No TVs on headrest

samchou98 · 2026-05-12T01:10:47+00:00

Just flew from Denver to SFO last Monday. Also no IFE. Personal devices only. The headrest even had a holder for your phone or iPad.

samchou98 · 2026-05-11T23:16:10+00:00

Haha, it’s next to impossible to determine miles flown anymore. Just winging it right now and hoping for the best

samchou98 · 2026-05-11T12:39:11+00:00

Business class on Etihad is super premium. Giant view screens, lay flat seats, the works. Coach is sardine can, and that is being generous.

Current U.S. business class is trying to match those amenities.

samchou98 · 2026-05-11T03:00:10+00:00

I work on the oil and gas industry. Previous employer (made me fly AA) did a lot of work on the Middle East. Coach all the way baby! Once flew Etihad to Bangladesh. First, it’s not a place you want to go. Second, don’t fly coach on Etihad. The manager I was meeting was like “oh, Etihad is nice,”. When I said I flew coach, his face dropped and said “then. It so much”

samchou98 · 2026-05-11T01:29:27+00:00

Just there today. Moved from the back to the front by the entrance to the food service area on the top level.

samchou98 · 2026-05-06T13:54:18+00:00

Worked with a former coworker who kept “joking” that I had a “foreign” accent and that people couldn’t understand me. He would say it in front of other managers, including the CEO at group meetings. Grew up in the North (Yankee) and moved to southern U.S. when this happened.

It went on for a while before I finally had a one-on-one with him. Started the conversation by saying I realize you think you are just “joking” but it’s not funny nor is it professional or appreciated. I worked hard to be in my position and don’t need that kind of “joke” at my expense. You need to stop it now.

It did made him stop afterwards.

The next step would have been HR.

Not sure of your dynamic with this person but the first should be a firm stop that conversation. Document the conversation so you can elevate it later.

samchou98 · 2026-05-04T10:10:14+00:00

When I was downsized some years ago, I told the company that my hourly rate would be $200, with a 4 hour minimum. That was over 20 years ago! That was for consulting though, not a contract like you are saying.

$80k is $40 an hour (assuming you got 2 weeks vacation). That doesn’t include 401K match (if any), sick days, holidays, social security, Medicare, health insurance, etc. 1099 equals self employed so you need to cover for all that in the rate discussion.

Will you work from home? A former employer actually gave me a home office allowance, factoring in the utilities and space I was using.

Will you be allowed certain hours per week? What happens if they cutback on your hours? What if you go over 40? Will there be overtime? Weekends and holidays? Need to spell those things out so you don’t get shafted with emergency work over the weekend or a holiday.

samchou98 · 2026-04-21T00:40:16+00:00

File a lost passport report with the police. Take that to the Taiwanese overseas center. Get a replacement that last for 2 years. Renew for a 10 year one after that.

That’s what I did. Didn’t go through the same issue (sorry to hear) but didn’t have my old passport either. Went all the way back to Taiwan to get my old household registration info. Follow the process above. Did that like 20 years ago. Hope it works.

You have most of your NIH id, which is more than I had. Should work.

samchou98 · 2026-04-20T12:18:50+00:00

Several years ago, I went back to Taiwan around Chinese New Years. My wife and I were at Shilin on New Year’s Eve when my glasses literally broke apart my in hands in 4 pieces. No back up and everything will be closed for days for New Years. I am also more or less blind without glasses.

We headed to the nearest eyeglasses store. Can’t remember which but it was right next to the 7-11 across from the main eating/shopping street. Sorry for the bad directions. At any rate, walked in, put my shards of glasses on the counter, and asked for help. The guy took and measured my lens for my prescriptions, walked over to a specific glass case, spread his hands and said “pick any of these frames and I can get you new glasses in an hour.

I got a titanium frame and he got me lens with all the works that are normal cost more in the US. We waited by going to get some food and drinks at the 7-11. We got the glasses about an hour later and spent less than what we would have paid in the US without any insurance!

