Birthday Celebration Gone Wrong in Taiwan! Covid-19

This is supposedly the most anticipated birthday celebrations of hubby and I being that it is our first time to travel together outside the country AND on our birthday. I was truly hoping it would be memorable...

.... and yes, it was certainly memorable!

My birthday is February 10 and hubby's February 12. Our flights were booked during Cebu Pacific's Piso fare, if I remember correctly, July the previous year when everyone was just having a normal and peaceful life. 

No coronavirus outbreak yet...

DAYS LEADING TO OUR DEPARTURE

I was really busy at work that I wasn't paying much attention to what's going on with the world... I knew about Coronavirus hit in Wuhan and the lockdown against China by the neighboring countries, including the Philippines... I heard about the quarantine, etc... It hasn't revealed the gravity of the situation yet and that is why people still continued with their travel plans. 

Three days before our flight, my friend (who is with us on this trip), hubby and I were assessing if we'd go or not considering some news about Coronavirus in some countries like Singapore and Thailand. But then we thought, well, if there aren't any travel ban news, then we thought we'd push through. And in my mind, if CebuPac didn't cancel then that means it is a go, right? I also checked comments from people who are also asking for some advice and there were mixed answers. Some said not to go, do not risk it. But, there were people who still advised yes.

THE DAY OF OUR FLIGHT

My friend flew to Taipei the day ahead of us. He had his tour via Klook the whole day with the rest of the tourists and said everything is normal in Taipei. This gave a boost of confidence. 

Actually, everything was settled - our hotel accommodation, tours, and pocket wifi via klook. We only needed to be there. Given the assurance from our friend, we boarded our flight to Taipei.

🗓 February 10-12 2020
🛫 Cebu Pacific Air, Terminal 3
🏩 Lanting Business Inn. Booked via Agoda

Everything went smoothly in NAIA Terminal 3. I was expecting stricter rules given that all airlines did not allow online check-in. All passengers had to queue in the counter and I thought, there must be some added security measures. 

We were only asked if we had previous travel history in China. That is it! Even in immigration, that is the only question we had. 

Once at Taoyuan International airport, the Immigration officer only asked the same thing - our travel history. 

We arrived very early in Taipei and so we stayed at Taoyuan International airport a bit longer for the MRT to open at 6AM. I was happy to be there with hubby. You see it was the day of my birthday. We were amazed talking about how cold it is, amazed by a wide selection of food in the 7/11, had fun converting money to NT, and using it to pay for our breakfast while silently converting our expenses to Ph peso. It was fun!

SCARY DOH FACEBOOK POST

At 4AM. As I was browsing through my Facebook newsfeed, I saw shared posts from DOH including Taiwan in the Travel ban! I went to the Department of Health (Philippines) Facebook page account and there it was posted at around 8PM the previous day. I couldn't believe it. My mind was racing tracing back and I remember at this time, 8PM, hubby and I were lining up in the Immigration. And I thought, if this is real then the Immigration Officer could have prevented us from going.

Because some people were saying this is fake news, just like some fake news from DOH circulating in FB. I thought this could not be real. 

Although I started to get fearful, we tried to suppress negative thoughts and decided to wait for further announcements. Anyways, there are some people who are in the same situation as ours who are also waiting for an answer, at least it gave us a feeling of comfort that we are not alone.

OFFICIAL MEMO: TRAVEL BAN AGAINST TAIWAN

After arriving at the airport and checking in our hotel, we immediately went straight to our whole day tour. It was a guided tour arranged via Klook. The bus was packed with different tourists from Japan, Korea and the Philippines. And as a precautionary measure, everyone is on a face mask. As we enjoyed this new experience, we couldn't help but check some news from the Philippines.

Everything was great - the tourist destinations, the weather, FOOD (oh my god! hahaha), people (i feel like they all look good and fashionable too!), unpopulated places, awesome train system (i can only hope we could have it in my own country, how great that would be).....

UNTIL...

I had to wake up at 1AM to work on the first night of our stay. While I was working, I received an SMS from CebuPac informing of our return flight cancellation due to this ban. 

MY HEART SKY DIVED!

To the point that I felt tightness in my chest due to horror. My mind was racing, thinking, shit what is next? There were so many questions like are we stuck in Taiwan and for how long? How are we going to go back to the Philippines? And suddenly, sadness and panic struck me when I thought of my kid. 

I looked at my husband who was sleeping soundly. I did not want to wake him up for this will only make him worry too. So I let him rest while I stood awake till there was light. I tried to sleep but who in the hell would be able to sleep like this?

I tried to calm down, checked all the comments on CebuPac's comment section. I got in touch with strangers in the same dilemma, sending them messages, asking for ideas on their next plan. One of the things I learned really is people will really help each other in times of crisis. I got some replies and also included in a chat group and there we talked about a lot, helped each other out. 

5AM when my friend who was checked in in a different hotel called. He's almost panicking, also worried shit. He came by our hotel so we could all discuss how to go about this, our plan. At this point, my husband was already awake. 

Trying to think overcome panic, we thought of going to the Philippine Embassy or go to the airport to go home. I wanted to do both at the same time, actually. I just wanted to leave. Like right there and then. Then I saw in our group chat that someone already went to the Philippine Embassy and was able to speak with a representative who only advised to just pray this will end soon. What a jerk! 

Instead of going straight to the airport and take a chance flight, we decided to just stay for the day and then just book a flight for tomorrow. Our scheduled departure is tomorrow, anyways. 

We were able to book a flight via China Air and fare? It's 400% worth more than our original flight via CebuPac. 

Right after booking, we thought what the hell, let's just continue with our planned tour. Anyways, there is nothing left to do but just make the most of the moment right?  But of course, we did not enjoy it to the full extent. I mean we could have enjoyed more had it been there was no such thing as this.

The funny thing was I only felt relief after we were able to check in to our flight. Anything can happen, right? We arrived in Manila and was greeted by folks in from the Quarantine department who ushered us into a room explaining that we needed to undergo home quarantine because we came from a country with a travel ban.

And you know the funniest thing? Our government retracted the ban after 5 days. 

When we got home, I was put into home quarantine as requested by our company. It was good, actually. I was able to work from home for two weeks. 😂 

So, the most unforgettable birthday ever?... HELL YES!!!

It just sucks that our government was too careless to announce a travel ban and then retract it after a few days. Not only tourists were affected here, but also the OFW who are working there and were planning to go back to the Philippines for their vacation.