I think right now I really need a break from Taiwan. Maybe not leave permanently but at least for some weeks/month. Aside from the cost of doing this (is there any tips on how to mitigate this?) I got 2 cats that I wouldn’t know what to do with in the meantime.
Those of you with pets what do you do if you had to go home for a month or two?
House sitter.
Ask a friend, or a friend of a friend. I used to have a neighbor and we took turns catsitting for each other because the cats could stay home and just get a daily food visits
Sign on to a cruise ship, container hauler, fishing boat, etc…?
You know Fillipino workers on Taiwanese fishing boats are treated worse than animals? They’re routinely murdered and thrown overboard from what I hear.
Container ship looks interesting but I didn’t think it’s possible to sign on to be a passenger on one…
And cruise ships are expensive.
Work on them, not ride on them.
Yes you can, they have a limited number of places, some sell the places directly other go through a company or agent.
I watched a youtube video from a fillipino chief engineer or something. It doesn’t look like something I can do because it seems very physical. So I don’t know about working on a container ship.
And I sure as hell hope it doesn’t go to North America with their “law and order” immigration policy. EU is fine though.
You can book as a passenger and you choose what ship and where its going.
I will try and get you a link, but you would be better looking in Chinese for a Taiwan agent or shipping company.
Edit: I see @quandary posted you a link already
I’m more worried about the cats.
I looked at the link, there’s NO voyages out of East Asia… They must be handled by a different people…
There are some places that offer pet sitting services, I know one place in Taipei, Beitou and I think they may have one in Danshui.
just a quick look on google I got 2 shipping companies who operate from Taiwan, the contact info is on the page.
just drop them an email and ask if they have passengers on their ships and if so how to book passage.
http://www.cmt.tw/air-agency-and-tourism
also the government website for the ports which shows the port fee for passengers on commercial ports, which is normally a sign its a regular thing.
Article 5
Passenger port dues are collected from passengers for each departure by the tariff rate of forty New Taiwan Dollars (NT$ 40).
If you want it, do some leg work and make it happen.
Why not just backpack around the Philippines for a month and put your cats in a pet hotel
bring them on board the ship to catch rats.
or Vietnam, Cambodia, loas all pretty cheap.
Try WWOOFing?
If I bring my cat to Vietnam it might get eaten…
But ideally I really like to go to the EU if I can afford it. I prefer not melting to death.
Food is quite cheep, you won’t need to eat your cat.