Hello everyone
It's WeiWei
I am in Taiwan now
Today, I'm going to share with you the whole process
Of coming back from Vancouver to Taiwan.
I arrived in Taiwan last Friday on December the third.
Therefore, I still have a vivid memory of the whole process.
I just want to say during this pandemic
I feel that from the moment you start your preparation to the moment you set foot in Taiwan it is a very hard process.
It's such a difficult process
If you haven't watch my previous video
About the flying part
You can go watch that video after this one
If you ever plan to come back to Taiwan to celebrate the lunar new year
Or you are planning to come back next year
or you just want to know how much preparation you need if you want to come back
This video will definitely help you
There's lots of information in this video
Plus many useful tips from my experience
I'm going to make the contents as easily understandable as possible
I will put some useful websites in the description below
Let's get started
First important step is
find/book your quarantine hotel
Let me repeat 3 times
Find/book your quarantine hotel
I arrived back in Taiwan on Dec 3rd
I have to stay in the quarantine hotel for 14 nights
It's actually 15 nights in the quarantine hotel
You can't count the 1st day when you arrive in Taiwan
You can only start the count day a day after you arrived
If you arrive in Taiwan between December 14th to February 14th of next year
You have 3 options to choose from
I will provide you with a link
With details in the description box below
No matter which option you choose from
You have to find your quarantine hotel or central quarantine camp where you need to pay out of your pocket
Not all quarantine hotels can support all the options
So, before you book your ticket, you have to make sure if the quarantine hotel can say support your quarantine plan
In conclusion, make sure you book your quarantine hotel first
Then you can buy your plane ticket
This is the correct order
On Nov 6th
I inquired about the vacancy of the hotel I am currently living in
There were no rooms available at that time
But when they learned that I would arrive after 9:30pm in Taiwan
Then they told me there's a room available
And this room hadn't been available if I would have arrived at noon or in the morning
The cost of living is $2500 new Taiwanese dollars every night including three meals
And you can order UberEats or Food Panda. The hotel staff would deliver it to your door 24/7
After you book your quarantine hotel
Make sure you print the receipt
Because there's a code from the hotel
The staff in Taiwan would want to look at it
Second, book your airplane ticket
After you book your quarantine hotel, then you can book your flight tickets
Unless you are already in your flight
And the plane is about to take off on the runway
Nothing is certain yet
My mom's flights got changed 5 times
5 times!!!
It is actually very common to see your flight is cancelled or rescheduled
There's lots of possibilties
Your flight might get changed
Such as the discovery of a new variant
The new policy of a certain country
Not many people taking your flight
Airline company would lose money if they fly this plane
Plus many other countless reasons
That would result in your flight changed
Don't assume that only your flight ticket can be cancelled or rescheduled
Maybe it got changed for few hours
Or got changed for few days later
And I read online that someone's flight was rescheduled to a new date after two weeks
Not only your flight but also your PCR test
Also you need to change date for your quarantine hotel
My mother's flight got rescheduled one day prior to departure
And there's only few direct flights during these times
And it's really expensive
So many people buy airplane ticket that has 1 more stop
My mom's flights were from Vancouver to Hong Kong
And Hong Kong to Taiwan
While she was layover in Hong Kong waiting for her flight to Taiwan
She received a sudden notification that her flight got cancelled again
So she was layover in the Hong Kong airport for 20 hours
Thank god Cathay Pacific airline
Invited her to go to the business class lounge
So she can relax and have some meals in the lounge free of charge
I was very lucky
My flights from Vancouver to Incheon Korea airport, then to Taiwan
There were no changes to my flights. Thank god
Third, book your appointment
For the PCR Test
You need this test result 3 days, 72 hours before your flight
I booked my appointment at LifeLabs FlyClear
It's located very close to YVR airport. It's a big facility and feels very safe
The testing stalls are pretty far apart. It was well ventilated
The fee was $150 Cad
Plus taxes which comes to $157 Cad
You can book the appointment date/time after you make the payment first
Make sure to bring your passport you used to book your flight
And print out the appointment confirmation paper
If you forgot to bring your passport
Then you can't do the PCR Test
There's this Taiwanese lady at the centre
She has so much patient and a big loving heart
If you happen to get your testing there
You can go look for this Taiwanese lady
I don't remember her name
But I remember she always sits at the very far left when you enter the centre
I felt grossed out from the testing process
The nurse used a tip to swap your mouth and used the same tip to swap your nose
When they swap your nose, it's not that deep don't worry at all
It's not like they swap so deep until it reaches back of your head
So don't you worry at all
But I thought to myself
What if a person has a bad breath
Then they would smell their breath
Overall it was a pleasant and safe experience
You will get the result the next day. Make sure to print it out
When I was doing these things, I was still working at Starbucks
From Mondays to Fridays
Until my last day Nov 26th at Starbucks
My partners were all super nice
Super easy to work with
A Filipino lady partner drew this beautiful board for me on my last day of work
Almost all customers told me to take care when they learned that I was going back to Taiwan
I was very touched
Allow me to do a small self promotion
I used to be a Starbucks store manager for 5 years
If you haven't watch that video. Please go watch it after
You also have to make sure that your Taiwanese passport is valid for six months
Although you still can enter Taiwan with your expired passport
But the process would be a bit more complicated
And before you leave Canada
You need a vaccine passport QR code screen shot in your cell phone
Every person who lives in Canada
If you want to take an airplane, train, or a cruise
You must have the vaccine passport available
48 hours prior to your departure you need to declare how you are going to self-quarantine in Taiwan on a website
After you complete the form, press the save button for more than 2 seconds, it will save in your phone
When I was at the Vancouver airport, the ground staff from Air Canada
She checked my vaccine passport
PCR result, and my quarantine hotel booking confirmation
I arrived at the airport 3-3.5 hours before the departure
Because I worried that the security check would take a longer time during the pandemic
It turned out it was super-fast actually
Got to the gate pretty fast
The ground staff will check your PCR result before you board the plane once more time
What surprised me was that there was no temperature check before boarding
I was shocked when I found my seat closest to the window
My heart sunk to the bottom
The flight was almost full of passengers
I thought to myself Air Canada really wants to make some money eh?
