Ready to Roll

I only managed to spend about an hour at home as I reached home rather late. Busy on call last night, ending up having to redistribute my patients to be looked after by my colleagues. Luckily, they were all very helpful.

As soon as I arrived home, I did some last minute packing, got my chargers and cameras organised. Documents and currencies and all the necessary stuff.

This being a Monday evening meant that the airport was rather empty. Checking in was straight forward. It was all done straight to Milan, so all I had to carry would be my piece of hand luggage. My flight would be via Amsterdam. Just a short stop there to change gate.

Since I'll be flying KLM, I'd better have something to eat before I leave. The food on the flight tended to be atrocious. And that was on business class. I would be flying cattle tonight ...

Killing Time

The wait at the airport made me wonder if I should've turn up a bit later to check in. But the truth is, I hate to do things late. I like things to be nice and easy when I travel. I used to enjoy traveling. I guessed I'm now just older and grumpier.

I spent some time at a cafe killing time. Luckily the internet connection there was blazing fast. Time to blog and surf the net. Boarding would start in the next half an hour or so .....

Entries from my Kyoto trip here.

Taxi Ride Home

My two checked-in items came out unscathed, and rather than take the KLIA Express, I went with a cab instead. Since I arrived late, traffic should be much of a factor anymore. Besides, I was too tired to lug around the two bags. I only wishes that this taxi has a better air-conditioning. I was sweating like a dog!

But the taxi driver was cool enough to offer me a drink. And he listened to Wings on the radio. One doesn't get any cooler than that!

A Day of Rest

Alhamdulillah, we arrived at KLIA just after 1am, took the van with all the luggages and the boys from there, and arrives about 45 minutes later. There were hardly anyone on MEX Expressway at that hour.

Both of the boys were already asleep when we reached home, and they were snoring when we got them changed. They were clearly tired although they were wide awake at the airport on touchdown.

Puan Anita was still traumatised by the whole experience and was thankful that we changed plane rather than taking the original one.

Since the van charge from KLIA back home was expensive, with the midnight surcharges - ending up more costly than the flight ticket! - I decided to tweet @MAS and Tony Fernandes about it. Oh the power of the Internet! I got a reply within 10 minutes and this morning, had emailed them the details of the flight and scanned the limo voucher.

Well done @MAS for responding so promptly and I'm now hoping that they would hold true to the reply and my complains and claim would be attended to, not just some lip service ..... I will blog about the details once the conversation had ended.

I'm at my Bangsar apartment this morning for some repairs, and later would be in clinic for a quick afternoon session. Would be on call tomorrow, and could do with getting my feet up between now and then.

The boys were also absent from school today, and they were clearly tired. so, planning for a day of rest!

The Journey Home

A 12 hour flight used to be a doodle when I was a student. Now it was becoming a drag. I guess I was starting to show my age actually. But this flight being MAS were amongst the best as far as economy class was concerned. For business, take one of the Middle Eastern carriers, but with the drawback would be having to transit on the way rather than a direct one. And transit could be a pain.

The flight coming and out this time around was a bit too rocky for my liking, especially across the Andaman Sea. But the in flight service was good as usual, and I managed to catch some movies, a luxury really. On the flight back, I slept for about four hours, as it would be late afternoon at landing, and I didn't want to be wide awake tonight.

I also noticed that this being the flagship MAS flight - MH001 - the crew were also rather senior, but definitely offered great service. Experience counts I was sure. The flight landed on time, but as usual, it took nearly 45 minutes for my luggage to clear through. I didn't have a choice but to check in from the amount of shopping I did.

Unfortunately I had to work tomorrow. Now with unpacking done and the children in bed, I was chatting with Anita about the trip. She wished that she could come along. And so did I. Maybe in the next couple of years, as it would not be cheap to bring the two boys along. When I showed the photos from my trip last weekend, both of them were excited. So much so that Irfan actually slept in one of the T shirt I brought home for him.