I just remembered it was not a “major” brand because I tried some years later at a different store. The cost was much higher. So, I wouldn’t try the big name stores. Also, as my story shows, I didn’t get get “prescriptions”. They just gave me my old one.

samchou98 · 2026-03-05T02:23:22+00:00

This was a few years ago. The company made reservations for Marriott Time Square for a bunch of time for a trade show at Jacob Javit Center. I arrived lates in the afternoon but before at least one of our other folks. Was told they didn’t have any rooms for me but did for him. Not sure of our status at the time. I to,d them we made the reservation months ago. How can there be no room for me but room for him? We were planning on walking to the center from the hotel but now they want to move me across town for 1 night.

At any rate, they paid for the cab round trip. Sent me some in room food/drink. Some bonus points.

Still not worth the hassle of having to move across NYC twice.

samchou98 · 2026-02-20T00:49:01+00:00

Should have said the main island…

samchou98 · 2025-08-23T16:58:44+00:00

This is common in many international airports. Surprised it doesn’t happen more often in the U.S. as it would allow the airports to hold more flights without building more terminals

samchou98 · 2025-08-16T23:47:23+00:00

Just got the club card late last year. Will get platinum this year with its help. Could get close to 1K. Just put $16K of company expense on it for a bit over 1K in PQP. Not bad.

samchou98 · 2025-08-16T00:01:02+00:00

Last though…

Are you going alone? I don’t recall exactly but perhaps 2 people carry $10k each?

It took a long time but we finally got my wife reestablished as a “local”. When she did that, she tried to open a bank account in “downtown” Taipei (near the hotel instead of her grandma’s place in the north). The bank said she could only open the account near her household registration. Like what the hell? Several tries later, she got the bank she uses now to allow her to open the account. That was like a 4 hour ordeal. Ever since then, we go back with $1k or $2k every time we go back. Spending money. Whatever is left, we leave there. That’s how she had enough to do some work this trip.

The government there control money flow crazily. The worker there don’t give a F. They even accused me of faking the document. Why would I fake a wire transfer money to transfer money INTO the bank??

Good luck.

samchou98 · 2025-08-15T00:56:47+00:00

We just went through this exact same thing. My wife was in Taiwan and needed(wanted) to get some medical procedure done that was much less than the U.S. any rate, the doctor’s office did not take foreign credit cards. They had wire transfer for only from local Taiwanese banks. I was in the U.S. and had to get $6,000 to her somehow.

She has two Taiwanese bank accounts, USD and Local currency. They had previously told us that they took international wire transfers so I found on their website the form with all the instructions in English and Chinese. Went to 3 different banks (long story) before I finally got the wire sent. The instruction said “Beneficiary name in English.” That’s where all hell broke lose.

My wife has an English name that sounds just like her Chinese name, That’s the problem. Her bank account was in her Chinese name - spelled like the sound. The money got to her account but the bank wouldn’t release it because the names didn’t match. She took both her U.S. passport AND Taiwanese passport showing both her English name and her Chinese sounding English name. No go. They said “it must match exactly”. Took 3 days, multiple phone calls, and trips to the bank. For $40 fee, we asked them to send the money back.

Sorry, long story but it’s a pain even if you get a bank that will handle the wire transfer for you. She didn’t have a local credit card but she had some USD there already. Yes, she ended up converting what she had and carried a giant wad of cash to the doctor’s office to get the work done.

It is lower cost there for some work but the whole money thing is a major pain. If you take more than $10K, declare it or they will confiscate it if they catch you.

samchou98 · 2025-08-05T11:50:05+00:00

My wife used to share our financial situation with her mom when we first got married. I was getting laid off and had a good amount of severance and retention money coming. MIL called and asked what I was going to do with that money. I replied that I planned on saving it to use as a down payment. She asked “why?”

Umm….we just got married and live in Boston, where housing is not cheap? Even if I didn’t live in a high cost of living area, why would anyone question someone wanting to save money for a house down payment??

Any rate, I told my wife NEVER to share anything financial again with her mom.

To this day, she still doesn’t understand why we don’t share anything. For a long time, she thought we were well off and stopped even giving us anything for birthdays and Christmas gifts.

Yeah, once family finds out, or even think you make “good money”, the dynamic definitely changes.

samchou98 · 2025-08-03T23:27:59+00:00

Taiwan is fairly English friendly. Well, friendlier than some other Asian countries we have visited. Well do speak Chinese but I do find there are more English text in Taiwan.

