Travelling with The Mann - Part 1

Hello.
Lately nih asek blog pasal pregnancy je. Hehe.
Hari ni mari kita blog pasal holiday planning plak..

Sebab nya proposal demi proposal iols aseklah kena reject ngan big boss aka Leman.
Long-haul flight destination mmg awal2 lagik dah kena rejek..
Bandung yg sekentut tu jek pon dia rejek..
Ajak pegi Cameron Highland pon dia kata bahaya youols! Apekah.. Huhuhu..
So nanti kitaorg pegi honeymoon dalam pekan jek la.. Huhuhuh..

Sebab tak dapat nak pegi holiday anytime soon..
Iols bukak la balik blog post vacation iols yg lepas2 tuh..
Jadikla buat amik feel.. hahahah..

Anyway.. back to my original intend (bukan dot namanya kalau mukadimah tak 3 paragraphs youols :P)

Before we actually find courage (and money ;)) for our Europe holidays, kitaorg tetiap tahun pegi holiday dekat2 dulu.. Pehtu jauh sikit.. Pehtu jauh sikit lagik.. Hehehhe..

So solely based on own experiences, these are the things that's important for us when planning/ travelling..

1) "PEOPLE WHO DON'T PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL" 
This saying is so true youols..

First part of planning is choose your destination and buy your flight tickets!

Having said that, budget pon mestilah dah kena set aside ok..
Setengah orang diaorang mmg dah tau nak pegi mana.. kalau korang jenis tu mmg senang kerja lah..
Iols selalu leave it open.. Mainly depending ngan harga tiket flight.. hahhhaha.. (cheapskate)..

For our Europe planning.. after setting aside a rough budget (lepas dah survey2 daripada kawan2 yg dah pergi).. Iols pon start planning mana nak pegi..

Initial plan nak pegi PARIS - BRUSSELS - AMSTERDAM jek..

Punya la confident mase tuh, tiket flight belom beli nih tapi annual leave bulan 5 iols dah apply dah..
Kahkahkahkah..

Bila orang tanye.. "So you nak pegi mana?"

Iols jawap: "Ermm.. Tak sure lagik.. sebab belom beli apepepon" (sebab nak tunggu Matta Fair sebenarnya)

Hahahaha..
Memang pakat la kena gelak ok..
But that was part of my planning..
So I gave my boss more than enough time to consider my long leave and we can plan our work around it..
And iols mmg slalu akan carik "cuti kapit" (gi holiday mase weekends and public holidays) utk save annual leave kan.. So mmg dah tau la bila iols plan nak pegi bercuti kan..
Tapi iols berani confident pon sebab bajet dah siap ketepikan awal2 kan tadik..
Iols took 8 working days of leave.. tapi sebab ade weekends and public holidays.. dapat la bercuti for 16 days including travelling days..

Now the interesting part..
The most expensive portion of our Europe holiday..
Beli tiket kapal terbang from and back to Kuala Lumpur..

Sebab nak menunggu Matta Fair punya pasal..
Bulan 9 baru kitaorg actually survey tiket untuk travel bulan 11 nanti..
But since our travel is pretty much DIY style, takde pekdah pon kitaorg pegi Matta Fair (MF) tuh..
The truth was, bila sampai Matta Fair.. kitaorg mintak quotations from a few booth utk flight tickets and semua kasik quotation lagik mahal daripada yg kitaorg dah check online sebelom kuar umah..

Harus lepas tuh panic sebab extra mahal dalam RM500 - RM600 for 2 tickets..
Cepat2 Leman ajak iols balik umah utk booking tickets sendiri jek..

TIPS: Kalau youols nak pegi ikut tour, then sangat berbaloi2 la checkout MF tuh.. Tapi kalau nak travel sendirik, mmg tak payah la menyusahkan diri bersesak2 kat PWTC tu youols.. Click2 depan tv atas sofa kat umah lagik murah..

Balik jek umah ngan hati yg berdebar2 kitaorg pon purchased la our KLM flight tickets.. Mase time kitaorg pegi tuh.. dapat return tickets for 2 lebih kurang RM5800 (itu pon dah include credit card charges RM150).. Sumpah aku pon tak pernah beli tickets mahal macam nih sebelom nih.. Selalu tuh nak bayar RM580 utk flight tickets pon iols pikir dua kali.. hahahha.. So bila website tu kata successful jek.. bersorak girang la kami laki bini yg jakun nih.. hehehhe..

