Tour De Taiwan
If I had a dollar for every perturbed passenger who has shot me a sideways glance as I stared past them from my middle seat out an airplane window, I’m sure I would be able to afford first class and stop making people uncomfortable. It was raining on the September day in 2017 when I landed at Taoyuan International Airport to begin my Fulbright grant period in Taiwan. When the Boeing 747 dipped below the clouds for a brief moment before touching down, I leaned across the lap of the passenger next to me to peer out the window, only to catch a glimpse of the lush landscape 16th century Portuguese explorers dubbed Ilha Formosa (beautiful island). As an avid enthusiast of 30,000-foot views, I alighted that day unfulfilled. In the months that followed, I began to explore Taiwan on the ground. I took many day excursions to northern beaches, train rides to cities near Taipei, and even a multi-day hiking trip to Taroko National Park on the east coast. Fresh off a six-month AmeriCorps service term in Arizona spent working on public lands and living out of a pop up tent in the Sonoran Desert, I was conditioned to
