Stopover in Taipei
 

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can assist me here. I'm looking at some flight options and one leg of my trip involves going from HKG to HND with a stopover in Taipei. The problem is that I would arrive in TPE and TSA. I've looked around and see that it would take roughly 50 minutes to get from 1 airport to the other airport. There are direct flights but with this option, I'd be saving ~$300 per ticket. I have the following questions:

1. How many hours would i need to ensure I do not miss my flight? I want to estimate the time going through customs at both airport (picking up my luggage included), the travel time, etc.

2. What are my travel options to get from TPE to TSA? What bus should i take? Best mode of transportation?

3. Should i convert some currency prior to going if i only plan to take the transportation and go from one airport to the other?

Thanks in advance!

I haven't done this, but the potential problem is immigration. If you plan for worst case scenarios, or at least not-too-good, as I do, I would keep these points in mind. Buses are convenient, though only running at 1/2 hour intervals some times of day. You'll see how to do it after customs; sorry, I'm not sure if they take credit cards. Luggage should show up within 1/2 hour. But while on a good day immigration is 10 minutes, if you get behind a big Chinese tour group (or 2), it can take a long long time.

What kind of dollars? You can get direct flights from HKG-HND for less than US$300 with low-cost carriers, for example HK Express is selling tickets for today for US$170. Are you sure that this stopover is worth it?

There are buses 1840 and 1841. The 1840 is direct and costs NT$125, the 1841 is 10 minutes slower costs NT$83.

If you're in HK, then just change HK$50 to NT$200 at the HSBC in Terminal 2, or even one of bureaux de change on the street and then buy a small snack at TPE to get some coins for the bus fare. If you're coming from the US then bring a $10 bill and exchange it at TPE.