Even though I’ve been back from this trip for six months, I still remember it like it was yesterday. I’ve been working full time for years, but would you believe this was the first vacation I’ve ever taken that was a week+ and that wasn’t related to a wedding? I’m slightly embarrassed that I let this get out of hand. Friends of mine take these sorts of trips once a quarter or twice a year even! It was Angel’s pick to go to Taipei, but I’d only been to Asia once before so spending more time there at all was appealing to me.

There was quite a bit of planning that went into this beforehand – true to our personalities, but the plan wasn’t followed exactly once we got there. Flights, accommodations, and a trip out of the city for a day were our priorities. Everything else could be done on the fly! The planner in me also crafted us a spreadsheet to track our whereabouts every day. I told myself that I would go back after the trip to fill in exactly everything we ended up doing, but that didn’t happen! We were also lucky enough to have our trip overlap with my friend Jac and her husband’s. The two of them have been there plenty of times before so navigating the city with them and going to their favorite spots were the best part of the trip. It felt like we were living like locals when we were with them!

Where we stayed: Da’an District

We honestly could not have picked a better neighborhood. Right outside our front door were three coffee shops – two of which we went to almost every day. There were plenty of restaurants down every street so we were never going to go hungry. Even if we never left Da’an, there was no shortage of things to see, shop, and eat. Since we were out and about frequently, accommodations didn’t need to be lavish. Our Airbnb ended up being $23 a night USD. Aside from killing something resembling a cockroach one night, this was a steal. It’s not like Angel could get me to stay in a hostel anyway!

What we ate: everything

Not only is the food in Taipei fairly simple and inexpensive, it’s also delicious. Our meals were what Angel and I looked forward to the most every day and I’d say we did a good job of remaining balanced. The key was to eat light for every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) so that we could pack in more. We also made it a point to share everything instead of getting our own individual meals. This way we get to try more stuff and we waste less. Just blocks from our apartment was a stand for green onion pancakes. Nearly every guide we read online told us this was the spot. We ate here twice and even made it our breakfast on-the-go one morning. There is always a line for it and you can have add on’s like corn, meat, etc.

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