Introduction

In 2024 I went to Taiwan for the first time : 5 nights in Taipei and I loved it. Wanting to go back and explore the island a bit more, I booked a trip for early January 2026, a late Christmas vacation of sort as my job usually means I work during the Christmas-New Year period. I had a great plan :
- Flight FRA-MUC-TPE with Eva in business (I liked them a lot when I used them in 2023), award ticket with Aegean Miles and Bonus
- 4 nights in Taipei 3 nights in Tainan
- TPE-BKK, revenue ticket on Starlux in Premium Eco to test the boutique airline
- 4 nights in Bangkok of R&R (Relax and repas)
- Flight BKK-CDG-FRA with AF J, award ticket paid mostly by Amex MR points

The departure day approached, I tied all loose ends at work before leaving for 2 weeks and then, 36 hours before departure .... sick.
And not just a little bit of the sniffles, I had the work : fever, sore muscles, headache. A test later and I am confirmed COVID positive. Well great.
Award availability (and with 2 programs) being what it is, I can not just reschedule the flights easily. I had to cancel, same with the hotels. So the entire bookings goes to the bin (most were refundable, a few were not and this is where the travel insurance will prove handy). A short sick leave later, work agrees that I just shift my vacation days by 2 weeks and take my holidays when I am feeling better.
So I rebook everything, trying to find a pleasant J itinerary that does not cost a huge amount of money and hotels. Since I am not bound by award availability, I skip Bangkok entirely.
5000 EUR later to book flights, hotels and train and now I have:
- FRA-AMS-TPE with KL in J
- 5 nights in Taipei at the Tango Inn hotel
- 5 nights in Tainan at the Ji Shih Life Style Hotel
- TPE-HKG (CI) // HKG-CDG-FRA (AF) in J

At least the research for restaurants, night markets, museums, day trips I made for the initial trip is not wasted. I will do a somewhat typical trip report for the flights section and my time in Taipei. However for Tainan I will probably do something different, since all my days were very similar and the city vibe is more about chilling, I will probably sort my activities by section (food, temples, etc ...) rather than by days.

So let's go.