amount of traveling through Europe will have prepared me for the culture shock I expect to experience.

It’s going to be quite the shock on many levels, actually. Not only am I going to Asia for the first time, but I also get to stay in a HOTEL. And I don’t have to carry a gigantic backpack! And I get my OWN ROOM! After the hostel life, this is definitely going to feel like living in the lap of luxury!

I take off tonight (technically tomorrow, but very, very early in the morning) on an 11+ hour journey across the Pacific and arrive in Taipei on Monday morning, just in time for work. This will also be my longest flight ever, but after 21 hours on a train from Sicily to Venice I think I’ll be able to manage. Business class with food and movies doesn’t hurt either.

Needless to say I’m pretty excited about this trip. Getting to go somewhere I would have never really chosen to go on my own, traveling without worrying about my backpack being stolen or whether my hostel will have rats in the ceiling (yes, it’s happened), and getting to experience a whole new part of the world? Awesome. Oh, and the work part of it should be really interesting and fun too.

I really don’t know what to expect from Taipei itself. I’ve done my usual Flickr browsing to get a sense of the area, but I’m going to wing it. I have 2 things on my to-do list: 1) do the job I’m going there to do and 2) go to the night market.

I think I can fit that all into a week.

I’ll keep you posted! Next stop: Taipei!

It’s 7:25PM, but my brain thinks it’s about midnight. I’m kind of fuzzy on what day it is (Thursday according to my calendar) and I’ve already managed to develop blisters from all of the walking. It’s hot as all heck and I seem to be insatiably thirsty, but it’s awesome so far!

Unfortunately, I don’t have a phone at the moment. I’ve poked around in various shops but all of the cheap phones don’t have SIM cards. I’m already starting to miss my iPhone. I’ve gone to pull it out a few times and then realized that I couldn’t use it. Ah withdrawal…

The good news is: I’m not completely Spanish illiterate! Yay! I’ve managed to survive the last 11 hours without too many problems (though trying to sort out the cell phone logistics was pretty interesting. Note to Spanish teachers everywhere: teach some practical things like cell phone terminology how to tell your hostel keeper that you canceled your second night but would like to apply that night’s downpayment to tonight’s stay because you canceled the second night with enough notice to receive your downpayment back.) It also turns out that I’ve completely forgotten most conjugations for tenses other than the present. There are a few frequently used ones that have stuck in my head, but for the most part it’s present tense all the way. I’m just glad that when I do get a full sentence out, it doesn’t contain too many uhs and ums and I don’t sound like a classroom-Spanish American. w00t.

So now we’re (we = me + Marquise, a friend from Cornell) hanging out in our hostel post-siesta and are trying to sort out what to do for dinner. My feet are telling me to eat the granola bar I have in my backpack and call it a night, but my more practical side is telling me to go get some tapas and sangria. Hopefully the sangria side will win that battle.

To those of you who were asking about my itinerary, that’s coming up soon. I worked it out on Tuesday (finally) so it’s only in pencil on a piece of paper folded up in my backpack, but when I have the attention span to transcribe it I will. I can tell you that my next 3 stops will be Barcelona (tomorrow evening, overnight train), Copenhagen (super cheap airfare from Barcelona. Win.), and then Palermo in Sicily (also by super cheap airfare). After that I think I’m headed to Venice to begin the nearly one-month long tour of Italy I’ve mapped out hitting the likes of Rome, Naples, Capri, Pompeii, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Pisa. Who knows what else will fit in there. Then there’s the entire month of July and a few days in August. I’ll spell those out later.

And, I’m sure the next question will be: “But Jenn! Where are all of the photos!” Well, they’re coming. I’m probably going to work on them on the train to Barcelona tomorrow night. I haven’t taken many yet because we were mostly just wandering around past the museums, but I think tomorrow will be a much better photo day.

So that’s all for now. I’m sure I’m forgetting things, but this is already longer than I anticipated! Have a good Thursday and I’ll be posting again soon with my itinerary!

Adios!