Our flight to Taipei was due to land at 5:15am. The incredible tail winds combined with the fact that a 777 only had about 42 passengers on board had us landing at 3:45am instead. In a pre-pandemic world I would have been thrilled. In COVID times, however, not so good. A check-in anytime before 7am at our quarantine hotel would mean charging us another full night, ugh. In the span of 30 minutes, the uber efficient Taiwanese airport staff set me up with a SIM card, exchanged USD to NTD, downloaded an app to track us through the quarantine entry system, cleared us through customs and by the time we arrived at baggage claim, our luggage looked like it had already done a few rounds on the baggage carousel.
Our bodies and luggage were sprayed down with disinfectant before we were ushered into a special quarantine taxi. We arrived 30 minutes later at the Papersun Hotel, a former dormitory for Shilin Paper Factory workers, our home for the next 15 days. A terrified young man in a hazmat suit, goggles, face shield and mask disinfected our bodies and luggage once again and pointed us to a dingy service elevator and gave us our room number, no key necessary since we can’t leave the room anyway.
I tried to hide my disappointment when we opened our door, since the two twin sized beds I booked was one double bed, and the mountain view off the balcony advertised on the website was a view of a delapidated car park instead. I focused on the positives instead — a large balcony, plenty of counter space and a decent sized bathroom.
A care package of masks and packaged foods was dropped off by the government, and we prepared to settle into our new home for the next 15 days. But first, a four hour nap.
