Traveling with 3 year old/where to recover from jetlag near airport?

Taiwan Parenting
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My wife is from Taichung but we haven’t been back in over ten years.

We also have a 3.5 year old now, and we’ve got a few questions about her first visit to see her grandparents. They live in a village on outskirts of Taichung.

We’re arriving from Australia, a terrible flight which departs at 10pm and arrives Taoyuan at 5am. We are going to need a place to crash and recuperate before we travel down to Taichung.

Since Airbnbs and hotels usually have afternoon check ins, we thought maybe a non sleazy love hotel near the airport might be what we need to rest and recuperate.

Any opinions on this? Not sure what other options are available. Can anyone recommend a love hotel, ideally walking distance from the airport? We will have lots of bags.

Also, once we’ve arrived in Taichung, we’re really not sure about how to get around with our 3 year old. In the past it’s been so easy, my wife’s family has a scooter we use. But we’re not sure that’s safe with a 3 year old. How do parents of young children do it in Taiwan?

And we’ve never driven a car in Taiwan… The idea of it scares us both. We are bringing our daughter’s car seat with us so we could install it in a taxi if needed.

Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated!

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I would not take a young child of that age on a scooter. Better to get a taxi or uber car. Or rent a car. As for hotels near the airport, if cost not an issue there is the Novatel which you can get to on the MRT from the Airport. The MRT stops right at the Novatel.

Or there are motels hotels etc in Taoyuan. When my lad flies in from Australia with wife and kids we pick them up from the airport and drive to Taichung. You can also get a hire van which are large and comfortable. You can stop at rest stops along the way. If you have lots of bags a Van really is the best option not a taxi.

The airport itself isn’t really close to anywhere and not walking distance to anything. It requires using the MRT or taxi etc. If you do rent a car you need your IDP and your Australian license. You can use the IDP for 30 days only but can get that extended if you go to the DMV Department of Motor Vehicles and get it registered for long term use.

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The Novotel looks great… Obviously we’d have to arrange for an early morning check in. I’ll see if they can accommodate us.

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We just got back from Taiwan traveling with a similar aged child. We used Uber, you can select child seat option and the car will be equipped with a child seat. The child seat Ubers aren’t as plentiful as normal Ubers and are slightly more expensive but it is much safer than not using a car seat or heaven forbid using a scooter. I think you should be able to find them in Taichung.

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They can you just need to pay for it.

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Does your son usually not sleep during that time?

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Daughter, but yes she sleeps from about 7pm to 7am every night. At 10pm she’s going to be so overtired that it will be hard to settle her into sleep, not to mention that they will probably have a meal service and not turn off the lights until midnight. It’s going to be awful.

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Regarding the Novotel, they allow for early check in with advance notice.

If you check in before 8am, it’s an extra day. After 8am and it’s a half day charge.

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Chances are your kid will sleep from take-off to touch-down, but it will be you that feels the jet-lag!

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:thinking:

Guy

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If you have not done so, download the Uber app. For local travel (not city-to-city) this will certainly help you to get around safely.

Guy

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Unfortunately we have prior experience with this when she was 2.5 and flew in a similar flight from San Francisco to Auckland. She didn’t sleep until 3am and kept the whole plane up. It was awful.

A lot can happen developmentally in a year though. She understands us much better now and can talk to us coherently, so we’re hoping that her better communication with lead to better understanding of the situation, and consequently hold off the worst of it. But we’ll see…

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As others have mentioned, the Novotel is I think the most decent hotel around TPE. It could make a good day-time crash pad if your budget allows it.

Guy

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You really do NOT want to know.

Basically however way they do it, it isn’t safe at all.

A child seat is unsafe on a scooter even if properly fitted and all that.

I recommend taking the airport MRT to get out of the airport, then train to Taichung. If you sleep on the plane you will likely have good energy to do so.

Keep in mind Australia’s time zone isn’t really too far from Taiwan’s, so jet lag is likely not going to be a problem. It’s only a problem if flying East or West (San Francisco to Auckland is going to have serious jet lags because it’s flying West). Taiwan is north of Australia. There will be a temperature difference though, as the seasons will be backwards. If it’s summer in Australia, it will be winter here, and vice versa.

If you will be staying at Novotel, there will be transportation to the hotel, whether an airport MRT stop or a shuttle bus.

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This is coming from the perspective of a business traveler, so my advice may vary.

I just wish that dayuse.com was available in Taiwan; it was a Godsend when I was switched to night shift and too tired to drive back from a jobsite.

What I also used to do was call around to find a hotel that is willing to shift their checkin/checkout times, although it’s a PITA since from my experience, only 1 out of 10 in smaller towns were willing to accommodate your request and 1/5 in bigger cities; if they’re telling you to book 2 days, I’d say they’re ripping you off.

However, from what you’re describing, it’s a 7 hour flight, so what I’d usually do is rest as much as I can during the day, and usually overnight flights dedicate the first and last hour to different stuff, and usually speaking, the flight attendants won’t wake you up if you’re sleeping unless you’re snoring or there’s something out of spec an hour before landing (e.g. your seatbelt is off or your seat is leaned back), so you got 5 hours of sleep on the plane; whether your daughter is willing and able to sleep through the night is another matter, and is highly contingent on whether or not she’s able to pop her ears (is she able to eat chewier candies?), but I still can’t readily comment on that since my nephew is able to sleep in a bowling alley, but don’t think he’s ever flown anywhere.

But if you were even able to take a 2 hour nap at any time before the flight, it’d help make up for any lack of sleep you might have on the flight over, but if your daughter is fussing like you said she was before then it’s kinda hard to say.

If you’re taking public transportation, I heard the HSR station is 15 minutes away from the airport, and 45 minutes to Taichung station, then not sure how long it’d take to reach the house for you.

Driving in the suburbs and Taichung isn’t that bad; it’s chaotic in Taipei, but I’ve felt more on edge driving in the San Francisco Bay Area than I ever did in Taiwan… Just gotta watch out for speed cameras and remember to signal 5 seconds in advance of anything (in California it’s 100 ft/30 m before).

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So you haven’t taken this flight before with your daughter? My son has with his son and had no issues. China Airlines fly an A350 and they are quiet. I assume you got a family row.
I flew back in April and people with young children had them sleep on the flight. You might be surprised that your daughter sleeps on the flight. Flying south to north in same time zone a lot different than flying west.

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I’ve never had jet lag from that flight. It’s South to North and basically not exactly a lot time zone difference. In fact arriving at 5am Taiwan time is simply breaky time in Australia.

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