It’s June already! Normally at this time of year we would be packing our bags and setting off to explore the world. Ahh, Europe!
Last year our range was limited due to an expanding family and covid, so we adventured locally.
Now, in the year Twenty Twenty-one, our schemes have seemingly gone awry.
Summer in Lockdown?
So… after a year of almost perfect normalcy, covid is back. Whilst the rest of the world was in various stages of lockdown, Taiwan executed a near flawless performance of covid avoidance and suppression.
Then, a month or so ago, a hotel that was used to quarantine new arrivals and airplane staff thought it might be nice to boost revenue by encouraging local visitors to spend the weekend.
People who were supposed to be in quarantine mixed with staff and locals. Some of whom went to a “tea shop” or two, which it turns out are also known as grandpa shops – a sort of brothel that caters to an elderly clientele.
As Taiwan’s Dr. Fauci stated, “I’ve not been myself, but I understand given the circumstances it may be difficult for customers to follow masking and social distancing guidelines.”
As such businesses are technically illegal and come with various social stigmas, tracing customers has been difficult – so now we have a bit of an outbreak and a “Phase 3” lockdown. Schools have been closed for the past 3 weeks with at least 2 more to go (officially.) Restaurants are only open for take-out and delivery. Gyms and playgrounds are closed. Our nanny is otherwise occupied. Even our little country club oasis is closed.
Vaccination rate is currently less than 1%. Projections are that Taiwan could be at 50% vaccination rates as early as October.
These are just the facts of the situation – My working assumption is that our summer plans will need to be cancelled (which I support.)
Summer “Plans”
Remaining optimistic, our existing summer plans are fairly simple – just stay local. No planes, no fuss.
Once Jr’s school lets out in early June (all virtual until then), we are headed up into the hills an hour outside Taipei to the Hotel Royal Chiao Hsi. We have been here 2x before, most recently for Winnie’s birthday.
But this time we are staying in the “camper vans” that they have adjacent to the main property, complete with campfires and sparklers for the kids. We will be 4 families in total, so the kids can run wild and then head up to the pool to cool off.
The going rate for these camper van things is not low, about $450/night. We will stay just the one night. At least all meals are included.
Next up, at the end of June we will visit Sun Moon Lake with the same 3 families. The last time I was there was maybe 15 years ago and it seems to have become much more upscale since then.
We are staying at the Fleur de Chine hot spring hotel which looks pretty nice, and includes a big indoor kids playroom.
We got a great rate for this place, just $180/night. We are booked for 2 nights.
At the end of July we are headed to a newish hotel, the Westin Yilan Resort. The pics look nice.
We just booked this place to use 2 of this years Bonvoy “free night” certificates from credit cards*, so 2 nights total.
These rooms are normally ~$350/night+ – ignoring all other card benefits the annual fees on the cards are $95 and $135, so the room ends up at about 1/3 the price. (Although I just checked again while writing this and rates are $500+.)
Free night certificates with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card are a sweet deal.
Finally, in August for my birthday we are headed once again to Taiwan’s north coast to the White House Hot Spring Beach Resort. We will swim all day, ride a jet ski, lounge in some hammocks, and then barbecue a bunch of fresh seafood. We have been here a few times now and it is a great place to spend a day or two.
The White House is a bit more affordable at ~$110/night, and we will stay one night.
In between these 4 main mini-adventures, we will largely be spending our time at the country club. I recently swam 1500 meters daily for 30+ days – inspired to make big speed improvements, I just hired a coach. During the first session, he basically said let’s fix everything :)
There are also a couple schedule “kid only” pool days, where they bring out the extra fun toys.
All together we are looking at about $900 out of pocket for hotel nights plus another maybe $200 for transport, not too bad for a full summer of fun.
Summary
Things are not looking so great with Covid at the moment, with rising cases and minimal vaccinations. Hopefully the current soft lockdown gets us back to normal.
If so, we’ll be spending most of the summer poolside – this includes 4 mini-adventures to various hotels and many days at the country club.
If not, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Which will be soon.
If things go as planned, we will only spend about $1,200 on “travel” this summer. Travel hacking was minimal, just using 2 free night certificates (via Marriott Bonvoy cards.) (my personal referral link)
Oh, yikes. Hoping your summer plans are able to move forward, your family stays safe, and that Taiwan is able to get this under control quickly. How frustrating that all the protocols (which were shown to be so effective!) fell by the wayside. “Why should I keep doing flight safety checklists when the plane hasn’t crashed! Clearly they’re not needed!”
