The solution is staying the night before departure in a hotel near Taimall and Costco Taoyuan. The Zhuwei-Taoyuan bus line stops along Nankan Rd. to and from TPE. Solves the omiyage problem, too.
Nowhere near Tainan, so general observations here. A lot depends how on bad it would be to miss the flight. Yes, it’s as you say, “probably doable”. But with a tight schedule there’s always a small chance of missing the plane. How much would it hurt if that happened?
I remember looking into having a bike shipped to the airport a couple of years ago, didn’t do it in the end, but I’m sure there’s a holding area for baggage, and transit companies will deliver to there. So that would be bike in box, ship it to Taoyuan, and you travel the day before the flight (bike-free) and pick it up at the airport.
solved.
Go the day before and stay at the NOVOTEL in Taoyuan airport. Much less stress.
Too pricey (and boring) for me, T-man, when there are plenty of equally nice deluxe rooms, NTD2000 cheaper than Novotel, along the Zhuwei-Taoyuan line bus.
True that. The important thing is that Tainan is a bit far to chance it for a morning flight from TPE.
Agreed, the margin for error is too close for a 0630 HSR from Tainan to make a 0945 departure from TPE. In Japan, I wouldn’t think twice about doing a similar distance mixed-mode… and it would probably work in the 'wan, but not within my comfort zone. Plus, I’ll now have a shopping day in lovely Luzhu … the kitsch of Taimall, the quantity of Costco, what’s not to like?
TPE is one of the fastest “sized” airport to pass customs and stuff, especially on terminal 1.
I take almost every week the 7:10am to Hong-Kong and I leave my home in City Hall at 5:45, and I still got to wait 10 minutes at the plane gate. Of course I preprint my boarding pass.
I only wish they could put automated door like in Hong-Kong for border pass.
[quote=“Bobarctor”]
TPE is one of the fastest “sized” airport to pass customs and stuff, especially on terminal 1.
I take almost every week the 7:10am to Hong-Kong and I leave my home in City Hall at 5:45, and I still got to wait 10 minutes at the plane gate. Of course I preprint my boarding pass.[/quote]
I do this also. Was trying to find the most express way to do this for CX flight
Departing 7.10. Highway is pretty much dead and the airport is quiet (passport and security I’d say takes about 4 mins), so can leave Taipei at 5.40. Plane is full of “business” people, so everything is orderly
Departing 8.05, highway is pretty much dead as you have almost reached the airport just before rush off start. The airport has picked up a bit so I leave Taipei at 6.30.Plane is full of “business” people, so everything is orderly
Departing 9.00, a nightmare. Traffic is a roll of the dice and so can be stressful getting there. Security is full of tourists who are digging through their bags. The plane can be a mix of tourists and business people. Tourists have loads of bags and stuff, so people take longer to get seated. So to take this flight I leave at 7.10am. I have taken this flight three times. 2 times went ok and 1 time felt very stressful and I felt rushed. Feeling stressed and rushed is not a good start to the week
[quote=“TNT”][quote=“Bobarctor”]
TPE is one of the fastest “sized” airport to pass customs and stuff, especially on terminal 1.
I take almost every week the 7:10am to Hong-Kong and I leave my home in City Hall at 5:45, and I still got to wait 10 minutes at the plane gate. Of course I preprint my boarding pass.[/quote]
I do this also. Was trying to find the most express way to do this for CX flight
Departing 7.10. Highway is pretty much dead and the airport is quiet (passport and security I’d say takes about 4 mins), so can leave Taipei at 5.40. Plane is full of “business” people, so everything is orderly
Departing 8.05, highway is pretty much dead as you have almost reached the airport just before rush off start. The airport has picked up a bit so I leave Taipei at 6.30.Plane is full of “business” people, so everything is orderly
Departing 9.00, a nightmare. Traffic is a roll of the dice and so can be stressful getting there. Security is full of tourists who are digging through their bags. The plane can be a mix of tourists and business people. Tourists have loads of bags and stuff, so people take longer to get seated. So to take this flight I leave at 7.10am. I have taken this flight three times. 2 times went ok and 1 time felt very stressful and I felt rushed. Feeling stressed and rushed is not a good start to the week[/quote]
Waow 
Useful. Note that there are more early traffic jams on the Monday.
By the way, it is almost off topic but I am really wondering how the Airport MRT will be useful to us:
- What hour will it start operating (I mean the first train) ? Is there any information about this ?
- Speed !? Did you read that the planed operating speed is 100km/h (to compare with 130km/h for HK one) ! It takes me door to door 35 minutes from City Hall and I assume it would be almost the same from the Railway Station to the Airport with the Airport MRT + the connecting time… Not very interesting
[quote=“Bobarctor”]
By the way, it is almost off topic but I am really wondering how the Airport MRT will be useful to us:
- What hour will it start operating (I mean the first train) ? Is there any information about this ?
- Speed !? Did you read that the planed operating speed is 100km/h (to compare with 130km/h for HK one) ! It takes me door to door 35 minutes from City Hall and I assume it would be almost the same from the Railway Station to the Airport with the Airport MRT + the connecting time… Not very interesting[/quote]
I would assume at 5.00am or so in the morning to catch the early outbound flights from Taoyuan
For me the Airport MRT has no real benefit in the morning ,as I live in Neihu; and chopping and changing between the brown line, the blue line and airport mrt, consumes energy (up and down stairs and escalators), and with the wrong timing could consume time also
Its easier to jump in a taxi downstairs, get on the highway in a couple of minutes on Kang Ning Road, and be at the terminal in 30 mins or so. My wife books a cab the night before, to pick me up from my place at a specific time, and the taxi usually arrives 10 minutes or so and waits downstairs
On the way back the MRT could be useful though to avoid the evening rush hour traffic into Taipei city.