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Taipei to Hualien Using a Combo Ticket (Bus and Local Train)
Booking the express train from Taipei to Hualien isn’t always a walk in the park. Worst case scenario that tickets are sold-out, the other option is the combo – bus + train. The combo ticket is not available online. Reservation or advance booking is not possible. It has to be bought in person at the bus ticketing counter on the day of travel. The bus company will provide you with tickets for the two legs of the trip: Bus from Taipei to Luodong Local train from Luodong to Hualien Based on my research, there are two bus companies that offer the combo ticket. Your choice will most likely depend on where…
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Seven-Day Vacation in Taiwan: 2 Days in Taipei
As I’ve mentioned in my introductory post about my seven-day vacation with friends in Taiwan, two days were allotted for Taipei. Since I’ve already explored parts of Taipei before, I had to come up with something else to do. Getting to Taipei City from Taoyuan Airport Our flight’s ETD from Manila was 23:40 of January 31 with ETA of 2:05 February 1 at Taoyuan Airport Terminal 1. With this arrival time, our options to reach Taipei City is to take either a taxi or a public bus. We opted to take the Kuo Kuang Bus 1819. This bus has a stop at both terminals 1 and 2 of Taoyuan…
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Seven Day Vacation in Taiwan
In 2017, my friends and I were playing with the idea of vacationing in Taiwan for the first quarter of 2018 to explore its countryside. We agreed that if cheap fares become available, then we’ll push through with it. In November 2017, two of us – Melvin and I – were able to book a flight with Cebu Pacific Air for PHP 4,500 (USD 86.95) each pax, no check-in bag included. Days before the flight, we added 15kg of check-in bag for PHP 690 (USD 13.33) each passenger per way. Another friend, Carol, decided to join part of the trip and booked her flight in January 2018. Another thing…
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My Experience with Booking a Train between Taipei and Hualien
If you’re planning a visit to the Taroko National Park, your adventure will probably start with booking a train ticket between Taipei and Hualien. The ideal ride to take is either the Puyuma Express or Taroko Express which goes for, more or less, two hours of travel time. Booking opens 14 days in advance. But, if the opening of ticket sales for your travel date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, it will already be up for grabs by Friday. I learned that the hard way. My friends and I scheduled a day trip in Taroko for February 3. With the 14-day rule in mind, I was expecting ticket…
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Central Europe Trip: 4 Nights in Germany
Germany was the doorway to our central Europe trip. We never planned for it to begin with this country. It just so happened that the cheap fare from Asia which I was able to book goes to Berlin. Henceforth, our central Europe itinerary started taking shape from this country. Below are details about and photos from our trip in Germany. Some of the photos are in tiled layout. Clicking on these may enlarge the photo and show the caption, if provided. ACCOMMODATION We stayed in Germany for four nights. Our accommodation was at Titanic Comforte Mitte Hotel, which is conveniently located near the U2 line. Public transportation can be used going to…
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2017 Year-End Thoughts
As the year comes near to its end, I look back to everything that happened in 2017 and the best memory is my trip to Central Europe and Israel. This reminded me of how it first came as an idea. Two years ago, I started thinking of travelling to Europe. No concrete plans, no target dates. All I had in mind back then was “one day, I’m going to do it”. I started reading about schengen visa application, reading about train travel in Europe, checking-out hostels, reading blog posts, estimating the budget, and checking fares for flights going to Europe. I learned that there’s a chance to book a…
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25 Days in Central Europe: Hows and Whys
You can find here questions we received from friends regarding our trip to central Europe.
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How We Stayed Connected in Europe for Just 1 Euro a Day
Our trip in central Europe lasted 25 days and covered Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Austria. Visiting this much countries meant we had to cross borders multiple times. Thankfully, there wasn’t any need for border control when moving between schengen states. The only non-schengen country we visited was Croatia. The other concern when vacationing in multiple countries nowadays is staying connected. The choices to address this will normally be between a prepaid sim card and a pocket wifi. We chose the former since there’s just two of us and it eliminates the need to think about pick-up, return, and deposit. We were fortunate because the European Union abolished roaming…
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My October Love Affair with Israel (A Two-Week Vacation)
According to Passport Index, the Philippines has a Visa-Free Score (VFS) of 61 as of October 2017. This means that Philippine passport holders can visit 61 countries/territories either visa-free or with visa-on-arrival, one of which is Israel. Passport Index’s consideration is comprised of “193 United Nations member countries and 6 territories (ROC Taiwan, Macao (SAR China), Hong Kong (SAR China), Kosovo, Palestinian Territory and the Vatican) for a total of 199”. Coming from the Philippines – a country that is comprised mostly of Catholics, a visit to Israel can be considered fortunate. When you say Israel, most Filipinos will think “pilgrimage”. Who wouldn’t want to visit the Holy Land?? And…
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Sleeper Train from Budapest to Prague
After exploring Hungary, our next destination was Czech Republic! We took a sleeper train from Budapest to the city of a hundred spires. We believe saving one night on accommodation is a good deal so we booked a night train which takes 10 hours and 34 minutes of travel, leaving Budapest Keleti at 20:05 and arriving in Prague hl.n at 06:39. The cheapest early-bird rate, called SparNight, for the sleeper train is 59 euro per person in a 2-bed private compartment. I booked our tickets 11 weeks ahead and got it for 69 euro per pax. Out of curiosity, I tried searching for a 2-bed private compartment again…
my life. my travels. my thoughts.