I was surrounded by passengers front and back
Plus there's a lady sitting right next to me in the middle seat
After few minutes
It turned out there's no passenger in the right seat
So the lady moved to the right seat
So we have a empty seat between us
I think she's scared to sit right next to me
Also she's a vegetarian/vegan
So she got her meals before me
When she was having her meals
I didn't take off my mask. When it was time for me to eat my meals
She would put on her mask
She saw when I took out the sanitize wipes out and started to clean the areas I might touch
Then she copied me and started to clean her area too
Let me tell you guys
My whole experience of taking flight right now is 2 words
Suffocating! I had my mask on throughout except for eating and drinking
Initially, I had an N95 mask
Plus a face shield
And I wasn't able to breathe, and have a really bad headache
When I arrived at Incheon Korea airport, I met my high school classmate Yolande
We haven't seen each other for years
So we had endless conversations haha
Right when you walked out from the airplane
There were super nice ground staffs from Eva Airline directed us to go to our gate for the next flight to Taiwan
The second flight had less than 40 people
People were separated during the flight. I felt very safe. Finally arrive in Taiwan!
It was not an easy process. The moment I landed, I felt like crying
I've been living in Vancouver for 28 years
This is the 2nd time only that I am back in Taiwan
I have mixed feelings excitement and nerves
It felt like I have arrived to a completely new country
While I was still in the airplane waiting to get off the plane
I received the text message about the quarantine declaration which I did 48 hours ago
Don't worry if you don't have a Taiwan's cell number yet
You can use your Canada's cell number to fill out the form online
Remember to add a + and 1 follow with your cell number
If you don't receive that text message after you arrived in Taiwan
Don't you worry
There's a lot of ground staff waiting for you
They have lots of patient and a loving heart
I didn't have a Taiwan's cell number
So I went to the Chunghwa Telecom booth to buy a new SIM
Got myself a 30 days unlimited 4G data plan
$1000NT for 30 days. Got it done in 1 minute
There's many other packages available
You can search it online beforehand or take a look at it at the site
It's been 7th days since I got this plan
The internet speed is pretty stable/fast. I am pretty satisfied
But I am still in the quarantine hotel
So I've been using the hotel wifi mostly
After you received the confirmation text from the Taiwan's quarantine department
Make sure take a screen shot of the 3 pages
After that, go right straight to the next station
Another ground staff will take a look at your PCR result, quarantine hotel booking, and the quarantine report you just received
Then you will go through custom
Pretty soon you will arrive to the luggages collecting station
After you got your luggages
You need to pick up the bottle for spitting your saliva and the Covid test kit which will be used 21 days later at home
After you leave the airport
Turn left and you will see the saliva collecting station
It's outside of the airport
You will need to spit out 3-5ML of your saliva
You will see everybody is separated in a booth of your own
And start spitting haha
After the splitting, a sticker will be provided to you, put it on your clothes
Then you need to go to your quarantine taxi station
While you are filling out the quarantine taxi form
The staff would use alcohol spray your whole body 360 degrees and your luggages including the bottom of your shoes
It felt like we needed to be fully sanitized before we got on our taxi
My quarantine hotel is in TaoYuan City, same city as the airport
The ride was around 15 minutes
It was $538NT
Like my mom and my high school friend
They book their quarantine hotel in New Taipei City/Taipei City
So their taxi ride was about 45 minutes
Fare was $1000NT
The government will pay to the taxi drivers anything about $1000NT
It's better to give cash to the taxi drivers
Because I read online that if you pay with credit card
They will get the payment few days after and I believe there's a surcharge for them to get the money as well
Final 2 tips for you guys
Before you leave Canada
Make sure to get out of country medical insurance
The one I got also has a Covid-19 insurance
For any reason plus Covid related. It covers up to $5 millions Cad
It's like an insurance for yourself
I am here in Taiwan for 72 days, costs $207 Cad
I got it from Manulife Insurance Company
Another tip is I didn't exchange too much Taiwan Dollars on hand
Because Canadian Dollars has been losing values, it's not worth it to exchange around this time
So I applied for a Scotiabank Passport Visa credit card
It has 0 exchange fee with this card
It has has the conversion from amount you purchase from NT to Cad
Because basically most of the other credit cards out there
It charges an additional of 2.5-3% for the exchange fee on top of the conversion. It's so not worth it
I will put everything I've mentioned in the description box below
Make sure to add me on IG
WillyWuWerq, and other socials
If you want to follow me on my personal life
Make sure to add me on IG
If you like this video please make sure to like, subscribe
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But I am sure it will help out people who wants to come back to Taiwan
Please share it with your friends and families
Don't forget sharing is caring
I will see you in my next video! Bye bye!