Sunday, 25 June 2017

The Journey to Malaysia

Travel day: said goodbye to my parents before going through security, went through Heathrow with no issues thankfully. I was just looking forward to getting on the plane to sleep as I was knackered. I got hungry so went to weatherspoons and had a ham and cheese panini with chips, it was really nice. As I got to the gate I found out, off an information sign temperatures in Kuala Lumpur before I set off were 25°C and that was at 2am, with highs of 32°C for when I arrive. Before I got on as far as I was aware I had a window seat, turned out I had an end seat that didn't have a window. Anyway, walking up the aisle I looked at the club pods, could definitely see the attraction of being a "Club" member as they looked very comfy. As I got settled I got chatting to the other two people on my row. They were Malaysian from Penang and they asked about my travel plans, they had just been to London on a holiday. Before we settled I had a little search through the media system on the back of the seat in front of me. There was a good choice of films to choose from however music was very limited. Was happy to see Deaf Havana's new album on there as well as the new Pigeon detectives album. A few hours into the flight they brought a few complimentary drinks and later some food. I was quite relieved that I had been to weatherspoons to eat before hand as I had the Pasta Alfredo which was nice but wasn't very filling. This came with a bread roll and a chocolate moose. The moose was chocolate and orange it was very nice. After dinner I watched Lego Batman; would recommend and shortly after that slept the majority of the rest of the flight. When I awoke there was 3 hours left we were just flying over India. I was going to watch another film but instead listened to an audio recording of a live Paolo Nutini gig. During this the stewardess brought round breakfast, I had the "English breakfast". This consisted of a hash brown, mushrooms, tomato and what was apparently sausage and egg. I ate it anyway as I was starving but didn't taste right. As I lacked a window the descent and landing was rather disappointing. When I arrived I looked for a sim card and then headed for my transfer. To make it easier my baggage went straight through to my next flight so there was no need to collect it. So off the plane I went, I was heading to the immigration booths when I saw 4 stalls to my right selling sim cards. I'd be advised before to use Celcom as they have the best reception on the island so I went with them. Then I headed to get my visa and my internal flight with Malaysian Airline. They were a bit late boarding but found my seat this time with a window and turns out the two seats next to me were free too which was a bonus. My seat was right on the wing and despite late boarding we set off on time. During take off and the flight I had some amazing views of Malaysia and different cloud formations. The flight was only 40 minutes and as we approached Kota Bharu I looked out at the coast and could see the Perhentian Islands out my window, that was cool. So after we landed I went to baggage claim, I was a little nervous my bag wasn't going to be on the plane as that bit was out of my control but eventually it arrived. I got my bag and I had a prearranged pick up by the people of the travel inn I was staying at tonight, free of charge. The room at Sofea Travel Inn cost me £18 tonight and it is lovely double bed, WiFi, nice shower etc. The staff were very accommodating too and have sorted out my taxi to the Jetty for about £15, which is amazing as it's an hour journey. I've just had a shower and was getting ready for bed but it's the end of Ramadan here so there has been chanting and fireworks. Not sure how long this will go on for but going to be interesting. The staff have offered for me to join them for food tomorrow morning which I'm definitely taking them up on the offer. So far so good Malaysia, tomorrow is the real deal.

No comments:

Post a Comment