Yeah it is unfortunate. Alas, it takes just one mistake.
Keep your plan flexible. You never know what’s going to happen next. I was in Thailand to see my parents in January. Covid was under control at the time. In April, there was an outbreak and it got quite a bit worse there. I heard it started in pubs/nightlife places that rich and powerful people frequented. Vaccination looks pretty bad as well. Good luck! We’re traveling locally this summer.
I’m assuming all of our plans have to change – low expectations are good for mental health.
Sorry about your COVID situation, but thanks for the “grandpa shop” laugh! Here in Nova Scotia we’re coming off the peak of our 3rd wave and 50%+ of the population has had a first jab. There’s little vaccine hesitancy, which is great. We’ll spend the summer exploring Atlantic Canada (we’re new arrivals) and maybe some outlet shopping in Maine after Labour Day. Enjoy!
It’s only funny cuz it’s true.
I think there is also little vaccine hesitancy here, the main issue is availability – there were just a few hundred thousand AZ shots available. One government contract with BioNTech has been delayed/cancelled/TBD(?) because the company has gotten pressure from China, for example
Four scary words: ”
big indoor kids playroom.”
yeah…
Single and hiking 3 to 4 days a week. Catching up on movies.
Wow, looks like a vacation. Funny how $450 can be spent for a camper van night and $110 for a stay in the white house. Yeah I know not that white house but still it cracks me up how value is all circumstantial and relative. I’ve spent over $300 to stay in a dive hotel before and less than $60 to sleep in a palace. Thanks for sharing and enjoy the trip
It’s not the Lincoln bedroom, that is for sure. The $450 price is weird, but it is regularly sold out so the market is there.
Hope you are able to get vaccinated soon. If you feel like a trip to NYC (positivity rate .63%), they are giving out vaccines to any and all comers- even selling vaccine packages.
We would probably do Seattle – no appointments or waits.
Come to the US for the summer. Get the you and Winnie vaccinated and show off the kids to your family.
We have been talking about it… it could be an option. We would have a mandatory 14-day quarantine on the return and a lot of hassle, but staying where we are isn’t completely hassle free either.
I just got back from a domestic trip to California. It was enough to remind me how I hate traveling by airplane. Facing airport TSA, long waits, our kids won’t stop. It’s just a nightmare. So glad I’m home again, I guess I just got used to being home now.
Now I’m FIRE and hate traveling, what’s in for me? Going back to work I guess
It’s good to have options.
Sounds like Melbourne!
We’re in our 4th lockdown. Last year we had 160 days in full lockdown – curfews, 5km travel radius from home, only 2 hrs of exercise allowed each day, schools/businesses shut down.
We had 1 guy in another state catch the Indian variant on his way OUT of quarantine. 2 weeks later, we have 60+ people with covid and a city of 5 million is locked down.
https://www.csl.com/news/2021/20210501-update-on-csl-covid-19-vaccine-manufacturing-numbers
‘a million doses a week’
‘there is approximately a four week quality control and approval process from the time vials are filled’
Taiwan has had a scary % increase recently, but when you look at the case rate (2/100k), it’s still pretty good next to California (2), New York (4), Maine (6), and US Average (5).
Yikes, really sorry to hear cases have hit there. Hope Taiwan gets this back under control quickly, with as little loss of life as possible. I was wondering what, if any, of your “disaster prep” plans that you implemented back in March 2020, that you have kept, re-implemented, revised, etc. E.g., my memory is that you got enough cash to be able to pay rent for a good long period, things like that. These containment/suppression efforts can be long-term, and have been in some places. Wishing all of you there the very best.
Jeremy you forgot to mention that to leave Taiwan we are required to get a COVID test from the government at the egregious rip off price of 7800NTD!!! $280USD Each! Then the 14 day quarantine hotel at return as each adult has to quarantine separately, no family together. Makes it real hard to leave for your shots. Oh, and flights to the US are sold out until July and big $.
We are just staying here so I haven’t looked at any of this stuff. I did look a few days ago at flights to the US and they were available, just about 30% higher cost than usual.
I think the whole family can quarantine together at home – it is just if there are other family members that didn’t travel where they have to separate. That’s just what Winnie says, I haven’t looked at it myself. I haven’t looked at testing either.
Last I heard, It’s free now in Taipei. Prices have come down a lot.
Need more information on these “tea shops” please. Costs etc — important to know the costs from a personal finance perspective. Asking for a friend . . .
No idea