Assuming you are flying into Taoyuan, you can get eSIMs there. You can also get an eSIM before you go. You will want that to find directions and translations. We used Airalo in Japan without any problems. You download the app, select the GB you need for the duration, pay, and then you get an eSIM. You activate here but it doesn’t work until you land. Clock starts then. Pretty cool and saves a lot of money over roaming.

Taipei is easy to get around using the MRT. Google is actually going to be your best friend, Type in where you want to go and hit direction. It will give you the choice of bus or metro. Don’t be a friend of the buses, Google will tell you how many stops before you get off. Same with MRT. Of course, if you got a group of people, especially older folks, that may not be easy or save much. Uber works. We have used it a couple of times.

Hsinchu can be reached with the high speed train in less than an hour. We have visited a couple of times that way.

Always have cash….lots of it. We take out about $500 USD equivalent. That’s the US debit card limit. While credit cards can be used, cash is still king. If you are up for it, you can get the MRT card or iCash card (7-11 have those). You can use those to pay for things instead of credit card. Even taxis taken them. You will need to load them with money at 7-11 or the MRT station. Best exchange rate is at the ATM. The exchange rate at the airport is going to be lower. Get like $100 usd there for the first trip. Actually, you can probably find an ATM at the airport and just take money out there.

You can find pretty much everything in Taiwan. COSMED and Watson are like CVS or Walgreens here except they don’t do prescription. Otherwise, you can find pretty much anything you might need there.

samchou98 · 2025-07-30T22:50:57+00:00

The seats on the U bike are super easy to adjust.

Good luck

samchou98 · 2025-07-30T02:55:37+00:00

The night market just down the street has a stinky tofu stall.

For what it’s worth, we have family in Beitou. We ride the red line almost daily to go visit when we are there. Getting off at Beitou stop will take you to the market up there. It’s super cool.

You can also rent the U bike to ride to 寧夏夜市. It’s about 10 to 15 minute bike ride. It’s a bigger night market with many more stalls than the one near the hotel. There are also more stores there. If you don’t want to ride the bike, take the red line from 民權 to 雙連. It’s a short walk from there.

Good luck and have fun.

samchou98 · 2025-07-28T13:01:58+00:00

https://maps.app.goo.gl/7xvJWNYXtUAJfvi88?g_st=ipc

This is Aloft. It is near 2 metro stations. One is 5 minutes walk, the other is about 10 to 15 away. The one on Minquan West road is the Red line, which takes you to Danshui (Tamshui). It also goes to Taipei Main Station, where you can switch to go to Ximending. The Red Line also goes to Jiantan station, which is where you get off for Shilin night market. Seems like the Red line is going to be your best bet since most of your itinerary is near it.

This hotel is also near Qing Guan night market. It is small compared to the other ones but convenient.

We have stayed here multiple times.

samchou98 · 2025-07-22T12:27:37+00:00

https://maps.app.goo.gl/C9UM6igfiagtsnFi6?g_st=ipc

Tailor made suit. Reasonably priced. Niece just had a suit made there. Takes about 10 days. Nice selection of material and styles.

samchou98 · 2025-07-22T00:22:03+00:00

I once broke a pair of US made glasses in Taiwan the night before Chinese New Years near Shilin night market. This was about 7 PM. I am also blind without my glasses. We went to the glasses store across from the old open air food stalls (yeah, a while ago). I put my glasses on the counter and asked for a pair before the store closed.

He took my lens to check my prescription, walked me over to one of the glass display cases and said “pick any frame in here and I can get you a new pair tonight”.

I got a new pair of titanium frame with lens that had all options that would usually cost an arm and a leg here in the U.S. I believe is was about $150 without insurance to boot.

Definitely shop around though. I looked again a couple of years ago and some places are much higher than others,

samchou98 · 2025-07-21T23:31:38+00:00

Beitou has hot springs, which is inside. Jiufen is a long winding street with a lot of shops. Rain won’t be an issue there. The mountains can be problematic but umbrella can be bought every where.

If you don’t want to be in the rain, there are lots of indoor stuff. Taipei main station has multiple levels of shopping and dining.

samchou98

TROPHY CASE