A more detailed plan of Taipei photoshoot trip

Monday, 22/03/10

Day 1


Reach Sheraton hotel by 6pm
From (Sheraton) Shandao Temple Station, take Banaan Line
Stop is at Ximen station.

* ALTERNATIVE :

If it is still early, we can go to Jiantan Station and go to Shihlin night market first which is further away from the hotel and go to Ximending on Day 4. But better to go on Day 4, so can visit the “Taipei seaworld” at the same time since time is not so restricted.


Shop at Ximending
After finishing, take MRT to Longshan Temple Station (one stop)
Go to Huasi night market (Follow Exit 1 and walk to street. Reach first junction then turn left (Guangzhou street) Huasi is across street further down).




Tuesday, 23/03/10

Day 2

Go Bridal Studio to choose gown (don’t know how long it will take to choose gown, maybe 1 whole day? So below plans have to be postponed to Day 4)
Lunch
Take Banaan Line again
Stop at Taipei City Hall Station to go to Taipei 101.
Around Taipei 101, there is a shopping department store where we can go, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department store which is HUGE!
Go to Houshanpi MRT station (Banaan Line) where we can go to Wu Fen Pu, RaoHe and JaoHo. Ppl mention best is go on fri and less on Mon.
WuFenPu is very near to songshan railway where there is a 24 hour Watson, nearby is selling “nu ren wo zui da” stuff according to forum.



Wednesday, 24/03/10

Day 3

· Photoshoot




Thursday, 25/03/10

Day 4

· Go to Chiang Kai-Shek Mrt Station, visit the Memorial Hall (if we want a historical place?)
· Visit Dan Shui (MRT station)
· Visit the Shihlin Night Market and Taipei Sea World. Free Shuttle Bus to Miramar Park Entertainment. Look at bus sign. From Jiantan MRT stop, Right exit, there is a shuttle to go to Miramar and back to Jiantan MRT for the Shihlin NM.
· Go to Miramar Park Entertainment or can go on the last day because it is very near the airport (Neihu station) tic abt NT150 on weekday.
By MRT:1). Take Danshui Line and get off at Yuanshan Station, then transfer to bus no. Red 2, or 21.2). Take Muzha Line and get off at Zhongshan Junior High School Station, then transfer to 286 buses.3). Take Danshui Line and get off at Shihlin Station, then transfer to bus no. 620.




Friday, 26/03/10

Day 5

See the “Xiao Ren Guo” . Window on China Theme Park. People visit with Taipei 101 at the same time in itineries. Take Hsinchu Transportation Bus upon reaching Jhongli (across from Jhongli Train Station) to reach Window on China Theme Park.




Saturday, 27/03/10

Day 6:

· Going home time!

Preparing for Photoshoot in Taiwan - Travel Arrangements

Image by John&Fish via Flickr

Several months back, we had already purchased our photoshoot package from a Novena roadshow. If there was a downside, it's that the package was not full - no AD gowns and peripherals and that we had to make travel arrangements ourselves.

The cost of the package seems quite reasonable in comparison with Singapore boutiques and the agency did not hard-sell to us. Quality-wise, forums mentioned that service was great. Well, only the trip will tell.

The AD preparations are on the way - will survey them tomorrow at Sattine, keeping in mind Zann&Denn. Addy wants me to see the gowns for myself first before deciding whether to custom-make.

Well, this post is supposed to be about the travel plans anyway.

The reason why getting the tickets so late was because I wanted to ballot and see whether we could have gotten a cheaper deal if I had balloted for my ticket. At this point of time, as we are not formally registered, Addy had to pay for a single ticket. This worked out to be about SGD1100 all inclusive. Moreover, I had to pay for my own free ticket surcharges which amounted to nearly SGD300.

This did not seem very worth the while, given that there's SIA sweet deal 2-to-go at SGD688/pax. However when I tried to book online, the offer did not have our available date. You see, as Addy had very small window for our trip, there are only selected days we could fly.

So we went to NATAS Travel fair on the 26th Feb 2010 weekend. Sometimes this is better than DIY because of the bulk discounts travel agency commands. And like fairs in NATAS, you get free stuff like luggage and lucky draw coupons. After a long survey at the fair and due to the quick uptake of air-tickets, we decided on New Shan, paying SGD748/pax all inclusive. Luckily I mentioned that I was an airline staff to get further discounts.

If you do not have the luxury of having a travel fair at the time you would like to fly, try WEGO. There's a banner on the right of this post. Love it cos it pulls out the best deals from other websites like Zuji. Amazing stuff!

For accommodation, it was a hassle initially because New Shan said our choice hotels were overbooked. After a long arduous search and asking, I managed to book 5 stars Sheraton Taipei for 5 nights at a special staff rate. I expect it will cost less that SGD900 for the accommodation. Since it's a holiday of special significance, why not splurge a little. (My close friends will lamblast me for saying that this trip can help me go Phuket 5 times).


We estimate a total budget for a wedding photoshoot overseas in Taiwan to be around SGD5,000, approx, all in.


A summary of what I learnt doing all these:

There are always hiccups and there is a large chance you might blow your budget.

How hard it is depends on you whether you are picky

Doing things together esp when it is hard often makes it fun but it can make you argue too. There's where we learn about each other's expectations and character.

Total time spent( approx 6 weeks, 2 hours a day, 2 days a week)

1. Planning, researching and choosing the photostudio overseas
2. Planning the themes and where to take them
3. Emailing the studio in Chinese (#$^$#&##) 
4. Fitting the prep, 1 day shoot and collection day into the 6 days of itinerary 
5. Working out timetable of our holiday there
6. Settling arrangements for air travel and accomodation
7. Packing the clothes and accessories to bring

Will write more when we are back. :)