I have reserved a hotel room in Hualien for the upcoming long holiday weekend and had planned to take the train to and from Hualien, but have now learned that I am too late - it is already full.
I was able to reserve 2 tickets from Taipei to Hualien - but I currently have no solid plan for how to get back to Taipei? Any suggestions? Can I rent a car in Hualien and return it in Taipei? Is there a bus that reserves seats that I could pre-pay?
Any advice would be appreciated! If I choose to keep the one way train tickets, I need to pay the day after tomorrow… so I need to figure something out fast!
I wouldn’t worry about it. People always book the tickets straight away, but then they don’t pay for them so they will go on sale again. I’d just try and buy tickets for the return journey when you arrive in Hualien (They will sometimes add extra trains, too). If worst comes to the worst, it just means standing for three hours on the way back.
Very unlikely you’d have to stand the whole way either. Almost certainly you’ll find a seat from Hualien to Luodong/Yilan. That’s an hour taken care of.
If you can borrow a 1 year old child from someone, then you’ll be offered a seat the whole way .
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