Kan iols cakap tadik, our initial plan was PARIS - BRUSSEL - AMSTERDAM kan.. So ade beberapa cara jugak utk nih.. and we have to tie everything back to out original budget kan.. Kang lari bajet mmg naya la kan.. Huhuhu..

Memula iols check flight landing Paris (CDG) and balik from Amsterdam (AMS).. and then Vice versa.. Pehtu check plak landing and balik from Paris (meaning nak kena travel by train to BRU and AMS and then patah balik ke Paris)..

So the cheapest option for us was.. KUL - AMS, and balik ikut CDG - KUL.. Sebab kitaorg naik KLM so mmg dia akan landing kat Amsterdam dulu.. Plus iols confirm nak shopping byk kat Paris so kalau pegi Paris awal2 leceh la plak kan..

Selesai satu kerja.. (based on all my other previous travels.. Once dah secure your flight tickets, yg lain2 tuh will almost always falls nicely into place)..

TIPS: We travel without kids mase tu.. So we prefer a direct flight.. Senang tido pon tak terganggu kan.. satu kali naik satu kali turun... Hehehhe.. Takyah nak risau pasal connecting flights.. takyah nak penat2 tunggu connecting flights..

Mase nak balik from CDG - KUL tuh.. kitaorg still kena transit kat AMS dulu.. Sebab KLM originate from AMS kan.. Nak dijadikan cerita, flight from Paris delayed sejam due to very bad weather kat Amsterdam..
And connecting flight kitaorg plak only 50 minutes apart.. Kahkahkah..

Memang redho jek la.. Mase tuh me and Leman mmg pasrah abes.. Tak stress pon cause ape boleh buat pon kan.. So mase tuh dah pikir worst case scenario la.. whereby kena KLM had to book us into another later flight back to KL..

Mmg mase landing kat AMS tuh kelam kabut la.. Dari dalam kapalterbang diorang dah buat announcement.. Utk yg ade connecting flights sila pegi ke sekian2 kaunter..

So off we went once kitaorg disembark from the aircraft..
Sampai kaunter tuh.. minah salleh tuh rilek jek cakap.. "Owh. looks like you've missed your flight! No worries, go to that kaunter and we will re-book you into a later one"
Fine.. kitaorg pon gelak2 jek la kan.. Nak stress pon tak guna.. After all it was all part of our adventure kan..

Sampai kat kaunter yg dia tunjuk tuh.. another minah salleh cakap.. "Your flight is still open.. You have to run for it!"

Okay.. mase nih akak dah stress..
Nak jek aku mencarut dah mase nih..
Tadik ko tanak cakap awal2..
Buang mase aku beratur jek kan..

Pehtu mmg kitaorg berlari pecut (not that easy with 1 bag pack and 1 carry on suitcase each.. hahahha)..
Memang semput la kitaorg laki bini..
Plak tuh jauhhhhhhhhhh nak mampos satu kaunter ke satu kaunter kan..

Sampai imegresen, barisan plak panjanggggggggggggggg nak mampos..
Haihhh.. stress..

Pehtu tunjuk la kat awek yg jaga tuh kan..
Cakap we need to cut queue..
Sebab flight kitaorg nak lepas dah..
Bole awek tuh buat muka sardin cakap takley cut queue.. Kalau terlepas nanti diorang akan book kan flight lain..

Mase tuh aku dah nak panic la kan..
"Nooo.. you don't understand.. We just got back from that counter.. And the lady in charge asked us to run.." Bila aku tunjuk tickets kitaorg baru la dia bagi kitaorg pegi satu lorong khas.. Still kena queue jugak.. hahahha.. Tapi yg tgh queue tu kebanyakan nye senaseb.. meaning satu flight ngan kitaorg..

Finally settle imegresen.. and another running episode required.. Daripada imegresen nak menyampaikan ke aircraft pon jauhhhh gileee jugak.... Uuuwwwaaaaa....

Selamat masuk aircraft and lepas tuh pon still kena tunjuk another hour sebelom can finally berlepas..
Chehh.. buat penat iols berlari tadik kan.. Huhuhu..

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Mak aihhh.. baru cerita pasal flight tickets jek dah berjela2 panjang.. Huhuhu..
Iols nak kencing.. Nanti kita sambung ye..
Pegila beli tiket kapalterbang tuh dulu ;)