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We thank you for your prayers, notes of encouragement, and support after we described the uncertainty of our future plans in our last newsletter. This is just to give you a brief update of our past week.
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On Sunday afternoon we received the final necessary document allowing us to travel to Australia. We immediately began furiously packing.
On Monday, we went to the hospital to get our required Covid tests.
On Tuesday the two older kids had their last day of Taiwanese kindergarten and preschool.
On Wednesday we boarded a nearly deserted flight to Singapore and spent the night at the airport there.
On Thursday, we left Singapore and landed 7 hours later in Melbourne, where we passed through a gauntlet of no less than a dozen quarantine checkpoints before finally being placed on a bus, driven to a hotel, assigned a room, and locked inside for the next 14 days.
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There were only three flights out of Terminal 1 at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport on the day of our departure.
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What does it take to move a family of 5 across the ocean to a foreign country in the middle of a pandemic?
8 passports*
5 visas†
5 travel authorisations‡
5 travel declarations§
3 Covid tests◊
and 160 kg of allowed luggage¶
[*Everyone departs Taiwan on their Taiwanese passport except anDrew, who only has an American one; everyone enters Australia on their American passports except Ewen, who only has a Taiwanese one
†Four of us are on the same visa; Ewen is technically on a visitor's visa that will need to get converted
‡Authorisation allowing us to enter Australia even though we aren't citizens or permanent residents
§To set up quarantine rooms; these declaration forms must be filled out at least 3 days but not more than 7 days in advance of our departure
◊PCR testing for everyone over 4 years old; must be done no more than 72 hours before departure
¶7 suitcases, 4 rolling carry-ons, 3 car seats, 2 duffel bags, 2 backpacks, 1 stroller, 1 diaper bag, 1 purse, and 1 specially packed yellow case containing loupes and a surgical headlamp]
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As we sit inside our hotel room for the next two weeks, we count our blessings and give thanks that we have finally arrived in our new home city (for a year, anyways).
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And now...for some family pictures!
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We celebrated Ewen's one-month birthday with Kim's extended family in Taipei just a few days before our departure.
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Whether for regulatory or commercial reasons, our flights to Melbourne were unprecedently quiet.
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Solène, Ewen, and Nolan enjoy some sibling time together!
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Want to read previous newsletters?
Click here for a short archived list,
or go to our blog for full archives.
(Just as an FYI: you may occasionally receive duplicate newsletter emails from us.)
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