Just about 2 years after our last visit to Disney Tokyo, we brought our 4Y1M daughter back for her third time in Disney. Now that she turned 4 years old, the tickets and passes were no longer free. Another big difference this time was that we stayed on Disney property for 3 nights at the …
This January, we spent 5 days 4 nights in Singapore with our 3Y10M daughter for the second time just like last year. This time, we explored new places and gathered with friends and relatives, and stayed in a different neighborhood in the Bugis area. It was rainy season, but luckily we had a dry day …
Okinawa is a beach vacation destination that many of my friends from Taiwan have frequented, only 1.5 hour flight away (3 and 2 hour flight from Tokyo and Osaka respectively). For some reason, I haven’t got a chance to visit until 2024 September with my husband and daughter. We spent four full days in Okinawa, …
Embarking on a New York City adventure with a toddler can seem daunting, and we’ve postponed until our daughter is 3Y4M this summer when we can enjoy a lot more activities together. With some planning, it turned out to be an unforgettable experience for us with our daughter. Here’s our journey through the Big Apple, …
When my husband was staffing a booth at a conference in Singapore this year, we decided for me to bring our 2Y10M daughter toward the end of the event on Friday. From there, we spent 3 full days in Singapore with a very loose schedule as we had dinner plans with local friends and relatives. …
After about 6 months from the last trip with our daughter, we traveled to Tokyo again the week before my work trip. This time, she was 2y2m with a lot more opinions and expressions. It was pretty easy traveling with a stroller in Tokyo (some exercise when taking public transportation), we had tons of precious …
Near the end of 2022, we finally started planning our first actual vacation abroad with our 1y9m toddler-to-be. We traveled to Tokyo twice in recent years, but there were a lot more logistics and planning for the trip with our daughter. This time, we spent 6 full days in Tokyo including 4 days around the …
25 years ago, I visited Tokyo Disney with my family for the first time. For my husband, Disney World in Florida was also full of childhood memories with his family. This December, two months after both Japan and my home country Taiwan opened up from COVID, we brought our 1y9m daughter to see the magical …
Back in July 2020, we stayed in Fulong one night before heading to Luodong and Toucheng in Yilan. Fulong is just a quick train ride from Taipei, and a popular destination for day trips. We mostly went for the ocean view and the annual Sand Sculpture Festival in the summer. Sand Sculpture Festival The Sand …
It’s been a while since I updated the blog. It was mostly because our daughter was born this year, and we had a tough few months with COVID in Taiwan. There are many places that I want to travel with my daughter when she gets older, and I’m hoping to write down some past trips …
On our 9-day trip to Italy back in October 2019, we spent 3 full days in Rome other than Venice and Bologna. This was the second time I visited Rome, and the city felt bigger and more lively since I last went in 2010 with a tour group. Traveling on our own this time, we …
Last June, we went on a spontaneous day trip to a sheep farm with my family after the COVID situation got calmer. Qingjing Farm was first built by the military government in 1961, and veterans from Yunnan, China started farming in the area. In the 80s, the farm opened a hotel and welcomed tourism. I …
Jiaoxi is probably the town that attracts the most tourists in Yilan, especially in the cooler winter season. The town is easily accessible by train, and I always felt refreshed after stepping out of the train station with a view of the mountain surrounded by clouds. We visited on a day trip from Luodong last …
In the past 2 years, we’ve stayed in Luodong 3 times. Luodong is one of the largest towns in Yilan, if not bigger than Yilan city. We find Luodong the most convenient to explore sights in town and nearby attractions like Toucheng by train or scooter/car. The town is lively, and a lot of traditional …
Last October, we were in Bologna for an iOS conference #Pragma that takes place in different cities of Italy each year (online this year due to COVID). We took a train from Venice to Bologna, and then a taxi to the hotel. It’s still crazy to think that we transferred our flights in Wuhan, China …
On the last day of our trip to Yilan, we rented a car via iRent to explore Toucheng town for the first time. Toucheng is the northmost town of Yilan county, and was developed the earliest. Morning coffee at Mr. Brown Coffee castle We are frequent customers of Mr. Brown Coffee, they have several locations …
Hiking in humid summer weather is quite a challenge, but we felt like it’s still better than staying in for the whole weekend. After searching for shaded hikes in the Taipei area, we decided on our Sunday half-day itinerary: taking MRT to Xindian station, hiking to Yinhe Cave waterfall, brunch at Green Cube cafe, 2km …
Right before the COVID outbreak in the US, I went on a work trip to Chicago and left just a few days before the 14-day mandatory quarantine in Taiwan. The average 13.5h flights were perhaps the most restless ones I’d taken, wearing a mask all the way and skipping meals if possible. Despite the stress …
After spending a couple of days in Osaka and Nara, we took a Hanshin train to Kobe and arrived in just about an hour. Kobe was one of the earliest harbors that Japan opened to the world around 1868, and parts of the history have stuck around in a few former foreigner houses in the …
We visited Osaka in 2014, and 5 years later we came back to this lively city in the Kansai region. This time, we worked remotely in Osaka for 3 days at a coworking space, coffee shops, and a library. Aside from working, we visited Nara for a day and had many good meals every day …