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Journey to the South East or Conquest of the Skies

I say farewell to Latvia for 5 months by watching the premiere of the movie Flow (latv. Straume) and then end the night in tears — I hug my twin brother goodbye. It's the first time we separate for such a long time, as previously we left each other's side only for 2 weeks max. He has to work the next day, so he won't be part of the group that accompanies me to the airport.

It's also my first flight on my own, so I'm quite anxious of what's to come.

As my flight is scheduled at 7am, I have to wake up at 4:30, so I can catch a bus. My parents help me with my suitcase, and hug me goodbye after I check-in for my flight. I leave them behind as I go through security.

The flight to Vienna is uneventful and, if I had to be honest, quite boring. Well, what can someone expect from AirBaltic.

Vienna airport greets me with crowds of people and a long wait for my next flight, that will take me all the way to Beijing. As I've arrived at 8:30 am, I have to wait three hours before I can go through check in again. So I do what's best to do in this situation — go to grab a meal at a fast food chain (Burger King).

The wait is agonising as I don't want to use my mobile data to watch YouTube videos or play Genshin and the airport WiFi is only passable for scrolling the Web. I entertain myself by reading and rereading Latvian news, as well playing 2048. I also explored the 3rd Terminal a bit, which is almost as big (or even bigger) as the whole Riga Airport.

My adventure continues with a small bump — as I check-in for my flight, I'm told that those travelling to Taipei need to have a return ticket, which I do not have. The reason why? Honestly, I don't really know. I didn't get all of it, since my German language skills aren't that advanced, so there might be some convoluted explanation. But in the endmy ticket was changed from 'Rejected' to 'Approved' and I could move on. Maybe having an 180 day visa helped somehow, or the check-in ladies, whom I'm infinitely thankful to, were nice.

The boarding to the Vienna-Beijing flight (AirChina) is fast, and I'm in my seat in about 10 minutes. I also find a pillow and a blanket on my seat. As the pillow finds itself supporting my back, cabin crew warns us about possible turbulence and goes over the safety instructions. I was expecting to be sitting next to someone, but the middle seat remains empty, which gives me and the aisle seat guy a little more legroom. I settle in for a 9 hour flight. A window to my left and a screen in front of me, I have 2 ways to entertain myself — either look at ground below and admire the clouds, or watch a movie. I chose the latter.

My first choice was a 3 hour (2 hours 48 minutes) animated movie called Chang An, a story about Li Bai and Gao Shi (Tang dynasty poets). I'm occasionally interrupted by crew announcements and warnings, so the movie stops from time to time. Dinner (if you can call it dinner at ~14:30-15:00) arrives and I can choose between beef and potatoes and chicken and rice. Chicken sounded quite appealing, so that's what I got. It's a tasty meal, but I couldn't eat all of the chicken as I wasn't the biggest fan of it's texture. It was also quite salty.

The turbulence does exist, but it's not as bad as I thought. While it does get a bit shakey, it's barely noticeable for someone (me) who lived near a railway all her life. The rougher patches reminded me of 2015, when we were traveling to Saint-Petersburg by train. I could have just gotten lucky.

Being who I am, while scrolling through the selection of movies, I managed to find all three parts of "Lord of The Rings". Did I watch them already? Multiple times at that? Maybe, but a good movie is a good movie. Also, I wanted to practice reading Chinese characters and considering I already know the contents of the films, it gives me an opportunity to focus on reading. I was pleased to find out that I understand at least half of the characters and can even understand most of the sentences (English voice-over does help a bit). Most of the plane is dark at this point as the lights get dimmed and window covers get lowered and most of the passengers are trying to catch some sleep, but I, unable to sleep in a loud and unfamiliar place, dive into the world of Middle Earth yet again.

As my second meal I chose noodles and pork. I don't know why they decided to drown everything, aside from desert and bread, in salt, but I can't say I'm a fan of it.

As I landed, I've tried contacting my parents and brother to notify them that I've successfully landed in Beijing, as I've done so in Vienna, I was quickly disappointed — any message I've tried to send would just get stuck loading. So I did the next best thing and sent 2 short SMS to tell them I'm fine.

Transfer to Taipei is fast, yet a bit confusing. The security check workers just silently gestured what they wanted you to do, and you just had to know. It was quite effective, as there was no room for small talk.

At 4:30 am the airport is basically empty aside from a few people sleeping on chairs here and there. The activities started closer to 7 am, but my gate was so far away, that I could enjoy a few hours of peace and relative quiet.

As the Beijing-Taipei flight is so short (and I'm in economy), there wasn't a screen to entertain myself. Sleep just wouldn't come, so I tried napping, then waiting refreshments to come.

I wasn't really expecting to be served breakfast (I'm traumatised by AirBaltic), but I was. I'm not afraid to admit to the fact that I'm a very picky eater, but "New country, New me", I guess. So I tried the rice porridge they were offering. I've heard so many good things about thisbdish, that it would be a shame not to try. I didn't enjoy it at all. But the side dishes of yoghurt (?), bread with butter and melon did help me improve my mood.

Arrival at Taipei is a bit confusing. There are so many signs, people rushing around etc. After some time of filling out the arrival card and waiting in line, I'm approved to enter and stay in Taiwan.

And my first stop in The Republic of China is... a McDonald's in the airport's food court. Even as other restaurants offering Chinese food temp me, I'm dead set on getting a burger with chicken. Honestly, I just wanted something familiar, with no additional surprises.

I spent around an hour there and then made my way to the Arrivals Hall to find my hotel bus. I did find, quite quickly at that. I also found out that's it's HOT outside. My trusty phone notified me that it was 34°c outside (with a small comment underneath saying 'feels like 48°c'). Sure, I can imagine how hot 34°c is, since Latvia is not gloomy and gray all year round, but 48°c (even 'feels like') is something else. So I've returned to the airport, where air-conditioning was.

I managed to check in to the hotel earlier than what Booking.com said, without any additional charges. I can now finally sleep in a proper bed.